Even a casual AMD follower such as myself has become confused in the multitude of code names and naming conventions. What are the true native dual-core parts (not harvested quad-cores) using the Phenom II architecture, with and without the L3 cache?

..where's the 45W parts? I too am looking to buy something a bit better than ye ol' 5050e.

I wouldn't thing it would drop the voltage automatically. But if you have a BE you can always just drop the voltage down yourself while you're in BIOS adjusting the multiplier no?

Would a 955BE 3.2Ghz, 125W
Drop to 65W (like the 905e) if you reduced the clock to 2.5Ghz?

That's the TDP because is not a native dual-core but rather a quad-core with 2 cores disabled. The 80w of the 550 it's due the present 6MB of l3 cache.

If you compare with the truly native Athlon X2 6000+ Brisbane @89w or the 7850 @95w (another quad with two cores disabled) you can see the advances of using the 45nm process even with two "phantom cores staying there".

I haven't been following AMD processors for a while, but doesn't 65W seem a bit much for some of these?

So where's the AM3 45nm dual-core parts that are speed and cache reduced to make 45W or lower?

And if they are or aren't split voltage only. Methinks AMD is very careful on those split-voltage only parts.

Thnx,
An Opteron board BIOS modder.
( google on kfn5d, 4th hit )

I wouldn't mind some new entry-level 45W chips, say, an Athlon X2 230E @2.6GHz. Should be faster than ye olde 5050E brisbane.

ACP was introduced for the server plattforms in order to better calculate expenses for power, air conditioning etc., TDP is still valid to design motherboards, coolers and so on (which need to be capable of coping with an unrealistic peak power).

Anyway, ACP never made its way into consumer space, probably because it wasn't requested by the OEMs.

AMD is smart, when they had higher TDP, they created ACP, now where is ACP joke?