2
Overview
Chapter 1
AMD Athlon™ XP Processor Model 6 Data Sheet
24309E—March 2002
Preliminary Information
The AMD Athlon XP processor model 6 is binary-compatible
with existing x86 software and backwards compatible with
applications optimized for MMX™, SSE, and 3DNow!
technology. Using a data format and Single-Instruction
Multiple-Data (SIMD) operations based on the MMX
instruction model, the AMD Athlon XP processor model 6 can
produce as many as four, 32-bit, single-precision floating-point
results per clock cycle. The 3DNow! Professional technology
implemented in the AMD Athlon XP processor model 6
includes new integer multimedia instructions and
software-directed data movement instructions for optimizing
such applications as digital content creation and streaming
video for the internet, as well as new instructions for Digital
Signal Processing (DSP)/communications applications.
1.1
QuantiSpeed™ Architecture Summary
The following features summarize the AMD Athlon XP
processor model 6 QuantiSpeed architecture:
■
An advanced nine-issue, superpipelined, superscalar x86
processor microarchitecture designed for increased
Instructions Per Cycle (IPC) and high clock frequencies
■
Fully pipelined floating-point unit that executes all x87
(floating-point), MMX
,
SSE and 3DNow! instructions
■
Hardware data pre-fetch that increases and optimizes
performance on high-end software applications utilizing
high-bandwidth system capabilities
■
Advanced two-level Translation Look-aside Buffer (TLB)
structures for both enhanced data and instruction address
translation. The AMD Athlon XP processor model 6 with
QuantiSpeed architecture incorporates three TLB
optimizations: the L1 DTLB increases from 32 to 40 entries,
the L2 ITLB and L2 DTLB both use exclusive architecture,
and the TLB entries can be speculatively loaded.
The AMD Athlon XP processor model 6 delivers excellent
system performance in a cost-effective, industry-standard form
factor. The AMD Athlon processor model 6 is compatible with
motherboards based on Socket A.
Figure 1 on page 3 shows a typical AMD Athlon processor
system block diagram.