The Inquirer reports that AMD will soon start to supply its clients Opteron processors with 2.0GHz core-clock in addition to 1.40, 1.60 and 1.80GHz models that are available now. Apparently, the Opteron 246 will also come with reduced to 1.45V core-voltage in contrast to its brethren with 1.55V Vcore.

Unfortunately, there is no information when exactly AMD starts to provide its customers faster Opteron processors. In case the company launches the chips in sufficient quantities next month, it may mean that AMD has managed to partly or fully solve the problems with low core-clocks of x86-64 processors and now can produce higher-end Opteron chips with high core-clocks in commercial quantities. Indirectly it also means that the company will be able to offer enough high-speed Athlon 64 processors for desktops in Fall.

Provided that AMD can sell 2.0GHz x86-64 chips with 1MB of L2 now, we may expect the company to offer 2.20 or even 2.40GHz Athlon 64 chips in September. It is good news for both AMD and all of us because we know from our Athlon 64 Performance Preview that Athlon 64 1.60GHz processors are not really fast when compared to higher-end Pentium 4 processors that will move into mainstream this Fall.

Note that companies always increase Vcore compared to other processors in the family when they launch faster models. In case AMD reduces core-voltage, it may mean that the yield of higher-end Opteron processors is relatively high and we have good chances to see fast Athlon 64 CPUs in September.