Athlon: Difference between revisions

'''AMD Athlon''' is the brand name applied to a series of [[x86|x86-compatible]] [[microprocessor]]s designed and manufactured by [[AMD|Advanced Micro Devices]]. The original Athlon (now called Athlon Classic) was the first seventh-generation x86 processor and the first desktop processor to reach speeds of one gigahertz (GHz). It made its debut as AMD's high-end processor brand on June&nbsp;23, 1999.<ref name="A"/> Over the years AMD has used the Athlon name with the 64-bit [[Athlon&nbsp;64]] architecture, the [[Athlon II]], and [[Accelerated Processing Unit]] (APU) chips targeting the [[Socket AM1]] desktop [[System on a chip|SoC]] architecture, and [[Socket&nbsp;AM4]] [[Zen (microarchitecture)]].<ref name="anandtech-20180906">{{cite news |url=https://www.anandtech.com/show/13332/amd-athlon-200ge-55-usd |title=AMD Announces New $55 Low-Power Processor: Athlon 200GE |access-date=2018-09-06 |publisher=AnandTech |last1=Cutress |first1=Ian}}</ref> The modern Zen-based Athlon with a [[Radeon|Radeon Graphics]] processor was introduced in 2019 as AMD's highest-performance entry-level processor.<ref name="F">{{cite news |author=Lucian Armasu |title=AMD's Unlocked Athlon 3000G APU Starts Shipping at $49 |url=https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-athlon-3000g-apu-release-specs-price |work=Tom's Hardware |date=November 19, 2019}}</ref><ref name="C">{{cite news |author=Hilbert Hagedoorn |title=AMD Athlon 3000G review |url=https://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/amd_athlon_3000g_review,25.html|work=Guru3D |date=December 3, 2019 }}</ref>

The first Athlon processor was a result of AMD's development of K7 processors in the 1990s. AMD founder and then-CEO [[Jerry Sanders (businessman)|Jerry Sanders]]<ref name="HPCwire: 1998"/> aggressively pursued strategic partnerships and engineering talent in the late 1990s, working to build on earlier successes in the PC market with the [[AMD K6]] processor line.<ref name="Sanders promotes: 1998">{{cite news |author=CNET News Staff |title=IBM PCs tout AMD chips |url=https://www.cnet.com/news/ibm-pcs-tout-amd-chips/ |work=CNET |date=April 7, 1998 |access-date=August 4, 2020}}</ref><ref name="WSJ by Brammer: 2002">{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=The Next Big Thing |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1028292261927297480 |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |date=August 5, 2002 |access-date=August 4, 2020}}</ref> One major partnership announced in 1998 paired AMD with semiconductor giant [[Motorola]]<ref name="HPCwire: 1998">{{cite web |url=http://www.hpcwire.com/hpc-bin/artread.pl?direction=Current&articlenumber=13625|title=Motorola Prepares to Manufacture AMD's Upcoming K7 Chip |publisher=HP |date=August 7, 1998 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928004540/http://www.hpcwire.com/hpc-bin/artread.pl?direction=Current&articlenumber=13625 |archive-date=September 28, 2007}}</ref> to co-develop [[Copper-based chips|copper-based semiconductor technology]], resulting in the K7 project being the first commercial processor to utilize copper [[Semiconductor device fabrication#Back-end-of-line .28BEOL.29 processing|fabrication technology]]. In the announcement, Sanders referred to the partnership as creating a "virtual gorilla" that would enable AMD to compete with [[Intel]] on fabrication capacity while limiting AMD's financial outlay for new facilities.<ref name="HPCwire: 1998"/> The K7 design team was led by [[Dirk Meyer]], who had previously worked as a lead engineer at [[Digital Equipment Corporation|DEC]] on multiple [[DEC Alpha|Alpha]] microprocessors. When DEC was sold to [[Compaq]] in 1998 and discontinued Alpha processor development, Sanders brought most of the Alpha design team to the K7 project.{{Citation needed|date=August 2020}} This added to the previously acquired [[NexGen]] K6 team, which already included engineers such as [[Vinod Dham]].<ref name="TechSpot and Overview">{{cite news |author=Graham Singer |title=The Rise and Fall of AMD |url=https://www.techspot.com/article/599-amd-rise-and-fall/|work=TechSpot |date=November 21, 2012 |access-date=August 3, 2020 }}</ref>

The AMD Athlon processor launched on June 23, 1999, with general availability by August 1999. Subsequently, from August 1999 until January 2002, this initial K7 processor was the fastest x86 chip in the world.<ref name="A"/> Wrote the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' on October&nbsp;5, 1999: "AMD has historically trailed Intel’s fastest processors, but has overtaken the industry leader with the new Athlon. Analysts say the Athlon, which will be used by [[Compaq]], [[IBM]] and other manufacturers in their most powerful PCs, is significantly faster than Intel’s flagship [[Pentium&nbsp;III]], which runs at a top speed of 600MHz."<ref name="LA Times: 1999">{{cite news |author=Charles Piller |title=AMD Boosts Lead Over Intel With New Version of Its Athlon Chip |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-oct-05-fi-19012-story.html |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=October 5, 1999 |access-date=August 4, 2020}}</ref> A number of features helped the chips compete with Intel. By working with Motorola, AMD had been able to refine copper interconnect manufacturing about one year before Intel, with the revised process permitting [[180 nm|180-nanometer]] processor production. The accompanying die-shrink resulted in lower power consumption, permitting AMD to increase Athlon clock speeds to the 1&nbsp;GHz range.<ref name="AMD by Press Release: 2000">{{citation |url=https://www.amd.com/us/press-releases/Pages/Press_Release_729.aspx |title=AMD Announces First Revenue Shipments From Dresden "MEGAFAB" |publisher=AMD Press Release |date=June 5, 2000 |access-date=January 6, 2012 |archive-date=March 16, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316164430/http://www.amd.com/us/press-releases/Pages/Press_Release_729.aspx |url-status=dead }}.</ref> The Athlon architecture also used the [[Alpha 21264#External interface|EV6]] bus licensed from DEC as its main system bus, allowing AMD to develop its own products without needing to license Intel's [[Gunning transceiver logic|GTL+]] bus.<ref name="Buses: Mile Beebee">{{cite news |author=Gary Mauler, Milt Beebe |title=I/O subsystems and capacity planning for clusters |work=Clustering Windows Server: A Road Map for Enterprise Solutions |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P5kx6MWu2eIC&q=EV6+bus+athlon+licensing&pg=PA113 |date=December 19, 2001 |isbn=9780080488493 |access-date=August 4, 2020}}</ref> By the summer of 2000, AMD was shipping Athlons at high volume, and the chips were being used in systems by [[Gateway, Inc.|Gateway]], [[Hewlett-Packard]], and [[Fujitsu Siemens Computers]] among others.<ref name="Voume: 2000">{{cite news |author=Richard Ricthmyer |title=AMD's chips hit high gear |url=https://money.cnn.com/2000/08/28/technology/amd/ |work=[[CNN]] |date=August 28, 2000 |access-date=August 4, 2020}}</ref>

A USD$55 low-power Athlon 200GE with a [[Radeon]] graphics processor was introduced in September 2018, sitting under the [[Ryzen&nbsp;3]] 2200G.<ref name="anandtech-20180906"/> This iteration of Athlon used AMD's Zen-based ''Raven Ridge'' core, which in turn had debuted in Ryzen with Radeon graphics processors.<ref name="Again for Anadtech: 2018">{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=May 26, 2018 |title=Two New 35W Raven Ridge Parts: AMD Athlon 200GE and Athlon Pro 200GE |url=https://www.anandtech.com/show/12816/two-new-35w-raven-ridge-parts-exist-amd-athlon-200ge-and-athlon-pro-200ge |access-date=August 4, 2020 |work=Anandtech}}</ref> With the release, AMD began using the Athlon brand name to refer to "low-cost, high-volume products", in a situation similar to both Intel's [[Celeron]] and Pentium Gold.<ref name="anandtech-20180906"/> The modern Athlon 3000G was introduced in 2019 and was positioned as AMD's highest-performance entry-level processor.<ref name="F"/> AMD positions the Athlon against its rival, the [[Intel Pentium]]. While CPU processing performance is in the same ballpark,<ref name="Tom's Hardware and Carbotte: 2019"/> the Athlon 3000G uses [[Radeon RX Vega series|Radeon Vega]] graphics,<ref name="F"/> which are rated as more powerful than the Pentium's [[Intel UHD Graphics]].<ref name="Tom's Hardware and Carbotte: 2019">{{cite news |author=Kevin Carbotte |title=AMD Athlon vs Intel Pentium: Which Cheap Chips Are Best? |url=https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-athlon-intel-pentium-showdown,38737.html |work=Tom's Hardware |date=March 4, 2019 |access-date=August 4, 2020}}</ref>

The AMD Athlon processor launched on June 23, 1999, with general availability by August 1999. Subsequently, from August 1999 until January 2002, this initial K7 processor was the fastest x86 chip in the world.<ref name="A">{{Cite web |url=http://www.cpu-collection.de/?l0=co&l1=amd&l2=athlon |title=amd athlon |website=cpu-collection.de |access-date=2017-02-24}}</ref> At launch it was, on average, 10% faster than the Pentium&nbsp;III at the same clock for business applications and 20% faster for gaming workloads.<ref name="Shimpy for AnadTech: 1999">{{citation |author=Lal Shimpi, Anand |url=http://www.anandtech.com/show/355/3 |title=AMD Athlon |date=August 9, 1999 |access-date=January 6, 2012 |quote=The performance of the K7, then clocked at 500&nbsp;MHz, was on par with a Pentium&nbsp;III&nbsp;500.}}</ref> In commercial terms, the Athlon "Classic" was an enormous success.<ref name="Anandtech Heaven: 2001"/>

The Athlon's [[CPU cache]] consisted of the typical two levels. Athlon was the first x86 processor with a 128&nbsp;[[kilobyte|KB]]<ref>{{BDprefix|p=b}}</ref> split level-1 cache; a [[CPU cache|2-way associative]] cache separated into 2×64&nbsp;KB for data and instructions (a concept from [[Harvard architecture]]).<ref name=PaulHsieh /> SRAM cache designs at the time were incapable of keeping up with the Athlon's clock scalability, resulting in compromised CPU performance in some computers.<ref name="Anandtech again: 2000">{{citation |author=Lal Shimpi, Anand |url=http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=1189&p=2|title=AMD Athlon 1&nbsp;GHz, 950&nbsp;MHz, 900&nbsp;MHz |publisher=Anandtech |page=2 |date=March 6, 2000}}.</ref> With later Athlon models, AMD would integrate the L2 cache onto the processor itself, removing dependence on external cache chips.<ref name="PC Hardware in a Nuthshell">{{cite news |author=Robert Bruce Thompson, Barbara Fritchman |title=PC Hardware in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kG8LcWfruOAC&q=thoroughbred+A+die+shrink+palomino&pg=PT64 |work=Thompson |date=July 24, 2003 |isbn=9780596552343|access-date=August 4, 2020}}</ref> The Slot-A Athlons were the first multiplier-locked CPUs from AMD, preventing users from setting their own desired clock speed. This was done by AMD in part to hinder CPU remarking and overclocking by resellers, which could result in inconsistent performance. Eventually a product called the "Goldfingers device" was created that could unlock the CPU.<ref name="Overclockers: 2000">{{citation |author=Jim Noonan; James Rolfe |url=http://www.overclockers.com.au/techstuff/r_gfd1/ |title=Athlon Gold-Finger Devices |publisher=Overclockers.com.au |date=March 21, 2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201190219/http://www.overclockers.com.au/techstuff/r_gfd1/ |archive-date=February 1, 2009 |access-date=January 6, 2012}}.</ref>

On May 14, 2001, AMD released the '''Athlon XP''' processor. It debuted as the '''Mobile Athlon&nbsp;4''', a mobile version codenamed ''Corvette'', with the desktop Athlon&nbsp;XP released in the fall.<ref name="A"/> The third-generation Athlon, code-named ''Palomino'', came out on October&nbsp;9, 2001, as the Athlon&nbsp;XP, with the suffix signifying ''extreme performance'' and unofficially referencing [[Windows&nbsp;XP]].<ref name="AMD for AMD: 2007">.</ref> ''Palomino's'' design used 180&nbsp;nm fabrication process size.<ref name="PC Hardware in a Nuthshell"/> The Athlon&nbsp;XP was marketed using a [[Performance Rating|performance rating]] (PR) system comparing it to the Thunderbird predecessor core.<ref name="Wasson for Tech Report: 2001">{{citation |author=Wasson, Scott |url=http://techreport.com/articles.x/3086/1|title=AMD's Athlon XP 1900+ processor: Pouring it on |publisher=The Tech Report |page=1 |date=November 5, 2001 |access-date=January 6, 2012}}.</ref> Among other changes, ''Palomino'' consumed 20% less power than the Thunderbird, comparatively reducing heat output,<ref name="Wasson for Tech Report Again: 2001">{{citation |author=Wasson, Scott |url=http://techreport.com/articles.x/2975/1|title=AMD's Athlon XP 1800+ processor: 1533 > 1800 |publisher=The Tech Report |date=October 9, 2001 |access-date=January 6, 2012}}.</ref> and was roughly 10% faster than Thunderbird. ''Palomino'' also had enhanced K7's [[Translation lookaside buffer|TLB]] architecture and included a hardware data [[Instruction prefetch|prefetch]] mechanism to take better advantage of memory bandwidth. ''Palomino'' was the first K7 core to include the full [[Streaming SIMD Extensions|SSE]] instruction set from the Intel Pentium&nbsp;III, as well as AMD's [[3DNow!|3DNow! Professional]].<ref name=Athlon4Anand>{{citation |author=Lal Shimpi, Anand |url=http://www.anandtech.com/show/766/4|title=AMD Athlon 4 – The Palomino is Here |publisher=Anandtech |pages=4–5 |date=May 14, 2001 |access-date=January 6, 2012}}.</ref> ''Palomino'' was also the first socketed Athlon officially supporting dual processing, with chips certified for that purpose branded as the '''Athlon&nbsp;MP''' (multi processing),<ref name="Anandtech Heaven: 2001">{{citation |author=Lal Shimpi, Anand |url=http://www.anandtech.com/show/780|title=AMD 760MP & Athlon MP – Dual Processor Heaven |publisher=Anandtech |date=June 5, 2001 |access-date=January 6, 2012}}</ref> which had different specifications.<ref name="AMD KY: Year 2005?">{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=AMD's Technical Specifications for 7th generation CPUs |url=http://www.amd.com/gb-uk/assets/content_type/DownloadableAssets/K7_Electrical_Specification_Rev_ENG.pdf|work=AMD |date=2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051211094608/http://www.amd.com/gb-uk/assets/content_type/DownloadableAssets/K7_Electrical_Specification_Rev_ENG.pdf |archive-date=December 11, 2005 }}</ref> According to [[HardwareZone]], it was possible to modify the Athlon XP to function as an MP.<ref name="HW Zone: Modding">{{cite news |author=Jimmy Tang |title=Modding the Athlon XP into an MP |url=http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?id=393|work=Hardware Zone |date=March 15, 2002}}</ref><ref name="HW Zone 2: Modding Barton">{{cite news |author=Jimmy Tang |title=Modding the Barton XP to a Barton MP |url=http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?id=747|work=Hardware Zone |date=May 12, 2003 }}</ref>

The fourth-generation of Athlon was introduced with the ''Thoroughbred'' core, or ''T-Bred'', on April&nbsp;17, 2002.<ref name="TbredCoreStep">{{citation |url=http://www.cpu-world.com/Cores/Thoroughbred.html|title=AMD Athlon Thoroughbred core |date=May 2, 2011 |access-date=January 6, 2012}}.</ref> The ''Thoroughbred'' core marked AMD's first production 130&nbsp;nm silicon, with smaller die size than its predecessor.<ref name="PC Hardware in a Nuthshell"/> There came to be two [[Stepping level|steppings]] (revisions) of this core commonly referred to as ''Tbred-A'' and ''Tbred-B''.<ref name="TbredCoreStep"/> Introduced in June 2002, the initial A&nbsp;version was mostly a direct [[die shrink]] of the preceding ''Palomino'' core, but did not significantly increase clock speeds over the ''Palomino''.<ref name="PC Hardware in a Nuthshell"/> A revised ''Thoroughbred'' core, ''Thoroughbred-B'', added a ninth "metal layer" to the eight-layered ''Thoroughbred-A'', offering improvement in headroom over the A and making it popular for overclocking.<ref name="AnandTbredB">{{citation |author=Lal Shimpi, Anand |url=http://www.anandtech.com/show/972/3 |title=Introducing Thoroughbred Revision B |publisher=Anandtech |date=August 21, 2002 |access-date=January 6, 2012}}.</ref>

Fifth-generation Athlon ''Barton''-core processors were released in early 2003. While not operating at higher clock rates than ''Thoroughbred''-core processors, they featured an increased L2 cache, and later models had an increased 200&nbsp;MHz (400&nbsp;MT/s) front side bus.<ref name=AceBarton>{{citation |author=De Gelas, Johan |url=http://www.aceshardware.com/read.jsp?id=50000364 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030324002539/http://www.aceshardware.com/read.jsp?id=50000364|title=Barton: 512 KB Athlon XP Reviewed |publisher=Ace's Hardware |date=February 10, 2003 |archive-date=March 24, 2003 |access-date=January 6, 2012}}.</ref> The ''Thorton'' core, a blend of ''Thoroughbred'' and ''Barton'', was a later variant of the ''Barton'' with half of the L2 cache disabled.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.cpu-world.com/Cores/Thorton.html |title=AMD Thorton core}}</ref> The ''Barton'' was used to officially introduce a higher 400&nbsp;MT/s bus clock for the Socket&nbsp;A platform, which was used to gain some ''Barton'' models more efficiency.<ref name=AceBarton /> By this point with the ''Barton'', the four-year-old Athlon EV6&nbsp;bus architecture had scaled to its limit and required a redesign to exceed the performance of newer Intel processors.<ref name=AceBarton /> By 2003, the [[Pentium&nbsp;4]] had become more than competitive with AMD's processors,<ref name=BartonAnand>{{citation |author=Lal Shimpi, Anand |url=http://www.anandtech.com/show/1066|title=AMD's Athlon XP 3000+: Barton cuts it close |publisher=AnandTech |date=February 10, 2003 |access-date=January 6, 2012}}.</ref> and ''Barton'' only saw a small performance increase over the ''Thoroughbred-B'' it derived from,<ref name=AceBarton /> insufficient to outperform the Pentium&nbsp;4.<ref name=BartonAnand /> The K7-derived Athlons such as ''Barton'' were replaced in September 2003 by the [[AMD K8|Athlon&nbsp;64]] family, which featured an [[Memory controller|on-chip memory controller]] and a new [[HyperTransport]] bus.<ref name="Wasson for Tech Report again I think: 2020">{{cite web |url=https://techreport.com/review/6070/amds-athlon-64-3400-processor/|title=AMD's Athlon 64 3400+ process|author=Scott Wasson |date=January 6, 2020|publisher=The Tech Report |access-date=August 4, 2020}}</ref>

The [[Zen (microarchitecture)|Zen]]-based Athlon with [[Radeon]] graphics processors was launched in September 2018 with the Athlon&nbsp;200GE.<ref name="A Shilove for Anadtech: 2018">{{cite news |author=Anton Shilov |title=AMD's Athlon 22GE Processors Now Available |url=https://www.anandtech.com/show/13376/amds-athlon-200ge-processors-now-available |work=[[Anandtech]] |date=September 21, 2018 |access-date=August 3, 2020}}</ref> Based on AMD's ''Raven Ridge'' core previously used in variants of the [[Ryzen&nbsp;3]] and [[Ryzen&nbsp;5]],<ref name="Again for Anadtech: 2018"/> the Athlon&nbsp;200GE had half of the cores but left [[Simultaneous multithreading|SMT]] enabled. It also kept the same 4&nbsp;MiB [[L3 cache]],<ref name="A Shilove for Anadtech: 2018"/> but the [[L2 cache]] was halved to 1&nbsp;MiB.<ref name="CNET: 2018"/>

Zen 2-based Athlon with Radeon Graphics processors, codenamed "Mendocino", were released on September 20, 2022, for the entry-level laptop market, alongside the more powerful quad-core [[Ryzen#Mobile 6|Ryzen 7020]] mobile series under the same codename.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Carrasqueira |first1=João |title=AMD unveils Zen 2-based Ryzen 7020 series "Mendocino" processors |url=https://www.xda-developers.com/amd-ryzen-athlon-7020-series-mendocino/ |website=XDA Developers |access-date=29 June 2024 |language=en |date=20 September 2022}}</ref> Featuring two processing cores, with two threads on Athlon Silver and four threads on Athlon Gold models, Athlon 7020 series mobile processors are equipped with two compute units (CUs) of RDNA&nbsp;2 graphics. These 7020U series models were followed by the release of Ryzen/Athlon 7020C series for Chromebooks on May 23, 2023.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bonshor |first1=Gavin |title=AMD Launches Zen 2-based Ryzen and Athlon 7020C Series For Chromebooks |url=https://www.anandtech.com/show/18868/amd-launches-zen-2-based-ryzen-and-athlon-7020c-series-for-chromebooks |website=www.anandtech.com |access-date=29 June 2024 |date=23 May 2023}}</ref> Unlike prior Athlon generations, AMD has not released desktop variants of Mendocino.