www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/athlon64-90nm_5.html
However, it would be incorrect to believ e that the ordinary users, who are not that much into overclocking, cann ot benefit from that at all. The thing is that the new AMD processors on Winchester core feature lower power consumption and hence lower heat di ssipation, which are pretty noticeable and important parameters I should say. According to the official specifications revealed by AMD, the CPUs on Winchester core generate maximum 67W of heat, which is 25% lower tha n the top heat dissipation of Athlon 64 processors on 130nm cores. In order to answer this question we tested the new Athlon 64 CPU and compared its thermal parameters wit h those of the similar Athlon 64 processors but based on the older NewCa stle core. The testing was carried out on the same platform as in the previous case (during overclocking experiments). During the tests we compared the temp erature of Socket 939 Athlon 64 processors on Winchester core and Athlon 64 processors on NewCastle core working at the frequencies from 18GHz to 24GHz. Note that we set the 18GHz, 20GHz and 22GHz frequencies wi th the corresponding frequency multiplier, ie as 9x200MHz, 10x200MHz a nd 11x200MHz respectively, while the 24GHz core clock was achieved as a result of CPU overclocking by raising the FSB frequency: 11x209MHz The processor Vcore remained nominal in all cases, and we used the same box ed cooler for all our tests. The temperature values were measured with t he help of the thermal diode built into the processor core. The core tem perature was measured in two modes: idle mode and under maximum CPU work load created by S&M utility version 100 alpha.
In the idle mode the 90nm Winchester core is considerably cooler than the NewCastle core. However, under 100% CPU workload these two temperatures appear really close. At first sight this is a very unexpected result, I should say, because the 25% reduction of the maximum heat dissipation b y Athlon 64 processors on Winchester core doesnt seem to be affecting an ything. However, there still is a logical explanation to this fact. The thing is that Winchester die not only started to generate less heat, but also got smaller in size. As a result, it has become a little bit more complicated to arrange proper heat dissipation from the die surface, tha n in case of a larger NewCastle core. This is exactly the reason why the core temperature does not characterize the core heat generation that mu ch, but indicated the density of the heat dissipation streams, which app ears even higher by Winchester compared with the predecessor. Therefore, Athlon 64 processors on the new Winchester core cannot boast a signific antly lower temperature during active work. The lower heat dissipation of the Athlon 64 CPU on the new 90nm Wincheste r core actually has a different effect. Namely, you can feel its influen ce by the cooler temperature. In Athlon 64 NewCastle based platforms the cooler warms up a lot and is warm to the touch. However, in case of Ath lon 64 Winchester the cooler temperature gets significantly lower. However, there are more facts proving that the new Winchester core of the AMD processors boasts reduced heat generation. Namely, we managed to me asure the processor power consumption with the help of a multimeter. To get the value of the processor power consumption, which is the same as t he processor heat dissipation, according to the energy conservation law, we actually measured the current going through the 12V processor circui t In fact, this method is not very precise, because it doesnt take into account the performance index of the processor voltage regulator circui t, however, it suits quite well for a preliminary rough comparison. Just like in case of temperatures measurements, we considered two situations : the idle state and the maximum CPU workload created by a special S&M u tility version 100 alpha.
The new 90nm core consumes considerably less power than the older 130nm core in both: idle state and under heav y processor workload. Note also that the 50W power consumption demonstra ted by the Winchester core at 24GHz core clock is a very low value for contemporary processors. This fact gives us some reason to hope that the frequency potential of the Winchester core will turn out pretty signifi cant. For a more illustrative comparison we also measured the power cons umption of the Pentium 4 processors based on Northwood and Prescott core s and working at 34GHz core clock. The results turned out simply impres sive: under maximum workload Pentium 4 processor on Northwood core consu med about 100W of power, while the Prescott based CPU (with a C0 core st epping) required about 132W. This way, we have every right to call all A thlon 64 processors very economical solutions, and certainly this first of all refers to the new CPUs based on 90nm Winchester core.
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