Released to be Pentium M’s main competitor, Turion 64 from AMD is a low voltage CPU targeted to the mobile market. In this tutorial we will explain what are the main differences between Turion 64, Turion 64 X2 and Athlon 64 Mobile and also a table listing all Turion 64 and Turion 64 X2 CPUs released so far.

Turion 64 is based on Athlon 64’s architecture, and the main difference between Turion 64 and Athlon 64 Mobile is the power consumption, which is lower on Turion 64: Athlon 64 Mobile dissipates 65 W while Turion 64 dissipates only 35 W (ML models) or 25 W (MT models). Another difference between them is the amount of L2 cache, which is always of 1 MB on Athlon 64 Mobile, while Turion 64 can have a L2 memory cache of 512 KB or 1 MB, depending on the model.

Both CPUs feature AMD’s PowerNow! Technology, which is similar to Cool’n’Quiet technology used by desktops. This technology changes de CPU clock rate and voltage depending on CPU usage, in order to save battery life. As you can see, it competes with Intel’s Enhanced SpeedStep technology.

Turion 64 main features include:

• The processors are not sold by their clock rate but by a “model number” figure.
• 64 KB instruction L1 memory cache and 64 KB data L1 memory cache
• 512 KB or 1 MB L2 memory cache, depending on the model.
• HyperTransport bus running at 800 MHz (3.2 GB/s). This clock may also be referred as “1,600 MHz”.
• DDR single channel configuration.
• Socket 754 or S1 (models MK-36 and MK-38) pinout.
• Addressing up to 1 TB (terabyte) of RAM memory (address bus with 40 addressing lines, 2^40 = 1 TB).
• Support for MMX, 3Dnow!, SSE, SSE2 and SSE3 instructions.
• PowerNow! technology.
• EVP (Enhanced Virus Protection) Technology, also known as “NX Bit Disable”, read our tutorial on this subject.
• 90 nm manufacturing process.

As mentioned, Turion 64 CPUs are available in two series: ML, which has a maximum power consumption (TDP, Thermal Design Power) of 35 W, and MT, which has a maximum power consumption of 25 W. The lower the power, the longer your notebook battery will last.

On next page we will talk about Turion 64 X2.