14 DAY TRIAL // Shortly after the launch of its first six-core processors based on the Thuban core, AMD has revealed that it plans to bring its new chip design into the less powerful Athlon II X4 processor range and it seems like that day has finally come as a Thuban-based Athlon II X4 640 has been spotted online.
These new Athnol II X4 processors were mentioned for the first time in a CPU support list for Biostar motherboards which made its appearance in January, according to CPU-World.
The processor was identified with the part number ADX640WFK42GR and it featured the same specs as the current Athlon II X4 640, four processing cores running at 3GHz paired together with 2MB of L2 cache, in spite of the different OPN.
This seemed to indicate that the CPU was actually based on the Zosma core which is basically a castrated Thuban with two of its cores and the 6MB of L3 cache disabled.
This supposition was later confirmed by a user on the Overclock.net forum who managed to get his hand on such a processor.
Furthermore, the user also found out that the two disabled cores as well as the 6MB of Level 3 cache memory can be enabled, CPU-Z identifying the chip as an Phenom II X6 1405T.
While nobody can guarantee that the unlock procedure will be successful for every Zosma-based Athlon II X4 640, AMD processors have a pretty positive track record when it comes to core unlocking.
Sadly, the biggest problem right now is getting a hold of such a chip as the Athlon II X5 640 "GR" is an OEM-only part, which means that it isn't available for purchase in retail.
In addition, the CPU hasn't been spotted in any desktop machine built by top-tier OEMs, which makes tracking it even harder.
