Advanced Micro Devices on Tuesday said AMD Athlon 64 X2 processors were available and proclaimed support of the new chip by over 40 system builders. AMD usually declares availability of the processors when it is ready to ship them for revenue, which means that actual end-users would be able to buy the actual product a number of weeks after such announcement.

“Today, AMD demonstrates yet another performance lead within the industry as the only company with a broad portfolio of multi-core technology, from server and workstation to now client solutions with the addition of the new AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processor,” said Bob Brewer, Corporate Vice President, Desktop Business, Microprocessor Solutions Sector (MSS), AMD.

AMD said that the new AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processor would be supported by leading OEMs including Acer, Alienware, HP and Lenovo, as well as more than 40 system-builder partners worldwide.

AMD’s desktop and desktop replacement notebooks-oriented Athlon 64 X2 central processing units (CPUs) operate at 2.20 – 2.40GHz and are equipped with 1MB or 2MB cache memory. The chips have special arbitration logic to balance the workflow called System Request Interface (SRI) as well as built-in PC3200 DDR memory controller.

AMD’s dual-core processors for desktops are expected to be able to operate within existing Socket 939 and Socket 940 infrastructures provided that the mainboards have BIOS support for them and comply to AMD’s thermal and voltage specifications for all processors made using 90nm process technology.

Commercial shipments of the AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processor follows the introduction of the dual-core AMD Opteron processor, the world’s first x86 dual-core processor for the server and workstation markets, which is now available from server makers and retailers. AMD will be showcasing AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processors at Computex in the AMD booth.