AMD Starts Shipping Triple-Core Phenom Processors

Advanced Micro Devices has started shipping triple-core Phenom processors.

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PC World
Wednesday, March 12, 2008; 8:08 PM

Advanced Micro Devices   today said it has started shipping triple-core Phenom processors, bringing desktops with the chip closer to release.

The triple-core processors are shipping in volume to PC makers only right now, AMD officials said. It declined further comment on chip availability and specifications.

Many major vendors, including Dell and Hewlett-Packard, have hinted at including the Phenom triple-core processors in desktops.

Dell haslistedplans to use the chip in its OptiPlex 740 business desktop systems, with 1.5M bytes of L2 cache and 2M bytes of shared L3 cache, in an online brochure. Dell will ship the triple-core OptiPlex in the second quarter, a company spokeswoman said, declining further comment.

Hewlett-Packard has alsolisted a desktopon its Bulgarian-language Web site with AMD's Phenom Triple-Core 8600B processor that runs at 2.3 GHz, with 1.5M bytes of L2 cache. HP officials were not available for comment.

Mesh Computer, a PC vendor in the U.K., has already started offering two desktops with the triple-core Phenom. The company is including an AMD Phenom 8400 Triple-Core processor, which runs at 2.1GHz, in theMatrix XXX Plusdesktop. It is using AMD's Phenom 8600 Triple-Core, which runs at 2.3GHz, in theMatrix XXX Prodesktop.

AMD last year added the triple-core processor to its chip lineup and said it would be available in the first quarter of 2008. It is positioning the chip as a better choice than dual-core chips, with the third core providing additional processing power to carry out computing tasks like antivirus scanning.