AMD Athlon 500 socket: Slot A

What the Athlon 500 is

The AMD Athlon 500 is a 500 MHz single-core desktop processor from June 1999. It runs one K7 Argon core at 500 MHz with no turbo, so 1 core gives 1 thread. Cache is 512 KB of external L2 at half CPU speed with 128 KB of L1 on a 250 nm process. Power is rated at 42 W in a Slot A SECC cartridge on a 200 MT/s EV6 bus with a 5x multiplier at 1.6 V.

The first Athlon launch card opens the K7 line with cartridge cache, which is why the 500 at 500 MHz trails later Pluto cards at matching clocks despite sharing the slot. AMD launched the Argon 500 on June 23, 1999 with the 550 through 700 cards. The chip supports MMX and Enhanced 3DNow.

Launch clocks with a large external cache suit first Slot A towers with SDRAM and AGP 2X graphics. The 5x integer ratio is clean for 200 MT/s boards. That is why the 500 shipped in first Athlon systems.

Socket and motherboard compatibility

The 500 fits Slot A first-generation desktops with Argon support. It needs a 242-lead slot board with a 200 MT/s EV6 bus and a BIOS that lists Athlon 500. The Socket vs chipset: what decides whether a CPU works guide covers pairing rules.

First SDRAM towers with AMD 750 paths are the natural match. Boards listing the Argon 500 accept the cartridge with a 42 W cooler.

Memory, PCIe and cooling

Memory is SDRAM through the board chipset, matched to the board DIMM sockets. The cartridge has no memory controller. First 750 boards commonly run PC100 pairs.

A 200 MT/s EV6 bus ties the cartridge to the chipset, while AGP and PCI hang off the chipset. No PCIe lanes originate on the cartridge. Cooling uses SECC cartridge heatsinks locked to the retention cage.

Upgrade paths

On the same slot, an Athlon 550 such as AMD Athlon 550 keeps the board for 50 MHz more, with Pluto cards at lower power when the support list names them. A 550 Argon card is the same-silicon step up at 46 W.

A move to Socket A Thunderbird needs a new PGA board. The Slot A page lists the Argon to Thunderbird-B range for planning.