AMD bus Speed

[STread96]

AMD has just anounced that they will soon be manufacturing all Athlons with the new .13 micron technology, but has anyone heard of them increasing their bus speed any? Intel has plenty of expansion based on their 400 mhz. Does anyone know what AMD is expecting their future bus to increase to?

[rangeral]

^

[Ankerson]

Intel is raising their FSB to 533 MHz with the next P4's.

Have not heard of AMD raising theirs above 266.

[RamonGTP]

I've read at tomshardware that the MSI KT3 Ultra mobo has a 166mhz fsb setting... That could be an indication that AMD's future processors my be going to a 333mhz FSB.

-Ramon

[Jimstep]

Actually, the memory is 166Mhz and the FSB is 133Mhz. They split the memory from the fsb. Very interesting design.

Here is mobo that I found from another post that supports this. (http://www.viahardware.com/8k3aplus_1.shtm)

[Antix]

Opteron/Clawhammer/Sledgehammer are proposed to be run on 533.

[RamonGTP]

Originally posted by Jimstep
Actually, the memory is 166Mhz and the FSB is 133Mhz. They split the memory from the fsb. Very interesting design.

Here is mobo that I found from another post that supports this. (http://www.viahardware.com/8k3aplus_1.shtm)

COOL!, I've got that board :D

-Ramon

[Rugor]

Actually, the K8/Hammer/Opteron design essentially sidesteps the whole FSB speed question. It doesn't have an FSB so much as using HT links to various system components, there is no real Northbridge linking the CPU to the rest of the system.

[$1500-P4 gamer]

Rugor is right. Hence the internal mem controler, it has no external northbridge chip at all. Though they may implement one to allow useing other than DDR. Never know. As right now its internal only and fixed to running ddr only. Like the first P4's and rdram. I just wonder why noone is questioning them forceing you to use a mem type. Intel was accused of this. Please no flames only comments!:)

[Rugor]

I think it's because when Intel was initially forcing people to use RDRAM (i820 era) it was both vastly more expensive and unpopular.

AMD's limiting people to using what is currently seen as mainstream RAM, it's not unpopular, and not significantly more expensive than the alternatives.

Remember the P3 gained no real benefit from RDRAM, which originally cost 8 to 10 times as much as SDRAM. Needless to say Intel's choice of RDRAM at the time didn't garner them any fans. Then when VIA chipsets became popular, RAMBUS started suing everyone for patent infringement over DDR. This was seen as both punitive and the actions of a spoilt child, so it added to the problems.

If AMD mandated a new, extremely expensive memory type for Hammer that gave no real world advantages (though promising them for later generations), they would be attacked the same way Intel was.

"It ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it."