Originally posted by: SunnyD
Right... but in this "modern era" where most everybody forgot that AMD even makes processors, it's now commonly (incorrectly) referred to as uncore.
Actually, the AMD equivalent to Intel's uncore is their northbridge, or nb. All K10-class chips with on-die L3 cache have an on-die northbridge that governs the speed of the L3 cache and the integrated memory controller. Whether or not the L3-deprived Rana, Propus, and Regor chips have an on-die northbridge, I do not know, but that's another matter altogether.
The nb speed itself may be internally represented in the form of a multiplier factored against the HT speed, but for the purpose of chip specifications, nb speed is nb speed. No mention of HT is/was made in reference to nb speed.
But I'm just splitting hairs here, really.
Originally posted by: Idontcare
Do we know for certain that the higher uncore and lower TDP are not specific to AM3 chips operating in AM3 mode with DDR3?
In other words, how certain are we that an AM3 PhII isn't setup internally to "revert back" to the lower uncore clockspeed and operate at a higher TDP (different IMC circuitry and voltage is used for DDR2 interface vs. DDR3) when popping the chip into an AM2/AM2+ mobo?
Up till know all I've seen is a lot of assumption about this topic but none have been qualified by any technical reasons as to why or how AMD is suddenly going to be able to increase the uncore clockspeed and drop the TDP on AM3 chips when the chips are put into AM2+ sockets. Doesn't add up for me.
I too share your skepticism. I can see the possibility of the integrated memory controller running at a different voltage in an AM3 socket, possibly due to a different reference voltage. As we all know, the amount of power pumped through the memory controller on AMD chips is affected by vdimm, so the default 1.8v vdimm of DDR2 will not only consume more power on the DIMM side of things but should, at least theoretically, cause the memory controller to consume more power as well.
Whether or not I buy a .3v difference to the IMC accounting for a 30W difference in TDP is an entirely different story. It may be that the entire chip boots with a different vid depending on the socket.
Interestingly enough, there will be
AM3 boards tht support DDR2 memory. One wonders if AM3 chips will still be rated as 65W TDP processors when used in boards such as this. Also . . . I had thought that a majority of the AM2+ Deneb-based X4s were 125W TDP processors and not 95W? Or am I off-base here? Will the 125W processors become 95W processors in their AM3 incarnations?