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ookii_dave · Tue Jul 09, 2002 10:05 pm

Hey, anyone know if AMD's going to use a new socket for their new Hammer CPUs?

I need to know so I can decide whether to go Intel or not..

And if you know any articles about the Hammer CPUs, let's see some links ppl!

Ricardo Dawkins · Tue Jul 09, 2002 10:30 pm

oh...boy new sockets coming from AMD...stick with Socket 478 aka intel.

Tue Jul 09, 2002 11:33 pm

The Hammer series needs a new socket because how it deals with memory and I/O has been totally redesigned. Socket A has had a pretty good run, better than you usually get from Intel and it's not done yet. I doubt AMD would make any changes to the Hammer sockets during its lifetime, I don't think they could afford to. I'm just waiting for Intel to make an eversoslight change to future P4's to make them incompatible with current socket 478 boards. (Like with the Celeron -> Coppermine P!!! -> Tualtin P!!!)

ookii_dave · Wed Jul 10, 2002 12:41 am

Thanks ppl, now I just gotta wait for the ABIT SR7-8X...

AGerbilWithAFootInTheGrav · Wed Jul 10, 2002 8:46 am

Steel wrote:
The Hammer series needs a new socket because how it deals with memory and I/O has been totally redesigned. Socket A has had a pretty good run, better than you usually get from Intel and it's not done yet. I doubt AMD would make any changes to the Hammer sockets during its lifetime, I don't think they could afford to. I'm just waiting for Intel to make an eversoslight change to future P4's to make them incompatible with current socket 478 boards. (Like with the Celeron -> Coppermine P!!! -> Tualtin P!!!)

Exactly,

I guess Intel wants to sell you a chipset with every major processor boost . That was 3 different socket 370 formats they used, and not to mention the old slot system that held on to PIII times.

With P4 you have 2 different sockets so far, with the latest socket 478 semmingly being the one for the future. Hopefully they have changed their strategy, and will keep it the same for the forseeable future, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Moridin · Wed Jul 10, 2002 8:56 am

Steel wrote:
I doubt AMD would make any changes to the Hammer sockets during its lifetime

I doubt this. Since the memory controller in integrated on the processor itself, supporting new memory types requires significant changes in pin out of the processor. To upgrade to DDRII from DDR you will need to replace the processor and the motherboard as well.

On the bright side, since DDRII is somewhat compatible with DDR, it should be possible for AMD to make it’s next version of Hammer backwards compatible with the first Hammer motherboards. This means you should be able to upgrade just the processor, and not the memory or motherboard. This probably only applies to DDRII though, since following memory standards, may not be backwards compatible like DDRII is with DDR

zgirl · Wed Jul 10, 2002 9:01 am

I guess Intel wants to sell you a chipset with every major processor boost . That was 3 different socket 370 formats they used, and not to mention the old slot system that held on to PIII times.

You have to remember the reason they even had slot processors was to get the L2 cache off the MB. At the time they couldn't get the manufacturing process to produce decent yields to have on die cache. So they made the slot CPU to place the cache on a card with a faster bus right next to the CPU. So it was faster cause it bypassed the MB, but still not as fast as on die which is common now.

Don't forget that over the years technology on the MB have changed also. Which required new chipset even though the CPU didn't change. I mean in 5 years we've added USB, IR, AGP, SDRAM, DDR RAM, and so on. Which didn't exist when early PIIs came out. Correct me if I'm remembering this incorrectly, but didn't the PIIs have the HX, FX, LX, and the memorable BX chipsets for it. Even though the CPU stayed basically the same. They all just added or fixed support for additional features.

Forge · Wed Jul 10, 2002 10:10 am

Choosing between P4 and Hammer is like choosing between a P3 Coppermine and an Athlon. One has a lot of forward compatability which you'll never get any use out of (SDR + Athlon XP = wasted), while the other has no certain future (P3 coppermine boards mostly couldn't do Tualatin).

Do not choose your next system based on motherbaord upgradability. Hammer is a mobo+CPU(s) package deal, and there is NO guarantee whatsoever that Intel won't change the 478 socket. They mostly seem intent on ramping the FSB to Hell and gone, but just a few changed pins can totally screw your upgrade plans.

I repeat, choosing a platform based on upgradability is pure guesswork, and just plain not a good idea ATM.

Wed Jul 10, 2002 10:17 am

Correct me if I'm remembering this incorrectly, but didn't the PIIs have the HX, FX, LX, and the memorable BX chipsets for it.

The HX was a 430 series chipset, AKA Pentium classic/MMX. The 440FX, LX, and BX rounded out the PII offerings.

http://developer.intel.com/design/chipsets/mature/450_440.htm

Due to the age of the 440FX you'll have to hit the following link and look over it's data sheet to learn more about it:

http://developer.intel.com/design/chipsets/datashts/index.htm

AGerbilWithAFootInTheGrav · Wed Jul 10, 2002 10:38 am

IS there any web test of XP with SDRAM. That would be interesting to find out a performance hit for xp 2200 and maybe a scale with some points from 1Ghz to 1800 Ghz. With a test for office applications and Q3.

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