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AMD K6-2 Processor with 3DNOW! Technology AMD, Cyrix, Intel: The most fierce competitors in the CPU business to date. These corporate giants have been going at it in a see-saw battle for years; battling it out for a supremacy that will ultimately eliminate the competition. In recent times, Intel has acquired a dominance that has remained unmatched. However, AMD and Cyrix are both fighting back with their newest and best processors: the M-II, from Cyrix, and AMD's latest addition, the K6-2. While the M-II is the epitome of business performance on PC's, the floating point performance of the processor has left much to be desired, putting Cyrix in an unenviable position, and giving them little hope of gaining much ground on Intel. AMD, on the other hand, has had their new CPU patiently waiting in the wings poised and ready to attack Intel with a low-cost, high performance alternative to the Pentium II line of processors. How does AMD's bad boy compare to the competition? SYSTEM SPECS
INSTALLATION Installation of the K6-2 was nothing any average high school student couldn't figure out; after opening the case, the old processor was replaced with the K6-2. Upon boot, the processor was recognized, and the computer proceeded with its normal operations. (Editors note: Make sure that the voltage setting of the motherboard you will be using the K6-2 on has its core voltage set to 2.2. Otherwise, the lifespan of the CPU will be relatively short) OVERCLOCKING The K6-2, unlike some of its older siblings, uses a .25 micron die process. The .25 micron size makes the overall dimensions of the CPU smaller, the heat dissipation lower, and the voltage used much less than the .35 micron counterparts that were used in the past. These factors all combine to create a processor that, in theory, can be much more reliably overclocked than previous generations. How did the processor stack up?
While a Celeron 266 may be able to go as high as 400MHz, overclocking is obviously not one of the K6-2's strong points. The highest attainable speed that Coolinfo was able to obtain was 300 MHz, which isn't bad, but certainly nothing to write home about. PERFORMANCE The business performance of the K6-2 was admirable, posting scores very similar to that of a Pentium II at roughly the same clock speed. However, when it's game time, AMD's processor just doesn't seem to cut it. To put it bluntly, the K6 simply cannot compete with the Pentium II in overall game performance, and AMD is well aware of that fact. So, what have they done about it?
3DNOW! Technology Since most games are optimized for the Pentium floating point unit, Intel's competitors must be very resourceful in coming up with ways to combat the situation, and AMD has done just that. 3DNow!, as the term has been coined, is a set of instructions very similar to the MMX enhancements that Intel released a short while ago. The key difference is that these instructions are targeted specifically for Floating Point Processing, which means that games that utilize 3DNow! technology could see as much as a two fold performance boost, which would put Intel and AMD on a level playing field.
As seen above, a 3DNow! enabled K6-2 is capable of putting up some extremely satisfying numbers under 3D Winbench '98, but will these outstanding performance figures hold up in the real world? QUAKE II
(demo1.dm2 Sound on, 8-bit textures, low sound quality) In software-only mode, Quake II was playable, but slowdown was a problem in some areas. When the K6-2 drivers were added, the framerate jumped a full 5 frames per second in 640X480, which doesn't sound like much, but can offer significant improvements in overall gameplay. With a Voodoo II card installed, expect Quake II numbers to be as much as 30 frames higher when using K6-2 drivers. CONCLUSION AMD has been doing their research, and it shows with their new processor. Whether or not the K6 series lives on to become the next Pentium killer is not known, but they've definitely got a winner on their hands with the K6-2. Pros: Excellent business application performance, 3DNow! Enhancements Cons: Lack luster floating point unit Final Rating: 90/100 -- Jarret Griffis CURRENT PRICING - AMD K6-2 Street Prices
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