New triple-core Phenoms: more speed, fewer watts

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 9 Sep 2008 at 10:41

AMD has announced the launch of three new triple-core processors.

Leading the new arrivals is a "Black Edition" of the company's fastest triple-core part, the 2.4GHz Phenom X3 8750. Like all AMD's Black Editions, the chip is multiplier unlocked, allowing tweakers to raise the core speed as high as they like. It's targeted at gamers on a budget, and is expected to cost around £75 exc VAT.

The company has also unveiled two energy efficient processors labelled the Phenom X3 8450e and Phenom X3 8250e, their low power leanings given away by the "e" suffix.

The processors have a TDP of 65W, as opposed to the 95W maximum of other triple-core parts, and are being launched with small form factor PCs in mind.

The chip-maker has also announced that it is working with Microsoft to offer Opterons with "AMD-V" technology optimised for Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, which the software giant made free yesterday.

"Now, through our continued partnership with Microsoft, AMD is expanding virtualisation's reach and the benefits of resource consolidation to companies that might not have taken advantage of virtualisation in the past," said Kevin Knox, vice president of Worldwide Commercial Business at AMD.