AMD K8
Encyclopedia
The AMD K8 is a computer processor microarchitecture
designed by AMD
as the successor to the AMD K7 microarchitecture. The K8 was the first implementation of the AMD64 64-bit
extension to the x86 processor architecture.
Processors based on the K8 core include:
The K8 core is very similar to the K7. The most radical change is the integration of AMD64 instructions and an on-chip memory controller. The memory controller drastically reduces memory latency and is responsible for most of the performance gains from K7 to K8.
Microarchitecture
In computer engineering, microarchitecture , also called computer organization, is the way a given instruction set architecture is implemented on a processor. A given ISA may be implemented with different microarchitectures. Implementations might vary due to different goals of a given design or...
designed by AMD
Advanced Micro Devices
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. or AMD is an American multinational semiconductor company based in Sunnyvale, California, that develops computer processors and related technologies for commercial and consumer markets...
as the successor to the AMD K7 microarchitecture. The K8 was the first implementation of the AMD64 64-bit
64-bit
64-bit is a word size that defines certain classes of computer architecture, buses, memory and CPUs, and by extension the software that runs on them. 64-bit CPUs have existed in supercomputers since the 1970s and in RISC-based workstations and servers since the early 1990s...
extension to the x86 processor architecture.
Processors based on the K8 core include:
- Athlon 64 X2Athlon 64 X2The Athlon 64 X2 is the first dual-core desktop CPU designed by AMD. It was designed from scratch as native dual-core by using an already multi-CPU enabled Athlon 64, joining it with another functional core on one die, and connecting both via a shared dual-channel memory controller/north bridge and...
- Athlon 64 FX
- Athlon 64Athlon 64The Athlon 64 is an eighth-generation, AMD64-architecture microprocessor produced by AMD, released on September 23, 2003. It is the third processor to bear the name Athlon, and the immediate successor to the Athlon XP...
- SempronSempronSempron has been the marketing name used by AMD for several different budget desktop CPUs, using several different technologies and CPU socket formats. The Sempron replaced the AMD Duron processor and competes against Intel's Celeron series of processors...
- OpteronOpteronOpteron is AMD's x86 server and workstation processor line, and was the first processor which supported the AMD64 instruction set architecture . It was released on April 22, 2003 with the SledgeHammer core and was intended to compete in the server and workstation markets, particularly in the same...
- Turion 64
The K8 core is very similar to the K7. The most radical change is the integration of AMD64 instructions and an on-chip memory controller. The memory controller drastically reduces memory latency and is responsible for most of the performance gains from K7 to K8.