A while back, we were made aware that AMD plans to change their processor name and numbering scheme for their upcoming products. Now, we have a little more detail on their planned changes. Their new processors will be given a more or less cryptic code, such as Intel's CPUs, beginning with letters to indicate product level and power level. Afterwards, it'll have a four digit number that will identify the product family. A "G" CPU is a premium product, probably an Opteron or an FX and others follow suit:
AMD's new naming scheme will start with a letter to indicate the product level; G represents premium product, B represents intermediate product and L represents value product. A second letter will indicate the product's power consumption, with P representing over 65W, S around 65W and E less than 65W, noted Sobon.
The "64" will be removed from all their units, likely because all their modern CPUs are now 64bit and the majority of Intel's lineup support 64bit as well. The four digit number will range from 1000 to 7000, with 1000 being single-core Athlons and Semprons and 7000 being the Phenom-class quad-core. The number will also give an indication of processor speed.
Personally, both naming schemes from Intel and AMD seem relatively confusing. Rather than being given a clear indication of what product is what, it is much more vague. When someone say "Athlon XP 2400+" or "Pentium 4 2.4GHz" or "Celeron 2.0GHz", you more or less knew what you were getting right away. Now I suppose you'll need a cheat sheet handy before buying any CPU. The article mentions it'll take more than six months for AMD to completely move over to the new naming scheme.