[McG]

AMD may have anticipated its launch of the energy efficient Phenom II and Athlon II processors by a week or so. On the shallower end of the price pool you've got the Athlon II X2 (Regor) 250, running at a zippy 3GHz, equipped with 512KB of L2 cache per core and 1MB of L3. The packaging is AM3, in case you're wondering, and we hope that means a DDR3-capable memory controller for upgradability. Power is 65W TDP. The Athlon II is followed closely by the Phenom II X2 (Callisto), and before you scream "pointless", we have to point out that these sport the same 6MB cache present on the Denebs, while keeping with a slightly lower TDP of 80w. These are numbered the 550 and 545, clocked at 3.1GHz and 3GHz respectively. Budget for an extra €10 to €15 over the Athlon II.

Next come the energy efficient processors, four in all: Phenom II X3 700e, X3 705e, X4 900e and X4 905e. Speeds are 2.4GHz and 2.5GHz respectively, and they all share 65W TDP. This should make them great for businesses and even overclockers due to the favourable C2-stepping silicon. The 700e and 900e are sold solely as OEM parts for integrators, so you shouldn't be able to find them right away at your retailer, but the 705e and 905e are on pre-order here in €uroland for €118 and €180 respectively.

Izvor: The Inquirer