On the previous time, we have reported AMD has cut Athlon 64 X2 4000+/4400+/4800+, which has 1MB x2 L2 Cache, to counter the price cut of Intel on July 23, leaving those 512KB L2 cache models including Athlon 64 X2 3800+/4200+/4600+/5000+. And now, sources indicate that AMD plans to re-release Athlon 64 X2 4000+/4400+/4800+ in Nov 2006, but different in specification to the pervious ones.
Previously, Athlon 64 X2 4000+/4400+/4800+ are based on 90nm Windsor with 1MB x2 L2 Cache. Now, the new re-release models are based on 65nm Brisbane with 512KB x2 L2 Cache. In addition, they are in 100MHz higher than the previous models. The new clock speeds are 2.1GHz, 2.3GHz and 2.5GHz respectively. All of them are in 65W TDP, no more 89W TDP version. And there is 65nm Athlon 64 X2 5000+ coming soon. This would be the same as 90nm Windsor version, but with a lower TDP to 76W.
Besides, the frequency multiplier for the upcoming 65nm products including AMD Athlon 64 FX, AMD Athlon X2 (Brisbane) and AMD Sempron (Sparta) have been changed to 0.5x. The integral multiplier limited a 200MHz (by Hyper-Transport Bus) separation between each existing model. The change of the multiplier could lower the separation to 100MHz, making the product line be more flexible. With regard to the change of frequency multiplier, the Brand ID Expansion has been increased from 8 bits to 16 bits with a new CPUID, so new BIOS is a must for supporting.
By the way, AMD has given a new definition of Athlon 64 FX as SMP (Symmetric Multi-Processor) supporting for enthusiastic users, so the existing Athlon 64 FX would renamed to Athlon 64 X2. The original upcoming Athlon 64 FX-64 would be named to Athlon 64 X2 6000+ (3GHz/1MB L2 x 2/1GHz HTT) under such decision. Athlon 64 X2 6000+ would be released in this November.
