Socket 939 is dead before AM2 is even launched

Today marked the launch of the Athlon FX 60, the first dual-core FX chip from AMD, and the last speed grade for the Socket 939 platform. Anandtech, as always, has a great review. With the DDR2-enabled socket AM2 coming around the corner, with it's own FX, X2 and 64 lineup, socket 939 is on the way to becoming the budget platform for AMD.

First off, what is the big deal with this FX? Here's the specs first off:

•  First in the line of Dual-Core FX's
•  2.6ghz at 1.3-1.4v
•  2x1mb cache
•  Unlocked multiplier
•  Socket 939 compatable

That should about wrap it up. The most important thing that the FX class brings is the unlocked multiplier for easy overclocking. There are allready reports of this chip being stable at 3.0ghz with a modest voltage increase and enthusiast-grade air cooling. I'm sure we'll see some very impressive numbers soon from machines with this bad boy in hand. So technically, you can be pretty sure that 2.8ghz is possible with a little nicer-than-stock heatsink, and 3ghz with a very nice heatsink or decent water-cooling. The flexibility of the multiplier and the addition of memory speeds up to DDR500 will allow the most anal of enthusiasts to tweak their systems out for the perfect balance of memory speed, CAS latency, and processor speed. In one of my favorite comic's words "It's going to be a good day Tater."

Now the big question on everyone's mind: "Should I buy it?" At just over a grand for a Processor In a Box (PIB), I honestly cannot recommend it. The longevity of any new system today is virtually non-existant, on either side of the coin. Intel has a new processor on the way that may just surprise everyone with it's 4-way macro-instruction execution pipeline, and AMD's dual-core parts may really benefit from the added bandwidth of DDR2. 65nm shifts are all over the place, and video cards are coming at us faster than mosquitos on a hot day in Florida. It's to the point where if you must have a machine today, get one with modest but solid components, and plan to upgrade in 6-8 months. Of course there's also the BD/HD craze that should come to PC's in about 4 months or so, so don't even bother getting that Plextor DVD burner. The things I can easily recommend are worth the money are 150gb Raptors, X-Fi sound cards, card-reader floppy combo drives (yeah I know FLOPPY! ), and a very solid PSU. motherboards, processors and RAM will all be overhauled in an AMD system, and Intel users will need a new motherboard and processor by the end of the year. At the same time, DDR2 modules may make a big jump when AM2 comes along, and 4gb of RAM may be the new enthusiast standard. Really right now, 4gb has to come in 4x1gb sticks, and we all know what the 2T timing does to the AMD guys. Some good 2gb modules need to show up from the DDR2 gang when AM2 gains some foothold.

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