AMD Athlon 750 socket: Socket 462

What the Athlon 750 is

The AMD Athlon 750 is a 750 MHz single-core desktop processor from June 2000. It runs one K7 Thunderbird core at 750 MHz with no turbo, so 1 core gives 1 thread. Cache is 256 KB of full-speed on-die L2 with 128 KB of L1 on a 180 nm process. Power is rated at 43 W in a Socket A ceramic PGA package on a 200 MT/s EV6 bus with a 7.5x multiplier at 1.75 V.

A half-ratio step over the 700 at a small power cost makes the 750 a steady office pick, which is why it shipped in managed business boxes. AMD launched the Socket A 750 on June 5, 2000. The chip supports MMX and Enhanced 3DNow.

Mid entry clocks with a full cache suit Socket A office towers with SDRAM. The 7.5x ratio needs an exact BIOS string. That is why the 750 shipped in corporate desktops.

Socket and motherboard compatibility

The 750 fits Socket A office desktops with Thunderbird support. It needs a 462-pin board with a 200 MT/s bus and a BIOS that lists Athlon 750. The Socket vs chipset: what decides whether a CPU works guide covers pairing rules.

Office SDRAM towers are the natural match. Boards listing Athlon 750 accept the chip with a 43 W cooler.

Memory, PCIe and cooling

Memory is SDRAM through the board chipset, matched to the board sockets. The CPU has no memory controller. Office boards commonly run PC100 pairs.

A 200 MT/s EV6 bus ties the CPU to the chipset, while AGP and PCI hang off the chipset. No PCIe lanes originate on the die. Cooling uses the Socket 462 lug clip with a 43 W cooler.

Upgrade paths

On the same socket, a move to an Athlon 800 keeps the board for 50 MHz more at 45 W. An Athlon 700 drops 50 MHz at 40 W.

A move to Athlon XP needs 266 MT/s paths. The Socket 462 page lists the range for planning.