Following the introduction of new AM3-based Phenom II processors last month, AMD has been widely expected to announce an update to its lineup with a chip that falls above the current 940 flagship model for the AM2+ socket. The so-called Phenom II X4 955 has been all but confirmed up until now, CPU-Z screenshots of an engineering sample overclocked to 4GHz (using only air cooling) have been leaked onto the web and rumors have been tossed around suggesting a release date in April.
Today, several sites are making echo of those rumors and furthermore claiming the new part is slated for an April 20 launch. The Phenom II X4 955 will feature a core clock of 3.2GHz (up from 3.0GHz on the 940 version) along with 512KB of L2 cache memory per core and 6MB of shared L3 cache, support for dual channel DDR2 and DDR3 memory and a TDP of 125W. Additionally the new part will likely be a 'Black Edition' CPU, shipping with an unlocked multiplier, and could compete with the Core 2 Quad Q9550 at a similar ~$270 price point.