jmke

All the upcoming processors will be built on the AM3 package, making them compatible with DDR3 and DDR2 memory standards. With the Phenom II X4 950 being clocked at 3.10 GHz, succeeding SKUs take 100 MHz steps, starting from a Phenom II X4 960 at 3.20 GHz to a Phenom II X4 990 at 3.50 GHz. Despite the high clock speeds, the chips will continue to maintain rated TDPs of 125W. At some point within the succession, AMD will crank up the HyperTransport interconnect speed from 1,800 MHz to 2,000 MHz. The launch-schedule for these processors will be spread throughout 2009.

* Phenom II X4 950 (3.10 GHz, 15.5 x 200)
* Phenom II X4 960 (3.20 GHz, 16 x 200)
* Phenom II X4 970 (3.30 GHz, 16.5 x 200)
* Phenom II X4 980 (3.40 GHz, 17 x 200)
* Phenom II X4 990 (3.50 GHz, 17.5 x 200)

http://www.techpowerup.com/83608/AMD...ew_Models.html

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Kougar

Hmm. Looks like AMD is desperate! Not leaving much margin for future SKUs, and would be amazed if their fab yields are at expectations yet.

geoffrey

Desperate being competitive with Penryn/Nehalem? If they can, why not?

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Kougar

No more margin for error.

If their fab yields cause lack of supply issues again like it did with K8, recovering from that would be a huge problem in their present state. I guess they are banking on the global recession to curb demand closer to their actual supply capacity.

Rutar

going by the overclocks people get, their yields must be already there

Kougar

Launching a 3.5Ghz part when 4GHz is the absolute limit their best chips can get?

Rutar

a) they are hitting those speeds rather often

b) http://futuremark.yougamers.com/foru...ad.php?t=97430


It is dumb however, to have that many SKUs. 200 MHz steps would have been more than enough choice.

jmke

they've been offering 100Mhz steps since Athlon times, they haven't changed much, in Athlon XP times it was even 66Mhz steps

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Rutar

But those were on a lower base clocks, 100 MHzs on 3 Ghz are peanuts.

Kougar

That's below ambient cooling. From what I've been seeing 4Ghz is usually the absolute limit for 100% stability on air and water based setups using the best coolers. And as your example shows it requires voltages of around 1.6v give or take 0.1v.

Neither of these will allow AMD to magically increase yields or yield quality and sell more processors. They especially can't sell 1.5v+ processors to their customers as in most situations they would overheat. The number of 3.5GHz Quadcore chips they will have available to sell is going to be very finite indeed.