Critical.
Authoritative.
Strategic.
Subscribe to CIO Magazine »

AMD to ship first six-core desktop processor in Q2

AMD shows off upcoming chip at Cebit

Advanced Micro Devices on Tuesday said its first six-core processor for desktops will ship in the second quarter of this year.

The processor will be called Phenom II X6, an AMD spokesman said. The company displayed a working unit of the chip in a desktop at the Cebit trade show being held in Hanover, Germany.

The company declined to comment on specific details about the chip, including the speed and cache size. However, the company has said it would go into desktops targeted at enthusiasts like gamers. AMD already offers six-core Opteron chips for servers.

AMD announced the processor's shipment date just a few days after details about Intel's first six-core chip for desktops, called Core i7-980 Extreme Edition, surfaced on the site of German retailer Alternate.

AMD initially announced the chip, code-named Thuban, during the financial analyst day in November. At the time the company said the processor would be manufactured using the 45-nanometer process. Intel's six-core chip, code-named Gulftown, will be manufactured using the 32-nm process.

AMD currently offers dual-core and quad-core Phenom II chips for desktops.

That six-core chip is a targeted at a very small segment of the market that includes gamers, video producers and corporate workstation users, said Jim McGregor, chief technology strategist at In-Stat. The chips are designed to run applications that require a lot of processing power, like 3D gaming or engineering applications.

"Does it mean something for the average consumer? No. Would it be absolute overkill? Yes," McGregor said. Desktops with six-core processors will be expensive, and for most average consumers dual-core and quad-core systems are adequate, he said.

Intel and AMD will also try to use the six-core chips to capture the performance crown, he said. Intel would seem to have an edge because of the advanced manufacturing process and the ability to run two threads per core, but in terms of cost, AMD may hold an advantage, McGregor said.

Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

More about: Advanced Micro Devices, Advanced Micro Devices, AMD, Intel
References show all

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the CIO comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Coverage
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
Tags: amd, Intel, six-core, CeBIT 2010
Latest Blog Posts
Whitepapers
  • Endpoint Buyers Guide
    In this Endpoint Buyers Guide, we examine the top vendors according to market share and industry analysis: Kaspersky Lab, McAfee, Sophos, Symantec and Trend Micro. Each vendor’s solutions are evaluated according to: Product features and capabilities, Effectiveness, Performance, Usability, Data protection and Technical support.
    Learn more »
  • Seven SOA Practices to Unlock Business Value
    The fact is that companies are increasingly using SOA to gain competitive business advantage. Distilled down to seven essential SOA practices, the following list enables IT professionals to tightly align SOA investments with their organization’s business priorities. Using these practices can help with driving competitive advantage and adding measurable business value...and that’s a sure way for IT pros to win recognition and ongoing support within their companies.
    Learn more »
  • Optimised License Management for the Datacenter
    Optimised license management is a necessity for all licenses owned by the enterprise. While organisations are starting to understand their license position for the desktop estate, the reality is that licensing in the datacenter presents a daunting set of challenges that require a robust, automated license management solution. Learn about how to address the unique license management requirements of all enterprise IT environments including the desktop and the datacenter.
    Learn more »
All whitepapers
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis.
Recent comments