Conclusion:

Phenom II continues to get better and faster and the Phenom 955 and 945 are great additions to the AMD lineup. When it comes to rendering and tasks that can take advantage of Hyperthreading, AMD has a tougher time but when it comes to game and tasks for most people, AMD offers much more value in a much less expensive but robust platform full of options and tweaking for enthusiasts such as unlocked multiplier at a low entry price and AMD Overdrive software. Phenom was tough to recommend, Phenom II has none of these issues and with the 940 chip showing up at under $170 at a number of e-tailers lately that's a steal. Great job with Phenom, and we can't wait to see how the six core Opteron CPUs work out.

Pricing:

You can get the Phenom X4 810 for $185 and we don't see any X3 720 CPUs out yet but we're sure they'll turn up soon.

Score: 96%