AMD releases X3 Phenoms to retailers

Posted at: 11:11am 23rd April 2008 by Ben Hardwidge

Pick up a triple core Phenom CPU for just £95.75 inc VAT

AMD has been talking about triple-core CPUs for over six months now, but so far the elusive chips have only been in the hands of OEMs. However, today AMD announced that it’s shipping three new Phenom X3 chips to retailers, and all of them are based on the new B3 stepping with the fixed TLB problems.

The best news is that the prices start from just £95.75 inc VAT. This will get you a 2.1GHz Phenom X3 8450 from Scan, while £109.26 will get you a 2.3GHz Phenom X3 8650 and £128.08 will buy you a 2.4GHz Phenom X3 8750. All the chips are based on AMD’s 65nm Toliman core, and have a standard TDP of 95W.

The chips’ cache system is exactly what you’d expect from the chips too – being the same as a Phenom X4 but with just three cores. This means you get 2MB of Level 3 cache, plus 1.5MB (512KB per core) of Level 2 cache. The chips also feature 128KB of Level 1 cache per core as well.

While it’s great to see triple-core processors being released for under £100, the prices are also slightly disappointing. When AMD launched the original X3 chips to PC manufacturers in February we worked out that the difference in price between CPUs could result in the X3 chips costing as little as £60. As it is, it will be harder for AMD to compete with Intel’s Core 2 Duo and Quad chips at £95.75 and higher.

Do you have an AM2+ system that you’re thinking of upgrading to a Phenom X3 or X4 system? Will a keenly priced Phenom X3 CPU persuade you to part with your money, or would you prefer to spend more on an Intel Core 2 Quad setup? Let us know your thoughts.