AMD has had a busy year thus far. With the launch of the Deneb core they have finally moved to the 45nm process and are breaking in a new socket interface at the same time. These chips, available in quad and tri core configurations just like the original Phenom, have been aptly named the Phenom II. While the first to launch in January were only AM2+ compatible, several more releases in February introduced the newer AM3 lineup. The main difference with AM3 is the introduction of DDR3 support. But rather than require a forklift upgrade, AMD has incorporated both DDR2 and DDR3 memory controllers into the AM3 chips. So just as AM2+ was to AM2, the new chips are also backwards compatible and AM3 processors will work in AM2+ motherboards with just a simple BIOS update.



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