AMD prepping tri-core processors

Like a three-legged table, a three-wheeled car or that perennial YouTube favorite, the courageous three-legged dog, tri-core processors are something that don't make a whole lot of sense on the surface. However, unlike three-legged tables, three-wheeled cars and three-legged dogs, tri-core processors make a lot more sense once you take a closer look. Take any quad-core CPU manufacturing process--including AMD's 65nm "Barcelona" Quad-Core Opteron--and you'll find that there's a pretty high failure rate involved in producing the parts, especially when you're trying to squeeze all four of those cores onto one processor die. That leaves companies like AMD with a whole lot of tri-core chips in hand--so why not market them to those folks who want a little more processing power than a dual-core chip but not quite as much power as a quad-core CPU offers? That's exactly what AMD plans to do with its upcoming lineup of three-core CPUs, though the Inquirer thinks that the move is much more than a salvage job. Rather, it's suggested that a three-core chip would serve as yet another way for AMD to differentiate itself from its biggest competitor. "Intel would have a far harder time making a tri-core part until Nehalem next September...This will allow AMD to come out with a lot of mid-range SKUs, having a complete 1-4 core range servicing every market."

For more on AMD's triple threat:
- see this article from the Inquirer