AMD CPU naming and gens

[Qwerty2323]

So I ve been trying to kinda understand amd cpu naming and so far I m knida catching on all those numbers but can any1 explain me some gens like what about 5 year old ones and newer gens and what about ftx and other series

[don_svetlio]

A10/A8/A6/A4 - APU series (Athlon III)
FX *300 - Vishera
FX *100 - Bulldozer
Phenom II/Athlon II
Phenom
Athlon X2
Athlon 64 X2
Athlon 64
Athlon XP

[rjfaber91]

Here's the basics:

 

AMD processors have for years been subdivided into four categories. The lower-end CPUs (equal to Intel's Celeron) are called Sempron, the mid-range (equal to Intel's Pentium) are called Athlon, the high-end (equal to Intel's Core i) are called FX-series now and were called Phenom before, and the server-grade CPUs (equal to Intel's Xeon) are called Opteron. Alongside these, there are also APUs, which are subdivided into two categories; the lower-end E-series and the mid-range A-series. A-series chips which have had their integrated graphics disabled tend to be sold under the Athlon name.

 

Unlike Intel, who have a fair amount of overlap between enthusiast-grade and server-grade CPUs, AMD keeps the two strictly separated, so chances are you'll never encounter an Opteron processor or a motherboard that will accommodate one, thus making it fairly pointless to go into much depth about it.

 

Sempron and E-series chips are, and always have been, largely useless for gaming, as they are focused on low-cost, low-power systems that don't need to meet any significant performance standards. You'll find plenty of low-end laptops running E-series chips, and a Sempron can be used for something like an HTPC, although that would require dedicated graphics for hardware acceleration, as most Sempron chips aren't powerful enough for H.264 decoding at 1080p.

 

Athlon and A-series chips are great for entry-level systems, low-end gaming rigs or anything else that requires a fair bit of processing power, but won't be expected to run the latest computationally intensive games.

 

FX-series chips (and Phenoms, though they've been discontinued) are AMD's finest offering, and aimed at the high-end gaming and content creation market. Though there are currently no FX-series CPUs that can match Intel's enthusiast-grade CPUs in sheer gaming performance (something that will hopefully change later this year), these are the best of the best AMD chips aimed at consumers.

 

All currently available AMD CPUs and APUs are based on the Bulldozer microarchitecture or one of its derivatives. This particular microarchitecture is much-maligned by gamers, as subsequent posters in this thread will undoubtedly make very clear. Older chips, created between 2007 and 2011, used K10, while even older chips used K8. Later this year, AMD will launch its Zen microarchitecture, which is set to replace Bulldozer and be the new basis for CPUs and APUs alike.

 

Now for some sockets: AM3+ is the most common AMD socket, and is used for Phenom and FX-series CPUs, with motherboards only being available in mATX and ATX, the FM sockets (FM1, FM2 and FM2+) are used for A-series and higher-end Athlon CPUs, with motherboards available in all sizes, and the AM1 socket is used for Sempron and lower-end Athlon CPUs and also has motherboards available in all sizes. Any socket with a "+" is backwards-compatible with CPUs that were designed for the non-plus sockets, so an AM3 CPU will work with an AM3+ socket, but not vice-versa. E-series CPUs don't have sockets, as they are pretty much limited to mobile use. This diversion of sockets is something AMD has been doing for a few years (they used to have just AM2), and it seems they're regretting it, because they're about to bring out socket AM4, which will unify all these lines of CPUs and APUs into a single socket once again.

[agent_x007]

A10/A8/A6/A4 - APU series (Athlon III)

FX *300 - Vishera

FX *100 - Bulldozer

Phenom II/Athlon II

Phenom

Athlon X2

Athlon 64 X2

Athlon 64

Athlon XP

Forgot about one :

Athlon 64 FX (ie. the original FX series) : LINK 

[Qwerty2323]

Tyvm now it makes much more sense for me. Amd kinda needs to step up their naming as it seems intel and nvidia is much better at it

[Kyzer]

Tyvm now it makes much more sense for me. Amd kinda needs to step up their naming as it seems intel and nvidia is much better at it

AMD hasn't made a new name since 2008.

 

The FX's of AM3+ are getting outdated. They work, but the X4 860K is $70 on FM2+, and performs better than the 8350 in single core tasks.

[rjfaber91]

Tyvm now it makes much more sense for me. Amd kinda needs to step up their naming as it seems intel and nvidia is much better at it

Nvidia has very clear and concise naming, so I get that one, but Intel's naming strategy is even more of a mess than AMD's...

[PlayStation 2]

A10/A8/A6/A4/Athlon X4/Athlon and Sempron (AM1) - APU series

FX *3x0 - Vishera

FX *1x0/*200 - Bulldozer

Phenom II/Athlon II

Phenom

Athlon X2

Athlon 64 X2

Athlon 64

Athlon XP

fixed a bit

[Qwerty2323]

Nvidia has very clear and concise naming, so I get that one, but Intel's naming strategy is even more of a mess than AMD's...

Well intel has core series at least most of time you have idea if it's basic i3 advanced i5 or premium i7.