Advanced Micro Devices has seemingly started to ship its not-yet-announced high-end chip with 6000+ model number, as at least one store in Tokyo, Japan is taking orders on the processors and at least two system builders in the U.S. are offering personal computers with the chip inside.

AMD’s dual-core Athlon 64 X2 6000+ central processing unit operates at 3.0GHz, contains 2MB of level-two cache in total (1MB per core), supports dual-channel PC2-6400 memory and has thermal design power of 125W, according to information released earlier. The chip is designed for socket AM2 infrastructure.

Currently, the new chip is offered in systems by BuyXG.com and CyberPowerPC in the U.S., while at least one store in Tokyo, Japan, is taking pre-orders on the chip, which will cost ¥85 500 ($703) in the country of the rising sun.

Originally expected to be introduced in November, 2006, three AMD Athlon 64 X2 chips with 5400+, 5600+ and 6000+ model numbers were delayed: by several weeks in case of the first two products and, looks like, by several months when it comes to the model 6000+. While AMD released the models 5400+ and 5600+ without issuing any official statements, rare availability of the model 6000+ may indicate that AMD has started to ship the new chips, but has not officially allowed its partners to ship them to end-users.

AMD did not comment on the news-story.