AMD

AMD considers the quad core Phenoms to be the first "true" quad core design, as these processors are a monolithic multi-core design (all cores on the same piece of silicon die), unlike Intel's Core 2 Quad series which are a multi-chip module (MCM) design. The processors are on the Socket AM2+ platform.[2]

Before Phenom's original release, a flaw was discovered in the translation lookaside buffer (TLB) that could cause a system lock-up in rare circumstances. Phenom processors up to and including stepping "B2" and "BA" are affected by this bug. BIOS and software workarounds disable the TLB, and typically incur a performance penalty of at least 10%.[3] This penalty was not accounted for in pre-release previews of Phenom, hence the performance of early Phenoms delivered to customers is expected to be less than the preview benchmarks. "B3" stepping Phenom processors were released March 27, 2008 without the TLB bug and with "xx50" model numbers.[4]

An AMD subsidiary has released a patch for the Linux kernel,[5] which it said has received "minimal functional testing", to overcome this bug by software emulation of accessed- and dirty-bits causing little performance loss.[citation needed]

AMD has launched several models of the Phenom processor in 2007/2008 and more recently an upgraded model Phenom II in 2009.[6][7][8][9]
AMD Phenom processor family
AMD K10 Desktop
Quad-core Triple-core Dual-core
AMD Phenom logo as of 2007 AMD Phenom logo as of 2008 AMD Phenom logo as of 2008 AMD Athlon X2 logo as of 2007
Code-named Agena Toliman Kuma
Core 65nm 65nm 65nm
Date released Mar 2008 Mar 2008 Dec 2008
AMD Phenom logo as of 2008 AMD Phenom logo as of 2009 AMD Phenom logo as of 2009
Code-named Deneb Heka
Core 45nm 45nm
Date released Feb 2009 Feb 2009
List of AMD Phenom microprocessors