The Turion processor family represents AMD's foray into low-power, x86-64 mobile CPUs. Designed to compete with Intel's mobile offerings, Turion processors have evolved through several generations, each bringing new features and improvements.
Key Features of Turion Processors
Turion processors are characterized by:
- Low power consumption
- x86-64 architecture
- Suitability for mobile devices
- Competitive performance against Intel mobile CPUs
Evolution of Turion Processors
Turion 64
- Socket 754 support
- 512 KiB or 1024 KiB L2 cache
- Single-channel DDR-400 memory controller
- 800 MHz HyperTransport bus
- PowerNow! battery-saving technology
Later models (Richmond) introduced:
- Socket S1 support
- Dual-channel DDR2 controller
Turion 64 X2
- 64-bit dual-core design
- Socket S1 support
- DDR2 memory compatibility
- AMD Virtualization Technology
- Enhanced power-saving features
Turion X2 Ultra
- Based on Athlon 64 architecture
- Dual cores on 65 nm technology
- DDR2-800 SO-DIMM support
- DRAM prefetcher
- Mobile-optimized Northbridge
- HyperTransport 3.0
- Advanced power management (C3 and C4 sleep states)
Turion II Ultra
Turion II
Turion Codenames and Core Technologies
Turion processors have been released under various codenames, each representing different core designs and manufacturing processes:
- Lancaster (2005): 90 nm single-core
- Richmond (2006): 90 nm single-core with AMD-V support
- Taylor and Trinidad (2006): 90 nm dual-core
- Tyler (2007): 65 nm dual-core
- Lion (2008): 65 nm dual-core with improved features
- Caspian (2009): 45 nm dual-core
- Champlain (2010): 45 nm dual-core with AMD K10 microarchitecture
Each generation brought improvements in cache size, memory support, and instruction set extensions like SSE, SSE2, SSE3, and SSE4a.
Conclusion
The Turion processor family demonstrates AMD's commitment to low-power, high-performance mobile computing. With features comparable to Intel's mobile offerings, Turion CPUs have provided a viable alternative in the laptop market. As technology advances, it will be interesting to see how AMD continues to innovate in the mobile processor space.