The second thing that the smaller process allowed for is lower cost chips. With the K6-2+, however, AMD choose to limit the K6-2+ to the same speed as the original K6-2: up to 550 MHz. In the case of the K6-3+, the 0.18 micron process allowed the processor to hit 550 MHz, whereas the old 0.25 micron K6-3 only hit 450 MHz. This allowed AMD to ramp up clock speed with much greater ease, if needed. Since heat decreases the operational range of the transistors inside a processor, shrinking the process allows higher operational frequencies to be reached before encountering heat problems. By shrinking the process, less heat is produced at higher clock speeds. First off, the smaller manufacturing process resulted in the ability to produce higher speed K6-2 and K6-3 based processors. The process shrink down to 0.18 micron resulted in a few benefits. Both the K6-2+ and the K6-3+ are manufactured on a 0.18 micron process, as opposed to the original K6-2 and K6-3's 0.25 micron process. The common alteration in the + line processors lies in the manufacturing process. The changes made to the processors turned out to be more than just a rehash of the old K6-2 and K6-3 cores and less than a completely new processor. #K6 3D CLOCK SERIES#As the name suggests, the + series processors are closely related to their initial K6-2 and K6-3 brothers. The approach taken was an interesting one. In order to keep the Super7 alive, AMD had to make some changes to the K6 processor line in order to reinvigorate it. In early 1999, AMD knew that both the aging K6-2 and K6-3 processors in their original forms needed some changes in order to enter more competitive markets and remain big sellers.
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