14 DAY TRIAL // Any enthusiast would already know by now of both AMD and Intel's intention to launch next-generation hexacore CPUs this year. The six-core central processing unit codenamed Thuban from Advanced Micro Devices was rumored to be in development since September 2009. Not long afterwards, the hexacore's coming was confirmed by an AMD spokesperson but no concrete time frame was given at that time. Most recently, however, the folks over at ocworkbench claim that their “usual sources” hinted at the processor coming in May.
“From our usual sources of information, the upcoming 6 core Thuban processors will make its first appearance in the market somewhere in May 2010,” the report said. This means that the processor will pop up about a couple of months after Intel launches its own hexacore, dubbed the Core i7 980X “Gulftown.”
Ocworkbench expects the Computex Taipei 2010 show, scheduled for June, to be packed with Thuban chips, also known as AMD Phenom II X6. In addition, compatible chipsets are set to debut around April, in order to provide AMD's chips with a reasonable amount of platforms when it finally comes out. The report suggests that most motherboards supporting Thuban will be powered by the 890FX discrete chipset (with SB850) but that even existing AM3 socket boards should gain support for the new chips if their BIOS is updated. Such motherboards include 790FX or 790GX models.
The Thuban is expected to have a 95W TDP, with “some information” suggesting that models may also reach 125W, though this has yet to be confirmed. The processors are also expected to boast 6MB L3 cache memory, an integrated memory controller and 6.4 GT/s HyperTransport, depending on the model. The CPUs are also suggested to have L2 cache memory of 6x 512 KB and frequencies of 2.8GHz among others, though the actual specs are still a mystery.
The processors will be based on the 45nm manufacturing process.