Thuban is a star in the Dragon constellation... but it is also the codename of the new high-end hexcore CPU from AMD. Do not expect to see this giant (which hopefully will not be a shooting star) this year, as AMD plans to launch it after the Leo platform in 2010.This processor is clearly designed to compete with Intel's Core i9 (Gulftown) processors: Six cores each with 512KB of L2 cache and 6MB of shared L3 cache, a dual-channel DDR3 controller at 1333MHz, produced on a 45nm process for the AM3 platform.
It seems that AMD does not think consumers need PCs with more than 4 cores, as they continue to recommend quad core CPUs for single processor machines, believing that higher frequencies are a greater advantage than greater numbers of cores.
Thuban is planned for the third quarter of 2010, but the release may be brought forward if there is strong demand, meaning it could be the launch CPU for Leo in May 2010 (currently, the launch CPU is the Phenom II quad-core range).
The competition between Thuban and Gulftown is fierce, which will be good news for enthusiasts and consumers alike... and we hope it will be the first single-socket AMD solution that will be capable of handling bigadv!
Source : Xbitlabs
jmn
On: 09/02/09
