With the Computex 2009 technology show kicking off in Taipei, Taiwan on June 2, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has announced the extension of its Athlon and Phenom processor lines with the respective introduction of its two new processors - the Athlon II X2 250 and the Phenom II X2 550 "Black Edition."

While the Athlon II X2 is AMD's fastest Athlon processor thus far, the Phenom II X2 550 is its fastest dual-core till now. Both the processors reportedly are energy-efficient and cost-effective, offering benefits with Microsoft Windows 7, which AMD claims to be a cut above its closest competitor Intel.

Athlon II X2 is built on 45-nanometer technology, and boasts of a core speed of 3.0GHz with a 2.0-GHz HyperTransport link, and a 65-watt thermal envelope. The $87-priced processor supports both DDR2 and DDR3 memory, thanks to its AM3 package.

Meanwhile, the Phenom II - the launch of which will mark the phase out of predecessor Phenom - is rated at 3.1 GHz, with its "Black Edition" moniker implying that AMD has unlocked it for unlimited over-clocking. Using the AM3 socket, the processor contains a total of 7 Mbytes of cache; and costs $103.

Talking about the new offerings, Brent Barry, a desktop strategist for AMD, said: "This has been on our roadmaps for a while. This is about the drumbeat: offering products for the mainstream space, filling out the mainstream segment with a really high-volume part."