14 DAY TRIAL // Sunnyvale, California-based chip maker, AMD has just recently announced a series of new Phenom II processors, coming with support for both AM2+ and AM3 sockets. However, the company is already expected to further expand its line of 45nm-based processors, by introducing new models from its Phenom II and Athlon range of consumer CPUs. These new processors will provide AMD's customers with a more diversified processor offering, enabling support for both DDR3 and DDR2-based platforms.
AMD's recently introduced Phenom II processors have further expanded the company's quad-core and triple-core offering, providing users with a more advanced 45nm process technology. Compared with previous-generation Phenoms, the new multi-core processors are said to deliver an increase in performance and energy efficiency, while also allowing most AMD users to easily upgrade. That is because, with the new technology Phenom processors can work equally fine with either DDR2 or DDR3 memory.
Regarding the upcoming Phenom II and Athlon processors, the chip maker is expected to unveil the new CPUs, sometime in April, by which time we could also see the very first 40nm-based graphics cards. There are at least three new Phenom II processors slated for April release, including the Phenom II X4 950, with a core speed of 3.1GHz and 6MB of L3 cache, X4 945 and the 925 model, clocked at 3.0GHz and 2.8GHz, respectively. The last two will likely replace AMD's Phenom II 940 and 920 models.
In addition, AMD is said to be preparing the release of the 2.7GHz Athlon X4 615 and the 2.5GHz X4 605. These two quad-core models will sport a TDP of 95W. AMD's triple-core offering will expand with the addition of the Athlon X3 420, 410 and the energy efficient X3 405e, clocked at 2.8GHz, 2.6GHz and 2.5GHz, respectively. The first two will sport a TDP of 95W, while the last of the three comes with a more energy efficient TDP of 65W.