AMD today announced several new 45nm Athlon II processors promising to offer outstanding performance and low power consumption, while enabling sleek desktop PC designs and attractive price points.

In addition to the standard power processors, the full AMD Athlon II processor family now delivers high-performance, low-power dual-, triple- and quad-core processors to meet a range of computing needs. This variety and value enables system builders to develop PC solutions that address the market shift to power efficient, innovative PC designs optimized for Windows 7.

The company launched four Athlon II X3 triple-core processors as part of a new lineup that slips in between the dual-core Athlon II X2 and quad-core Athlon II X4 processors. The processors run at speeds between 2.2GHz and 2.9GHz and draw up to 95 watts of power.

AMD low power desktop solutions help OEMs such as Acer, Dell, HP and Lenovo design PCs with low energy consumption, reduced heat and noise, all in sleeker consumer devices.

The company claims that the AMD Athlon II processor family delivers a superior competitive value for mainstream consumers in productivity, HD video,2 slideshow, and 3D gaming tasks. Specificaly, the AMD Athlon II X2 240e processor performs up to 70 percent better in media and entertainment benchmarks and delivers a processor cost saving of over $404 when compared to the Intel Core 2 Duo E7400, and enables a range of unique All-in-One and small form factor chassis.

With its additional cores, the AMD Athlon II X3 435 processor delivers processor cost savings of over $1005 while providing up to 75 percent better media and entertainment performance when compared to the Intel Core 2 Duo E8500, AMD added.

AMD's rival, Intel, offers only dual-core and quad-core processors for standard desktops. The Athlon II X3 chips are priced between US$76 and $102 in units of 1,000.

AMD on Tuesday also announced Athlon II models that provide full multimedia performance while drawing only 45 watts of power.

The low-power lineup include dual-core, triple-core and quad-core chips that chips run at speeds between 2.2GHz and 2.8GHz. The chips are priced at under $143 in units of 1,000.