AMD Ships Tri-Core Processors

AMD has announced the availability of its triple-core processors, a first for the PC market. The company also updated the quad-core Phenom lineup by resolving the famous "errata bug" that plagued it earlier this year and has confirmed that the quad-core Opteron chips for servers will be available later in the second quarter.

The AMD Phenom X3 processors delivers significant enhancements in gaming and high-definition experiences for mainstream PC customers. It provides a full HD experience with support for the latest and most demanding formats, including VC-1, MPEG-2 and H.264 on a mainstream PC. With the AMD Unified Video Decoder (UVD), the solution can process HD playback on the better-suited GPU rather than the CPU so consumers may enjoy a smooth HD viewing experience - less lag, stalling and dropped scenes - in the latest Blu-ray titles.

"In 2007, AMD committed to delivering AMD Phenom triple-core processors in Q1 2008 and today the company makes good on that promise," said Bob Brewer, corporate vice president, strategic marketing, AMD. "AMD understands that today's PC applications are best accelerated with a range of multi-core products from quad- to triple- to dual-core processors, and that’s why we now deliver the broadest multi-core desktop lineup in the industry."