AMD Phenom X4

 The AMD Phenom X4 is AMD's first quad core processor line, based on the same 65nm process used for earlier Brisbane chips. Introduced in November 2007 the line suffered a massive setback when an issue was found within the chip's buffer which could cause system lockups in rare occasions.

While patchable, this fix incurred an undesireable 10% performance penalty, and led to poor sales and negative publicity.

Once fixed, the line was relaunched, carrying a new naming model. Important destinctions between AMD's quad core design and Intel's include AMD's implimentation of an L3 cache (generally 2MB of cache shared between all 4 cores) and an on-chip memmory controller, a component still found within the northbridge on Intel platforms.

Today the line continues to lag behind Intel's offerings, causing great distress for the company management and shareholders alike.