AMD has confirmed the rumors regarding its plans to release a six-core desktop processor in 2010. Codenamed ‘Thuban’, the upcoming AM3 processor will be made on 45nm technology, feature an integrated DDR3 memory controller and have 6MB of L3 cache.

The hexa-core Phenom is going to battle Intel’s Gulftown model which is slated to be introduced in Q2 next year. AMD has not provided a release time frame for Thuban but the rumors suggested the processor would debut in Q3 (2010).

First reports once said that AMD single core Sempron 140 successfully unlocks into dual-core processor. Now,we find that a player makes it true on affordable Asrock 780G motherboard once again.

AMD Sempron 140 with Asrock 780G

Source:[cooaler]

Athlon II X2 250 got a price-cut and AMD needs one to replace its marketing position.A compatibility list from motherboard vendors reveals new 3.1GHz Athlon II X2 255.compatibility

Athlon II X2 253 clocks at 3.1GHz?and has 200MHz of FSB, 15.5x of multiplier.Each core comes with 64K L1 instruction Cache?64K L1 data Cache?a total of 128KB of L1 cache?2MB of L2 cache.It supports SSE?SSE2?SSE3?SSE4A multimedia instruction sets and X86-64 computing instruction sets.At the same time,it adopts AM3 interface with support for DDR3 1066 and DDR2 800 memory?compatible with AM2+ motherboard.

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PC speed-freaks from across Europe will be pushing their processors to the limit in a series of extreme overclocking trials over the next month. The trials, which have been organised by AMD (NYSE:AMD), will see forum users from 19 leading technology forums from across the continent compete in a series of pedal-to-the-metal contests where they will attempt to push AMD platform technology, codenamed “Dragon,” to the fastest speed possible. During the trials, the contestants will try to clock up the highest scores in categories such as 3D Mark performance, calculation speed and highest CPU clock speed.(i)

The first of these events was held in London on Thursday 23rd April 2009, where sparks flew, literally! In this special event,eight teams of daredevil journalists went head to head in an attempt to break through the sonic wall in 3D Mark05 and CPU clock speeds. Things got so fast and so furious that sparks actually flew from one of the team’s “Dragon” rigs!(i)

It was a closely fought battle, but two winners emerged victorious. Clive Webster from Custom PC won the 3D Mark05 competition with a score of 24,689, while Tim Smally & Rich Swinburne from Bit-Tech won the CPU clock frequency competition with a speed of 4,211MHz. For this special opening event, both winning teams won a prize of $1000 each. The Custom PC donated their winnings to the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice and the Bit-Tech team gave their winnings to the Myton Hamlet Hospice.
Video to the overclocking event in London: http://links.amd.com/OCUK

Sempron 140, the first single-core AM3 processor.The new Sempron using 45nm process, is clocked at 2.7 GHz,and a bus multiplier of 13.5x.It features 1MB of L2 cache, no L3 cache memory, dual-channel DDR2/DDR3 memory interface,  a TDP of 45W. The processor is expected to start shipping this week and reach European stores around Thursday or Friday.

Source:[tcmagazine]

AMD is going to release the new Phenom II X4 965BE next week, according to Tweaktown.

We’ve also found a little info about this processor from the AsRock website, and according to the chart shown below, the model name of Phenom II X4 965BE is HDZ965FBK4DGI. The chip is overclocked to 3.4GHz, with 512KB*4 L2 cache, 6MB L3 cache and a TDP of 125W.

Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition

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AMD Windows 7-ready OverDrive 3.01

The new release has added support for Windows 7 operating system, offered more options for experienced users to automatically tune their PC, and enhanced support for monitoring your PC and taking control.

OverDrive version 3.01 can be downloaded from gameDOTamdDOTcom.

AMD Windows 7-ready OverDrive 3.01

AMD isn’t relying on sheer number of cores, as they’re adding power management technologies and certain improvements to increase performance. Unlike the announced Shanghais, where the company hopes for similar performance at lower consumption, the aim with Istanbul CPUs is to increase performance at same consumption.

AMD’s product marketing director in server and workstation division, Margaret Lewis said that the Istanbul chips are based on Shangai cores, together with the same energy efficient parts and additional cache, and that the improvements AMD’s got in store should help the chip in handling heavier processing loads.

AMD’s Istanbul server processors are scheduled for 2H 2009, and big names such as Dell and HP are already on the list of customers.

Phenom II X4 955 has employed 45nm processing and Socket AM3. Clocked at 3.2GHz (16*200MHz), it’s coming with 2MB (4*512KB) L2 Cache and 6MB L3 Cache. With 125W TDP, Phenom II X4 955 is said to be launched on April 20th.

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Let’s take a look at how much well-known UK etailers are charging for the CPUs.

The AM3 pricing is wholly pre-order; no-one has stock of the parts today. eBuyer, for now, doesn’t have any listed, although a sub-category does exist for the parts – well. it did this morning.

Dabs, too, has nothing under AM3, neither does Novatech, microdirect. Overclockers has them, at around cclonline prices.

Looking at the figures, pre-order pricing is actually pretty close to what our estimates reckoned it would be.

AMD needs to get the chips out to etail partners forthwith, because they make a reasonable amount of economic sense.

We’d urge AMD to cut the buy-in pricing for Phenom II X4 810 by another £10, to make it somewhat attractive against the faster-clocked, higher-cache X4 920 (AM2+), and snipping the X3 710′s pricing below the magical £100 would also make a lot of sense.

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