Similarly as they did with the original Phenom processor lineup AMD have made some improvements in their Phenom II line up and today announced new 125W Phenom II X4 965 BE processors. Previously the TDP rating was 140W, which follows a similar pattern the Phenom 9950 had. You won't see any difference in benchmarks, unless of course you overclock this higher which AMD also claims the new chips should do. It also looks like AMD is trying to clear out of their stock of Phenom II X2 and X3 processors. We don't be doing any benchmarks but there are overclocking numbers, power consumption numbers, and voltage numbers.

 

Here are the technical specifications on the Phenom II X4 965BE processor.

New Phenom II Processor Specifications:
Model Number & Core Frequency: X4 965 / 3.4GHz (Black Edition)
OPN: HDZ965FBK4DGM ß“M” indicates new revision
L1 Cache Sizes: 64K of L1 instruction and 64K of L1 data cache per core (512KB total L1 per processor)
L2 Cache Sizes: 512KB of L2 data cache per core (2MB total L2 per processor)
L3 Cache Size: 6MB (shared)
Total Cache (L2+L3): 8MB
Memory Controller Type: Integrated 128-bit wide memory controller *
Memory Controller Speed: Up to 2.0GHz with Dual Dynamic Power Management
Types of Memory Supported: Unregistered DIMMs up to PC2-8500 (DDR2-1066MHz) -AND- PC3-10600 (DDR3-1333MHz)
HyperTransport 3.0 Specification: One 16-bit/16-bit link @ up to 4.0GHz full duplex (2.0GHz x2)
Total Processor-to-System Bandwidth: Up to 37.3GB/s total bandwidth [Up to 21.3 GB/s memory bandwidth (DDR3-1333) + 16.0GB/s (HT3)]
Up to 33.1GB/s total bandwidth [Up to 17.1 GB/s memory bandwidth (DDR2-1066) + 16.0GB/s (HT3)]
Packaging: Socket AM3 938-pin organic micro pin grid array (micro-PGA)
Fab location: GLOBALFOUNDARIES Fab 1 module 1 in Dresden, Germany (formerly AMD Fab 36)
Process Technology: 45-nanometer DSL SOI (silicon-on-insulator) technology
Approximate Die Size: 258mm2
Approximate Transistor count: ~758 million
Max Temp: 62o Celsius
Nominal Voltage: 0.825-1.4V
Max TDP: 125 Watts
*Note: configurable for dual 64-bit channels for simultaneous read/writes

 

Here's our test system.

Mother Board	Asus M3A78-T
Memory	Corsair XMS 4GB
Video Card	ATI Radeon 4850
Hard Drive	Western Digital SE 16 750GB
Case	Tsunami Thermaltake
Display	Samsung SyncMaster 30"

 

 

Windows Vista 64-bit SP2 was our OS with Catalyst version 9.1 for testing.

 

 

Idle power consumption was measured ten minutes idling into the Windows Vista desktop and load from Cinebench 10.

As you can see at idle there is a very big difference between the two processors which run at the same clock, 21W which is nothing to sneeze at. Under load the 125W part draws less but not quite as large a difference at 9W.

 

Overclocking also saw a slight bump of just over 100MHz and the voltage required was also a lot less for this bump at 1.45v.

Conclusion:

Ultimately this isn't a game changer for Phenom II but it's nice to see AMD continue to make improvements to it's process and less power consumption is always better. Of course it may not be able to compete with the idle power ratings as Lynnfield but hey, at the same price you can't go wrong.

Pricing:

These new CPUs should show up in our price search engine very soon but aren't as of yet.

Score: 96%

 

 

 

If you thought AMD was done with the Phenom II and Athlon II product line-up you were wrong as they continue to put out new products in this case new Athlon II processors. Today AMD launches triple core Athlon II processors which will start with 4xx in their model number and new lower power processors across the line with "e" at the end of the model number. We'll be looking at specifically the Athlon II X3 435 processor and the Athlon II X2 240e processor.

 

 

The 435 is a triple core Athlon II processor clocked at 2.9GHz. As with all the Athlon II processors there is no L3 cache, it's built using a 45nm process, features 64K of L1 cache per core and 512KB of L2 cache. It's derivative of the Phenom II architecture but isn't built using die harvesting from Phenom II CPUs.

 

 

The 240e is a dual core Athlon II processor clocked at 2.8GHz. As with all the Athlon II processors there is no L3 cache, it's built using a 45nm process, features 64K of L1 cache per core and 1MB of L2 cache per core. AMD rates this and other "e" processors at 45W.

Here's a list of processors launching today and price ranges.

Athlon II X4 605e (2.3GHz) $143 USD
Athlon II X4 600e (2.2GHz) $133 USD
Athlon II X3 435 (2.9GHz) $87 USD
Athlon II X3 425 (2.7GHz) $76 USD
Athlon II X3 405e (2.3GHz) $102 USD
Athlon II X3 400e (2.2GHz) $97 USD
Athlon II X2 240e (2.8GHz) $77 USD
Athlon II X2 235e (2.7GHz) $69 USD
Note: the 435 and 425 are standard processors rated at 95W
Note: “e” indicates a low-power processor with a maximum power rating of just 45W

 

Here are the technical specifications on the Athlon II X3 435 processor.

New Athlon II X3 435 Processor Specifications:
Model Number & Core Frequency: X3 435 / 2.9GHz
OPN: ADX435WFK32GI
L1 Cache Sizes: 64K of L1 instruction and 64K of L1 data cache per core (384KB total L1 per processor)
L2 Cache Sizes: 512KB of L2 data cache per core (1.5MB total L2 per processor)
Memory Controller Type: Integrated 128-bit wide memory controller *
Memory Controller Speed: Up to 2.0GHz with Dual Dynamic Power Management
Types of Memory Supported: Unregistered DIMMs up to PC2-8500 (DDR2-1066MHz) -AND- PC3-10600 (DDR3-1333MHz)
HyperTransport 3.0 Specification: One 16-bit/16-bit link @ up to 4.0GHz full duplex (2.0GHz x2)
Total Processor-to-System Bandwidth: Up to 37.3GB/s total bandwidth [Up to 21.3 GB/s memory bandwidth (DDR3-1333) + 16.0GB/s (HT3)]
Up to 33.1GB/s total bandwidth [Up to 17.1 GB/s memory bandwidth (DDR2-1066) + 16.0GB/s (HT3)]
Packaging: Socket AM3 938-pin organic micro pin grid array (micro-PGA)
Fab location: GLOBALFOUNDARIES Fab 1 module 1 in Dresden, Germany (formerly AMD Fab 36)
Process Technology: 45-nanometer DSL SOI (silicon-on-insulator) technology
Approximate Die Size: 169mm2 **
Approximate Transistor count: ~300 million **
Max Temp: 73o Celsius
Nominal Voltage: 0.875-1.425V
Max TDP: 95 Watts
*Note: configurable for dual 64-bit channels for simultaneous read/writes
**Note: this specification is for a “Propus” die

 

 

And here are the technical specifications on the Athlon II X2 240e.

New Athlon II X2 240e Processor Specifications:
Model Number & Core Frequency: X2 240e / 2.8GHz
OPN: AD240EHDK23GQ
L1 Cache Sizes: 64K of L1 instruction and 64K of L1 data cache per core (256KB total L1 per processor)
L2 Cache Sizes: 1MB of L2 data cache per core (2MB total L2 per processor)
Memory Controller Type: Integrated 128-bit wide memory controller *
Memory Controller Speed: 2.0GHz with Dual Dynamic Power Management
Types of Memory Supported: Support for unregistered DIMMs up to PC2-8500 (DDR2-1066MHz) -AND- PC3-8500 (DDR3-1066MHz)
HyperTransport 3.0 Specification: One 16-bit/16-bit link @ up to 4.0GHz full duplex (2.0GHz x2)
Total Processor-to-System Bandwidth: Up to 33.1GB/s bandwidth [Up to 17.1 GB/s total bandwidth (DDR2 or DDR3-1066) + 16.0GB/s (HT3)]
Packaging: Socket AM3 938-pin organic micro pin grid array (micro-PGA)
Fab location: GLOBALFOUNDRIES Fab 1 Module 1
Process Technology: 45-nanometer DSL SOI (silicon-on-insulator) technology
Approximate Die Size: 117.5 mm2
Approximate Transistor count: ~ 234 million
Max Temp: 72 degrees Celsius
Nominal Voltage: .775 – 1.35V
Max TDP: 45 Watts
*Note: configurable for dual 64-bit channels for simultaneous read/writes

Here's our test system.

Mother Board	Asus M3A78-T
Memory	Corsair XMS 4GB
Video Card	ATI Radeon 4850
Hard Drive	Western Digital SE 16 750GB
Case	Tsunami Thermaltake
Display	Samsung SyncMaster 30"

 

 

Windows Vista 64-bit SP2 was our OS with Catalyst version 9.9 for testing. V-sync was disabled.

 

 

 

We'll start things off with Crysis which like many games only supports two cores. Here we see the 955BE far and away take the lead and not too much difference between the X3 435 and the X2 240e.

 

Unreal Tournament 3 supports four cores and more so is geared towards three to match the XBox 360's architecture. It is easily the most licensed and popular game engine on the market, console or PC. Here we see the third core of the X3 make more of a difference but nothing can top the X4's L3 cache which games love and fourth core.

 

 

 

 

Cinebench 10 is a rendering benchmark and here see more effective use of multiple cores. The X4 620 does quite well in this instance and the X2 240e lags behind the Athlon II X3 435.

 

 

Here again the X3 does much better than the other processors thanks to it's third core.

 

 

Valve particle benchmark renders thousands of particles on screen and is very multi-threaded and the higher the score the better. The X2 processors lag behind and as expected the X3 is somewhere in the middle.

 

Another rendering benchmark and this is where the four cores shine as the Athlon II X4 tops all processors except the Phenom II X4 955. Again the X3 435 comes in the middle.

 

3DMark Vantage is a synthetic but somewhat popular benchmark which is supposed to emulate how games might perform on a game engine. Again we see a similar pattern of the X3 in the middle and X4 955 BE dominating.

 

 

Our Athlon II X3 overclocked well gaining over 700MHz with some additional voltage. Not shabby whatsoever.

 

 

 

Our low power Athlon II X2 240 also overclocked as well gaining 700MHz from the 2.8GHz speed.

 

	Phenom II X4 965 BE	Athlon II X3 435	Athlon II X2 240e
Idle	140W	120W	117W
Load	205W	165W	141W

For power consumption testing idle results were taken 10 minutes into the Windows Vista desktop screen and load was taken running Cinebench to stress processor power ratings only. The X4 965 is obviously more power hungry with an L3 cache, higher clock speed, and fourth core, the Athlon II X3 435 and Athlon II X2 240e appear evenly matched idle but under load things look differently.

 

Conclusion:

What more can you say other than if you want a sub-$200 processor AMD is really the place to be. They are unmatched by Intel and will be until at least sometime into 2010. One bad thing is that all these part names are a little confusing the model numbers can definitely be more than tough to match up with what is actually going on with the processor other than the "e" series. They're all also fairly clumped together in price with nothing lower than $76. While they're all amazing bargains we think it's probably worth it to spend the extra $23 and go for a quad core Athlon II X4 at $99. This seems like the best and smartest bargain with a CPU that should actually fair quite well for a while as well with four cores and a bargain. Something which previously was not the case. Congrats to AMD.

Pricing:

These CPUs should show up in our price search engine very soon but aren't as of yet.

Score: 94%

 

 

 

AMD has seen not a major resurgence but somewhat of a comeback with Phenom II and it's ability to overclock, good prices, and solid motherboards at decent prices compared to the Core i7 products. Lynnfield came out last week however and seems to have reclaimed the $200+ market space AMD was starting to break into and to be the best choice for many to choose from between Core 2 Quads and Core i7. That seems to have changed for now but AMD is far from done and bringing quad core to levels not seen with their new AMD Athlon II X4 620 processor released today.

 

 

The Phenom II X4 is based off a brand new die and as with other Athlon II processors there is no L3 cache to save on cost in manufacturing however there also isn't an increase in L2 cache which stays at 2MB for both the Athlon II X2 and Athlon II X4. The architecture is the same for the one based off Phenom II but cache sizes are now a significant part of a CPU's die size so getting rid of this helps drive down the price significantly. As with other AMD processors since Phenom II this is compatible with both Socket AM2+ and Socket AM3 motherboards so you can use DDR2 or DDR3, whichever is best for you which is great for those with DDR2 lying around or who don't want to upgrade their motherboard. AMD specifically is targeting this with the recently released 785G motherboard which have a lot of great boards in their line-up for under $80. The Athlon II X4 620 we'll be reviewing comes in at $99 for quad core based off Phenom II architecture, that's going to be hard for Intel to beat or more so impossible right now.

 

Here are the technical specs from AMD.

Model Number, Core Frequency & Price: X4 620 / 2.6GHz / $99

Model Number, Core Frequency & Price: X4 630 / 2.8GHz / $122 )

Tray OPNs: TRAY OPN# ADX620WFK42GI / ADX630WFK42GI

Processor in a Box OPNs: PIB OPN# ADX620WFGIBOX / ADX630WFGIBOX

L1 Cache Sizes: 64K of L1 instruction and 64K of L1 data cache per core (512KB total L1 per processor)

L2 Cache Sizes: 512KB of L2 data cache per core (2MB total L2 per processor)

Memory Controller Type: Integrated 128-bit wide memory controller *

Memory Controller Speed: Up to 2.0GHz with Dual Dynamic Power Management

Types of Memory Supported: Unregistered DIMMs up to PC2-8500 (DDR2-1066MHz) -AND- PC3-10600 (DDR3-1333MHz)

HyperTransport 3.0 Specification: One 16-bit/16-bit link @ up to 4.0GHz full duplex (2.0GHz x2)

Total Processor-to-System Bandwidth: Up to 37.3GB/s total bandwidth [Up to 21.3 GB/s memory bandwidth (DDR3-1333) + 16.0GB/s (HT3)]

Up to 33.1GB/s total bandwidth [Up to 17.1 GB/s memory bandwidth (DDR2-1066) + 16.0GB/s (HT3)]

Packaging: Socket AM3 938-pin organic micro pin grid array (micro-PGA)

Fab location: GLOBALFOUNDARIES Fab 1 module 1 in Dresden, Germany (formerly AMD Fab 36)

Process Technology: 45-nanometer DSL SOI (silicon-on-insulator) technology

Approximate Die Size: 169 mm2

Approximate Transistor count: ~300 million

Max Temp: 71o Celsius

Nominal Voltage: 0.925-1.425V

Max TDP: 95 Watts

Here's our test system.

Mother Board	Asus M3A78-T
Memory	Corsair XMS 4GB
Video Card	ATI Radeon 4850
Hard Drive	Western Digital SE 16 750GB
Case	Tsunami Thermaltake
Display	Samsung SyncMaster 30"

 

 

Windows Vista 64-bit SP2 was our OS with Catalyst version 9.8 for testing. V-sync was disabled.

 

 

 

Starting things off with Crysis we do see this CPU lag behind. Unfortunately Crysis only supports two cores and benefits heavily from more cache on the processor which the Athlon II X4 gets rid of. The Phenom II X2 blows this away.

 

Unreal Tournament 3 supports four cores and more so is geared towards three to match the XBox 360's architecture. Here we see the Phenom II and lower clocked Athlon II X4 with less cache basically even. The Athlon II X2 250 which has more cache per core and higher clockspeed falls behind this time, unlike in Crysis which only supports two. Games are leaning more towards quad core support these days but still many top brands such as those games from Valve only support two cores.

 

 

 

 

Cinebench 10 is a rendering benchmark and here see more effective use of multiple cores. The Athlon II X4 620, despite a lower clockspeed and much less cache, beats the Phenom II X3 720.

 

 

Valve Map compilation builds a map and compiles it and also is very multi-threaded. The Phenom II X2 here is trounced again and the Athlon II X4 620 not much slower than AMD's Phenom II X4 955 processor. Throwing in the Athlon 7850 which launched last year for almost the price of this new Athlon II X4 you see that this is almost 50% faster than that CPU.

 

 

Valve particle benchmark renders thousands of particles on screen and is very multi-threaded and shows the Athlon II X4 620 clean up. It isn't a real game test, however, so it doesn't benefit much from a large cache.

 

Another rendering benchmark and this is where the four cores shine as the Athlon II X4 tops all processors except the Phenom II X4 955.

 

3DMark Vantage is a synthetic but somewhat popular benchmark which is supposed to emulate how games might perform on a game engine. Here we're just seeing the CPU scores of which the Athlon II X4 620 can't beat the Intel Q9300 (which is end of life), but does every other processor. Again though, this is a heavily multi-threaded benchmark.

 

 

 

 

On default voltage we were able to overclock the Athlon II X4 620 to 3.2GHz, a respectable 600MHz. With a little more voltage we hit 3.45GHz stable which is fairly solid for overclocking using the motherboard's bus and not a multiplier of 850MHz. Not bad at all. Remember, there is no Black Series for these Athlon II processors so they might be much harder to overclock and could represent less stability since they have to be overclocked using the motherboard bus. At this point we think AMD should just unlock the cores of all their processors but that's just us.

Unfortunately we ran out of time to test power but will add those numbers later.

Conclusion:

So Lynnfield has launched and it appears to top AMD's best. Sort of. This is basically only with Turbo mode enabled which automatically overclocks the processor, you have to use DDR3, oh and in many situations it doesn't beat the Phenom II X4 965. It is also very difficult to overclock. But enough with that, with the Athlon II X4 620 AMD has done what it has done best since the company's formation, offer excellent value for the price and here the Athlon II X4 620 succeeds being the first quad core processor to crack that all important $100 mark at $99. For your average user, who might be doing much more multi-tasking now and especially with Windows 7's upcoming release this processor is simply unbeatable. Is it really worth the $30 in savings for a cheaper Athlon II for the gain in smoothness you get with four cores? My guess is probably not, unless you're incredibly budget tight.

I think the real question for enthusiasts though is why not get a 785G board which features SB710 which has ACC and will unlock multiple cores and try your luck with a Phenom II X2 Black Edition, unlock those extra cores and get Phenom II X4 955 price for $99, the same price as this processor. Obviously you may not get four cores and it may not be stable but it'd be nice for someone to research how well this actually works, and to buy ten of more of these processors and see what does and what doesn't unlock and how well they overclock, and to what stability and power draw. If we had the resources we certainly would, why the larger major sites have not is unbeknownst to us, almost ignoring this feature entirely.

Pricing:

The Athlon II X4 620 as mentioned is launching at a very affordable $99 price. This is unbeatable, though we don't have it in our price engine now it should show up soon.

Score: 95%

 

 

 

It has been over 3 years since AMD lost the desktop performance wars to Intel on the desktop. At times things were much worse such as when Penryn came out and the original Phenom architecture seemed to be a pretty big flop. As we all know Phenom II however is a great match for Penryn when it comes to price and performance and especially bundled with ATI branded video cards and motherboards there are quite a few deals out there. That said AMD is still far from reaching the performance of Core i7 but they continue to ramp things up with the Phenom II architecture. Today AMD is releasing the newest and fastest desktop processor from them yet, the Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition.

 

 

The Phenom II X4 965 features almost no real differences in technical specs from the previously released X4 955 processor other than the 200MHz bump in default clock to 3.4GHz, a higher max TDP of 140W shows up again, and AMD says it should be a better overclocker than the 955 processor. What that means and you'll see in testing is a slight bump in performance but this isn't anything wildly different from what we've seen. AMD seems to have already scaled down their new architecture to both their new Athlon II brand and the Phenom II dual cores so there's less room to fill in the line-up as well.

 

 

Here are the technical specifications on this new processor from AMD.

Phenom™ II X4 965 Black Edition Processor Specifications:

Model Number & Core Frequency: 3.4GHz

Official Pricing at Launch: $245 (US)

Tray OPN: TRAY OPN# HDZ965FBK4DGI

Processor in a Box OPN: PIB OPN# HDZ965FBGIBOX

L1 Cache Sizes: 64K of L1 instruction and 64K of L1 data cache per core (512KB total L1 per processor)

L2 Cache Sizes: 512KB of L2 data cache per core (2MB total L2 per processor)

L3 Cache Size: 6MB (shared)

Total Cache (L2+L3): 8MB

Memory Controller Type: Integrated 128-bit wide memory controller *

Memory Controller Speed: Up to 2.0GHz with Dual Dynamic Power Management

Types of Memory Supported: Unregistered DIMMs up to PC2-8500 (DDR2-1066MHz) -AND- PC3-10600 (DDR3-1333MHz)

HyperTransport 3.0 Specification: One 16-bit/16-bit link @ up to 4.0GHz full duplex (2.0GHz x2)

Total Processor-to-System Bandwidth: Up to 37.3GB/s total bandwidth [Up to 21.3 GB/s memory bandwidth (DDR3-1333) + 16.0GB/s (HT3)]

Up to 33.1GB/s total bandwidth [Up to 17.1 GB/s memory bandwidth (DDR2-1066) + 16.0GB/s (HT3)]

Packaging: Socket AM3 938-pin organic micro pin grid array (micro-PGA)

Fab location: GLOBALFOUNDARIES Fab 1 module 1 in Dresden, Germany (formerly AMD Fab 36)

Process Technology: 45-nanometer DSL SOI (silicon-on-insulator) technology

Approximate Die Size: 258 mm2

Approximate Transistor count: ~ 758 million

Max Temp: 65o Celsius

Nominal Voltage: 0.825-1.425V

Max TDP: 140 Watts


*Notes:

Black Edition processors support software-selectable increases to memory controller, HyperTransport, DDR3 and CPU core frequency

MC configurable for dual 64-bit channels for simultaneous read/writes

For DDR3-1333, AMD Phenom II supports 1-DIMM-per-channel @ 1333MHz

 

Here's our test system.

Mother Board	Asus M3A78-T
Memory	Corsair XMS 4GB
Video Card	ATI Radeon 4850
Hard Drive	Western Digital SE 16 750GB
Case	Tsunami Thermaltake
Display	Samsung SyncMaster 30"

 

 

Windows Vista 64-bit SP2 was our OS with Catalyst version 9.7 for testing. V-sync was disabled.

 

 

 

Here we see the Phenom II 965 actually beats the Core i7 920 in our Crysis CPU benchmark if just barely. This is the only benchmark in which it wins and for some reason the i7 is much weaker in Crysis, but this is the most advanced game engine on the planet currently. That's not for nothing.

 

Unreal Tournament 3 shows a decent boost from the 955 score but really all CPUs here have no problem of handling the multi-threaded Unreal Tournament 3 engine.

 

 

 

 

Again we see the Phenom II 965 inching towards the Core i7 in Cinebench and as a much cheaper platform. AMD is actually targeting the Q9550 for this but we don't have one to test on hand. It should beat or be comparable in every benchmark though.

 

 

Again we see a small increase from the 955 to 965 of six seconds and our Penryn processor lags behind but the i7 dominates as Hyper-Threading shows it's potential.

 

 

Similar results are seen in Valve Particle benchmark.

 

In Pov-RAY, this is one of the benchmarks where Phenom II comes somewhat close to the Core i7. Again, we see similar boost we would expect from a 200MHz clockspeed improvement.

 

 

 

Overclocking we were a little disappointed we got no higher than the 4GHz we had already obtained with our X4 955 CPU months ago. There seems to be a real wall here which is unfortunate as it means AMD might not be able to scale next year as Intel might be able to with Core i55 if they can't mature their process faster. So far the 965 seems to show no real difference even in overclocking with our tests compared to the 955.

 

Unfortunately we ran out of time before leaving for QuakeCon to thoroughly test power consumption but it's not too far off from the Phenom II X4 955. Idle power consumption was taken 10 minutes idle into the Windows desktop and load using Cinebench 10.

Conclusion:

It is good that AMD is able to ramp up Phenom II without many problems from 3GHz to 3.4GHz and there's no doubt the ATI chipsets and video cards when bundled with these processors offer some amazing value. The Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition doesn't offer a lot new and in fact if the 955 is cheaper we'd probably just go for that our selves but this is good for the channel. AMD plans more bundles from e-tailers with this new CPU, ATI video cards, motherboards, and RAM which should cut total price for basically a whole system drastically. We didn't have a Q9650 on hand but it seems to even beat that CPU giving AMD by far the best price and performance ratio and destroyed our Penryn we did have.

That said, they face a lot of challenges in 2010. Intel's Core i5 launches next month and the early performance numbers show it to be a very powerful CPU compared to the Core i7 and Phenom II. Again we're still a month out and we're not sure how it'll overclock and the total cost of platform could still be higher than AMD but it is bad when AMD has no real new CPUs for the desktop market until 2011. Maybe there's something up their sleeve but the current desktop roadmaps don't show it. AMD still might have Intel beat with platform and integrated video easily but Intel could possibly scale much higher. This will definitely be an interesting match up of the Core i5 vs. Phenom II when it happens next month. If you are waiting to build a upper-mid range system you might want to wait for that.

That is to be figured out but today AMD has launched the Phenom II X4 965 and it is their fastest processor yet and overclocks the best as well. We are hitting a definite wall though at 4GHz where we have to throw a rather large amount of voltage at the CPU to get it to even work there. That doesn't give AMD a ton of room for further clockspeed improvements unless they can figure out a way to further improve their manufacturing process or a die shrink and the die shrink does not seem likely anytime soon. Let's all hope Bulldozer is worth the wait.

 

Pricing:

 We don't see the processors at retail yet but the Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition should go for $245 and there should be bundles with motherboards, video cards, and memory cutting the price down quite a bit overall.

Score: 95%

 

 

 

It took more than a year for the first dual core processors based off the Phenom architecture to be released from AMD. Phenom hit in late 2007 and it wasn't until late 2008 finally we saw dual core processors based somewhat off the Phenom architecture with the Athlon X2 7750. Luckily that isn't the case with Phenom II, launched early this year dual core processors will be in stores soon and being announced now during Computex. We'll be looking at two of these: the Phenom II branded X2 550 and the Athlon II X2 250. How do they stack up to AMD's previous offerings? Let's find out.

 

 

The Athlon II X2 250 is a new 45nm native dual-core and not a harvested quad core Phenom II which had a bad core or two. It features 1MB of L2 cache per core but unlike Phenom II has no L3 cache. It also is the first processor from AMD with hardware C1E low power state, all other C1E states for AMD processors are controlled by the BIOS. It isn't a Black Edition so you'll have to bump up the front-side bus for all overclocking. The memory controller runs at 2GHz with 128-bit wide memory controller. It is Socket AM3 so it supports DDR3 for future proofing but as with all Socket AM3 processors it should run fine in AM2+ motherboards. The die size is 117.5mm with a transistor count of around 234 million. AMD rates it for 65W and a max temp of 74 degrees Celsius. The processor will retail for $87 in 1,000 unit quantities.

The Phenom II X2 550 dual core is Phenom II quad core derived part with a bad core or two or one that wasn't up to the task at running at the 3.1GHz the processor runs at. It features 6MB of L3 cache, 512KB of L2 cache per core, 64K of L1 cache, 128-bit wide memory controller, 6MB of shared L3 cache for all cores. It is a Black Edition processor so the multiplier is unlocked allowing for easier overclocking. The memory controller runs at 2GHz and it also is a Socket AM3 processor built off a 45nm process but a larger 258mm die and a transistor count of around 758 million. It takes up a little more power at around 80W and is rated for a max temp of 70 degrees Celsius. This processor will set you back $102 in thousand unit quantities.

 

AMD is also announcing two other processors today, energy efficient quad and triple core processors. The Phenom II X4 905e runs at 2.5GHz and has a 65W TDP and the Phenom II X3 705e runs at 2.5GHz and also features a 65W TDP.

 

 

Here are the specs from AMD for all four new processors they're announcing today.

 

AMD Athlon™ II X2 Processor Specifications:

Model Number & Core Frequency: X2 250 = 3.0GHz
TRAY OPN# ADX250OCK23GQ
PIB OPN# ADX250OGQBOX
L1 Cache Sizes: 64K of L1 instruction and 64K of L1 data cache per core (256KB total L1 per processor)

L2 Cache Sizes: 1MB of L2 data cache per core (2MB total L2 per processor)
Memory Controller Type: Integrated 128-bit wide memory controller *
Memory Controller Speed: 2.0GHz with Dual Dynamic Power Management
Types of Memory Supported: Support for unregistered DIMMs up to PC2-6400 (DDR2-800MHz) -AND- PC3-8500 (DDR3-1066MHz)

HyperTransport 3.0 Specification: One 16-bit/16-bit link @ up to 4.0GHz full duplex (2.0GHz x2)
Total Processor-to-System Bandwidth: Up to 33.1GB/s bandwidth [Up to 17.1 GB/s total bandwidth (DDR3-1066) + 16.0GB/s (HT3)]

Up to 28.8GB/s bandwidth [Up to 12.8 GB/s total bandwidth (DDR2-800) + 16.0GB/s (HT3)]

Packaging: Socket AM3 938-pin organic micro pin grid array (micro-PGA)
Fab location: GLOBALFOUNDRIES Fab 1 Module 1
Process Technology: 45-nanometer DSL SOI (silicon-on-insulator) technology
Approximate Die Size: 117.5 mm2
Approximate Transistor count: ~ 234 million
Max Temp: 74o Celsius
Core Voltage: 0.85-1.425V
Max TDP: 65 Watts
*Note: configurable for dual 64-bit channels for simultaneous read/writes



AMD Phenom™ II X2 550 Black Edition Processor Specifications:

Model Number & Core Frequency: X2 550 Black Edition = 3.1GHz
TRAY OPN# HDZ550WFK2DGI
PIB OPN# HDZ550WGIBOX
L1 Cache Sizes: 64K of L1 instruction and 64K of L1 data cache per core (256KB total L1 per processor)

L2 Cache Sizes: 512KB of L2 data cache per core (1MB total L2 per processor)
L3 Cache Size: 6MB (shared)
Memory Controller Type: Integrated 128-bit wide memory controller *
Black Edition processors support software selectable increases to memory controller, HyperTransport, DDR3 and CPU core frequency.

Memory Controller Speed: 2.0GHz with Dual Dynamic Power Management
Types of Memory Supported: Support for unregistered DIMMs up to PC2-8500 (DDR2-1066MHz) -AND- PC3-10600 (DDR3-1333MHz)

HyperTransport 3.0 Specification: One 16-bit/16-bit link @ up to 4.0GHz full duplex (2.0GHz x2)
Total Processor-to-System Bandwidth: Up to 37.3GB/s bandwidth [Up to 21.3 GB/s total bandwidth (DDR3-1333) + 16.0GB/s (HT3)]

Up to 33.1GB/s bandwidth [Up to 17.1 GB/s total bandwidth (DDR2-1066) + 16.0GB/s (HT3)]

Packaging: Socket AM3 938-pin organic micro pin grid array (micro-PGA)
Fab location: GLOBALFOUNDRIES Fab 1 Module 1
Process Technology: 45-nanometer DSL SOI (silicon-on-insulator) technology
Approximate Die Size: 258 mm2
Approximate Transistor count: ~ 758 million
Max Temp: 70o Celsius
Core Voltage: 0.850-1.425V
Max TDP: 80 Watts
*Note: configurable for dual 64-bit channels for simultaneous read/writes



MD Phenom™ II X4 905e Processor Specifications:

Model Number & Core Frequency: X4 905e = 2.5GHz
TRAY OPN# HD905EOCK4DGI
PIB OPN# HD905EOGIBOX
L1 Cache Sizes: 64K of L1 instruction and 64K of L1 data cache per core (512KB total L1 per processor)

L2 Cache Sizes: 512KB of L2 data cache per core (2MB total L2 per processor)
L3 Cache Size: 6MB (shared)
Memory Controller Type: Integrated 128-bit wide memory controller *
Memory Controller Speed: 2.0GHz with Dual Dynamic Power Management
Types of Memory Supported: Support for unregistered DIMMs up to PC2-8500 (DDR2-1066MHz) -AND- PC3-10600 (DDR3-1333MHz)

HyperTransport 3.0 Specification: One 16-bit/16-bit link @ up to 4.0GHz full duplex (2.0GHz x2)
Total Processor-to-System Bandwidth: Up to 37.3GB/s bandwidth [Up to 21.3 GB/s total bandwidth (DDR3-1333) + 16.0GB/s (HT3)]

Up to 33.1GB/s bandwidth [Up to 17.1 GB/s total bandwidth (DDR2-1066) + 16.0GB/s (HT3)]

Packaging: Socket AM3 938-pin organic micro pin grid array (micro-PGA)
Fab location: GLOBALFOUNDRIES Fab 1 Module 1
Process Technology: 45-nanometer DSL SOI (silicon-on-insulator) technology
Approximate Die Size: 258 mm2
Approximate Transistor count: ~ 758 million
Max Temp: 70o Celsius
Core Voltage: 0.825-1.25V
Max TDP: 65 Watts
*Note: configurable for dual 64-bit channels for simultaneous read/writes



AMD Phenom™ II X3 703e Processor Specifications:

Model Number & Core Frequency: X3 705e = 2.5GHz
TRAY OPN# HD705EOCK3DGI
PIB OPN# HD705EOGIBOX
L1 Cache Sizes: 64K of L1 instruction and 64K of L1 data cache per core (384KB total L1 per processor)

L2 Cache Sizes: 512KB of L2 data cache per core (1.5MB total L2 per processor)
L3 Cache Size: 6MB (shared)
Memory Controller Type: Integrated 128-bit wide memory controller *
Memory Controller Speed: 2.0GHz with Dual Dynamic Power Management
Types of Memory Supported: Support for unregistered DIMMs up to PC2-8500 (DDR2-1066MHz) -AND- PC3-10600 (DDR3-1333MHz)

HyperTransport 3.0 Specification: One 16-bit/16-bit link @ up to 4.0GHz full duplex (2.0GHz x2)
Total Processor-to-System Bandwidth: Up to 37.3GB/s bandwidth [Up to 21.3 GB/s total bandwidth (DDR3-1333) + 16.0GB/s (HT3)]

Up to 33.1GB/s bandwidth [Up to 17.1 GB/s total bandwidth (DDR2-1066) + 16.0GB/s (HT3)]

Packaging: Socket AM3 938-pin organic micro pin grid array (micro-PGA)
Fab location: GLOBALFOUNDRIES Fab 1 Module 1
Process Technology: 45-nanometer DSL SOI (silicon-on-insulator) technology
Approximate Die Size: 258 mm2
Approximate Transistor count: ~ 758 million
Max Temp: 72o Celsius
Core Voltage: 0.825-1.25V
Max TDP: 65 Watts

*Notes:

Black Edition processors support software-selectable increases to memory controller, HyperTransport, DDR3 and CPU core frequency

MC configurable for dual 64-bit channels for simultaneous read/writes

 

Here's our test system.

Mother Board	Gigabyte 790GX
Memory	Corsair XMS 4GB
Video Card	ATI Radeon 4850
Hard Drive	Western Digital SE 16 750GB
Case	Tsunami Thermaltake
Display	Samsung SyncMaster 30"

 

 

Windows Vista 64-bit SP1 was our OS with Catalyst version 9.5 for testing. V-sync was disabled.

 

 

 

We'll start off with Crysis which primarily uses two cores. Here we see the Phenom II X2 550 do quite well scoring fps and topping the Q9300 from Intel. The 7850 which runs at 2.8GHz lags 12 fps behind. The Athlon II also lags a bit due to the lack of L3 cache at 50.7fps despite being only 100MHz slower.

 

Unreal Tournament 3 supports multiple cores so the Phenom II X2 can't top the Phenom II X3 which almost matches the X4 955. That said the Phenom II and Athlon II are still much faster than the 7850.

 

 

 

 

The quad core processors rule here in Cinebench and we don't see much of a difference between the dual core Phenom II and Athlon II more than likely due to L3 cache not being as important in rendering.

 

 

Valve map creation also doesn't show much of a bonus from the large L3 cache of the Phenom II and instead cores rule again.

 

Valve particle bench renders thousands of particles to test CPU performance and supports many cores and as such again those CPUs come out on top. We see a slight decline from the Phenom II to the Athlon X2 7850.

 

Pov-Ray is another rendering benchmark and again we see the L3 cache doesn't do much.

 

 

 

Overclocking the Athlon II X2 250 we had pretty good success ending up just short of 4GHz. It wasn't quite stable but 3.8GHz was smooth sailing.

 

Our Phenom II X2 550 didn't overclock quite as good being more stable at 3.8GHz and generally stable at 3.7GHz.

Our power consumption was tested with the Radeon 4850. Idle was taken 10 minutes idle into the Windows desktop and load using Cinebench 10. We don't see much of a difference at idle between the two processors but more so at load the extra cache of the Phenom II starts to kick in.

	Idle	Load
Athlon 7850	125W	160W
Phenom II X2 550	136W	176W

Conclusion:

AMD continues to improve their standing in 2009 and the Phenom II X2 550 BE and Athlon II X2 250 are both amazing processors for around or under $100. The 45nm process continues to mature for AMD and so far at least with Core i7's very high price to entry compared to an $80 AM3 motherboard AMD is looking like an easier and easier choice. Things become a little less clear around September when the P55 chipset is released and Core i5 as it's been called, but that's hard to see from here and we know at launch those should only be quad core processors with the cheapest just under $200, so not much cheaper than a Core i7 920 if you shop around.

Overall while this may not be labeled a banner year for everyone it is a proof that don't underestimate this company: the final word is yet to be written on the champion of PC performance. AMD may not have the top tier now but they aren't out for the count either and generally offer the best value in any processors under $200 from quad to dual core.

Comparing the two processors against each other, for just $15 more the Black Edition Phenom II X2 seem like the obvious choice, however, as you can see unless you're playing games there's not much difference between the two processors. If you do plan to do gaming though the difference becomes immediate of the benefit of the L3 cache and it seems obvious which to go with. So that's the jist: if you game go for the Phenom II X2 or X3 if you don't the Athlon II should be fine for everyone else looking for the best sub-$100 processor.

 

Pricing:

 We don't see the processors at retail yet but the Athlon II X2 250 should go for $87 and the Phenom II X2 500 for $102.

Athlon II X2 250 Score: 93%

Phenom II X2 550 Score: 97%