AMD Athlon processor celebrates 20 years
It has been twenty years since AMD introduced its Athlon processors. The first models were slot processors with speeds of 500, 550 and 600MHz. Later there was a 1GHz version, the first processor with that speed. AMD still uses the Athlon name.
AMD unveiled its Athlon processors on June 23, 1999, previously codenamed K7. They were the first processors with copper interconnects and because this is a better conductor than aluminum, the interconnects could be made smaller. This resulted in lower consumption and therefore the clock speed could be increased.
The top model was priced at $699 when it was announced. That was the price when purchasing a thousand pieces. AMD did not give recommended prices for individual processors at that time. The cheapest model, the 500MHZ version, cost $324 when purchasing a thousand copies.
The first generation of Athlon processors based on the K7 architecture were made at 180 nanometers. These were so-called slot processors, just like the Pentium II and III. With these processors, the L2 cache was located next to the CPU on a printed circuit board. AMD’s Slot A, like Intel’s Slot 1, used 242 pins, but the processors were not compatible. To prevent users from accidentally inserting an AMD processor into an Intel motherboard, the connector was rotated 180 degrees.
Inside of AMD Athlon processor in Slot A version.
Photo: Tullius CC BY-SA 3.0
After the first generation of Athlon processors, a series based on the improved K75 architecture followed. That enabled AMD to release the world’s first gigahertz processor in March 2000. It cost 1300 dollars at the time and it was not really recommended, because AMD would not much later release a new Athlon generation with Thunderbird cores and a new socket.
AMD Athlon in Socket A version.
Photo: Konstantin Lanzet CC BY-SA 3.0
The great success of AMD’s Athlon generation began in June 2000, when the company released its Athlon processors with Thunderbird cores. That also meant the switch from slot processors to Socket A versions, with speeds from 600MHz to 1.4GHz. With the socket processors, the L2 cache was integrated into the chip itself. Although that cache was halved to 256KB, the speed was much higher.
AMD continued to use the Athlon brand name for its fastest processors in the years that followed. The first generation was followed by the Athlon XP models, followed in 2003 by the Athlon 64 series of 64-bit processors. Two years later, the Athlon 64 X2 dual-core models arrived. In 2007 AMD stopped using the Athlon name for the fastest processors. The brand then introduced the first Phenom models.
However, the Athlon brand name has never disappeared. AMD still releases Athlon processors today. However, the name is now used for relatively simple and inexpensive models. The most recent Athlon is the Athlon Pro 300U dual-core for laptops. Late last year, AMD announced the Athlon 220GE and 240GE; desktop processors with two cores and an integrated Vega 3 GPU.
AMD is not only celebrating the twentieth anniversary of its Athlon processor this year, the company itself is also fifty years old. You can read more about the history of the processor manufacturer in the background article AMD celebrates its 50th anniversary – From Intel clone to core champion.