Atom 330 is benchmarked

Atom 330 is benchmarked, worse than expected

Atom 330 is benchmarked

Intel's dual-core, 1.6GHz Atom 330 coupled with a 7200 RPM SATA hard drive and 1GB of DDR2 RAM,was benchmarked run-through, and they've got some conflicting details to pass on to you. Overall, the testers found the Atom to be, as expected, faster than the N270, but only by 16 percent. In specific tests, the 330 ran Office 2003 slower than both a 2GHz VIA C7-D and the single-core Atom; PC Pro actually performed the test several times just to be sure it wasn't a glitch... and it wasn't. The 330 performed better running 2D graphics, outpacing the N270 by 41 percent, and it also outperformed its competitors in encoding and multitasking.

Atom 330 is benchmarked

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Dual-core Phenom pops up again

Much (digital) ink has run on the subject of dual-core Phenom derivatives. Rumor sites initially expected such chips to launch quad-core Phenoms last year, but we later heard that AMD had shelved the concept until the 45nm switch. Then, 65nm dual-core Phenom listings somehow made their way onto a price search engine in Europe, and unofficial benchmarks of a 2.2GHz model surfaced. We still haven't heard a peep from AMD on the subject, though.

Expreview now claims to have the latest scoop. The Chinese site says AMD may have given up on the 2.3GHz chip we heard about last month, but the chipmaker's October roadmap includes two new dual-core Phenom derivatives. Branded Athlon X2 7550 and Athlon X2 7750, the two CPUs have respective clock speeds of 2.5GHz and 2.7GHz, which they each pair with 3MB of total cache—likely 512KB of the L2 variety per core and 2MB of shared L3 cache per chip.The roadmap reportedly pegs the arrival of these CPUs in the first quarter of next year. However, Expreview says AMD will manufacture them using 65nm process technology, and both models will have 95W thermal envelopes. This claim sounds a tad implausible, although AMD has made some strange moves in the past.

Dual core Phenoms could be around the corner

This time a few different sources report the chipmaker's given its channel partners the high sign indicating "Kuma" dual-core Phenom-based processors will finally see the light of day. For those too shy to indulge in triple- or even quad-core action, El Reg says Phenom X2 dual core chips will range from 2.3GHz to 1.90 Ghz, sporting 1MB L2 cache and 2MB L3 cache for. Freaky 3-core overclockers can look forward to new, better performing 2.4Ghz Black Edition Phenom 8750s, and more efficient 125-watt Phenom 9950 CPUs, if we can trust leaked German sales charts -- and we always do, don't you?

Here are the specs:

AMD Phenom X2 GE-6600: 2.30GHz, 1MB L2 cache (2x 512 KB), 2MB L3 cache

Phenom X2 GE-6500: 2.1GHz, 1MB L2 cache (2x 512 KB), 2MB L3 cache

Phenom X2 GE-6400: 1.90GHz, 1MB L2 cache (2x 512 KB), 2MB L3 cache

As covered earlier, the chips will be fabbed at 65nm and join the tri-core Phenom X3 and quad-core Phenom X4.

Of course, the details should still be taken with a grain of salt at this point. AMD has previously denied canceling Kuma, and as usual, when we contacted the company, it refused to comment on unannounced silicon.

"We are, of course, planning additional CPU releases later this year, but I can't get into the specific details on those releases ahead of launch," an AMD spokesman said
theregister