AMD updates Athlon II and Phenom II lineups

Today AMD launched 6 new desktop models, which span across six different Athlon II and Phenom II families. Also, two budget-class models, Sempron 145 and Athlon II X2 220, are now available as boxed processors. The new processors are offered in a wide range of prices, from budget dual-core Athlon II 265 at $76 and up to high-performance Phenom II 1075T at $245. Four of new models were available for sale before the launch.

Six new microprocessors have many common features, such as micro-architecture, size of L1 caches, and socket type, and common technologies like AMD64 and Virtualization. The major differences between them are in the number of cores, core frequency, sizes of L2 and L3 caches, Thermal Design Power, and, of course, the branding and the price. New models, introduced today, are:

• Dual-core Athlon II X2 265 operates at 3.3 GHz, and includes generous 1MB L2 cache per each core. Like all other Athlon II CPUs, it doesn't have L3 cache. Without doubts, this model is going to be the best performing Athlon II CPU for single- and dual-threaded applications.
• Triple-core Athlon II X3 450 is clocked 100 MHz lower than the 265, has twice smaller per-core size of L2 cache, but, thanks to an additional core, outperforms the 265 in multi-threaded applications. With an extra performance in multi-threaded tasks, this microprocessor has very attractive $87 price tag.
• Quad-core Athlon II X4 645 operates 100 MHz lower frequency than the 450. Nonetheless, the forth core helps this microprocessor to outrun the X3 450 when running multi-threaded (4 or more threads) tasks.
• Dual-core Phenom II X2 560 Black Edition has the same 3.3 GHz core frequency as the Athlon II 265. The processor has twice smaller size of L2 cache than the X2 265, which is more than compensated by an extra 6 MB L3 cache. Clock multiplier on the 560 is not locked, and the processor can be effortlessly overclocked to gain higher performance.
• Quad-core Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition at 3.5 GHz is the fastest clocked AMD microprocessor. The processor is best suited for systems that require maximum performance in applications with up to 4 threads, at a not overly expensive price.
• Six-core Phenom II X6 1075T is the second fastest X6 processor from AMD. While the CPU is clocked 200 MHz lower than the model 1090T, it is still 200 MHz faster than the next model 1055T. Turbo Core feature on this microprocessor can boost core frequency to 3.5 GHz when three or fewer cores are operational. Price-wise and performance-wise, the Phenom II 1075T CPU is positioned in between of 1090T and 1055T models, that are priced at $295 and $199 respectively.

Brief specifications of new microprocessors are compiled in the table below.

Processor	Cores	Frequency	L2 cache	L3 cache	TDP	Extra Features	Price
Athlon II X2 265	2	3.3 GHz	2 MB	None	65 Watt	None	$76
Athlon II X3 450	3	3.2 GHz	1.5 MB	None	95 Watt	None	$87
Athlon II X4 645	4	3.1 GHz	2 MB	None	95 Watt	None	$122
Phenom II X2 560 BE	2	3.3 GHz	1 MB	6 MB	80 Watt	Unlocked	$105
Phenom II X4 970 BE	4	3.5 GHz	2 MB	6 MB	125 Watt	Unlocked	$180
Phenom II X6 1075T	6	3 GHz	3 MB	6 MB	125 Watt	Unlocked/ Turbo Core	$245

Update (Sep 27): The price of Phenom II X4 970 processor was corrected.