K10 dies 45 nm
| K10 dies 45 nm | |
|---|---|
 The annotated X6 45 nm CPU die used in Phenom II X6 and 8400-series Opteron models. | |
| Overview | |
| Introduced | 2009/January/08 |
| Process Node | 45 nm SOI |
| Microarchitecture | |
| Chronology | |
| Predecessor | K10 dies 65 nm |
| Successor | K10 dies 32 nm, Bulldozer 15h |
The K10 45 nm dies are the most common models of the K10 microarchitecture. These 45 nm dies include the popular "Phenom II" and "Athlon II" processors.
Phenom and Athlon models without "II" in their names are usually 65 nm dies, and should be avoided.
As of 2026, approximate prices for pre-owned models are:
- USD 13 for Phenom II X4 940T (3.4 GHz turbo @ 95 W)
- USD 13 for Athlon II X4 650 (3.2 GHz @ 95 W)
- USD 8 for Athlon II X3 460 (3.4 GHz @ 95 W)
Opteron dies are generally the same as Phenom II and Athlon II dies, but socket and motherboard support can differ.
Supported Sockets
- AM3+ (for desktop motherboards, newer)
- AM3 (for desktop motherboards)
- AM2+ (only for Athlon X2 5000+/5200+)
- C32 (for server motherboards)
- G34 (for server motherboards)
- Socket F (for server motherboards, older)
L3 and L2 cache
Almost all 45 nm Phenom II models have 6 MiB of L3 cache, while 45 nm Athlon II models have no L3 cache.
Some Athlon II models (those using the X2 die) have 1024 KiB L2 per core, while others have 512 KiB L2 per core. The larger L2 cache typically provides a small performance increase, around 2%.
At the same thermal envelope, 6 MiB of L3 cache typically improves performance by about 7–17%, depending on the workload. The lack of L3 cache is therefore not as important as many people think.
C2 vs. C3 vs. D0 vs. D1 vs. E0 steppings
More recent steppings are generally better.
For example, many top-line C3 dies can reach 4 GHz easily, while C2 dies struggle at high frequencies.
E0 steppings usually have better thermals than C3.
See the detailed List of Sub-Families