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LOSTCIRCUITS	SHORTCUTS: A new Platform Quad-FX Idiosyncrasies The Motherboard Test Config, Benchmark Overview Memory Performance The 64-bit Question Idle Power by OS Max Power Render Power (Cinebench) trueSpace POV-Ray Media Encoding 3DMark'06 F.E.A.R., DOOM3 FarCry 1.4 COD2, Prey Final Words Give Us Some Feedback on this Review
AMD's Quad FX Platform What's in a 4x4?
(Author: MS, January 21, 2007)

Platform Details

FX-7X Processors

Using any of the available CPU layouts with one HT link per side does not seem an appealing solution if two links have to be routed out in parallel. There is always the possibility of a 45 degree rotation but by the end of the day, there was more to be redesigned than just the location of the I/O pins. In fact, the overwhelming acceptance of Intel's land grid array in the consumer space has set a new standard, which makes it highly desirable to get rid of the pins altogether and move to a similar LGA arrangement. The result is a completely redesigned bottom view of the CPU - no more pins - instead a total of 1207 lands, 55 % more than Intel's LGA775 design.

Each of the FX-7X series processors features essentially the same innards as the full-cache Windsor (FX) series with the addition of the extra HT links. Process technology used in the new CPUs - code name Egypt - is 90 nm but we will see the transition to 65nm in due time. All FX-7X series processors share the same Thermal Dissipation Power (TDP) of 125W, just the same as what we already knew from the FX-62. In the case of the FX-74, the nominal core frequency has been bumped up to 3 GHz, 200 MHz more than the hitherto fastest production CPU in AMD's product lineup.

One thing to watch out for when comparing prices is that most vendors still list the FX-70 -74 processors as single items rather than pairs. There are a couple of click-throughs at the bottom of each page - so just check it out yourself :)

nVidia's nForce 680a SLI chipset

Chipset overview (modified from AMD)

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