Socket A AMD Athlon Thunderbird CPU

The Socket A Athlon Thunderbird was the 2nd Thunderbird generation to his the streets. The Slot A version of the Thunderbirds that were meant for OEM's found their way onto the streets and in to overclockers computers. The new Thunderbird core took advantage of the existing 0.18-micron technology and the new ondie L2 cache technology and combined the 2 to form the new wave of Pentium 3 killers. The Thunderbird incorporates a L2 cache size of only 256KB running at the full CPU speed. Although its cache size is smaller from its predecessor this CPU is able to outperform the 512KB model due to the cache running twice as fast as the 512KB model. So while the 512KB model is trying to clear its L2 out for new data the Thunderbird has already cleared its cache out and has received the new data. The Thunderbird uses the same FPU as its predecessor, The only real difference is the cache an the new Socket 462 or Socket A PGA package. The new Socket form was used in favor of the Slot because of cost. Using the Socket A reduces costs in 2 stages, 1, since the cache is moved to the die of the CPU there is no need for the board anymore which used to hold the L2 cache chips., removing this board reduces the costs of manufacturing the CPU. 2, using a Socket interface on the motherboard reduces motherboard production costs as the manufacture of the motherboard doesn't need to add extra PCB to accommodate the extremely long Slot connector.