Cpu Reviews

According to DigiTimes, AMD will launch half a dozen 45nm Athlon processors by June of 2009. The quad-core Athlon X4 615 and 605 and triple-core Athlon X3 420 and 410 are expected to ship in April 2009, with the company’s dual-core Athlon X2 240 and 235 coming a bit later in June 2009.

AMD has also been busy planning last order notices for its upcoming 45nm AM2+ Phenom II X4 920 and 940 Black Edition processors, which the company plans to issue in May 2009. Meanwhile, the Santa Clara chip maker will no longer take orders for its quad-core Phenom X4 9650. More Phenom last order notices aren’t far behind, with AMD’s Phenom X4 9950 (140W) and 9850 (125W) getting theirs in March of next year, and the Phenom X4 9750, 9850 (95W), and 9950 (125W) in June 2009.

But wait, there’s more! DigiTimes says AMD’s triple-core Phenom X3 8450 and 8550 are nearing their end of life in the market place, while the Phenom X3 8650 will have its last order notice issued in March 2009. The Phenom X3 8850 and 8750 CPUs will follow the same fate in June. And finally, AMD’s Athlon X2 4450e chip, a low-power CPU, will be phased out in March 2009.

Phew! That’s a lot of chips getting ready to head to the chopping block. Plan accordingly, AMD fans.

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With the release of Intel’s Core i7 lineup, it appeared Intel and Nvidia might be on the path to patching up their relationship as the two finally came to terms with licensing Nvidia’s SLI technology on Intel’s X58 chipset. But don’t call them BFFs just yet.

Nvidia recently announced plans to release its Ion platform, a low power netbook solution which would pair the company’s GeForce 9400M chipset with Intel’s Atom processor. According to Nvidia, users would be able to play popular games on the Ion platform, like Call of Duty 4. The only problem is Intel doesn’t appear to have any intention of sharing its Atom processor with Nvidia.

According to DigiTimes, an internal statement distributed to hardware makers reiterated Intel’s stance that its Atom processors would only come bundled with the chip maker’s 945GSE and 945GC chipsets. The news site also claims Intel indicated it has no plans to validate the Nvidia MCP79 chipset on Atom-based platforms, nor does it plan to partner with Nvidia to support nettops or netbooks.

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