14 DAY TRIAL // Event though AMD recently launched its first APUs based on the Llano architecture, the Sunnyvale-based company still keeps on refreshing its Athlon II and Phenom II product lines which have just received the Athlon II X2 270 and Phenom II X4 850 processors.
Both of these CPUs were actually expected to arrive in the second quarter of this year, but for an unknown reason AMD has postponed their release to Q3.
Starting with the Phenom II X4 850, this is the fastest 800-series Phenom II processor in AMD's lineup as it comes clocked at 3.3GHz, 100MHz more than its predecessor, the X4 840.
Apart from the four processing cores, the CPU includes 2MB of L2 cache memory, an integrated memory controller that supports both DDR3 and DDR2 DIMMs, support for the third iteration of the HyperTransport technology and has an NB clock of 2GHz. The chip's TDP is rated at 95W.
Moving to the Athlon II X2 270, this features two processing cores that are clocked at 3.4 GHz. 100MHz higher than the fastest boxed dual-core Athlon II available until recently, and that are paired with 2MB of L2 cache.
The rest of its features list is common for all of AMD's latest CPUs and it includes support for the SIMD instructions set (up to SSE3), 64-bit operation, Enhanced Virus Protection, Virtualization, and Cool'n'Quiet technology.
The AMD Athlon II X2 270 has a TDP of 65W and, just like the Phenom II X4 850, is compatible with the current AM3 and AM2 motherboards, as well as with the upcoming AM3+ boards.
Both of these processors are now available for pre-order in the US from various online retailers. Pricing for the AMD Athlon II X2 270 starts at $77, while the Phenom II X4 850 may be ordered for as low as $121. (via CPU-World)