Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
TheresultisthatmostexistingsystemsbasedonSocket939Athlon64canbeupgradedto
a dual-core processor without a motherboard swap. As long as the motherboard supports
the processor and a dual-core BIOS upgrade is available from the motherboard or system
vendor, the upgrade is possible.
Another benefit of AMD's approach is the lack of a performance or thermal penalty in
moving to a dual-core design. Because the Athlon 64 design included provisions for a
dual-core upgrade from the beginning, the thermal impact of the second core is minimal,
even though the dual-core processors run at the same speeds as their single-core prede-
cessors.
Table3.23
providesadetailedcomparisonofthevariousdual-coreAthlonX2,64X2,and
Athlon 64 FX processors.
Table 3.23 Athlon X2, 64 X2, and 64 FX Processor Information
