AMD is delivering its long-awaited Phenom processors - the desktop equivalent of the Barcelona server chips, based on the same native quad-core K10 micro architecture - as its Spider platform takes shape.

The first chips to be released are the 9700, the 9600 and 9500, clocking 2.4GHz, 2.3GHz and 2.2GHz respectively. With a 3600MHz system bus, they carry 2MB of level 2 cache and a further 2MB of level 3 cache, shared by the four cores.

The Phenom chips represent the centrepiece of its Spider multimedia desktop platform. In the wake of Intel's success with a platform approach to computing - think of the Centrino trinity of processor, chipset and network comms - AMD is following a similar strategy.

For a system to get the Spider badge of approval it will include an ATI graphics processing element (with PCIe 2.0, DX 10.1, supporting quad configurations), 65nm AMD Phenom processors (native quad-cores, featuring shared L3 cache and HperTransport 3.0) and its 7-Series chipsets (supporting multi-monitor ATI CrossFireX, PCIe 2.0 and AMD OverDrive for energy efficiency).

Note that each processor core operates on its own frequency and voltage, and can be put to sleep when processing loads are lightened. Furthermore, idle states could be achieved when the GPU takes the weight of video decoding, for example.

Why the emphasis on HD? An AMD spokesperson told EW.com that, in terms of consumer spending on electronics, the most desired item was a computer, followed by a HD TV, with gaming also high on the list. The company's thinking goes that HDTV purchases drive demand for HD content, and the Spider platform will be positioned to tap into this demand for both high-definition content and gaming...

Note that with Universal Video Decoder (UVD) technology, the platform is agnostic when it comes to the next-gen optical disc format battle between Blu-ray and HD DVD.

The ATI Radeon HD 3800 GPU, the first explicit segment of Spider, was released last Thursday. As well as eventually offering 'quad connectivity', AMD claims it is the first graphics processing unit to provide DirectX 10.1 support.

In a dig at Intel, AMD claims that the design of its quad-core K10 micro architecture - with an integrated memory controller and shared level 3 cache - provides the benefit of more throughput and lower latency of memory access for the processors. This, it believes, will reduce bottlenecks found in the more traditional frontside bus-based processors. HyperTransport 3.0 sees DDR2-1066 support as AMD moves the data out of memory faster.

Latest pricing for the chips, based on 1,000 unit direct orders, can be found on the AMD website.

See also: Electronics Weekly's focus on microprocessors, a roundup of content related to x86 microprocessor technologies and developments.