AMD hopes to offer buyers greater choice with its triple-core Phenom when the chip ships next year, but it remains to be seen whether businesses will be interested.

Most desktops bought today are dual-core systems, but AMD believes that the price gap between these and quad-core is too great for many buyers seeking that extra bit of performance. Its chip architecture allows it to offer a triple-core version that can fit between the two in both price and performance.

This makes sense on the face of it, but most business desktop applications are currently served just fine by dual-core systems, while professional users for whom performance is critical are likely to see the additional cost of quad-core as a small price to pay.

AMD should of course be applauded for bringing greater choice to the processor industry, but it seems likely that its tri-core chips will appeal more to gamers and enthusiasts than to the enterprise IT market.