AMD has pulled the veil away from a couple of new mid-range processors that it hopes will help it make up lost ground against rival Intel.
Officially announced by the company early this morning, the two processors are by no means budget models, but are designed to offer a reduced-price alternative to the company's flagship chips.
First up is the Phenom II X6 1075, a 6-core chip with Turbo CORE - AMD's answer to Intel's TurboBoost - which is an automatic overclocking technology, designed to sit just below the Phenom II X6 1090T.
Ordinarily running at 3GHz, the Turbo CORE technology boosts the chip to 3.5GHz when running single-threaded apps, and a whopping six 512KB L2 cache piles plus a shared 6MB L3 cache keeps everything flowing smoothly. Power draw is elevated compared with previous chips in order to compensate for the high clock speed, with a 125W TDP.
If you're looking for something with a lower power draw, AMD has also announced the Phenom II X2 560 Black Edition, which it describes as "an affordable alternative" to its many-core offerings. Dropping down to a dual-core layout allows AMD to boost the clock speed to 3.3GHz while retaining the 6MB L3 cache in a package with a TDP of just 80W. As a Black Edition, the new X2 should - in theory - be overclocker-friendly too.
Both chips should be available to order shortly, and while AMD hasn't confirmed costs for the Phenom II X2 560 Black Edition yet, it has stated that the Phenom II X6 1075 will retail "for less than $250" in US markets.
Do you think that either of the new chips can hold a candle to Intel's recent offerings, or does AMD still have a long way to go before it's competitive again? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
Officially announced by the company early this morning, the two processors are by no means budget models, but are designed to offer a reduced-price alternative to the company's flagship chips.
First up is the Phenom II X6 1075, a 6-core chip with Turbo CORE - AMD's answer to Intel's TurboBoost - which is an automatic overclocking technology, designed to sit just below the Phenom II X6 1090T.
Ordinarily running at 3GHz, the Turbo CORE technology boosts the chip to 3.5GHz when running single-threaded apps, and a whopping six 512KB L2 cache piles plus a shared 6MB L3 cache keeps everything flowing smoothly. Power draw is elevated compared with previous chips in order to compensate for the high clock speed, with a 125W TDP.
If you're looking for something with a lower power draw, AMD has also announced the Phenom II X2 560 Black Edition, which it describes as "an affordable alternative" to its many-core offerings. Dropping down to a dual-core layout allows AMD to boost the clock speed to 3.3GHz while retaining the 6MB L3 cache in a package with a TDP of just 80W. As a Black Edition, the new X2 should - in theory - be overclocker-friendly too.
Both chips should be available to order shortly, and while AMD hasn't confirmed costs for the Phenom II X2 560 Black Edition yet, it has stated that the Phenom II X6 1075 will retail "for less than $250" in US markets.
Do you think that either of the new chips can hold a candle to Intel's recent offerings, or does AMD still have a long way to go before it's competitive again? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
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