eWeek's got a little introductory article on the upcoming revision of the Opteron, the Rev F processor we've been hearing about for a while. One good bit of info in the article, though: due out on 8/15, four days from now.

"Rev F incorporates several updates, including support for faster DDR2 memory (double data rate 2 DRAM) as well as AMD's virtualization technology, or 'Pacifica.'"

AMD's shipping yet another budget processor which, as the rumors go, will be in line for yet another price cut. I don't think even o/c'ing can save this beast, though, with that little L2 cache.

"Based on the Windsor core, it operates at the same 2GHz core frequency as the Athlon 64 X2 3800+, but the 3600+ model has only 512KB of L2 cache, which is equally split between two cores, while other Windsor-based CPUs are equipped with 1MB of L2 cache, the sources detailed."

The Madshrimps attempt to answer the question of whether those super high-speed DDR2 chips are really necessary to give Conroe its edge. I've yet to read the article, but I'd guess it'd be a combination of timings & MHz.

"In this article we compare different memory speed and timings to provide you with the answer. Read on to find if cheap memory is enough to feed the Conroe."

Looks like not everything's rosy in Chipzilla-land, as their scheduled shipments of an integrated-graphics chipset have slipped a month.

"However, a defect in the integrated graphics subsystem was found, and Intel notified its customers that next stepping, called C-2, which fixes the flaw, will likely not be shipped until the middle of August, the makers indicated."