Triple-core AMD Phenom chips ship

http://news.google.ca/news?imgefp=Hr..._quad_0308.jpg

AMD announced Thursday that it is shipping triple-core processors, a first for the PC market. AMD also updated the quad-core Phenom lineup and reaffirmed that quad-core Opteron chips for servers will be available later in the second quarter.


The AMD Phenom X3 8400 (2.1GHz) and 8600 (2.3GHZ) triple-core processors are the first processors that use three cores. This is expected to allow AMD to target price-performance points that two- and four-core processors can't easily match. "The value proposition is simple. Three cores versus two cores. You make the choice," said Pat Moorehead, VP of Advanced Marketing at AMD. "When you've maxed out your two cores...(this is an) extra core to do background tasks," he said.

:source: Source: http://www.news.com/newsblog/8301-10...9904329-7.html

yeah, I read this at TH yesterday. I am still awaiting new Intel's. April cannot come too quick!! :)

Why they heck didn't they just go quad?

Hmm...

^^They did go Quad as you say, but during production, they had many dies that came out faulty in that one of the four cores wasn't up to specs. Instead of throwing the dies away, they figured they could sell them. Since Intel has cheap core 2 duos that do very well for games, etc; they decided to go ahead and produce these 3 core processors and price them with Intel's core 2 line. Consumers will say "hmm, this one has one more core!" LOL