AMD’s Bulldozer architecture was not the success it had hoped, but despite that it it selling out as soon as it comes into stock, which also goes for Llano. It has now come to our attention that AMD has stopped shipping all Phenom II and Athlon II models at 45nm – but one.
The new processors released by AMD this year has slowly replaced the elderky Phenom II and Athlon II series. At the start of the year it launched the C and E series based on the Brazos plastform for the lower segment, during the summer the longed-for Llano in the A series arrived, which was followed by AMD’s least anticipated Bulldozer architecture that is part of the FX series. All products have been considered a success for the company that has been struggling for years to compete with Intel, except Bulldozer that did not quite deliver what reviewers were hoping for.
Despite Bulldozer being unable to live up to expectations AMD has decided to stop shipping all models of the Phenom II and Athlon II series at 45nm to distributors – with one exception. Phenom II X4 960T “Zosma” is still available, based on the Thuban core, but with two cores deactivated, and there is the possibility to unlock these with a bit of luck. This model will be around until stock runs out.
We have seen the last of Phenom II and Athlon II
AMD’s plants in Dresden share many tools to make 45nm and 32nm products, which means production on line makes the other suffer. AMD currently has problems with being able to deliver both Llano and Bulldozer products due to a high demand among OEM partners, but also in retail. The decision does not comes as a surprise even if we would not have minded seeing the Phenom II X6 series on the market for a little longer. Those who are still interested in AMD’s Phenom II and Athlon II series should pick one up as soon as possible, since both are going extinct very soon, being replaced by newer products from the company.
