Next year we will see the first hexa-core processors for retail and AMD will be building its processor on the Istanbul architecture that was launched for servers as a new series of Opteron earlier this year. It’s hexa-core CPU for desktops has been developed under the code-name Thuban and it should be well familiar to you all by now.
AMD is said to be preparing two versions of its hexa-core desktop CPU, which will use AMD’s tested 45nm technology. They will bring 512KB L2 cache per core, 6MB shared L3 cache, DDR3-1333MHz support and improved C-state performance.
Previous information has suggested that Thuban will debut at 2.8GHz, but this hasn’t been confirmed and we can only speculate right now.
Exactly what will separate the two models is uncertain, but they are both slated for Q2 2010 and will most likely appear slightly behind Intel’s hexa-core Core i7-980X, also known as Gulftown.
