AMD quad-core Agena processor details

Some more information about AMD's upcoming K8L processors appeared on DailyTech. This processor family includes the Barcelona processors, which will be 40 percent faster than Intel's Clovertown, according to AMD's marketing machine.

The desktop counterpart of the quad-core Barcelona is codenamed Agena. This 65nm quad-core processor will initially ship with clock speeds between 2.4GHz and 2.6GHz. The chip will have 2MB L2 cache and 2MB L3 cache per core. The launch of Agena is expected in Q3 2007.

There's also the Kuma processor line. These are cheaper dual-core processor with clockspeeds between 2GHz and 2.9GHz. The Kumas will feature 1MB L2 cache and 2MB of shared L3 cache. at launch there will be 89W and 65W versions and later a more energy efficient 35W model will be unveiled.

AMD also has the Rana, which is an entry-level Sempron processor. This part will be launched with clockspeeds in the 2.1GHz to 2.3GHz range. It's a quad-core chip with 1MB L2 cache but it lacks L3 cache. The thermal design power (TDP) of this processor is 65W. The Rana will be launched together with the energy efficient Kuma processors in Q4 2007.

The new AMD Stars processors will be compatible with AM2+ motherboards with a BIOS update but will be slower because they'll drop to HyperTransport 1.0 bus speeds.

Another processor on AMD's roadmap is the Agena FX, the difference with Agena is that this part uses the Socket 1207+ interface.