AMD now shipping triple-core Phenom processors

IDG News Service - Advanced Micro Devices Inc. on Wednesday said it has started shipping triple-core Phenom processors, bringing desktops with the chip closer to release.

The triple-core processors are now shipping in volume to PC makers only, AMD officials said. They declined further comment on chip availability and specifications.

Many major vendors, including Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co., have hinted at including the Phenom triple-core processors in desktops.

Dell has listed in an online brochure plans to use the chip in its OptiPlex 740 business desktop systems, with 1.5MB of Level 2 cache and 2MB of shared Level 3 cache. Dell will ship the triple-core OptiPlex in the second quarter, a company spokeswoman said, declining further comment.

On its Bulgarian-language Web site, HP has also listed a desktop with AMD's Phenom triple-core 8600B processor that runs at 2.3 GHz and has 1.5MB of Level 2 cache. HP officials were not available for comment.

Mesh Computers Ltd., a London-based PC vendor, has already started offering two desktops with the triple-core Phenom. The company is including an AMD Phenom 8400 triple-core processor, which runs at 2.1 GHz, in the Matrix XXX Plus desktop. It is using AMD's Phenom 8600 triple core, which runs at 2.3 GHz, in the Matrix XXX Pro desktop.

AMD last year added the triple-core processor to its lineup and said the chip would be available in the first quarter of 2008. It is positioning the processor as a better choice than dual-core chips, with the third core providing additional processing power to carry out computing tasks such as antivirus scanning.