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3-core Phenoms, when they debut in the first quarter, will still not be clocked very high, and they are still experiencing delays. 8700, 8650, and 8450 triple-core Phenoms are not expected until the second quarter.

The B3 stepping is the chip revision that is supposed to correct the TLB erratum. Even the B3-stepping 3-core Phenoms will be slow. Phenom 8650 and 8450 “will have frequencies of 2.3GHz and 2.1GHz” (DIGITIMES).

The speed issue points to ongoing yield issues. This has little to do with the TLB (Translation Lookaside Buffer) erratum, which is a bug in the hardware.

Will the price/performance ratio of 3-core Phenoms cause Intel to slash prices its on its 4-core CPUs?

I don’t think so.

AMD’s 3-core CPUs are a good idea because they will allow AMD to increase its yields (by not discarding quad-core CPUs with underperforming cores). However, in order for AMD to successfully market 3-core CPUs, it will have to discount them at dual-core prices.

On a related note, while the slow speeds of AMD CPUs may have little to do with the TLB erratum, AMD is also rumored to be having TLB problems again. Problems are said to have to do with quad-core Phenoms, but what applies to quad-core Phenom should also apply to AMD quad-core servers.

According to motherboard makers, “the reason for the delay of 9700 and 9900 is because AMD has not yet been able to solve the translation lookaside buffer (TLB) erratum” (DIGITIMES).

Read more here and here.

NVIDIA appears to be more focused on lower-end, mid-range GPUs than the high end.

The launch of the G94 has been pulled forward from June to February. G94 debuts February 14. “The sources previously had said Nvidia would roll out the D9P in June 2008″.

Cards based on the G94 GPU should retail for around $169 and go head to head with the likes of the Radeon HD 3850.

Read more here.

Acer has surpassed Dell. In notebooks.

Acer shipped 4.15 million notebooks in the third quarter to “Dell’s 4.01 million”.

Read more here.