14 DAY TRIAL // Despite some rumors concerning AMD's CPU manufacturing capabilities, it seems that the Sunnyvale company is well on its track to mass 65 nanometer CPU releases with the quietly introduced Brisbane-base Athlon 64 X2 3600+ model. The processor isn't even listed on AMD's official price list. However, Newegg is already offering an OEM version of the CPU which has a 1.9GHz core clock (with a 9.5x multiplier) and 2x512KB of L2 cache. Newegg announces that the CPU is available for only $115 USD, and I have to admit that this is a great deal.
You might think that there's something fishy about this price. Your doubting instincts could be right when you realize the online retailer later on specifies that the chip must be bought as part of a CPU/ motherboard combo that will set you back $168.99. The bundled motherboard is none other than Biostar's TForce 550 model (based on Nvidia's nForce 550 chipset) which makes for a cheap entry-level choice with few good features and pretty modest performance.
Originally, the AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ model was supposed to be released in the second half of 2006. Manufactured on AMD's 90 nanometer SOI process, it should have been released with a 2.0GHz clock. Instead of reducing the clock speeds, AMD opted to dock the L2 cache - the X2 3600+ only had 256KB of L2 cache per core as part of the initial plan.
The low price guarantees little competition over the X2 3600+ because Intel's cheapest Core 2 products are priced well above $150 for the time being. The only possible threat may only come from Intel's Pentium D 915, which is retailed by Newegg at exactly the same price as AMD's budget dual-core processor. Considering the fact that the X2 3600+ is a native 65nm model, it will be quite interesting to see how it competes with the rest of AMD's 90nm line-up.