AMD Athlon 750

Final Words

The conclusion still hasn't changed all that much from the original Athlon review. The 750MHz part is just another step in the Athlon ladder, although, this time, the jump from the previous clock speed champ, the 700, wasn't as great due to the somewhat slower L2 cache.

The chip is still quite a strong performer. The business application and gaming performances of the Athlon 750 are respectable, but it truly shines in the professional 3D rendering and imaging environment where it can't be touched by any single processor Intel system because professional applications take full advantage of the Athlon's superior FPU.

The 0.18-micron K75 core should be quite an overclocker. We've seen reports and had first hand experience with Athlon 500s that have been able to hit 650MHz flawlessly, and some even hit the 700 and 750MHz marks with nothing more than a regular heatsink/fan combo and a bump in the voltage to 1.75v. The 0.18-micron 750 should be able to hit some pretty high clock speeds using conventional air-cooling methods. The 750 is already the heart and soul of Kryotech's SuperG system which, by cooling the core down to -50C, manages to run the CPU at 1000MHz. It won't be long before more Athlon overclocking solutions become available on the market, and when they do, in conjunction with the Athlon 750, expect to be able to push the limits of the 0.18-micron K75 quite far. A 850MHz+ overclock shouldn't be far from reality with this CPU, especially as yields improve.

Looking towards the future, AMD can't keep the L2 cache off of the Athlon's core for much longer. Their roadmap calls for a move to an on-die L2 cache in the first half of 2000, but, currently, we do not know at what clock speed. While at Comdex, we were given a look at an air-cooled 800 and a 900MHz Athlon, so the potential to hit higher clock speeds using the 0.18-micron K75 core is there. Both of those CPUs will be released during the first half of 2000; hopefully, at least one will come with an on-die L2 cache which would help to rid AMD of their dependency on L2 cache manufacturers.

The Athlon motherboard issue does not seem to be improving and it will not improve in the remaining month of 1999, but, in 2000, things will change. From what we've seen, there is quite a bit of support building up for the Athlon in the motherboard industry, and the spark that we're waiting for is the release of VIA's KX133 chipset to ignite the fury of Athlon motherboards. The chipset itself is completed, and, right now, VIA is working with motherboard manufacturers to make sure that their implementations of the chipset are solid and are worthy of release. When the KX133 hits, it will be very good for Athlon supporters.

Going back to the point of competition, will Intel release a faster Pentium III in order to once again gain the clock speed advantage over AMD before the year is over? Most likely not, considering that there is only about a month left before the start of the new year. But then again, Intel has a recent habit of starting off the year with an onslaught of processor releases, so don't be surprised if Intel pushes the clock speed battle to the next level before AMD early on in Q1-2000.