AMD releases three new processors today

Peter G. July 22, 2009 2:37 PM ET in Tech

The Athlon II die.

AMD’s Athlon II X2 250 has been hyped a lot in the past few days considering it was released June 1, but it all makes sense seeing today’s release of the slower Athlon II X2 240 and 245 processors. The 65W AM3 processors are clocked at 2.8 and 2.9 GHz respectively. These are no-frills, meat-and-potatoes processors but should get the job done for the budget sect with the Athlon II X2 240 hitting the streets at a price under $67.

Also today, a new spin of the Phenom II X4 945 has resulted in a 95W TDP chip, shaving a good chunk off the thermal footprint in a short amount of time. Previous versions pushed a 125W TDP, so it’s clear that GLOBALFOUNDRIES is maturing their 45nm process without making any major changes to the chip design.

11 Comments:

1. Snarkasm

   The Photographer.

   
   22 Jul '09, 2:40 pm

   Man, these TDPs seem fairly monstrous compared to the (admittedly low-end) processors we heard about from Intel the other day with 25-35W TDPs.
2. Peter G.

   Dept. of Propaganda

   
   22 Jul '09, 2:42 pm

   TDP shrinks with die shrinks. Those Intel chips are 32nm so it's no wonder they're pushing such low numbers.
3. Snarkasm

   The Photographer.

   
   22 Jul '09, 2:44 pm

   No doubt, but die shrinks come with architecture and process improvements, and it just highlights how far ahead Intel is at the moment in both areas.
4. shwaip

   elaborate bot

   
   22 Jul '09, 2:48 pm

   It's really cool to think that a incandescent lightbulb uses more power than a processor.
5. MAGIC

   NFNF

   
   22 Jul '09, 2:57 pm

   AMD really needs to develope something innovative to stay competative. You can only survive with inferior products undercutting on price for so long before you wind up as the GM of the microprocessor market.
6. Thrax

   Cad

   
   22 Jul '09, 3:25 pm

   What AMD needs is a new Athlon 64.
7. Cliff_Forster

   Keepin it real

   
   22 Jul '09, 6:35 pm

   They had the Athon 64, it was superior, why did they not rule the market then?

   What AMD needs is a fair, level, competitive market full of well educated consumers.
8. primesuspect

   The Icrontic Guy

   
   22 Jul '09, 6:37 pm

   But they can't make that happen, so they need to learn how to compete on the field that DOES exist, not a fantasy world
9. Snarkasm

   The Photographer.

   
   22 Jul '09, 6:53 pm

   Cowon has superior audio players, why don't they rule the market?

   Because marketing rules the market, as long as your product is not an utter piece of garbage.
10. Thrax

    Cad

    
    22 Jul '09, 7:25 pm

    Quoting Cliff_Forster

    They had the Athon 64, it was superior, why did they not rule the market then?

    What AMD needs is a fair, level, competitive market full of well educated consumers.

    AMD was gaining more market share in a shorter amount of time than it ever had in the history of the company with the Athlon 64. Rather than follow up on the groundswell of good will with another great architecture, it fell flat on its face with the crappy Phenom. It has only barely recovered with the Phenom II, but the earnings reports still paint a dire picture for a company which was once moving into the black.

    Rome was not built in a day. It was destroyed a hell of a lot faster.
11. mirage

    Veteran Icrontian

    
    23 Jul '09, 12:23 pm

    Okay guys, mark my words. Call Phenom crappy, AMD's last earnings picture bleak, or say whatever you want. Here is what I see: AMD's worst days are over. Phenom II is a good enough product together with the ATI products and restructuring (shrinking) of the company to make AMD profitable again. I believe, at the latest Q1'10, AMD will be back in black with a good lesson learned about overgrowth.

    But it is practically impossible to dominate the CPU market for AMD simply because Intel is such a behemoth with a revenue two times its closest competitor (Samsung) and ~12% of the production capacity in semicon industry.

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