AMD officially announced the new family name for the 45nm Phenoms and Phenom II, at the firm’s Financial Analyst Day last week. More interestingly, reports have surfaced that AMD has switched to a 3-digit model number scheme from the 4-digit one currently in use.

Back in September there were industry reports that AMD was going to change their Phenom X4 and X3 model number scheme from a 4-digit model number to a 5-digit model number. This no longer appears to be the case, but there has been no official word from AMD about these model numbers yet.

*Expreview reports the Phenom II X4 945 as a 125W part. While the source did not specify, the 945 is assumed to have an unlocked multiplier as it is the flagship model. The Phenom II X4 940 and 920 will also have unlocked multipliers.

An interesting thing to note is the similarity between this naming scheme and that used by Intel’s Core i7 family of processors, specifically the Phenom II X4 920 and 940. Hopefully this won’t be a source of confusion for the less knowledgeable crowd should they decide to build their own system. At least the 3-digit model numbers are easier to say and remember than the 5-digit numbers.

April will reportedly see the launch of the mainstream triple- and quad-core Phenom II X3 400 and X4 600 series, and June the budget dual-core X2 200 series chips.

We contacted AMD and a representative told us that while the name changes are true, the processor model numbers cannot be confirmed at this time. We were also told that official numbers will be unveiled very shortly.