AMD has just announced a release of their new Athlon II processors.  They are not here to show how powerful they are, but what AMD is really trying to do with this batch is to appeal to anyone who is interested to anyone who is a minimalist.  This means if you are one of those people who would like to keep the price down while not sacrificing the performance as well as keeping down the CPU temperature. 

The price for these CPUs will start at $69, for a 2.7GHz dual-core X2 235e model, and topping at $143 for the 2.3GHz quad-core X4 605e.  AMD new processors will be operating at 45W, opposed to the older 65W TDP.  AMD claims that these processors will perform up to 75 percent better performance versus comparable Intel CPUs.  We will wait for the official testing to believe those claims. 

Here is the complete Press Release:

SUNNYVALE, California – AMD (NYSE:AMD):

• AMD (NYSE:AMD) today announced several new AMD Athlon™ II processors that offer outstanding performance and low power consumption, while enabling sleek desktop PC designs and attractive price points.
• In addition to the standard power processors, the full AMD Athlon II processor family now delivers high-performance, low-power dual-, triple- and quad-core processors to meet a range of computing needs. This variety and value enables OEMs and system builders to develop compelling PC solutions that address the market shift to power efficient, innovative PC designs optimized for Windows 7.¹
• As PCs become increasingly affordable, many households are investing in second and third PCs to perform specific roles for individual family members. With the consumption of multimedia such as video and gaming – both online and offline – continuing to rise, AMD’s Mainstream Desktop Platforms enable a superior visual experience for consumers.
• AMD low power desktop solutions help leading OEMs such as Acer, Dell, HP and Lenovo design PCs with low energy consumption, reduced heat and noise, all in sleeker consumer devices.

• The AMD Athlon II processor family delivers a superior competitive value for mainstream consumers in productivity, HD video,² slideshow, and 3D gaming tasks.
  • The AMD Athlon™ II X2 240e processor performs up to 70 percent better in media and entertainment benchmarks³ and delivers a processor cost saving of over $40⁴ when compared to the Intel Core 2 Duo E7400, and enables a range of unique All-in-One and small form factor chassis.
  • With its additional cores, the AMD Athlon II X3 435 processor delivers processor cost savings of over $100⁵ while providing up to 75 percent better media and entertainment performance when compared to the Intel Core 2 Duo E8500.⁶

Resources

• Get more information and detail on these new processors and platform from the press kit
• Follow AMD Desktop news on Twitter at @AMDDesktop

About AMD

Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE:AMD) is an innovative technology company dedicated to collaborating with customers and technology partners to ignite the next generation of computing and graphics solutions at work, home and play. For more information, visit http://www.amd.com.

AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, ATI, the ATI logo, AMD Athlon, Radeon, and combinations thereof are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Microsoft, Windows, and Windows Vista are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. Other names are for informational purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

¹ Windows® 7 capable PC configuration required for full Windows® 7 experience.

² HD capable monitor required.

³ Based on AMD internal testing as of 10/01/09, the AMD Athlon II X2 240e processor-based system performed 20% better on Windows Movie Maker, and 77% better in 3DMark® Vantage, than a system based on Intel Core 2 E7400. Results are normalized to the Core 2 Duo 7400. AMD configuration: M4A78T-E motherboard, ATI Radeon™ HD 3300 GPU, 4GB DDR3-1066, Windows Vista® 64 Ultimate. INTEL configuration: DG45ID motherboard, G45 Express; 4GB DDR2-1066; Windows Vista® 64 Ultimate. Windows Movie Maker renders a photo slide show as an AVI from a dataset of 97 1600×1066 JPEG images. Captured data is elapsed time in seconds. 3DMark Vantage overall results are measured in Marks.

⁴ Intel pricing of $119 based on newegg.com as of October 7, 2009 while AMD pricing of $77 based on expected AMD 1ku pricing at time of launch.

⁵ Intel pricing of $190 based on newegg.com as of October 7, 2009 while AMD pricing of $87 based on expected 1ku price at time of launch.

⁶ Based on AMD internal testing as of 10/01/09, the AMD Athlon II X3 435 processor-based system performed 34% better on Windows Movie Maker, and 76% better in 3DMark® Vantage, than a system based on Intel Core 2 Duo E8500. Results are normalized to the Core 2 Duo E8500. AMD configuration: M4A78T-E motherboard, ATI Radeon™ HD 3300 GPU, 4GB DDR3-1066, Windows Vista® 64 Ultimate. INTEL configuration: DG45ID motherboard, G45 Express; 4GB DDR2-1066; Windows Vista® 64 Ultimate. Windows Movie Maker renders a photo slide show as an AVI from a dataset of 97 1600×1066 JPEG images. Captured data is elapsed time in seconds. 3DMark Vantage overall results are measured in Marks

AND has introduced their new budget Athlon II X4 620 and 630 processors.  Several websites have already put out their reviews on these processors and they all seem to have very similar conclusion, that they are not the fastest quad-core chip around, but they seem to compete very well with all of the processors in its price range while being the cheapest.  

The higher clocked Athlon II X4 630 will have an initial MSRP of $122 while the Athlon II X4 620 will come in at just $99. This puts them in direct price competition with Intel’s high-end dual-cores, low-end quad-cores, and even their own Phenom II X3 triple-cores.

These processors will have the following specs:

Dual Mode Memory

AMD’s dual mode memory controller supports both a DDR2 and DDR3 Dual Channel memory controller on the single CPU.  This allows for a seamless upgrade path allowing users with current AM2+ motherboards to use the Phenom II and Athlon II processors in their current motherboards with DDR2 memory, while allowing upgrade path to DDR3 at a later date.

Cache

This is where Athlon II is different from the Phenom II line.  Athlon II has its L3 cache removed in order to save money on production costs, as well as to reduce its overall performance.

The one thing that the Athlon II does not lack is overclocking headroom.  Some of the results netted overclockability up to 3.9 GHz on air cooling.  I am sure even better numbers can be achieved with water cooling, and some extra BIOS and Memory fine tuning.  

Although these processors have their L3 cache removed, they do not seem to suffer much from the performance dip.  For general daily usage, the Athlon II X4 processors compared very well to their Phenom II siblings.  The only place where the lack of L3 cache was evident was with games like Crysis.  However, for a non-gamer, the Athlon II X4s should definitely be on the top of the list.  Even when it comes to the overclocking crowd, the price point and its ability to overclock very well may be a big hit.  

Intel has finally officially released their Lynnfield processors; Core i5-750,  i7-860, i7-870 and i7-975.

Based on some latest testing made by a few sites like HotHardware and Tech Report, the new Core i7 processors offers excellent performance.  The i7 870 seems to me the fastest processor that they have tested (slightly slower than the much more expensive Core i7 975).  The Core i7 750 has also shown excellent results.  In the majority of the tests performed, the Core i5 750 performance seems to fall between the Core 2 Quad Q9650 and Core i7 920, and still outperformed the Phenom II X4 965.

Here are some specs of the new processors:

Press Release:

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 8, 2009 – Intel Corporation introduced several high-performance desktop and server processors today, bringing the next level of integration and intelligence to computers. The new Intel Core™ i5 processor family, two new Intel Core™ i7 processors and the Intel® Xeon processor 3400 series bring Intel’s latest Nehalem microarchitecture to mainstream desktop and entry server markets.

New Intel® Core™ Processors for Consumers
Formerly codenamed “Lynnfield,” these new chips are based on Intel’s award-winning Nehalem microarchitecture and are designed for consumers who need top-notch performance for digital media, productivity, gaming and other demanding applications. These processors, along with the new Intel P55 express chipset, are available today.

All processors are lead- and halogen-free¹ and feature Intel® exclusive Turbo Boost Technology. The top-of-the-line Core i7 processors also support Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology. Combined, these features give computer users absolute “intelligent” performance when necessary and optimum power-efficiency when the computer is lightly loaded.

Computers Just Got Smaller
The new chipset brings the most revolutionary design changes since the invention of the PCI bus in the early 1990s and sets the stage for Intel’s forthcoming 2010 compute platform. The Intel® P55 Express Chipset will be the baseline building block component for motherboards worldwide, delivering great new levels of performance and scalability for everyone from the retail buyer to the technically savvy do-it-yourselfer.

The new Core i7 and i5 processors are the first Intel processors to integrate both a 16-lane PCI Express 2 graphics port and two-channel memory controller, enabling all input/output and manageability functions to be handled by the single-chip Intel P55 Express Chipset. Previous Intel chipsets required two separate chips. A new Direct Media Interface (DMI) connects between the processor and chipset. The chipset supports 8 PCI Express 2.0 x1 Ports (2.5GT/s) for flexible device support. Dual graphics cards are supported in a “2×8″ configuration. The chipset also supports 6 SATA 3 Gb/s Ports with Intel® Matrix Storage Technology providing RAID levels 0/1/5/10. Up to 14 USB 2.0 Ports can be supported with the chipset’s integrated USB 2.0 Rate Matching Hub, along with Intel® High Definition Audio for premium digital sound. The new processors are the first to be supported by the new Land Grid Array (LGA) 1156 package and socket technology.

Better Entry Servers
Small businesses requiring 24/7 operation and educators now have more reasons than ever to buy a purpose-built server with Intel’s new Xeon processors and Intel® 3400 and 3420 chipsets. These new products improve small business productivity by running email, file, print and dynamic Web serving tasks more efficiently. They also improve education by enabling dependable classroom collaboration and making school administrative services more productive. Servers based on Xeon 3400 processors provide more dependability over desktop systems through differentiated features such as Error Correcting Code memory and RAID 0/1/5/10 for server operating systems. They are designed to help small businesses grow by enabling up to 64 percent² more sale transactions and up to 56 percent faster business response time. This improvement is enabled with Intel’s Nehalem microarchitecture and a 4x improvement in memory capacity (32 GB). Intel® Turbo Boost Technology and Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology enable these servers to automatically adapt their performance to unique business needs. The processors launched today also include the Intel® Xeon® L3426, a low-power variant that delivers up to 188 percent improvement in energy efficiency per dollar than the previous-generation Intel® Xeon® X3380, and enables innovative server form factors for space and thermally constrained environments. For more information on these products, please visit www.intel.com/xeon

PC Watch has posted a complete chart of the company’s desktop and mobile CPU roadmap.

For Lynnfield - desktop side, there are Core i7 870 (2.93 to 3.6GHz) and 860 (up to 3.46GHz), looks like they should be out second half 2009, with a large variety of CPU speeds and a less power consumption (82 watt version) should be out by next year.

In the Q3 2009 section there is a one of the first show Core i5 chips, the 750 (up to 3.2GHz), also much more energy efficient, and should be out in first or second quarter of 2010.

Stay tuned for more details.

The 55W ACP Six-Core AMD Opteron HE processors are currently shipping for 2-, 4- and 8-P systems and available today in new systems from HP, addressing the needs of dynamic, performance hungry and power constrained data centers. Systems from additional OEMs are expected to come to market throughout Q309.

These new processors meet the market demand for highly scalable, power-efficient systems that are especially well suited for Web serving and cloud computing workloads and they are available with the same AMD Virtualization™ (AMD-V™) technology and AMD-P technology features and advanced I/O capabilities as the standard power Six-Core AMD Opteron processors.

The new Six-Core AMD Opteron HE processor offers up to 18 percent lower platform-level power consumption over the standard wattage version.¹ (AMD Opteron™ processor Model 2425 [SPECpower_ssj™2008. 1228 overall ssj_ops/watt, 419,277 ssj_ops, & 221W @ 100% target load] compared to AMD Opteron processor Model 2435 [SPECpower_ssj™2008. 1228 overall ssj_ops/watt, 487,764 ssj_ops & 270W @ 100% target load]).

It also delivers up to 18 percent better performance-per-watt compared to the quad-core version.² (Six-Core AMD Opteron™ processor Model 2425 HE [SPECpower_ssj™2008 1228 overall ssj_ops/watt, 419,277 ssj_ops, & 221W @ 100% target load] compared to Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor Model 2376 HE [SPECpower_ssj™2008 1044 overall ssj_ops/watt, 346,326 ssj_ops & 210W @ 100% target load]).

Processors with even greater energy efficiency are planned to be available later this year for the market segment where low power is the singular priority requirement.

For customers that require the ultimate performance for mission critical workloads such as database and CRM applications, AMD is also unveiling two new, full-featured Six-Core AMD Opteron SE processors at 2.8 GHz for 2-, 4- and 8-P systems.

AMD Phenom II TWKR Black Edition Processor has been tested at a few sites and proves to have very impressive results.

It overclocks very well (especially on dry ice and liquid nitrogen).  If you are an enthusiast overclocker who likes to push the limits of your CPU then you will love seeing what others are doing with this AMD Phenom II TWKR Black Edition Processor.

Head over to these sites to see what they accomplished.

• HotHardware
• Legit Reviews
• Overclockers Club

Read — DigiTimes

Source:  Digitimes

Based on the latest review of the Intel’s top of the line 3.33GHz Core i7 975 Extreme Edition processor, it is really fast!  Based on the latest review by Hot Hardware, this quad-core processor is the fastest desktop processor to date.  While it’s only 4-5% faster across the board than Intel’s previous hi end Core i7 965.  According to the tests, CPU is capable of significant overclocking.  Hot Hardware was able to overclock it to 4.1GHz with just a very small voltage bump and keep the CPU temperature at around 50-degree C  on the Intel’s stock heat sink.  Core i7 975 will hit the retail priced at $999 list price.

Source: HotHardware