14 DAY TRIAL // In the fourth quarter of this year, AMD will expand its processor lineup with the introduction new A-Series APUs based on the Llano architecture, which will feature an unlocked multiplier for providing increased overclocking headroom.
The Sunnyvale-based chip maker plans to introduce two such chips and both will get an “K” added to the end of their name, so they can be easily distinguished from their multiplier locked counterparts.
According to the information provided by Fudzilla, the first of these two processors will be known as the A8-3870K and it greatly resembles the current A8-3850, but comes with a 100MHz core clock increase to reach a round 3GHz.
Outside of the higher operating clock and unlocked multiplier, both of these chips will feature similar specifications as they sport quad processing cores with 4MB of Level 2 cache memory, an integrated dual-channel DDR3-1866MHz controller, and Radeon HD 6550D graphics.
The second unlocked APU to be released by AMD is called the A6-3670K and this also is an almost exact copy of the A6-3650 it is meant to replace apart from the 2.7GHz operating speed, again 100MHz higher than that of its predecessor.
Both of the unlocked multiplier chips to arrive form AMD will have a TDP of 100W and will launch in the fourth quarter of this year.
No details regarding pricing were provided, but it seems like these APUs will coexist with AMD's current A8 and A6 chips, at least until Trinity arrive in 2012.
The unlocked multiplier design that AMD plans to introduce with these chips will greatly improve their overclocking potential since the maximum FSB achieved by Llano APUs is severely limited at this point, mostly due the the integrated graphics core.