Athlon to add on-chip cache

AMD plans to integrate Level 2 cache onto the Athlon chip's die, and to produce a lower-cost, socket version of the microprocessor for the value-PC market.

The L2-enhanced chip will be called "Thunderbird," while the socket version will be dubbed "Spitfire."

The Thunderbird device will boost performance by transforming the Athlon's current 512K of off-chip L2 cache into 256K of on-die L2 cache.

The Spitfire will feature a 128K on-die L2 cache along with its new socket infrastructure.

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