AMD has today rolled out a fresh top-of-the-line mainstream desktop dual-core processor and - bizarrely - extended the same Athlon 64 X2 family into the mobile market.

The new desktop part is the 6400+, clocked at 3.2GHz, fitted with 2MB of L2 cache and priced at $251, as previously forecast.

The 6400+ is available to buy in both tray-packed batches and individually in boxes that describe the part as the "Black Edition" X2.

AMD's 3.2GHz Athlon 64 X2: boxed

AMD is also offering an Athlon 64 X2 for notebooks. With the model number TK-53, the 1.7GHz chip has 512KB of L2 and a 1600MHz HyperTransport bus. That's the same frequency as the member of AMD's current Turion 64 X2 dual-core mobile processor line-up, all but one of which contain 1MB of L2 and clocked from 1.6GHz to 2.3GHz.

The cheapest Turion costs $154 in batches of 1000 CPUs, while the TK-53 costs $144 in the same quantities.

In the past, AMD offered mobile versions of its single-core desktop processors, but these where phased out when the originally single-core, now dual-core Turion family debuted.

Related stories

• AMD coughs up wad of cash for virtual desktop project (29 August 2007)
• AMD admits no 'substantial' Phenom output in '07 (23 July 2007)
• AMD RS740 chipset wins PCI Express approval (13 July 2007)
• AMD chops desktop processor prices (9 July 2007)
• AMD to roll out 45nm Phenoms, Semprons H2 '08? (25 June 2007)
• Computex AMD's neo naming scheme - details emerge (6 June 2007)