AMD Preps Faster Dual-Core Athlon II For Q3

Advanced Micro Devices, not long ago, finally took on Intel on the mobile computer front, with all of its new central processing units, but it also refreshed its desktop chip line somewhat. Still, there is always room for more and, with Intel periodically releasing new chips, it falls to AMD to do the same. As such, it may not come as that big of a surprise that the Sunnyvale, California-based outfit is preparing to release a new Athlon II Series model for the high-end market.

AMD is already making rounds around the marketplace selling an Athlon II X2 dual-core unit with a clock speed of 3.2 GHz. While noteworthy, the company's plans appear to have already grown into something more. According to a report made by Fudzilla, the same entity that end up behind most of the rumors concerning new CPUs and GPUs, a 3.3GHz Athlon II Series chip is inbound.

The CPU goes by the name of Athlon II X2 265 and will overshadow the Athlon II X2 260, a 3.2GHz part with 2MB cache (1MB L3). The upcoming creature has the aforementioned higher speed of 3.3GHz, the same amount of cache memory and a TDP of 65W.

It is unknown just what price this chip will sport, but it shouldn't be too much higher than that of the 260, available for pre-order, on a significant number of online vendors, at 72.90 Euro.

According to the report, AMD will start shipping the product worldwide sometime during the third quarter of the ongoing year, probably during August. This would put the part right on track to best take advantage of the back to school period. Still, one should take this news, as any rumor, with the obligatory grain of salt, especially considering that, at the very least, launch dates often change.