14 DAY TRIAL // AMD is working on releasing new Phenom processors in the 2008 timeframe. However, the highest frequency available for now is still in the 2.6 GHz range.
According to the company's newest roadmap, the higher-end Phenom chips are slated to arrive later in the second quarter of 2008. The chip manufacturer plans to introduce two new Phenom CPUs in the 2.4 - 2.6 GHz range.
The AMD Phenom 9750 will run at 2.4 GHz and will come with a thermal envelope of 125 Watts, while the more powerful Phenom 9850 runs at 2.5 GHz in the same thermal envelope. AMD also plans to introduce a new stock keeping unit for the Phenom 9750 that will deliver the same performance at a lower energy cost (95 Watts only).
During the third quarter of 2008, AMD will introduce its highest-end processor, called the Phenom 9950. It will be the company's last high-end chip built on the 65-nanometer process node and will feature a thermal envelope of 140 watts - the highest thermal envelope of all AMD's chips until now. According to the same roadmap, the company will release another SKU of the Phenom 9950, but there are no details on the chip's thermal envelope.
Advanced Micro Devices will also release two new processors in the mainstream sector next month. The Phenom 9550 will feature a core clock speed of 2.3GHz, while the Phenom 9650 will reach lower clocks, namely 2.2 GHz.
The Toliman family will get new members during the second quarter, with the advent of three mainstream units: the AMD Phenom 8450, Phenom 8650 and Phenom 8750. The chips will be clocked at 2.1GHz, 2.3GHz and 2.4GHz, respectively, and are alleged to deliver more horsepower than the dual-core counterparts.
They will feature a thermal design power of 95 watts and will be based on the bug-free B3 silicon stepping. The B3 revision will also be the latest update to the 65-nanometer silicon, as AMD will move to the 45-nanometer process node during the last quarter of the year.
The first 45-nanometer processors to hit the market will be based on the Deneb and Propus silicon. The new chips will be built using a quad-core architecture and will feature 2MB of L2 cache. While the Deneb version will share the L3 cache pool among its four cores, the Propus will come without it.