The ink is barely dry on AMD's Socket AM2 Phenom II launch, but Sunnyvale is making up for lost time when it comes to debuting new products. On Monday, February 9, the CPU manufacturer released a total of five new Phenom II-class processors, all of which are classified as Socket AM3 parts. Unlike Socket AM2 chips, which are only compatible with DDR2 memory, Socket AM3 CPUs can use either RAM standard and drop neatly into either motherboard.
The backwards-compatibility of Socket AM3 chips should make them quite attractive to anyone upgrading an older Athlon 64 X2 or even a Phenom part; AMD's Phenom II (aka Deneb) offers a number of significant performance and thermal improvements over the ill-fated Phenom I. Remember that backward compatibility only goes one direction—AM2+ processors will not work in AM3 boards.
AMD's decision to preserve AM2+ motherboard support was made several years ago, and probably has the company thanking its lucky stars today. Rumor has it that both Intel and AMD have delayed their plans for a full press migration towards DDR3 thanks to the current state of the worldwide economy. If Socket AM3 had broken with Socket AM2 the way that AM2 broke compatibility with Socket 939, the company's ability to position itself as the low-cost upgrade alternative would've been nullified completely.
Of the five new processors, three are quad-core while two are triples. The new quad-cores are: AMD Phenom II X4 910, (2.6GHz, 6MB L3, OEM-only) 810 (2.6GHz, 4MB L3), X4 805 (2.5GHz, 4MB L3, OEM-only), X3 720 Black Edition (unlocked multiplier, 2.8GHz, 6MB L3), and the Phenom II X3 710 (2.6GHz, 6MBL3).
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