AMD is ready for the “trickle down” of their processor lineup. On the AMD website’s APU list, you will find a new addition to the family in the form of the A6-3500. This processor will have the same HD 6530D GPU core clocked at 444 MHz as the other A6 APUs do. It also, being an “xx00” processor, will have the turbo mod (2.1 GHz with a turbo mode of 2.4 Ghz). What makes this APU different is that it only has 3 cores and is priced at an MSRP of $95.

Yesterday, AMD also announced an Athlon X4 processor for the FM1 socket. The AMD Athlon 631 is an FM1 socket quad-core CPU. Built on the same design as its FM1 chip, this Athlon will have 1 MB L2 cache per core, on-die northbridge, and the APU memory controller. The Athlon 631 will be clocked at 2.6 GHz (no turbo) and priced at $79.

For my money, the A6-3500 is a better deal at 65W TDP and it comes with a HD6530D IGP. The Athlon 631 on the other hand is faster, but would require a dedicated GPU. It is also obvious these two chips are A6-3650 APUs that did not pass AMD harsh testing. All we need now is for mini-ITX FM1 socket boards to hit the market, grabbing up an A6-3500 when available to build a quiet HTPC.

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