AMD's first 45nm desktop processors - codenamed 'Deneb' - will initially support the Socket AM2+ interconnect. But the chip maker's roadmap shows AM3 versions out not long afterward.

AMD's most recent roadmap leak has a pair of quad-core Deneb shipping during Q4 ahead of a formal launch on 8 January 2009 during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

These 125W beasts will contain 512KB of L2 cache per core and 6MB of shared L3 cache. One is expected to run between 2.6GHz and 2.8GHz, the other between 2.8GHz and 3.0GHz.

But motherboard maker moles cited by Chinese-language site HKEPC have claimed that AMD will put two 95W, Socket AM3 Denebs into production in Q1 2009, clocked at 2.4-2.6GHz and 2.5-2.8GHz, respectively.

Q1 will also see the debut of 'Propus' Phenoms: quad-core parts without any L3 cache, but a TDP that's still 95W and Socket AM3 support.

Socket AM3 Denebs that match the speed and power consumption of the first two 45nm chips will apparently arrive in Q2 2009.

In each instance, the range of clock speeds lists implies AMD has yet to finalise these figures.

Socket AM2+ is an update to AM2 that adds HyperTransport 3.0 technology. AM3 also uses HT 3.0, and adds DDR 3 memory support to the Phenom-branded processors. Socket AM3 CPUs will be able to be used with Socket AM2/AM2+ motherboards, but not AM2/AM2+ CPUs won't work with AM3 mobos, AMD has said in the past.

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