AMD to discontinue current Phenom II X4 CPUs, plans for revamped models?

[Matthew DeCarlo]

A recent rumor suggests that AMD may have plans to halt orders for various Phenom II X4 processors starting in the fourth quarter of 2009 into the first half of 2010. It is suspected that AMD's decision is based on a plan to launch a revised Phenom II X4 (Deneb 45nm) processor, which will have lower thermals and support higher clock rates.

If the speculation holds any truth, AMD's Phenom II X4 910 and 945 will be pulled first, with the last order being made this quarter, and shipments will cease in the second quarter of next year. Next to die will be the Phenom II X4 925, which will stop shipping in the third quarter of 2010. The 125W Phenom II X4 955 will be replaced with a 95W iteration in the second quarter of next year, along with the 140W 965 which will be swapped with a 125W unit.

In other AMD news, the company has postponed the launch of its 1.8GHz 45nm 25W Regor-based CPU (dubbed Athlon II X2 620u) until late first quarter 2010. The 1.6GHz Athlon II X2 520u is still slated for a late 2009 debut.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/36785-amd-to-discontinue-current-phenom-ii-x4-cpus-plans-for-revamped-models.html

 

[abautu]

I read somewhere AMD had some problem these day with their schedule and part of it is caused by their factory contractors.

 

[freedomthinker]

This should come in handy for AMD , cause they seriously have to replenish their look , they are in need of sales , i think this should help .

 

[InsaneVr6]

It's good that AMD is thinking of upgrading their models, but they really need something to put them back on the map in my opinion. The Intel Core i7 (and even the i5's) are in the lead and AMD is losing sales.

 

[Souljacker]

Ha, typical. Just as I buy a Phenom 955! Oh well, it will still last me a fair while.

 

[Souljacker]

True though, the i5s are almost competing with the top Phenoms and the i7s for the most part are in a league of their own!

 

[ET3D]

Well, news about CPU's end of life is less interesting than news about new CPU's, and unfortunately there are no details here about the new AMD CPU's. I do hope the can come up with something a little more competitive with Intel, and I hope they continue to support the current socket, so I can put one in my AM2+ motherboard.

 

[Shalimar]

This is very good news for AMD.. and as they improve the design it can hopefully keep pressure on Intel's camp.. which in turn means better proc and lower prices. We all win then

 

[klepto12]

i think amd needs to either completely revamp the the die process and make more efficient cpus or come out with atleast a 4Ghz cpu to even stand a chance right now.

 

[Clrabbit]

AMD showed us years go with there Athlon CPU's clock speed doesn't mean everything!

Maybe they'll do it again and we'll see 2ghz AMD's out passing all but Intel's top CPU's.

Or at least one can dream (Although I'll be dreaming about: 8xCore 128-bit 4Ghz CPU, That's Windows 8 ready.) I'd wager next time I buy a New PC it'll be for* around Win8. I'll just pick up a New DX11 Video card for my current PC; half a year from now, and call it good for a couple years.

 

[Puiu]

they really need to lower thermals on those phenoms. also maybe they'll make them able to compete with at least the lower end of intel's i7

 

[gamingmage]

They should've done this a LONG time ago. AMD really needs to think about where they're headed with their processors I mean right now Intel is owning them on almost all fronts. While they still have to worry about ATI, they can't forget about what they were originally about.

 

[ken777]

The Phenoms are all competent performers and priced reasonably, but they're just not exciting. AMD has been an also ran since their Athlon 64/X2 glory days. They need to do something more dramatic like beat Intel to market with 6-core desktop processors.

 

[JieMan]

This is good news as I have an AMD platform so for upgradability its awesome.
I am really hoping they will come out with a six core revamped low tdp model able to reach a stable 3.6 of coarse 4.0 would be great but I'm a realist. So much so that I know if your building a system today then go with a P55 ! of which AMD has no solution to compete with. Remember this is to compete with the Core 2 line , It would take alot from AMD right now to get back in the enthusiast game.

 

[Rick]

AMD needs to "refresh" their *workforce*. They need bright engineers and people who think outside of what they've been doing, because what they've been doing has been failing in most respects.

AMD has to start innovating or improving their offerings drastically -- in some way -- because Intel has them out gunned from many angles. It's been this way for awhile. Instead, AMD keeps tweaking their largely unremarkable Phenoms which were not a very good follow up to the 64 in the first place.

 

[red1776]

it seems like they are treading water and revamping with the 'bin chips' and disabled core lineup, I hope this is because they are working on a completely new architecture cuz if they go the way of Cyrix...Intel will be an insufferable bully if they are the only game in town.

 

[psycholexx]

AMD is kicking *** on mainstream/low end market for now, see Athlon X4 VS Intel Q8200, and also see the AM2/AM2+/AM3 socket flexibility, vs LGA775/1366/1156 of Intel. The idea is that 2010 will be a slow year for everybody, because of the economic crisis, and also because of technological limits of chip manufacture, because everybody wants to migrate until 2011 on 32nm. This will be a painfully process for everybody, and also a very costly one. So my opinion is that 2010 is a slow year, and the only way is to facelift old products in order to be fresh on the market.

 

[MBK]

psycholexx said:
...and also see the AM2/AM2+/AM3 socket flexibility, vs LGA775/1366/1156 of Intel...

That's what I love about AMD, they seem to be trying to make upgrading as easy and cheap as possible. They are deff the way to go for mid range chips, and if you have a budget which dictates they are buying mid range and not the best cpu out there, you don't want to have to by a new motherboard too.

 

[p05ta1]

"Phenom 945 pulled first." I just orderd the 95watt version from the egg yesterday, it was the same price as the 140 watt version. I seen no reason to buy a chip with same specs but higher wattage.

I think this is a good thing for AMD.

 

[PUTALE]

it's not a bad idea in my opinion. lower thermal envelope is alwasy good. However, I still think that the company will have 1 high end cpu so that it can at least make some news and somewhat compete agianst intel.

 

[KG363]

They need a new micro-architecture to compete with intel, not just a small adjustment. By the time they can compete with Intel, Intel will have moved on. I'm pulling for you AMD

 

[ET3D]

Seems like I agree with everyone here.

I do believe that AMD needs to pull a new rabbit out of the hat, and I don't see them doing it anytime soon, but I can hope they're secretly developing something.

Meanwhile they're doing a pretty good job in the low end and mid range. The Phenom II CPU's did manage to make them at least viable alternatives to Intel at the $100 to $200 price range. I have a Phenom II X3 710, and before these came out, I was pretty certain my next PC will be Intel.

The move to support an older socket is a really good one, IMO. If they can't compete in performance, at least they're making upgrades a lot more possible. I hated it that I could never really upgrade the CPU without changing motherboards. While I also needed to this time (having used 939 until that point), I can hope that AMD will keep the AM2+ support for a while yet.

 

[SUSHRUKH]

they really need to lower thermals on those phenoms. also maybe they'll make them able to compete with at least the lower end of intel's i7

 

[abautu]

I really hope AMD recovers from their bad period. I like their products and I use many of them, but even without this, it's still better two have more competing companies than an Intelopoly.

 

[lewislau957]

wow, tat is the shortest lifespan of a proc, lol. O well, at least it can allow them to rebuild their brand, and hopefully compete against the i7 in the near future. Looking forward to them taking over the enthusiast niche again in the future.