AMD K7 processor families

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The successor to AMD K6-2/K6-III processor family, AMD K7 family is the seventh generation of x86 processors. The line of K7 processors consists of:

high-performance desktop processors - Athlon, Athlon XP and Athlon MP
budget desktop processors - Duron and Sempron. Only socket A Sempron processors are based on the K7 architecture.
high-performance mobile processors - Athlon 4 and Athlon XP-M.
budget mobile processors - Mobile Duron.

The K7 processors feature multiple superscalar integer and floating point units, higher bus speed (up to 400 MHz), larger L1 cache, multiprocessing (Ahtlon MP), and additional SIMD instructions (3DNow! and SSE in Athlon XP/MP). Initially produced in June of 1999 using 0.25 micron technology at speeds of 500 MHz and higher, the AMD K7-based processors are currently manufactured at 0.13 micron technology and have rated speed of more than 3 GHz.

Athlon (Slot A)

Picture of: AMD Athlon 600 - K7600 (ES)

Early engineering sample of AMD K7 processor. This sample has AMD name and logo on the front, and "AMD K7 Engineering Sample" marking on the top (on this specific part it is covered with a sticker). Processor speed is indicated on another sticker. Unfortunately, it's not possible to guess from the printing on the stickers when the microprocessor was produced.

Athlon

Picture of: AMD Athlon 1400 - A1400AMS3C

The fastest Athlon processor with Thunderbird core. This is the best upgrade choice if your motherboard supports only Thunderbird core, and has support for 266 MHz FSB. As this CPU has 266 Mhz front-size bus, it is on average 10% faster that Athlon 1400 with 200 MHz FSB. As of now (May 2006) they are still much easier to find than Athlon 1400 with 200 MHz FSB.

Athlon XP

Picture of: AMD Athlon XP 2100+ - AXDA2100DUT3C

2100 MHz (rated), 1733 MHz (real)
266 MHz bus speed
Staggered organic PGA (Socket A/Socket 462)

Athlon MP

Picture of: AMD Athlon MP 2400+ - AMSN2400DKT3C

2400 MHz (rated), 2000 MHz (real)
Staggered organic PGA (Socket A/Socket 462)

Duron

Picture of: AMD Duron 1000 - DHD1000AMT1B

Starting from Duron 1GHz all Duron processors had new core that was based on Athlon Palomino core. This core added data prefetch mechanism and support for SSE instructions. These features helped to improve performance of Duron Morgan processors in SSE-enabled and memory-intensive applications, making the Morgan core on average a few percent faster than the Spitfire core. Still, this performance gain was not sufficient to beat equally clocked Athlon Thunderbird processor (which didn't have data-prefetch and SSE instructions).

Sempron

Picture of: AMD Sempron 3000+ - SDA3000DUT4D (SDA3000BOX)

K7 Semprons are essentially re-branded Athlon XP microprocessors. Sempron CPUs have the same core, L2 cache size and mostly the same front side bus frequency options as Athlon XP CPUs, though Semprons don't support 400 MHz FSB, and their maximum internal frequency is limited to 2000 MHz as opposed to 2200 MHz for Athlon XPs. Because Sempron processors are aimed at the same market as Intel Celerons, all Semprons have Celeron rating, which is approximately 300 MHz higher than Pentium 4 rating. As a result, the fastest officially released Sempron 3000+ only performs as fast as Athlon XP 2700+.

Mobile Athlon 4

Picture of: AMD Mobile Athlon 4 1000 - AHM1000AVS3B

One unusual thing about this engineering sample is that the part number is printed on the processor with ink, unlike the production processor, where the part number is engraved. Also, like older Athlon socket A processors, this microprocessor doesn't have special rubber pads that support the heatsink and ensure that the CPU die is not damaged during heatsink installation. All other Mobile Athlon 4 processor have these pads.

Athlon XP-M

Picture of: AMD Mobile Athlon XP-M 2000+ - AXMH2000FQQ3C

Next generation of K7-based mobile microprocessors received Athlon XP-M name that closely matched "Athlon XP" name of desktop K7 CPUs. XP-M CPUs were based on the same Thoroughbred and Barton cores as desktop processors, and had all of the features of desktop CPUs. In addition to this, Athlon XP-Ms included PowerNow! feature, and usually had lower core voltage and power consumption. Some Athlon XP-M CPUs were made in micro-MPA package that was not compatible with Socket A (462).