AMD has finally announced its DDR3 chipsets. They didn’t rush things too much, letting Intel be the first to provide support for these new modules. However, AMD knew that DDR3 memories won’t get affordable until later this year and understood that people might not make the jump immediately.

Fudzilla has found some good deals for DDR3 memories like the OCZ 1GB DDR3 value for €35, or 2GB for €70 from both Corsair and OCZ. These prices alone seemed to have motivated AMD to finally make the transition.

As it turns out, AMD should be ready with the first DDR3 chipsets in Q1 2009. By that time, DDR3 modules will have become pretty affordable, and it looks like AMD might manage some decent sales figures.

The DDR3 support will also come from the new integrated memory controllers found inside AMD’s CPUs. The new CPUs will be compatible only with the upcoming socket AM-based motherboards. While this may prove a bit disappointing for AMD fan boys that seem to be forced to change their motherboards, the new DDR3 boards will still support the Hypertransport 3 marchitecture.

The first two chipsets will be known as RD790 DDR3 and RD890 DDR3 and they will be available sometime in Q1 and Q2 2009, respectively.