Pre-order prices of upcoming Llano processors

Launched one month ago, AMD A-Series currently consists of two Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), A8-3850 and A6-3650. Both microprocessors have fixed core frequency, 2.9 GHz and 2.6 GHz respectively, and 100 Watt TDP. This quarter, AMD is going to introduce several additional A4-, A6- and A8-Series SKUs. New models will have lower 65 Watt TDP, albeit they will operate at lower clock frequencies. Most of the chips will feature Turbo Core technology, which can temporarily boost clock speeds by several hundred MHz under certain conditions. Three of these processors, A8-Series 3800, and A6-Series 3500 and 3600, surfaced last weekend in a number of US online stores.

CostCentral shows boxed and OEM versions of AMD A6-3600 and A6-3800 APUs, priced at $126.87 and $150.16. Triple-core A6-3500 costs $104.22:

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It's interesting that the prices of A6-3600 and A8-3800 parts match the prices of A6-3650 and A8-3850 CPUs. Another store, Bottom Line Communications, lists these microprocessors $3 - $6 cheaper. However, they also have identical prices for A6-3600 and 3650, and A8-3800 and 3850 APUs, and this leads us to believe that the new processors will be priced exactly as 100 Watt parts, or very close to it. Estimated official price for the AMD A6-3500 should in the $90 - $100 range.

If you follow the link to Bottom Line Communications website, you will notice Athlon II X4 631 processor. The pre-order page states that the CPU has 2.6 GHz core frequency, 100 Watt TDP and 1 MB L2 cache (L2 cache size could be incorrect because digit "3" in the part number designates 1 MB L2 cache per core, not per package). This model, along with Sempron 198X, Athlon II X2 221X and Athlon II X4 641X, was spotted last week in CPU support list for Biostar motherboards. Apparently, the Athlon II 631, or 631X, will be sold in retail as a boxed CPU, and it will cost significantly less than quad-core APUs from A6-Series and A8-Series. Preorder price for this model is $89.40, therefore the official price will be somewhere in the $80 - $90 range. To have this low price, the chip must be missing some features.