The triumphant arrival of the Phenom quad-core processor turned into a four-month headache for AMD, with the main culprit being the translation look-aside buffer (TLB) erratum identified in the first batch of Phenom 9500 and 9600 chips. Just as the mayor of the seaside town in Jaws warns about the chilling effect on tourism of yelling "shark", the TLB bug sent prospective buyers scurrying from the CPU waters.

That troubled B2 core is now a thing of the past, as last week AMD released its latest batch of processors, complete with an updated B3 stepping that fixes the TLB glitch. The new Phenoms also return to the initial branding convention, adding an X4 to the product name for easy differentiation between quad-core Phenom X4s, tri-core X3s, and dual-core X2s. But is this good news enough to help AMD move forward against the Intel juggernaut?

Now With Vitamin B3

The B3 core makes its debut in the Phenom X4 "50-series" processors, with the Phenom X4 9550 (2.2GHz) and 9650 (2.3GHz) replacing the older Phenom 9500 and 9600, respectively. The core architecture remains the same, built on a 65-nanometer process with 512K of Level 1, 2MB (512K per core) of Level 2, and 2MB of shared Level 3 cache with performance that's on par clock-for-clock with the first-generation Phenom B2s.

New additions to the lineup include a flagship Phenom X4 9850 Black Edition (2.5GHz) and a 2.4GHz Phenom X4 9750. All have a thermal design power (TDP) or 95 watts except for the 9850 BE, which consumes 125 watts. There is still no 2.6GHz part to match the sneak-preview Phenom 9900 sent to tech sites and magazines a few months ago, but you can expect that further down the road.

While the TLB concerns were somewhat overblown, enthusiasts were also unimpressed with the low clock speeds and meager overclocking potential of first-generation Phenoms. That's where the X4 9850 Black Edition comes in, as it features an unlocked multiplier and all the ingredients for serious tweaking.

Of course, there was a Black Edition 9600, which everyone remembers for its largely lackluster results. The Phenom X4 9850 BE is a very different story, with most testers seeing overclocked speeds in the 2.8 GHz to 3.0 GHz range, showing that AMD has been tweaking the B3 core in some other areas besides bug-fixing. This not only whets the appetite of hardcore gamers and ensures brisker sales, but also gives us a better opinion of how high AMD can take the Phenom X4 core at 65 nanometers before making its eventual switch to 45nm.

Not Available Over the Counter

One surprising fact about last week's rollout was the OEM-only release of several Phenom X4 quads and the first Phenom X3 triples. This means that although AMD will be producing these chips for big system vendors such as HP, consumers will not be able to purchase the CPUs separately. According to AMD, this is a temporary situation until B3 production ramps up and the new models officially hit the street.

Phenom processors making an OEM-only debut include the tri-core Phenom X3 8400 (2.1GHz) and 8600 (2.3GHz), as well as a special low-power Phenom X4 9100e quad-core clocked at only 1.6GHz and sporting a thrifty 65-watt TDP. Another intriguing OEM model is a specialized X4 9750 that runs at the same 2.4GHz clock speed as the standard version but also pares power consumption to a remarkably low 65 watts.

But not all of these Phenom releases are based on the latest B3 core revision, with model numbers ending in 00 indicating the older B2. This includes the Phenom X3s and the X4 9100e, meant for customers who know the TBL erratum is not an issue at lower clock speeds. While this looks like a minimal risk and AMD does plan to move all Phenom production to the B3 core, it's still surprising to see the company releasing brand-new processors based on the much-maligned B2 core.

Ready To Rumble?

The new core proves that, although the Phenom got off to a rocky start, the processor still has a potentially bright future ahead of it. Many AMD buyers were sitting on the fence, knowing that the TLB erratum was not really a big deal but wanting to make absolutely sure by waiting for a B3. Now, with both the bug fix and extra overclocking headroom, expect a small run on the latest Phenom X4 models.

The low prices won't hurt either: The highest-clocked Phenom X4 9850 Black Edition is only $235, while the entry-level Phenom X4 9550 is under $200. There are also a few pre-orders for the upcoming Phenom X3 8450 ($160) and 8650 ($180), which gives AMD a wide range of processors in the friendly $150-to-$250 price range.

The Phenom might have trouble competing at the bleeding edge of Core 2 Quad and Extreme performance, but Intel will have trouble competing at this price level. AMD contends that less than four percent of processors sold are priced at $200 or higher, so the company is definitely putting all its eggs in the value basket.

A return to the Phenom X4, X3 and X2 branding is also a very good call. Initially, AMD decided to drop the X-number from the product name, and go entirely with a numerical hierarchy, using 9-series, 8-series, and 7-or-6-series numbers to denote the number of cores and relative performance. This seems needlessly confusing. By contrast, even a layman can see at a glance how many cores an X3 or X4 processor has.

So where does this leave AMD in its never-ending battle with Intel? In the performance arena, it doesn't change much, as even the 2.5GHz Phenom X4 9850 is not enough to compete with Intel's top quads and we still don't have an official 2.6GHz Phenom X4 9900/9950 release. In the minds of PC buyers, however, it's a different story: Now that the TLB bug has been squashed, sales will not be afflicted by consumer indecision, and we could see a surge in AMD purchases when the full line reaches retail. AMD is at least competitive with Intel now, and the upcoming move to 45-nanometer engineering could make things very interesting indeed.