AMD K6-III
K6-III marking logo
Developer	AMD
Manufacturer	AMD
Type	Microprocessors
Introduction	October 16, 1998 (announced) February 22, 1999 (launch)
Architecture	IA-32 with MMX and 3DNow+
ISA	IA-32
µarch	K6-III
Word size	32 32 bit 4 octets 8 nibbles
Process	180 nm 0.18 μm 1.8e-4 mm , 250 nm 0.25 μm 2.5e-4 mm
Technology	CMOS
Clock	333 MHz-450 MHz
Package	CPGA-321
Socket	Socket 7, Super Socket 7
Succession
←	→
K6-2	Athlon Duron K6-III+ K6-2+

K6-III was a family of 32-bit x86 microprocessors introduced by AMD in February of 1999 as a successor to the K6-2 family. K6-III was an attempt by AMD to stretch the life of the original K6 (a NexGen design) for a bit longer while they worked on K7 (Athlon).

Overview

AMD's K7 was well into development in 1998 when they announced a partnership with Motorola (now Freescale) with the goal of improving their manufacturing problems in an attempt to take on Intel. Athlon was to be released in mid-1999. The K6-III served as a temporary solution, introducing a number of small modification to the microarchitecture which resulted in a performance increase. The significant increase in performance is a result of a new large on-die L2$. Previously, systems incorporated an L2$ on the motherboard which ranged from 512 KB to 2MB. This changed with K6-III which added 256 KB of level 2 cache on-die. AMD branded this setup "TriLevel Cache", moving the on-motherboard cache to level 3.

As with K6-2, K6-III offers 3DNow!, MMX, and 3DNow+ which contained a number of new DSP instructions. K6-III, however, did not incorporated any new Intel MMX instructions. Like its predecessors, K6-III further extended the life of the Super 7 socket.

K6-III lived for only a few months. By June of 1999, AMD moved on to Athlon by which point K6-III lost any competitive advantage. In late 1999, Intel suffered major manufacturing issues, creating massive shortages of Pentium III processors. This created significant demand for Athlon models forcing AMD to discontinue K6-III to allocate more resources to Athlon to cope with the demand.

Architecture

Main article: K6-III Microarchitecture

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Die Shot

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Identification

Identification
AMD-	K6-III	/	350	A	C	K
AMD-	K6-III	/	433	A	F	X
							TCASE Range Q 0 °C – 60 °C X 0 °C – 65 °C R 0 °C – 70 °C K 0 °C – 80 °C Z 0 °C – 85 °C
						Core Voltage U 1.5 V ± 0.1 V   C 2.0 V ± 0.1 V T 1.6 V ± 0.1 V   D 2.1 V ± 0.1 V P 1.7 V ± 0.1 V   F 2.2 V ± 0.1 V N 1.8 V ± 0.1 V   G 2.3 V ± 0.1 V M 1.9 V ± 0.1 V   H 2.4 V ± 0.1 V I/O Voltage Always 3.3675 ± 7%
					Package Designation A CPGA-321 B CBGA-360 I OBGA-349
				Frequency (MHz)
		Type K6-III K6-III Processor K6-III+ K6-III+ Processor K6-IIIE+ K6-III+ Embedded Processor K6-2+ K6-2+ Processor (K6-III based)

Members

Three different types of K6-III models were sold: Desktop PCs, Mobile, and Embedded systems.

K6-III Desktop Models

Sharptooth Core

,,,,

Desktop K6-III Processors
Model	Launched	Process	Freq	Mult.	Bus	Max Mem	VCORE	Package	Min Tcase	Max Tcase
AMD-K6-III/333AFR	13 May 1999	250 nm 0.25 μm 2.5e-4 mm	333.66 MHz 0.334 GHz 333,660 kHz	3.5	95.33 MHz 0.0953 GHz 95,330 kHz	4,096 MiB 4,194,304 KiB 4,294,967,296 B 4 GiB 0.00391 TiB	2.2 V 22 dV 220 cV 2,200 mV		0 °C 273.15 K 32 °F 491.67 °R	70 °C 343.15 K 158 °F 617.67 °R
AMD-K6-III/400AFR	26 February 1999	250 nm 0.25 μm 2.5e-4 mm	399.99 MHz 0.4 GHz 399,990 kHz	4	99.99 MHz 0.1 GHz 99,990 kHz	4,096 MiB 4,194,304 KiB 4,294,967,296 B 4 GiB 0.00391 TiB	2.2 V 22 dV 220 cV 2,200 mV		0 °C 273.15 K 32 °F 491.67 °R	70 °C 343.15 K 158 °F 617.67 °R
AMD-K6-III/400AHX	26 February 1999	250 nm 0.25 μm 2.5e-4 mm	399.99 MHz 0.4 GHz 399,990 kHz	4	99.99 MHz 0.1 GHz 99,990 kHz	4,096 MiB 4,194,304 KiB 4,294,967,296 B 4 GiB 0.00391 TiB	2.4 V 24 dV 240 cV 2,400 mV		0 °C 273.15 K 32 °F 491.67 °R	65 °C 338.15 K 149 °F 608.67 °R
AMD-K6-III/450AFX	13 May 1999	250 nm 0.25 μm 2.5e-4 mm	449.99 MHz 0.45 GHz 449,990 kHz	4.5	99.99 MHz 0.1 GHz 99,990 kHz	4,096 MiB 4,194,304 KiB 4,294,967,296 B 4 GiB 0.00391 TiB	2.2 V 22 dV 220 cV 2,200 mV		0 °C 273.15 K 32 °F 491.67 °R	65 °C 338.15 K 149 °F 608.67 °R
AMD-K6-III/450AHX	13 May 1999	250 nm 0.25 μm 2.5e-4 mm	449.99 MHz 0.45 GHz 449,990 kHz	4.5	99.99 MHz 0.1 GHz 99,990 kHz	4,096 MiB 4,194,304 KiB 4,294,967,296 B 4 GiB 0.00391 TiB	2.4 V 24 dV 240 cV 2,400 mV		0 °C 273.15 K 32 °F 491.67 °R	65 °C 338.15 K 149 °F 608.67 °R
Count: 5

K6-III Mobile P Models

Sharptooth Core

,,,,,,

Mobile P K6-III Processors
Model	Launched	Process	Freq	Mult.	Bus	Max Mem	VCORE	Package	Min Tcase	Max Tcase
AMD-K6-III/333AFK	31 May 1999	250 nm 0.25 μm 2.5e-4 mm	333.66 MHz 0.334 GHz 333,660 kHz	3.5	95.33 MHz 0.0953 GHz 95,330 kHz	4,096 MiB 4,194,304 KiB 4,294,967,296 B 4 GiB 0.00391 TiB	2.2 V 22 dV 220 cV 2,200 mV		0 °C 273.15 K 32 °F 491.67 °R	80 °C 353.15 K 176 °F 635.67 °R
AMD-K6-III/350AFK	31 May 1999	250 nm 0.25 μm 2.5e-4 mm	349.99 MHz 0.35 GHz 349,990 kHz	3.5	99.99 MHz 0.1 GHz 99,990 kHz	4,096 MiB 4,194,304 KiB 4,294,967,296 B 4 GiB 0.00391 TiB	2.2 V 22 dV 220 cV 2,200 mV		0 °C 273.15 K 32 °F 491.67 °R	80 °C 353.15 K 176 °F 635.67 °R
AMD-K6-III/366AFK	31 May 1999	250 nm 0.25 μm 2.5e-4 mm	366.66 MHz 0.367 GHz 366,660 kHz	5.5	66.66 MHz 0.0667 GHz 66,660 kHz	4,096 MiB 4,194,304 KiB 4,294,967,296 B 4 GiB 0.00391 TiB	2.2 V 22 dV 220 cV 2,200 mV		0 °C 273.15 K 32 °F 491.67 °R	80 °C 353.15 K 176 °F 635.67 °R
AMD-K6-III/380AFK	31 May 1999	250 nm 0.25 μm 2.5e-4 mm	380 MHz 0.38 GHz 380,000 kHz	3.5	95 MHz 0.095 GHz 95,000 kHz	4,096 MiB 4,194,304 KiB 4,294,967,296 B 4 GiB 0.00391 TiB	2.2 V 22 dV 220 cV 2,200 mV		0 °C 273.15 K 32 °F 491.67 °R	80 °C 353.15 K 176 °F 635.67 °R
AMD-K6-III/400ACK	20 September 1999	250 nm 0.25 μm 2.5e-4 mm	399.999 MHz 0.4 GHz 399,999 kHz	3.5	99.99 MHz 0.1 GHz 99,990 kHz	4,096 MiB 4,194,304 KiB 4,294,967,296 B 4 GiB 0.00391 TiB	2 V 20 dV 200 cV 2,000 mV		0 °C 273.15 K 32 °F 491.67 °R	80 °C 353.15 K 176 °F 635.67 °R
AMD-K6-III/433ACK	20 September 1999	250 nm 0.25 μm 2.5e-4 mm	433 MHz 0.433 GHz 433,000 kHz	4.5	96.22 MHz 0.0962 GHz 96,220 kHz	4,096 MiB 4,194,304 KiB 4,294,967,296 B 4 GiB 0.00391 TiB	2 V 20 dV 200 cV 2,000 mV		0 °C 273.15 K 32 °F 491.67 °R	80 °C 353.15 K 176 °F 635.67 °R
AMD-K6-III/450ACK	20 September 1999	250 nm 0.25 μm 2.5e-4 mm	449.99 MHz 0.45 GHz 449,990 kHz	4.5	99.99 MHz 0.1 GHz 99,990 kHz	4,096 MiB 4,194,304 KiB 4,294,967,296 B 4 GiB 0.00391 TiB	2 V 20 dV 200 cV 2,000 mV		0 °C 273.15 K 32 °F 491.67 °R	80 °C 353.15 K 176 °F 635.67 °R
Count: 7

K6-III+ & K6-2+

Main articles: K6-III+ and K6-2+

In early 2000, AMD announced 2 replacement families for the K6-III. Both families were based on the K6-III microarchitecture with one having just half the L2$. Because they were manufactured in a smaller process node, they consume less voltage, dissipate less power, and could be overclocked further.

Documents

Datasheets

• AMD K6-III Processor Data Sheet; Publication #21918B; Rev 0; October 1999.
• AMD K6-III Processor Revision Guide Model 9; Publication # 22473; Rev C; Amendment/0; July 1999.
• Mobile AMD K6-III-P Processor Data Sheet; Publication # 22655; Rev: C; Amendment/0; September 1999.