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AMD's Kuma to pack a dual-core wallop?

by Parm Mann on 25 September 2008, 10:26

Tags: Athlon 6500, AMD (NYSE:AMD)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qaph4

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It has been something of a long and arduous journey for AMD's Kuma series of processors, the last of the company's 65nm dual-core parts.

Following lengthy delays and rumours of the chips being shelved - rumours which, we should add, were quickly denied by AMD - the processors are now gearing up for introduction to the market.

Kuma, as you're no-doubt aware, is based on AMD's K10 microarchitecture and will be the final 65nm dual-core chip based on its Star's core. In an interesting turn of events, however, it now appears that AMD won't brand its Kuma parts as Phenom X2 chips. Unlike the tri-core Phenom X3 and quad-core Phenom X4, AMD will be keeping its dual-core processors tagged with its Athlon nomenclature.

One particular Kuma chip, it's claimed is known as the 'Athlon 6500' - yes, that's without the 64 X2 tags - found its way into the hands of 'expreview' and has subsequently been put to the test. Early impressions? Well, the 2.3GHz part is said to easily out-pace the equally-clocked and older Brisbane-based Athlon 64 X2.

The Athlon 6500 is said to overclock to 3GHz easily, with only air cooling. That, then, would make it a very interesting part for a mid-range system.

The chip is already being touted as AMD's "best dual-core ever". Stay tuned...



HEXUS Forums :: 9 Comments

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I'll belive it when i see it, its not hard to create marketing hype.
The quad core phenoms were are about 10% slower than the Core2 Quads clock for clock IIRC, I don't see why the duals would be any different. The E5200 (2.5Ghz) is £53.29 at Scan, and no doubt overclocks much higher than that. Unfortunately I think it's unlikely Kuma is going to do better than that, and they don't really have much of a price range to play with below it. Even if it forces a few Intel price cuts it'll be well worth it though.:)
Although I switched to Intel when they released the Core2 range, I really hope these give Intel a run, AMD have been playing second fiddle too long IMO.
interesting…

ATI/AMD managed to take the GPU crown once again is there a chance they may be back on the up for CPUs too?

I guess believe it when we see it is the best way to look.
Biscuit
interesting…

ATI/AMD managed to take the GPU crown once again is there a chance they may be back on the up for CPUs too?

I guess believe it when we see it is the best way to look.

Phenom Clock for clock is slower than a Core 2 Quad Kentsfield and Yorkfield.
The Kuma will not Clock beyond 3 GHz.
The Wolfdale Core 2 Duo's already clock to 3.33 GHz.

How could AMD make the Kuma faster than a CPU that has a better IPC and a higher clock speed?