K8L: Altair, Antares, Arcturus, Spica
No need to be afraid of sci-fi names, they are members of the AMD K8L family of processors.
The dual-core specimens, codenamed Altair and Antares, are promised for release next year, Arcturus for next winter. Antares processors have 512 kilobytes of second-level cache per core and 2 megabytes of third-level shared cache. The first series will range from 2,6 to 2,9 GHz, with the rest to be released at the end of the third quarter of 2007. Their maximum energy consumption can be seen in the table below:
Processor (Antares) | TDP (thermal design power) |
2,0 GHz - 2,1 GHz | 35 W |
2,4 GHz - 2,7 GHz | 65 W |
2,6 GHz - 2,9 GHz | 89 W |
Arcturus will have no third-level cache, only 512 KB second-level for each core. Their speeds will range from 2,1 GHz to 2,3 GHz. The series is designed to replace the single-core Orleans Athlon 64s, consuming just 65 watts.
By the end of 2007, single-core processors will only be available for cheaper configurations, and AMD intends to market Spica processors for this market.
The information is rumored and may be inaccurate.
