What seems to be two independent sources are now reporting about the existence of a rather peculiar processors, the Phenom X3. At first it may seem quite sensible for AMD to launch an X3 model, as there will probably be more than a few X4 dies with one malfunctioning core. AMD could then simply disable the core and ship them as a tri-core. That makes a fair amount of sense, but when these sources at the same time claim that they are in fact not disabled quad-cores, but genuine tri-cores, we’re not so sure what to believe. It doesn’t seem very feasible that such a processor would exist.
The only real reason we can think of that AMD would want such a processor is the same as the TheInq mentions; the fact that Intel can’t do it. Other than that we can’t imagine that AMD would actually need to fill any non-existing void between the Phenom X2 and X4. If it turns out to be an X4 with a disabled core this makes sense, but as of now, not so much. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens. The processor is apparently slated for arrival during Q1, 2008.
