14 DAY TRIAL // AMD's long-awaited 2.60GHz quad-core chips are not to be seen until the second half of the year. However, rumor has it that AMD will introduce higher-clock Phenom processors in April.
It seems that the April release will bring more than the Phenom 9550 (2.20GHz), 9650 (2.30GHz) and 9750 (2.40GHz) models. AMD has been reported to work on another Phenom processor based on the B3 silicon stepping, namely the 9850 model, that is expected to hit the market at a default core clock speed of 2.5 GHz.
According to the leaked technical specifications, the Phenom 9850 is a 65nm quad-core part clocked at 2.5 GHz, with 2MB of shared L3 cache and a TDP of 95W. Since it is built on the B3 silicon stepping, the chip will come without the infamous TLB erratum bug, which will allow it to unleash all its computing power. Unlike the upcoming 9850 model, the currently available 9500 and 9600 chips are prone to experiencing system freeze if the clock limitation patch is not applied.
Initially, AMD claimed that the company would release the Phenom 9700 (running at 2.40GHz) and the faster 9900 ( 2.60GHz) in January 2008, but they got delayed after the company experienced the Translation Lookaside Buffer erratum. The 2.6 GHz chip has been delayed until the third quarter of the year.
AMD's Phenom 9850 model is not expected to play a major role in the company's battle for market share, but it will be another weapon in the tight competition against Arch-rival Intel, who is currently talking big plans to switch to the 32-nanometer micro-architecture. Also, AMD has started shipping sampling units of its 45-nanometer processors based on the Shanghai core, which should show the world that the company is still alive, kicking and, above all, competitive.