AMD Delivers Budget PC Solution With Athlon X2 7000

By: Jennifer Hong
Staff Writer
Published: Dec 16, 2008

The AMD Athlon X2 7000 is the first dual core chip based on its Phenom quad core design. The 65nm processor clocks at 2.5GHz and offers 512MB of L2 cache with each core.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc unleashed its new Athlon X2 7000 which brands the first dual core chip based on its Phenom quad design. The new AMD chip is designed for budget desktop PCs. The processor features a faster 3.6GHz HypterTransport bus.

The new AMD chip is founded on the K10 architecture and is part of the company's latest "Cartwheel" platform. The platform is "designed to allow PC makers build budget-based computers." For example, a Cartwheel system will include an AMD Athlon X2 7000 chip, 780G motherboard chipset, and built-in ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics.

The chip manufacture also uncovered the new Athlon X2 7550 processor which clocks at 2.7GHz. This new AMD chip is called the "Black Edition" and is priced at around $79. The processor offers the same chipset and Radeon graphics as the Athlon X2 7000.

The two chips use the 65nm technology. However, the chip maker is expected to release a new 45nm processor for desktops and laptops in 2009. The technology company shipped its first 45nm AMD Opteron quad core last month for servers.