Chipmaker AMD has thrown down a new challenge in the multi-core processor front—and it’s no accident the announcement lands just one day before the start of rival Intel’s Developer Forum. AMD plans to ship triple-core versions of its Phenom processors during the first quarter of 2008, and the new triple-core systems will target everyday desktop computer users rather than the high-end server and content-creation applications that currently dominate computing above the dual-core threshold. AMD says triple core processors will add significant performance improvements to multithreaded and multitasking environments, and the company is particularly looking for benefits in mainstream Microsoft products.
“With our advanced multi-core architecture, AMD is in a unique position to enable a wider range of premium desktop solutions, providing a smarter choice for customers and end users,” said Greg White, VP and general manager of AMD’s Desktop Division, in a statement. “This innovation is a direct result of our development of the industry’s first true, native quad-core design, coupled with AMD’s manufacturing flexibility, to create multi-core processors in two, three, and four computational core configurations on a single die of silicon.”
AMD is still planning to ship four-core versions of its Phenom line at the end of 2007; the three-core Phenoms are essentially a more affordable version of those chips with one core unimplemented, creating a more-affordable version of its multi-core technology which still offers substantial performance benefits over dual-core designs. AMD is positioning the triple-core systems as a middle ground between increasingly mainstream dual-core CPUs and high-end quad-core systems, which AMD says currently account for only two percent of total desktop sales.
The new processors will feature AMD’s Balanced Smart Cache for fast access to memory, a L3 cache shared between the cores, HyperTransport 3.0 and 16 GB/s I/O, and independent frequency adjustment of each processor core, offering the ability to run cool and lean when users aren’t engaged in serious computing. The three-core Phenom’s will also offer the same thermal profile as their four-core older brothers, which may mean that the triple-core versions could be safely clocked quite a bit higher than the four-core versions.
