AMD has released several new processors in the Athlon and Phenom II lineups and aimed them squarely on budget-minded consumers. The chips have already been benchmarked on several sites, and, overall, they appear to offer good performance for the price. More »
AMD’s making a strong budget play today, releasing its 3.2GHz Phenom II dual core desktop processor for under $US100. It comes as part of a broader release that also includes the Phenom II X4 910e, clocked at 2.6GHz but energy friendly at 65W, as well as three new Athlon II processors that range from 65W-95W and $US74-$US119. More »
My closest shave was back when I was 18 - I was working at the Wentworth Hotel in Sydney and was almost electrocuted by some faulty wiring on a bain-marie. More »
Ars reviews AMD’s latest quad-core, the Phenom II, against a barrage of Intel chips and finds that while it “puts AMD back on the map” against today’s chips, AMD’s got a “long-term problem.” [Ars Technica]
I don’t care how big of a Dick Tracey you look like using the Phenom SpecialOPS mobile phone watch; its adolescent awesomeness goes unspoken.
AMD’s immediate processor plans have been leaked in the form of a PowerPoint slide to Spanish site CHW.net. Dual-core “Brisbane” Athlons at 2.6GHz are due in October, alongside “Toliman” triple-core Phenoms. November sees the single-core “Lima” Athlon chip, obviously destined for low-power devices, since it runs at 1.6GHz and draws just 15W. Most interesting to processor fanatics will be the 45nm Phenoms slated for a January 8th launch. Both are quad-core “Deneb” chips, one running at 2.8GHz, one running at 3GHz and both drawing a chunky 125W of power. The “ultra-value client” devices scheduled for November are also intriguing: AMD’s answer to Intel’s Atom perhaps? [CHW.net via Reghardware]
Technically, the trio of new processors from AMD are pretty much the same: they have the same core, and similar feature sets. But while the 9950 Black Edition is a 140W, 2.6GHz overclockable monster (the most power-hungry Phenom AMD has made) the 9350 (2GHz) and 9150 (1.8GHz) are selectively binned and draw just 65W TDP. This makes them the most “power friendly” quadcore processors there are. The 9950 will cost US$235 and at HotHardware.com they think it compares with Intel’s Core 2 Quad Q6600. While the 9350 and 9150 will cost US$195 and US$175 respectively, meaning that “eco-friendliness” won’t save you many dollars in the chip price, but will cost you a chunk of clock speed. [HotHardware and UberGizmo]
Maximum PC has reviewed AMD’s tri-core 2.4GHz Phenom X3 8750 CPU. It performs like you’d expect—in between quad and dual cores. Fine, but it’s US$195. You can pick up AMD’s top quad core, the X4 9850 for only US$235, or Intel’s Q6600 (which mercilessly beat down the X4 9850 in benchmarks) for US$224 now, or hell, US$200 in a few weeks. So just get a quad core. Maximum PC also hints that a Core 2 Duo might keep pace with the tri-cores, but they’re keeping that under wraps for now, bastards. [Maximum PC]
