by Anton Shilov
07/05/2005 | 11:56 PM
In less than a month time Advanced Micro Devices is expected to introduce a new dual-core AMD Athlon X2 chip priced at as low as $345, which is likely to catalyze customers to acquire chips with two processing engines from AMD and will allow the chipmaker to target broader audiences with its latest products.
<%BANNER[article]%>According to Taiwan-based mainboard makers cited by DigiTimes web-site, on the 1st of August, 2005, AMD has plans to launch a dual-core AMD Athlon 64 X2 processor priced at $345, which is significantly lower compared to the currently most affordable AMD Athlon 64 X2 model 4200+. The web-site reports that the new Athlon 64 X2 will have 3800+ model number, but may also hint that AMD is yet to launch its Athlon 64 X2 4000+ incarnation as well, which would expand AMD’s dual-core lineup to six models.
AMD’s desktop and desktop replacement notebooks-oriented Athlon 64 X2 central processing units (CPUs) with 4200+, 4400+, 4600+ model numbers 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.
While performance AMD Athlon 64 X2 central processing units in applications that cannot take advantage of two processing engines is on par with AMD’s high-end AMD Athlon 64 chips, pricing of AMD microprocessors with two processing engines starts at $537 and goes right to $1001. By contrast, Intel’s dual-core Pentium D chips offer lower performance compared to top Intel Pentium 4 processors in single-threaded apps, but their wholesale pricing starts at $241 and ends at $530. Intel also offers Pentium Extreme Edition 840 processor at $999 for powerful workstations. AMD’s possible addition of a dual-core processor model that may be compared to Intel’s dual-core products in terms of pricing is likely to heat up competition between the chipmakers.
Specifications of the AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ are not currently clear.
AMD did not comment on the news-story.