AMD's 45nm Phenom to debut this quarter

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AMD has said its first desktop 45nm quad-core Phenom will arrive this quarter.

The next two are set to follow at the end of the year.

The chip company's first step will be to update its Phenom X4 9750 with a 45nm version of the chip, according to various reports.

Among the big benefits AMD is apparently touting a huge drop in power consumption, from 125W to around 95W. Clockspeeds will also rise from 2.4GHz, to somewhere between 2.5GHz and 2.8GHz, accompanied by a boost in L3 cache from 2MB to 6MB.

The Phenom X4 9850 and 9950 (scheduled for release in June) also need to start looking over their shoulder, with sources suggesting they'll be replaced with 45nm equivalents sometime before January 2009, also bolstered by three times the L3 cache and a similar drop in power consumption.

The low power front is also set to be catered for with a 65nm triple core 2.2GHz Phenom X3 taking its place alongside the existing 8450 and 8650 in the third quarter. 45nm low-power quad-cores, currently codenamed Propus, are expected to emerge in the first half of 2009.

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