AMD Phenom business class cpuThe four new Phenom processors extend AMD’s B-series platform, which also includes a motherboard carrying either AMD’s 780V or Nvidia’s MCP78 chipset, to a total of 11 processors. The new models include the Phenom X4 9750B (2.4 GHz/95 watt), the Phenom X3 8750B (2.4 GHz/95watt), the Athlon X2 5600B (2.9 GHz/65 watt) and Athlon X2 4850B (2.5 GHz/45 watt) processors.
Pricing was announced, but we expect AMD to continue its business class pricing strategy, which means that these processors will be offered with a premium of close to 20% on the high-end and about 10% on the lower end when compared to non-B-series processors of the same main product family and comparable clock speeds.
In contrast, the sequence numbers of the preceding B2-series, which included the TLB bug, ended on full hundreds. The first B-series Phenoms were the 9600B and 8600B, which indicated that these are processors with the B2-series core. However, the 9600B and 8600B processors are actually B3-series CPUs. As if the sequence numbering system isn’t already confusing enough, AMD has now some inconsistencies of B2/B3 markers within the same product family, which does not necessarily make a purchase decision much easier, especially, if you are trying to figure out which processors have the TLB bug and which do not.
