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AMD to sell 64 FX 940, 939 side by side next year
And it may even start appearing with the launch of the Athlon 64 FX 53 in that quarter.
But contrary to information contained in some of the reviews we have read elsewhere, we understand that Socket 940 for Athlon 64 FX will continue to be available until at least the end of 2004, or if customer demand is there, even longer.
So Socket 940 parts are planned to be sold side-by-side with the introduction of Socket 939 Athlon 64 FX.
Athlon FX models that are likely to be available in both 939 and 940 pin variants should include at least Athlon 64 FX 53, 55 and 57.
This extends the value proposition to initial Athlon 64 FX 51 940 pin adopters and if revealed earlier, might well have increased the positive coverage AMD got following the introduction of the Athlon 64 family in September.
We wonder which of those sites are will go back and update their reviews in light of this.
The prime benefit of moving to Socket 939 for AMD is that it should allow the faithful to have Socket 940 class (Athlon 64 FX "Sledgehammer" based, as opposed to Athlon 64 ‘Clawhammer') performance for less money.
The saving occurs with Socket 939 mainboards which will only require a lower cost four layer PCB, as opposed to the six layer PCB of Socket 940.
As the introduction of PCI Express will force changes of mainboard designs around the same time, introducing a four layer Socket 939 board so soon after a six layer Socket 940 boards is probably not the problem for mainboard manufacturers it first appeared to be.
In the meantime, AMD will certainly continue to turn up the 64-bit volume, with both more Opteron processors and the introduction of at least another Socket 754 Athlon 64 before Christmas, this time with a PR rating of 3400+. µ
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