New 64-bit CPU released

From the Ars Technica Newsdesk comes the report of AMDs newest CPU bq. AMD unveiled their new Athlon 64 FX-53 CPU today at CeBIT. Also based on AMD's Opteron server CPUs, the successor to the 64-bit FX-51 gets a 200MHz speed boost to 2.4GHz while staying on the 130nm process. Architecturally, the FX-53 is identical to the FX-51, with 128KB of L1 cache and 1MB of L2 cache, and uses the same socket 940 connector as its predecessor. Peak power dissipation is 89 watts at maximum consumption. Pricing is set at US$733 per 1,000 units with limited availability to start out. 64-bit computing is moving into the mainstream. There is not a huge speed gain for the average user but people doing scientific or graphics intensive work will gain a lot of performance by moving to 64-bits. It is interesting to watch the two families develop. Intel scrapped a lot of the X86 architecture when they developed their Itanium CPU - the idea there is that the operating system would be able to run X86 software in an emulation mode. AMD has taken the approach of extending the X86 architecture out from 32 bits to 64 bits as well as adding new CPU features. They are operating on the idea that it's better to retain some of the X86 quirks and ensure a much better performance for legacy software. I have stuck with Intel for all of my CPU needs but if/when I move to 64-bit computing, I will be seriously looking at AMD.