If current rumors are to be believed, AMD's fist hexa-core processors are headed for desktops sometime around April. The new chips will reportedly come in three flavors: Phenom II X6 1035T, 1055T, and the 1075T. While AMD has yet to confirm any specific details and launch plans, today they've gone ahead and started showing off a Thuban engineering sample at the CeBIT tradeshow in Hannover.
The crew at Golem.de have posted a video off AMD's next-generation Leo platform powered by an unidentified Phenom II X6 processor, running on a Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H motherboard based on the newly released 890GX chipset and coupled with ATI Radeon HD 5000-series graphics. There was no mention of specific clock speeds but it is said that the highest stock frequency of AMD's six-core chips will be 2.80GHz.
To compensate for the relatively low clock speeds and optimize resources, AMD's six-core processors will reportedly have some form of dynamic speed boost technology called "C-state performance boost." Much like Intel's Turbo Boost, C-state performance should kick in when single-thread performance is needed most, automatically disabling idle cores and overclocking the remaining engines to the maximum possible level.
Thuban processors are expected to be compatible with AM2+ and AM3 motherboards, presumably following a BIOS update. It remains to be seen whether the new dynamic speed boost technology will function on existing motherboards as well.