Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[UpNDown]

drjohn

Yes, all indications and statements are that Athlon-64, desktop and mobile, will have 1MB of L2 cache on introduction.

On the AMD roadmaps ( http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_608,00.html ) the 90 nm shrink of Athlon-64 is supposed to be available as either 256KB or 1MB of L2 cache, although I wonder why they are bothering with 256KB parts. I would assume that those will be the same die as the 1MB parts with the maximum usable cache limited. AMD expects to be all hammer at some time in the future -- 2005 perhaps -- and they need a low end part, if an Athlon-64, even with 256KB of L2 cache could possibly be described as such.

As these chips get smaller and smaller, due to process improvements, the penalty for larger cache gets less and less. At 754 pins, there has to be sufficient chip area to provide all the bonding points to the pins as well, and to provide enough surface area for heat removal.