AMD Releases M2 Processor Range with DDR2 Support

In a major move forward today, AMD announced 15 new processors based on its new socket AM2 platform with support for DDR2 memory. While 13 processors simply make the transition from the old socket 939 platform, there are two completely new CPUs - the 2.6GHz Athlon 64 X2 5000+ and the 2.8 GHz FX-62. The AM2 family has been divided from very low-end (Sempron 3000+ to 3600+), budget range (Athlon 64 3500+ and 3800+), to power user range (Athlon 64 X2 3800+ to 5000+). These ranges are rounded off to the highest end by the gaming CPU range (Athlon 64 FX-62). All socket AM2 processors are based on a common DDR2 memory controller that is set for 333 MHz operation (DDR2-667), with only the cache size and clock speed differentiating the individual processors. The dual-cores carry two 1MB (FX-62) or 512kb L2 caches (X2), and the single-core models carry one 512kb L2 cache (Athlon 64) and 256kb (Sempron).