Introduction

AMD has recently announced a new revision of the Athlon64 processor core. The new “E?revision has been codenamed “Venice?and it brings a number of new features to the Athlon64 line-up. These enhanced features include SSE3 support, updated memory controller and a 90nm SOI process. Despite the fact that the Athlon64 processors based on this new Venice core are a whole new animal, AMD are not making anything of it. The Venice will be introduced much like how the Winchester was. The Winchester was designed to slowly phase out the older Newcastle processors designed around a 130nm process.

This makes things a little more complicated when the time comes to purchase an Athlon64 processor, as there are now three distinct revisions of the same processor. Furthermore they all share the same model name ratings such as 3000+, 3200+, 3500+ and 3800+. This means it is important to check which revision you are buying. Thankfully, any online retailer worth shopping at will specify which revision you are purchasing. This is exactly what ?a href="http://www.megapc.com.au">MegaPC.com.au?has done on their website, as they clearly specify which core the processor features.

While the Venice core does offer SSE3 instructions, better memory support and improved memory performance, this is not going to be my main point of focus. Rather I am far more interested in how well this new revision overclocks. The overclocking performance of each new revision is extremely vital if it is to be accepted by the enthusiast community. Designed using the 90nm SOI process the Venice core should be an overclockers fantasy.

There is a great demand for products that overclock well. Many of the markets most popular motherboards have become so popular due to their overclocking abilities. Even certain processors from both AMD and Intel have become sort after items due to their overclocking abilities. Another perfect example of overclocking popularity comes from the memory market. There are several companies currently competing to produce the most highly overclockable memory modules available.

The AMD Athlon64 series already offers gamers a powerful yet affordable platform through the lower rated processors such as the 3000+ and 3200+. For example, I was able to purchase an Athlon64 3200+ (Venice) processor from MegaPC.com.au for just $290 AUD. Combined with 1GB of Corsair PC4400 (DDR550) memory and the Gigabyte K8NXP-9 motherboard I hope to significantly overclock this processor. Let’s move on and find out just how well this new Athlon64 3200+ processor really overclocks.