Since the original Lake Tahoe event where AMD first showed off Phenom based systems for the press, we have had essentially nothing but bad news concerning the new processor architecture.  The first news was that the 2.4 and 2.6 GHz versions would be launched sometime late Q1 2008, then we had the TLB errata issue, then the pushing back of the tri-core Phenoms, then the pushing back of the revision B3 Phenoms hitting the market, and it seemingly has gone on ad nauseum.

Now we have several more pieces of info that may or may not brighten your day.  The first is that there are sketchy reports that the revision B3 Phenoms are back from the fab and they are working as expected.  The second is that there are also reports that the B3 chips do not in fact fix the TLB errata.  The one after that is that the rev. B3 Phenoms will not be released until early Q2 of this year.  So what exactly should we believe?  Very good question.  I am pretty sure that B3 silicon is back from the fab and they are likely moving production to that design as we speak.  The news that the B3 does not fix the problem may or may not be true.  We have no official comment from AMD on that particular item.  Considering how long it takes to finish manufacturing the current B2 chips, it is not surprisingly that those will not be flushed out until later this quarter, making way for the B3 revisions.

One item that has been confirmed is that AMD will not be releasing a faster Phenom than the 2.3 GHz products we see now this quarter.  What AMD will be doing is producing a lower power quad core that will likely hit around 1.8 to 2.0 GHz and be a 65 watt product.

AMD is in a bit of a pickle with the Phenom, as it just is not rolling out as nicely as they were hoping.  It is a very complex part, and AMD is breaking some new ground with the design.  The 65 nm Phenom may have a troublesome time of it, and we could in fact have to wait for the 45 nm products to finally hit the market before AMD hits its stride with the architecture.  Hopefully that will not be the case.