After launching its 45 nm desktop CPU with its high-end CPUs such as Phenom II X4 940 and 955 Black Edition, AMD is preparing two distinct lines of mainstream and value processors: the energy-efficient line denoted by an "e" next to the model number, and the standard variant. Close to a decade into using the "Athlon" CPU brand name, the company finally chose to place a "II" next to it to denote a generation bump. The Athlon II keeps up with the Phenom II line, to make it slightly easier for consumers to discern which generation the processors belong to. The lower-end variants of the K10.5 "stars" core, that lacks L3 cache will be using this brand-name.

Taking advantage of the 45 nm core, Phenom II 900e series processors will operate in clock-speeds between 2.50 and 2.40 GHz, with complete 6 MB L3 cache. The rated TDP for the chips is 65 W. The triple-core Phenom II X3 700e series processors models 700e and 705e will operate in the same clock-speeds, with the same rated TDP. The Athlon II X4 600e and Athlon II X3 400e series processors in the making, 605e, 600e, 405e, and 400e, operate at speeds between 2.20 and 2.30 GHz. With no L3 cache to address and lower clock-speeds by the notch, the rated TDP is even lower, at 45 W.

Coming to the standard variants, AMD is prepping up its lines of dual-core processors under the Phenom II X2 and Athlon II X2 series. Again, the two are differentiated by the presence of L3 cache on the Phenom II line. Phenom II X2 550 and 545 are clocked at 3.10 GHz and 3.00 GHz respectively. The two come with 512 KB L2 cache per core, plus the full-chunk of L3 cache at 6 MB. These will be the dual-core processors with the highest amount of on-die cache, crossing the Intel Wolfdale-6M (Core 2 Duo E8000 series) chips that carry 6 MB of shared L2 cache. The rated TDP for these chips is 80 W. The Athlon II X2 200 series however, will lack the L3 cache, leaving it with 512 KB L2 cache per core. Models 250, 245, and 240 will be clocked at 3.00 GHz, 2.90 GHz, and 2.80 GHz, respectively. Since it doesn't address an L3 cache, its TDP is significantly lower, at 65 W. Finally, there's the Phenom II X4 925, the 2.80 GHz AM3-socket quad-core chip. Compared to its AM2+ cousin (Phenom II X4 920, TDP 125 W), this chip comes with a lower TDP at 95 W.