AMD Athlon X2 6500 - a dual-core K10 chip

X-bit Labs claims AMD has no plans to release dual-core Phenom processors at this time. Instead, the chip maker will release a Athlon-branded dual-core K10 chip in September, this part will be known as Athlon X2 6500.

Instead of three AMD Phenom X2 chips (as reported on Tuesday), the world’s second largest maker of x86 microprocessors plans to release one AMD Athlon X2 6500 microprocessor based on the K10 micro-architecture in early September. The chip will operate at 2.30GHz, feature 1MB of L2 cache [512KB per core], 2MB L3 cache as well as dual-channel DDR2 memory controller. The new product will have thermal design power of 95W, hence, should be compatible with the vast majority of AM2+ mainboards.

The new AMD Athlon X2 6500 processor is based on code-named Kuma design and it is highly likely that the chip will be among very few of such dual-core 65nm microprocessors based on the K10 micro-architecture. In fact, the new chip will feature unlocked multiplier, a feature that allows enthusiasts to easily overclock microprocessors, and only be available on channel market.

It is not completely clear why AMD decided to brand its 2.30GHz processor as Athlon 64 X2 6500, as based on performance estimates, the Athlon X2 6400 (3.20GHz) can offer similar or even higher performance compared to AMD Phenom X3 8750 (2.40GHz). As a result, the new model 6500 may be slower compared to the old model 6400.

AMD also plans to unveil triple-core AMD Phenom X3 8750 (2.50GHz), 8550 (2.20GHz), 8450e (2.10GHz) and 8250e (1.90GHz) processors on September 2, 2008.