AMD Phenom CPUs - the New "Stars" of the Show

AMD has decided to come up with a new name for the upcoming high-end Agena-based CPUs. Thus, the next-generation K10-derived "Stars" family will include single, dual and quad-core processors, which will be commercialized under three different brand names: Phenom (high-end), Athlon 64 (mainstream) and Sempron (entry level).


An official chart presents the AMD Phenom FX CPU as AMD's quad core flagship for the soon-to be-released series. The Agena-based Phenom FX is scheduled to be clocked in the 2.4-2.6 GHz speed range. Immediately following are two 2.2-2.4 GHz versions. One of them is supposed to be designed for AMD's Socket 1207 (the Quad FX platform) just as the 2.4-2.6 GHz model and the other will work on the current AM2 sockets. All three Phenom FX CPUs have 4X512 KB for L2 cache and 2 MB for L3 cache.

Further going down the official chart and still sticking with the high-end CPUs, we discover the Phenom X4 processors. These are Agena-based as well and AMD offers 2.2 GHz and 2.4 GHz versions. L2 and L3 caches remain unchanged from the FX models, but the two X4 CPUs have different HyperTransport 3.0 speeds: the 2.4 GHz features a 3.6 GHz HT 3.0 speed while the 2.2 GHz model features a 3.2 GHz HT 3.0 speed.

The availability of Phenom FX and X4 CPUs is set to debut in Q3 2007.


Up next, we find the Phenom X2 CPUs based on the "Kuma" microarchitecture. AMD schedules three versions for Q4 2007, with 2.8 GHz, 2.6 GHz and 2.4 GHz clock speeds, respectively. At the top of this segment there is the AMD Phenom X2 2.8 GHz model, which comes at a staggering the HT 3.0 bus clock of 4.2 GHz. The other two models have 3.8 GHz and 3.6 GHz HT 3.0 clock speeds. Being dual core processors, all three models feature a 2x512KB L2 cache and 2MB L3 cache configuration.


The Athlon 64 X2 denomination will still appear among AMD's future value models based on the "Rana" architecture. AMD schedules a single "Rana" model clocked at 2.2 GHz for Q1 2008. Unfortunately, all future Athlons won't integrate any L3 cache.

Finally, the entry level Sempron CPUs live on through the single core "Spica"-based models, scheduled for Q1 2008. AMD will release two Sempron versions clocked 2.4 and 2.2 GHz, which will feature only 512 KB of L2 cache. These models will be available for the AM2 socket.

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