AMD Athlon™ 64 2800+, 1.8 GHz (ADA2800BOX) Retail Processor

A Little History on 64 Bit Computing

In the year 2000, the only ones having 64 bit computers were several large data base companies. 64 bit computing at this time was so expensive they were the only ones that could afford them. Now 64 bit computers can have huge amount of memory. They can also work with large amount of data and more efficiently and faster than 32 bit computers. Now 64 bit is very efficient and doing video editing, cad or data base.

Then Intel along with HP decided to design and build a new 64 bit processor but they also thought that since most people did not need a 64 bit processor for their desktop. They decided that to make a better 64 bit processor by not making it backward compatible to the X86. So they designed the Itinium processor. Which to run 32 bit programs had to run a imulator. Doing that the programs run very slowly if at all.

Now along comes AMD, one of Intel's most able competators. With their AMD Athlon XP, they are able to beat Intel by doing more with less speed and lower prices.
Now 32 bit processors have 16 registers with a width of 32 bits. X64 has 32 registers with a width of 64 bits. As can be seen the x64 can handle more data/instructions sets but, the x64 to take advantage of this has to have the operating system and programs specially writen for this. Such as Windows XP X64 Pro.

But AMD did not stop there. They added some new technology to the processors such as Hypertransport and Cool'n'Quiet Now what is mentioned next is from a review I wrote on "How I Built my X64 bit Computer"
http://www.epinions.com/content_187014155908

Hypertransport

If I'm wrong here, I hope somebody will let me know and I'll change here.

What this is simply a AMD and partners design that with the memory controller (on CPU chip) and a higher bandwidth bus between cpu and memory and other chips. They can eliminate the bus to the Northbridge chip(which causes latency or delay of signal). By eliminating the FSB and designing a new one, this makes the bandwidth roughly 3x-15 faster. By this I mean that all the information(instructions/data goes through the chipset(when the memory controler was on the chipset, which tells it where to go). Hypertransport is designed to eliminate that bottleneck going directly to the chip or device where it needs to go.

It's like your on a trip out of town and you come to a big city(chipset) where it will take you a 1/2 hour or more to get on the other side going to the next town or your destination but there is a bypass around the town (Hypertransport) that will take a 1/10th of the time as going thru. Also the speed is different-going through town speed limit is 30 mph, using the bypass the limit is 70mph. You can see the instructions/data will move faster, which in turn means you have better performance.

Cool'n'Quiet

Is technology built in to AMD processors to slow down the cpu's speed when doing say writing a review like I am now or surfing the internet or anything that is not processor intensive. Now it does this in 200mhz increments. It also slows the cpu fan down making for less noise. Since this processor runs at a max of 1.8 ghz, it is using less power. Right now it is running at 1.0 ghz which for most people/applications is fast enough.

Specifacations
Front Side Bus Speed 1600 MHz
Processor Type Athlon 64
Socket Type Socket 754
Package Type Retail
Processor
Product Type Processor
Manufacturer AMD
Processor Type Athlon 64
Clock Speed 1.8 GHz
Performance Index 2800+
Processor Instruction Set 3DNOW!

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3DNOW!+

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Intel MMX

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SSE

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SSE2
Memory
Compatible RAM DDR SDRAM
L2 Cache Size 128 KB
L1 Cache Size 128 KB
Other Features
Included Devices Cooling Fan

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Heat Sink
Processor Features 64-bit Instruction Set Support

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HyperTransport technology
Now this is a retail version which usually cost about the same as a oem version, but this has a 3year warranty as the oem only has a one year. So I get the Retail package even if a little extra.


Performance

Now I have basically 2 identical computers, differant motherboards-cpu's that run at the same performance ratio. One is a Biostar M7NCD motherboard with a Sempron 2800+(2ghz) and the other MSI K8M NEO-V with a AMD Athlon X64 2800+(1.8ghz) with everything else basically the same. Both are running Windows XP Pro/SP2.
I can see no differance in performance even if the X64 is running 200mhz slower. It does seem that X64 does run a little better even using a 32 bit operating system.

Update New Case/Power Supply/CPU
Put this motheerboard in a new case(after getting back because I messed up putting in a differant case in the first place)I also added a new power supply (review here http://www.epinions.com/content_217737694852 )Has a 120 mm fan and case has 120mm fan-which makes for a very quiet pc-in fact I have to put my ears near the case to hear it. Plus I also put in a new cpu(this one http://www.epinions.com/content_220609744516 ).

Just one last thing

Until applications and drivers are written for the X64 computer that take advantage of X64. On the whole most people will not need a X64 computer. But once these are in sufficient quantity and quality then maybe. But the added features of the X64 processors designed by AMD for their cpu's make them worth having.

Now for you non-technical people that read my reviews-I'm trying to do a reviews that you can understand. There will be some things I will put in for more technically inclined. But if there is anything you do not understand or you have a question. Leave it in comments and I will try real hard to explain or answer. Plus if I have done that let me know there also.