DDR3 is a new form of memory that offers larger bandwidth for quicker data transfers in PCs than DDR2 memory. As processors get faster, DDR3 provides faster communication between the CPU and the memory that could boost system performance, said Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst at Insight 64.

DDR3 memory will boost performance of the already-speedy Phenom II-based machines, he said. However, DDR3 memory is expensive as it's relatively new, he noted.

AMD has overclocked the Phenom II processor to run at up to 4GHz on air-cooled systems, and up to 5GHz on liquid-nitrogen cooling, Taylor said. The first Phenom II chips will be quad-core processors and will include 8M bytes of cache, according to the company's chip road map. AMD declined to provide pricing information for Phenom II.

Intel's Core i7 processor for gaming systems, launched last week, already supports DDR3 memory.