It has been something of a long and arduous journey for AMD's Kuma series of processors, the last of the company's 65nm dual-core parts.
Following lengthy delays and rumours of the chips being shelved - rumours which, we should add, were quickly denied by AMD - the processors are now gearing up for introduction to the market.
Kuma, as you're no-doubt aware, is based on AMD's K10 microarchitecture and will be the final 65nm dual-core chip based on its Star's core. In an interesting turn of events, however, it now appears that AMD won't brand its Kuma parts as Phenom X2 chips. Unlike the tri-core Phenom X3 and quad-core Phenom X4, AMD will be keeping its dual-core processors tagged with its Athlon nomenclature.
One particular Kuma chip, it's claimed is known as the 'Athlon 6500' - yes, that's without the 64 X2 tags - found its way into the hands of 'expreview' and has subsequently been put to the test. Early impressions? Well, the 2.3GHz part is said to easily out-pace the equally-clocked and older Brisbane-based Athlon 64 X2.
The Athlon 6500 is said to overclock to 3GHz easily, with only air cooling. That, then, would make it a very interesting part for a mid-range system.
The chip is already being touted as AMD's "best dual-core ever". Stay tuned...