14 DAY TRIAL // Barcelona quad core processors are just around the corner, but in case that you just can't wait any longer and wish really, really bad for a multi core processor that will not leave you without any money, there is the last of the AMD Athlon 64 X2 line.
A dual core processor based on the Windsor core and manufactured using the 90nm production technology, may seem pointless right now, but AMD bets on the overclocking potential and the low price of this CPU to gather some more customers until the big day when quad cores will be launched.
The Athlon 64 6000+ processor is maybe the fastest model AMD has and now it was a little upgraded and its TDP dropped from 125W to 89W. As it already runs at a pretty respectable clock speed (3GHz) the new Athlon 64 6000+ will stay on AMD's roadmap for the whole 2007 year and even half of 2008. Because the new processor uses the Windsor core, and not the newer and the more energy efficient Brisbane, even with its dropped thermal rating, it is still higher than the highest clocked Brisbane (65nm technological process) centered AMD processor, the X2 5200+ that runs at 2.7GHz. According to the news site DailyTech the Windsor X2 6000+ will match the thermal rating of the upcoming Phenom X2 GP-6800 processor, that will be aimed at the low end market during the first months of the 2008.
"Despite the impending launch of the Phenom X2 series, the Athlon 64 X2 6000+ remains the only mainstream AMD dual-core desktop processor with a 3.0 GHz clock frequency. The upcoming Phenom X2 series top out around 2.4-to-2.8 GHz when the GP-6800 launches, according to a recent AMD roadmap. AMD does not have any plans to release a 3.0 GHz Barcelona on its roadmap yet", according to DailyTech.