Michael Hertz said:
I am a bit confused about the AMD naming:
Is the socket AM2 (for Athlon 64 CPUs) the same as Socket 939 ?
No. Sockets are the things the CPU plugs into on the motherboard and they
can have different sizes and number of pins. Socket 939 has 939 pins, AM2
has 940 pins (although it's not the same as AMDs socket 940 which also has
940 pins).
If not: What are the differences / which is better resp. more future
compatible ?
AMD put both the CPU itself and the memory controller on their CPU dies.
This differs from Intel which keeps the CPU and memory controller separate.
When AMD made the switch from supporting DDR RAM to DDR2 RAM they changed
the memory controller but not the CPU architecture. That's why you can
have, for example, a socket 939 X2 4600 (DDR) and a socket AM2 X2 4600
(DDR2). There is little noticeable performance difference between them.
AM2 is AMD's current socket for desktop PCs. They are planning on releasing
the successor to AM2, AM3, early this year. AM3s will fit in AM2 sockets
but incorporate CPU improvements.
Do Athlon 64 CPUs with the labels 3000+ or 3200+ or 3500+ ALWAYS have
a Venice core (= a core with low (67 Watt) power consumption) ?
No, although these days it would be uncommon to find a Winchester or
Newcastle core on the shelves. Because AMD don't distinguish cores in their
product codes you need to rely on the retailer to do that. If in doubt ask
the retailer to confirm the core.