It's highly likely that AMD will release more 65nm processors into this lineup throughout the year. In the second half of 2007 and possibly sooner, buyers and systems integrators will likely see 65nm X2 5600+, 5800+ and 6000+ parts as well as conversions of lower-run CPUs such as the 3800+.

As soon as January or February, AMD will also release a single-core 65nm Athlon processor. Code-named "Lima," these processors will be introduced as the Athlon 64 3800+ and the 3500+. In the second quarter of 2007, AMD will release an Athlon 64 4000+ CPU on this same 65nm process. All of these processors will have 512K of L2 cache.

Also in the second quarter, AMD plans to release four single-core Sempron processors fabricated on the new 65nm process: the 2.2-GHz Sempron 3800+, the 2-GHz 3600+, the 1.8-GHz 3500+ and the 1.8-GHz 3400+. These processors will have 256K of L2 cache, with the exception of the Sempron 3500+, which will have only a 128K cache.

The high end: Quad FX rumbles in

In early December of 2006, AMD released three new performance-oriented processors -- the 3-GHz Athlon 64 FX-74, the 2.8-GHz FX-72 and the 2.6-GHz FX-70 -- under the chipmaker's newly introduced Quad FX line. Based upon a new dual-socket Socket 1207 motherboard and AMD's enterprise-class Opteron CPU architecture, Quad FX processors are purchased in pairs, one per socket. Early performance benchmarks have indicated that these CPUs are indeed suitable for the "megatasking" environments AMD has constructed them for.