AMD is lining up several energy efficient variants of its quad-core Phenom and dual-core Athlon CPUs to launch late this quarter or early in the second quarter of 2008. The low-power Phenom 9100e is scheduled for release in February or March this year and will come with a core frequency of 1.8GHz, DDR2 1066 memory controller and TDP of 65W. At the beginning of the second quarter, AMD will phase out the 9100e and launch the 9150e, which offers the same specifications, but will probably be based on the B3 stepping revision. In addition to the 9100e and 9150e, the company will also launch three dual-core low-power CPUs: Athlon 4850e (2.5GHz, 1MB L2 cache and DDR2 800), Athlon 4450e (2.3GHz, 1MB L2 cache and DDR2 800) and Athlon 4050e (2.1GHz, 1MB L2 cache and DDR 800). In other news, AMD is also set to launch two 45W single-core CPUs: Athlon BE-1640 with a core frequency of 2.7GHz and L2 cache of 512KB later this month, and will follow with the Athlon BE-1660 (2.8GHz, 512KB) in the second quarter. With low-power versions of AMD's next-generation CPU architecture showing up, the company will begin to phase out some previous CPUs including the dual-core Athlon X2 BE-2400, BE-2350 and BE-2300, and single-core Athlon BE-1620, Athlon 64 4000+ and 3800+. AMD will announce final order dates in the second quarter this year.

You may have seen a few online headlines today indicating "AMD Phenom processor delays." AMD sent Legit Reviews an e-mail as they would like to clarify where things stand with this on-going roll-out of new true quad-core and triple-core processors.

• AMD launched its highest-volume versions of AMD Phenom quad-core processors in mid-November (models 9500 and 9600), and we shipped hundreds of thousands in Q4 2007. OEMs demonstrated production AMD Phenom processor-based desktops during 2008 International CES this week.
• For the enthusiast market, AMD then launched a performance tunable "Black Edition" of the 9600 model in December 2007 to address the enthusiast market. This was an additional quad-core product added to our Q4 roadmap and is now available on major e-tailer sites.
• AMD will now introduce the AMD Phenom 9700 and 9900 models in Q2 2008. This decision was based on OEM input on how AMD should prioritize its next two waves of AMD Phenom processor models. Based on these customer inputs, AMD will continue to prioritize volume-based Phenom products, including the AMD Phenom triple-core processor introduction for consumer and commercial markets this quarter, and now a new energy-efficient 65W AMD Phenom 9000e series processor in this quarter (instead of Q2). AMD Phenom 9700 and 9900 models will immediately follow next quarter.
• Our OEM customers are placing more priority on our energy-efficient and triple-core processors, where the volumes and ability to differentiate products take precedence over the more prestigious, but much lower volume, higher performance quad-core products.

Arriving at the very beginning of 2008, DFI has announced the immediate availability of LANParty DK 790FX-M2RS. The DK 790FX entirely supports AMD's latest Phenom Quad-core processors, and Hyper Transport 3.0 technology. Further more, LANParty DK 790FX-M2RS brings you decent cooling for the AMD 790FX and SB600 northbridge and southbridge, 4-phase digital PWM, 8-ch high-definition Bernstein audio module, 3-way CrossFire support as well as the company's proprietary EZ Switch and CMOS Reloaded overclocking features. DFI LANParty series motherboards also incorporate 100% Japanese-made solid state capacitors and DK 790FX-M2RS does not make an exception.

Hewlett-Packard (HP) has begun selling systems based on the AMD quad-core Phenom processor at Wal-Mart, according to the retailer's website. HP becomes the first top-tier U.S. computer vendor to offer systems using the Phenom processor. Smaller vendors, such as Falcon Northwest and iBuypower, have been offering systems for a number of weeks. The HP M8330F Pavilion Desktop comes with the Phenom 9500 Quad-Core Processor (2.2GHz), a 640GB (2x 320GB) 7200-rpm Serial ATA hard drive, 3072MB of PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM memory, and Windows Vista Home Premium. The system is priced at $959.99. Other large retailers, such as Sears, are also offering the system. The Phenom 9500 and 9600 processors, generally available now, contain a bug that can cause system instability in certain rare overload situations. The bug can be fixed with a workaround. AMD is also in preparation of a new "B3" revision processors that should fix the TLB bug.

AMD promised that Phenom could be operated in most socket AM2 motherboards. Tom's Hardware lab has tried running the new quad core on ten different products - and failed with most of them. The brands, Asus, Biostar, Epox, Foxconn, Gigabyte, MSI and Winfast (Foxconn) usually provide updates for their platforms when new processors are released. Phenom has been available for one month now and even after a BIOS update, most of the boards fail to run the native quad-core processor right. Read the full story here.

AMD has recently adjusted its triple-core CPU model numbers and launch dates. AMD will launch two B2 stepping triple-core CPUs, Phenom 8600 and 8400 in March of next year, while in the second quarter, the company will launch three more models, Phenom 8700, 8650 and 8450. The Phenom 8400 and 8600 will feature core frequencies of 2.1GHz and 2.3GHz, respectively, while the Phenom 8700 will clock at 2.4GHz. Phenom 8650 and 8450 will be based on B3 stepping cores, and will have frequencies of 2.3GHz and 2.1GHz, respectively. All five CPUs will have a 95W TDP. AMD declined to comment on unannounced products, but noted that the triple-core CPUs provide consumers with more choices and will extend the market's acceptance of multi-core technology.

AMD has recently notified its partners that the launch of higher-end quad-core Phenom processors, including the 9700 and 9900, will be postponed to the second quarter of 2008 from the original schedule of early 2008, according to DigiTimes. However, whether AMD's triple-core Toliman series CPUs will also see delay will be the key decision for the company, since Toliman offers a high price/performance ratio compared with Intel's quad-core CPUs. A delay for Toliman will hurt AMD the most. The reason for the delay of 9700 and 9900 is because AMD has not yet been able to solve the translation lookaside buffer (TLB) erratum found in the chips.

As expected, AMD has announced the Phenom 9600 Black Edition. The quad-core processor runs at 2.3 GHz, sports 2 MB L3 cache and 512 KB L2 cahce per core. Just like the previous Black Editions, it comes with an unlocked multiplier and Black Edition also means handpicked cores, but since this can't be a B3 stepping it still suffers from the TLB bug. Together with the recommendation from AMD to force the crippling BIOS fix, the Phenom 9600 Black Edition looks anything but lusterous, which is a real shame because the previous Black Editions have been bright rays of light shining through the otherwise dull and gray clouds over AMD's headquarters.

German hardware site Planet 3D Now! informs us that AMD will cut prices of its Phenom 9000 series processors today. Exact prices weren't mentioned in the statement, but according to AMD the Phenom 9500, 9600 and a new unlocked Phenom 9600 Black Edition will be available today at "dual-core CPU prices". In addition, on January 7th next year, AMD will reduce prices of some dual- and single-core processors.

The lackluster launch of Barcelona earlier this year left us with ambivalent feeling before the launch of Phenom. Up before the launch, numerous rumors of various problems were circulating, and when the launch finally happened and we only had two models to play with, we couldn't help feeling a bit let down. The performance was good and lived up to what AMD had promised, more or less, but since the frequencies were so low and IPC was more or less the same as Core 2, it was still being outperformed by Intel's processors. With the recent unveiling of the TLB bug, the crippling BIOS fix and the seized shipments of quad-core processors, the plans for the future has had to be revised. The earlier announced tri-core series is set for arrival in February 2008, and should be available in decent numbers the following month. Two models are currently planned for launch, Phenom 8700 and Phenom 8600 running at 2.4 and 2.3 Ghz respectively. These are disabled quad-core with 512KB L2 cache per core and a shared 2MB L3 cache, not suffering from the TLB errata (B3 stepping).

As many readers may be aware, there is an erratum (a mistake in the design) of AMD's recently launched Phenom CPU. Basically it's a problem with the CPU's translation lookaside buffer (TLB) and L3 cache, which can lead to crashes and data corruption. This was quickly discovered, and AMD issued a BIOS fix in response. However, recent tests carried out by The Tech Report found that as a result of this fix, memory bandwidth fell by as much as 38.7% whilst the latency increased by over 50%. When they tested the real world performance hit caused by this, they found it ranged from around 5% to as much as 50% in everyday applications, with an average performance drop of 13.9%. This issue should be fixed in any CPUs manufactured in the future, but things look quite bleak for anyone who has already purchased a Phenom processor, and it would be best not to buy one until all of the 'faulty' processors have either been sold or recalled. This is very bad news for AMD, considering that it has already been struggling to make a profit for quite a few months now.

With the Phenom CPUs and AMD 7-series chipsets ready to go, it's motherboard manufacturers' turn to roll their new products. FOXCONN has a 790FX/SB700 powered board practically ready although it will not hit retail stores until early Q1 2008. Nicknamed A79A-S, the 790FX motherboard features HyperTransport 3.0, quad-core Phenom support, DDR2-1066 support, four PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots, two Gigabit Ethernet ports and SB700 with support for up to 12x USB 2.0 ports.

According to a press event held in Japan, AMD is planning on releasing a Black Edition of its quad-core Phenom 9600 processor. It will go on sale by the end of the year and it's obvious that the Black Edition Phenom will offer unlocked multiplier. In addition, Phenom 9700 (2.4GHz) and Phenom 9900 (2.6GHz) will be available in 1Q 2008. The first triple core Phenom 8000 series and Phenom FX will also be announced in 1H of 2008.

AMD Phenom X3 is supposed to fill the gap between today's dual-core and quad-core processors. First results with the new line of CPUs emerged earlier this weekend. The German site PCGamesHardware has tested AMD Phenom X3 working at 2.3GHz using AMD 790FX motherboard, 2x1GB PC2-6400 RAM (CL5-5-5-15), one NVIDIA 8800 GTX OC (626MHz core, 1458MHz shader and 1000MHz memory) and Windows Vista 32-bit OS.

Issues with AMD's new 65nm processors are not only dampening the launch schedule of the highest frequency version Phenom CPU, but may now also affect the 2.4GHz 9700 model as well, according to DigiTimes. Phenom 9500 and 9600 CPUs launched on November 19 at US$251 and US$283, respectively, and AMD was earlier reported to be planning to launch a 9700 model in mid December. However, this schedule is now likely to be pushed back to early 2008. The delay of the higher-end CPUs is not the only disappointment expressed by the industry players as the thermal design power (TDP) of the upcoming 9700 is also drawing concern. Motherboard makers revealed that the 9700 will have a TDP of 125W while the the 2.6GHz 9900 model will have its TDP hit as much as 140W. AMD was unavailable for comment at the time of publication.

ASUS today announced a combination of motherboard and graphics cards based on the new AMD 790FX chipset and ATI Radeon HD3800 series GPUs to deliver a next-generation DirectX 10 gaming experience. Designed to complement the AMD Phenom processors to form the ultimate Spider platform, the new M3A32-MVP Deluxe/WiFi-AP motherboard and the EAH3850/3870 graphics cards feature the latest AMD technologies and supports Quad Crossfire.

abit today announced their latest AMD 770 chipset-based motherboard, the abit AX78. This is abit's first motherboard with native support for AMD Phenom quad-core processors delivering best performance for true quad-core processors, HyperTransport 3, Dual Channel DDR2 1066 memory, PCI Express 2.0 and CrossFire X. The unique abit engineered features set you apart from others and warrant for a most advanced computing experience with abit's patented Silent OTES heatpipe, 4-phase PWM for AM2+ processors, 100% Japanese made capacitors for lasting durability and the external EZ CCMOS switch to reset your BIOS without the need to open your computer case. Set yourself apart with most advanced computing.

After Kingston, now Micron Technology announced that its one gigabit (GB) double data rate DDR2 memory components are qualified for use with the Advanced Micro Devices new AMD Phenom quad-core processors.

Users can experience a significant increase in computing performance by combining the AMD Phenom processors with Micron's DDR2-1066 memory technology,

Micron's DDR2-1066 components have been in production for several months now and we are pleased to have successfully qualified our products with the AMD Phenom processors.

said Brian Shirley, vice president of Micron's memory group. That's the same old song to a new tune, we get certified memory modules for every new piece of hardware.

The North American personal computer builder MAINGEAR Computers, will be revolutionizing their Dash Friends and Family PC, F131 gaming machines, and EPHEX luxury gaming systems by integrating the latest AMD Spider platform. Equipped with the "standard" Spider accessories like AMD Phenom 9500/9600 CPU, MSI K9A2 Platinum 790FX motherboard and a pair of ATI Radeon HD 3800 series will get you quite a boost from a pre-build configuration. Other parts include Silverstone case, 1kW Silverstone Strider PSU, optional Maingear Arctic 120mm CPU water cooling system (adds 299$ to your bill), 2GB or 4GB Corsair XMS2-8500 DDR2 memory, PhysX acceleration and a lot more. In fact most of the configuration can be customized here.

Kingston Technology Company, the independent world leader in memory products, today announced it is shipping 1066MHz ValueRAM designed specifically for the new AMD Phenom Processor. Kingston worked closely with AMD on the launch of the Spider Platform, comprised of the new Phenom Processor, ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series graphics card and the AMD 7-Series Chipset, to ensure peak memory performance. Kingston's 1066MHz ValueRAM modules help take advantage of Phenom's ability to deliver true quad-core performance.

Rewriting the rules for enthusiast computing, as expected AMD today unveiled its new platform codenamed "Spider", with the first true quad-core processor supporting scalable graphics for The Ultimate Visual Experience. The AMD Spider platform combines the introduction of AMD Phenom quad-core processors, ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series graphics processors with Microsoft DirectX 10.1 support, AMD 7-Series chipsets with CrossFireX and AMD OverDrive software. The AMD Spider platform is a major milestone on the path to Accelerated Computing, AMD's vision for platform-level acceleration through co-processing.

AMDZone has collaborated with AMD to reveal the final box art of AMD's new quad-core Phenom processors. That's what you'd get when you purchase your brand new boxed Phenom.

DigiTimes reports that Taiwan motherboard makers do not expect AMD to roll out the highest frequency 2.6GHz version of its new quad-core Phenom CPU family before 2008. According to sources close to DigiTimes, AMD will only introduce two Phenom CPUs on November 19th, the 2.2GHz 9500 and 2.3GHz 9600 models. A 2.4GHz 9700 model is expected to launch during December, but a 2.6GHz one will not be introduced until 2008. AMD is planning to offer the 9500 and 9600 Phenoms for as low as US$250 and US$270 to OEM channels, while the officially announced prices will be US$280 and US$320. The 9700 processor will be priced at around US$300. AMD declined to comment on the speculation, saying that it cannot reveal details about the upcoming Phenom launch.

After the redistributor prices for AMD's new Phenom processors emerged a couple of days ago, DailyTech has managed to get hold of some retail prices (not bulk prices) for AMD's new Phenom processors, so here's a roundup:

ISA Hardware, AMD's master distributor of processors, has updated its price list to include AMD's first native quad core CPUs. Three new desktop Phenom X4 processors are now listed as actual:

• HD9500WCGDBOX CPU Desktop Phenom X4 9500 (4MB,95W,AM2) box $247.00
• HD9600WCGDBOX CPU Desktop Phenom X4 9600 (4MB,95W,AM2) box $278.00
• HD9700XAGDBOX CPU Desktop Phenom X4 9700 (4MB,125W,AM2) box $288.00