Central Processing Unit (CPU)
Purchase date:
22 Dec 1999
Price:
$491
Vendor:
About the AMD K7 Athlon:
AMD Athlon Processor Architecture
Enhanced 3DNow! Technology for the AMD AthlonTM Processor
AMD Athlon Processor Floating Point Capability
AMD Athlon Processor Technical Documents
Useful Links:
AMD Athlon Processor System Configuration Recommendations
The Athlon CPU is based on a 184 mm² silicon die that comprises approximately 22 million transistors. The die for this processor was created using 0.25-micron process technology at AMD's Fab 25 wafer fabrication facility in Austin TX.
The Athlon K7 CPU has 512kb of Level 2 (L2) cache memory that is not integrated with the transistor die (a weakness) and runs at half the processor speed, in this case 325MHz. The K7 has 128kb of Level 1 (L1) cache that is integrated on the transistor die and runs at full processor speed.
The bus within the CPU is the Alpha 200MHz EV6 Bus, which connects the L1 and L2 cache to the processor core, operates at 200MHz, and channels data at a rate of 1.6GB per second. However, the CPU and the Asus K7M mainboard communicate at the Athlon's default front side bus speed of 100MHz. The advertised 200MHz CPU bus speed of the EV6 Bus is figured from the EV6's ability to transfer data on the rising and on the falling edges of the data clock, effectively doubling the 100MHz data transfer rate.
The K7 processor core is hardcoded with AMD's "3DNow!" instructions, which speed processing of 3D applications.
The K7 CPU has a 242-pin Slot A connector.
The core voltage required by the K7 CPU is 1.6v. Often, when one overclocks a CPU, one increases the core voltage.