AMD launched its first 45nm processors a while back, but these were all server processors based on the Shanghai core. AMD has chosen to wait with the desktop models, but we have now stumbled upon some slides from a recent AMD presentation that confirms that launch is still slated for early January 2009 with a major update coming in February. The first Phenom II processors will appear on January 8th with quad-cores ready to show what AMD can do at 45nm.
AMD Phenom II X4 940 and Phenom II X4 920 are designed for Socket AM2+ with a total cache of 8MB (6MB L3, 2MB L2) and DDR2-1066 support. The models operate at 3.0GHz and 2.8GHz respectively and sport a TDP of 125W. About a month later, AMD is expected to announce another six 45nm processors where four of them have four cores (Deneb) and the remaining two sport three cores (Heka). These processors are for both Socket AM2+ and AM3 platform (not at the same time though);
A second slide reveals information that also confirms some of our previous stories about how Deneb overclocks a lot better than the current Agena core. The slide shows AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition and AMD has been anything but shy when boasting the overclocking potential of the new Deneb core. It has put up a (slightly misleading) diagram that shows how the new Black Edition can do 4GHz with regular air cooling and 4GHz and beyond with water cooling or other kinds of exotic cooling.
If Deneb can live up to these claims AMD’s position on the desktop market is bound to improve significantly in 2008 as these models are most likely going to be priced at or below Intel’s Core i7 series.
