AMD Preps 870 Chipset, New 3.2GHz Business CPU

Sunnyvale, California-based company continues to dominate the DirectX 11 market, as NVIDIA still delays the launch of its much-anticipated Fermi-based GTX 470 and 480 graphics cards. However, the chip maker has a couple of plans for the chipset and CPU business, according to recent details that have surfaced on the Internet. AMD will apparently refresh its chipset offering with a new 870 model, while in the CPU segment, the outfit plans a new business-targeted processor that will work at speeds of 3.2GHz.

According to Fudzilla, AMD plans to introduce a new chipset that will be designed as a scaled-down version of the upcoming 870FX chipset. Simply dubbed 870, the new chipset will be paired with some of the more mainstream southbridge options, such as the SB600, SB700, SB710 or SB750. As far as technical specifications go, the new chipset will offer support for AM3 socket and one x16 PCI Express gen 2 slot. There's no graphics core and the chipset's TDP will stay at 13W.

In addition to the new chipset, AMD will also introduce a new, Phenom II X4 94 processor, clocked at 3.2GHz and aimed at the business segment. Thanks to the boost in speed performance, the new CPU should provide business users with an enhanced overall performance. Other features include a TPD of 95W and 8MB of cache, as far as Fudzilla is aware of. The processor will be made available sometime in Q2, this year, as an upgrade choice for the current Phenom II X4 B95, clocked at 3.0GHz.

Unfortunately, there's no word on the pricing details of the upcoming CPU, but it's clear that AMD wants to provide consumers with a better alternative to some of the latest Core i5 and Core i7 options, available on the market, from Intel. As for the 870 chipset, we should see affordable boards based on this product, sometime in April.