Legit Reviews

what socket will these new processors actually use socket F or AM2? also are there any crossfire motherboards that would support barcelona and the new 2900xtx

thanks

I think the new Barcelona processors are socket AM3 but could fit on an AM2 motherboard.

Barcelona is the codename for the new Opterons they will be socket F

Agena is the new desktop part replacing the now retired Athlon K8 Series. It will be called Phenom rather then Athlon and will be socket AM2+. It will be backwards compatible with existing socket AM2 mobos but socket AM2+ mobos will feature HT3 which will increase performance. Agena and Barcelona will be native Quad Core but dual and single core variants will be released with disabled cores. Socket AM3 wont be out till next year and will have DDR3 support.

Also Agena FX will be Socket F and will be a dual processor solution like todays quadfather. So 8 cores total.

Also today it was reported that K10's B0 stepping turned out WAY better then expected. These parts are going to rock!

HONkUS wrote:It will be backwards compatible with existing socket AM2 mobos

If that's true they're gonna make a good amount of happy consumers... including me

HONkUS wrote:Agena and Barcelona will be native Quad Core but dual and single core variants will be released with disabled cores.

Is it me or it doesn't really make sense to do that? Assuming they make 10 "different" processors which cost, let's say, 300$. They're all the same, but via some hard/software modifications, the price will be somewhere between 1000$ or 100$. Maybe it's only so they have to build a new 65nm fab?

Its easy. If one of the cores is bad they disable two of them and voila its a Phenom x2. If 3 cores are bad they disable them and its a Sempron/Phenom. Their final yields will determine how much of what we see.

IBM did the same thing with the Cell processor, all the ones that didnt produce enough viable cores were sold to auto manufacturers and medical supply companies. It happens alot.

so if i were to buy a AM2 socket with crossfire enabled they would be compatible with both the R600 and the K10 processors?

I don't know about r600 but it would definatley be K10 compatible with a BIOS flash. And really I see no reason why it wouldn't support r600 crossfire. But if you can afford r600 crossfire then it would make more sense to get one of the new AM2+ mobo's with HT3. Running on an existing AM2 mobo would limit the performance of an Agena proc. I mean it will still beat C2D just not by as much!

Boy!!! am i waiting for some serious c2d thrashing!!!!

AM2+ is the socket these new processors will run on... They have split power for the CPU so some tweaks had to be done.

Apoptosis wrote:AM2+ is the socket these new processors will run on... They have split power for the CPU so some tweaks had to be done.

Does that mean HONkUS is wrong and the new AMD's won't work on the current AM2 platform?

I don't believe so, they just don't run at fullest capacity without the newer socket changes. It's still the same number of pins and fit, just doesn't power it the same way I think.

just spend the extra 150 bucks for an am3 board. probaly alot more worth it in the long run..