AMD launches its fastest desktop chips ever

In an attempt to gain an advantage in the gaming PC market, Advanced Micro Devices on Thursday launched what it called its "highest-performing CPUs" to date.

Two new quad-core Phenom II processors, aimed at high-end desktop PCs, were announced by AMD at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The chips succeed the Phenom processor the company launched in 2007, and come two days after AMD announced the new Athlon Neo processor for small laptops.

The quad-core Phenom II chips run at speeds up to 3GHz and include 8MB of cache. The chips are capable of even faster clock speeds under certain circumstances. For example, AMD overclocked Phenom II processors to run at up to 4GHz on air-cooled systems, and up to 5GHz on liquid-nitrogen cooling late last year.

Dell is already offering the XPS 625 desktop based on the Phenom II, though pricing information was not immediately available. PC makers HP and Alienware will also offer Phenom II-based desktops later in the year, according to AMD.

AMD is targeting gamers and enthusiasts with the chips, which are also affordable enough for mainstream users looking for a good gaming system, the company said.

AMD's Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition processor, which runs at 3.0GHz, is priced at US$275, while the Phenom II X4 920 processor, which runs at 2.8GHz, is sold for $235.

The Phenom II CPUs are manufactured using a 45-nanometer process, which makes the chips more power efficient than earlier chips.

The new chips are part of AMD's new Dragon platform for desktops, which includes graphics chips, chipsets and CPUs for gaming and media-intensive desktops. The platform includes the ATI Radeon 4800 series graphics cards in addition to the Phenom II.

An interesting feature of the platform is a set of customized controls to boost performance of gaming PCs. Called OverDrive, these controls allow users to ratchet up performance by overclocking the CPUs, which can then be easily returned to a normal speed at the touch of a button.

The platform also includes the ATI Video Converter software, which can convert videos to play on portable entertainment devices, according to AMD.

The platform will initially support DDR2 memory, but faster DDR3 memory support may come in a few months, AMD has said. Compared to DDR2 memory, DDR3 provides a larger bandwidth for quicker data transfers between the CPU and memory in PCs. To support DDR3 memory, AMD will introduce the new AM3 socket for motherboards in the next few months. High-end chips for gaming systems are also offered by Intel, which launched its Core i7 processor in November.

AMD Launches Yukon Platform For Ultra-Thin Laptops

Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) launched a platform for lightweight, ultra-thin laptops that offer solid entertainment capabilities.

Formerly code-named Yukon, the platform will make its debut this week at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ)'s new Pavilion dv2 notebook, which measures less than an inch thick, weighs less than four pounds, and sports a 12-inch light-emitting diode display.

AMD's platform is comprised of an Athlon Neo processor, ATI Radeon X1250 integrated graphics, and an optional ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3410 discrete graphics card. AMD claims the technology supports "true high-definition entertainment," and makes it possible for computer manufacturers to offer ultra-thin laptops with solid graphics performance at a lower price than in the past. The price of the HP system, which is expected to be available in April, was not disclosed.

"In introducing the AMD ultrathin notebook platform, AMD enables balanced PC performance, including the option of advanced graphics and video for true HD entertainment, all in an affordable, ultra-thin notebook, bringing consumers uncompromised mobility," Chris Cloran, corporate VP of AMD's client division, said in a statement.

The ultra-portable laptop category, which includes such systems as Apple's MacBook Air, Dell (Dell)'s Latitude E4300, and the Fujitsu LifeBook P8020, sit between mini-notebooks, which are 10 inches or smaller and have undersized keyboards, and standard laptops, which typically have displays of 15 inches or more.

The ultra-portables are typically lighter than four pounds and offer standard-size keyboards. The extra-portability, however, usually adds to the price and the systems are generally more expensive than the other two categories.

The AMD platform supports 1080p HD playback and can handle casual gaming that makes use of 3-D graphics, according to the vendor. The technology also provides for HDMI and DVI digital outputs for connecting laptops to digital televisions.

AMD's Yukon has a total power consumption of less than 25 watts, which makes it too power hungry for mini-notebooks, a hot segment of the PC market whereIntel (NSDQ: INTC) has been gaining traction with its Atom processor.

AMD Phenom II X4 920 Processor Review

Starting with the use of a 45 nanometre process, both Phenom II CPUs launched today have been manufactured on a 45nm process with silicon-on-insulator technology, giving all the usual benefits of such a die shrink such as a reduction in die size, power consumption and thus heat generated. What's more, AMD have made use of an immersion lithography manufacturing technology for these parts, making for an overall manufacturing process that AMD claims will serve them well not only for this particular architecture, but also for future CPU architectures and process changes, particularly as they look forward to 32 nanometre as their next big process jump. In the short term though, the immersion lithography technology showcased here is cited as one of the main reasons for AMD's ability to reach higher clock speeds, with tighter tolerances and lower leakages of current than previous parts - Considering the struggle first-generation Phenom parts had to even get close to 3.0GHz, this is very good news indeed, and AMD seem confident that these initial Phenom II processors have a lot of headroom to play with in overclocking terms.

MESH Matrix II 920 Desktop System Review

While AMD's new Phenom II CPUs will undoubtedly, and quite rightly, get a lot of the online column inches today, there's more to today's launch than CPUs alone. Today also sees the begin of a new platform from AMD, which they've codenamed "Dragon", which combines these new Phenom II processors with the company's Radeon HD 4800 series graphics solutions and the 790GX motherboard chipset to create what they hope will be a compelling platform for system builders. To coincide with this launch we've managed to take a look at a system based around the Dragon platform for ourselves courtesy of MESH, who today launch two systems based around this specification. Our focus here is on their Matrix II 920 offering, which sports a Phenom II X4 920 processor together with a Gigabyte 790GX-based motherboard and Radeon HD 4850 graphics board.

AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition Review

It’s here. After pressing the Phenom 9850 and 9950 Black Edition CPUs into service to take on Intel’s highly popular Core 2 Quad Q6600, AMD’s now got a bona fide competitor to quad-core Penryn. AMD’s answer? Phenom II. Thanks to a new manufacturing process, AMD is able to ratchet up the clock speeds while still drawing less power than their previous CPU offerings. The smaller process also allows AMD to cram in more L3 cache (three times more L3 cache than Phenom in fact) while still sporting a smaller die than Agena-based Phenom. AMD then finishes Phenom II off with IPC tweaks, delivering performance improvements on a clock-for-clock basis when compared to first-generation Phenom.

That’s the Cliff Notes summary of what AMD has accomplished with Phenom II. Normally we’d save that for the end, but based on emails we’ve received since publishing our AMD roadmap story we know that some of you die-hard AMD enthusiasts have been holding on dearly to your overclocked Socket 939 Athlon 64 3500+ and Athlon X2 3800+ for years now in the hopes that AMD would one day release a CPU worthy of upgrading for, so we figure you’ve waited long enough by now. (We’ve also heard from a decent number of X2 5000+ Black Edition users, but you guys haven’t had to wait nearly as long!)

Let’s face it, Phenom didn’t cut it for most of the hardcore AMD crowd at launch. The Phenom 9850 Black Edition finally became somewhat tempting for these users as a result of the latest price cuts last summer. But nothing AMD has offered lately has dominated the market like the legendary 3500+ and X2 3800+ did for the budget-minded enthusiast a few years ago.

Before we get AMD enthusiasts hopes up too much though, a little reality check: Phenom II is not a Core i7-killer. Core i7 is still the world’s fastest CPU.

But AMD isn’t going after the bleeding edge sacrifice-your-first-born-child-in-order-to-afford-it crowd anymore. Instead they’re focusing on the value-conscious consumer who wants good performance, but at the same time also wants something affordable. Think of the guy who buys the Camaro SS instead of the Corvette, or the BMW
135i instead of the M3. You get the idea, ~80-90% of the performance of the high-end model, but at a significantly lower price.

This is the space where AMD hopes to make some money nowadays.

So now that you know how AMD is positioning their CPUs, it’s time to found out if Phenom II hits the mark or not. As the rumors have suggested for the past few months, AMD has prepped two CPUs for launch, a 3.0GHz model (the Phenom II X4 940) and a 2.8GHz part (the Phenom II X4 920). Both CPUs feature sub-$300 price tags and support AMD’s AM2+ socket, and are both backward-compatible with AMD’s existing AM2 Phenom/Athlon X2 infrastructure of motherboards. AMD has also disclosed the performance we can expect from DDR3-based AM3, as you can see in the following slide:





As you can see, AMD projects a 20% improvement in clock-for-clock performance over Phenom 9950, due largely to the increase in clock speed, which buys Phenom II 940 an additional 12% in performance. AMD estimates an additional 3% comes from instructions per clock (IPC) enhancements included in the new core, while another 5% comes from the CPU’s larger L3 cache. Finally, AMD projects a performance improvement of nearly 5% from DDR3-1333 when it becomes available.

This is the high-level overview of Phenom II though. Let’s take a closer look under the hood of the new CPU, and see how far the new chip overclocks.

Advanced Micro Devices introduces Dragon platform technology for desktop PCs featuring AMD Phenom II X4 processor - Quick Facts AMD

Advanced Micro Devices Inc.announced that it launched "Dragon" platform technology for desktop PCs featuring the new AMD Phenom II X4 processor.

Users such as such as enthusiasts and high-end gamers desire affordable systems capable of delivering HD entertainment, graphic-intensive game play at the highest settings their monitors can handle, as well as quick and easy transfer of video entertainment to and from mobile devices.

Dragon platform technology provides the power to do it all by combining the AMD Phenom II X4 processor. And it's offered with Dragon-based systems available for up to $1,200 less than competing systems that deliver comparable performance.

AMD Phenom II X4 940 Review

Everyone wants to have the fastest systems out but not many can afford it or justify spending thousands of dollars on a computer, just to have top end technology. But do you really have to spend that much to have an extremely powerful computer for your games and benchmarks? Quad Core processors are becoming the main stream processors used today and with the offerings from Intel and AMD, you have plenty of good processors to choose from. Recently Intel debuted the new i7 processors, but these CPU's come with a premium price. AMD now has brought to the table a new improved processor to the Phenom line. This new processor is the AMD Phenom II X4 CPU. The Phenom II will be manufactured using a 45nm manufacturing process and will include HyperTransport 3.0, a larger cache, an Integrated DDR2 memory controller with support up to DDR2-8500, and True multi-core processing among other outstanding features.

At launch the Phenom II will come in two flavors. First will be the Phenom II 920 which will be clocked at 2.8GHz and the other will be the Phenom II 940 clocked and 3.0GHz and will be a "Black Box" Edition with an unlocked multiplier. For this review we will be taking a look at the AMD Phenom II X4 940 "Black Box". This new processor comes with an increased cache size. There will still be the same 512KB L2 cache per core however the L3 cache will be increased to 6MB shares versus the 2MB L3 the AMD Phenom X4 9850 has. With the Phenom II release there will be a new platform to support it. The AMD Phenom II will be part of the new Dragon Platform which also includes a 790GX based motherboard and an ATI HD 4800 series graphics card.

Closer Look:

At first glance the AMD Phenom II processor looks exactly like the original Phenom. The socket is the same as well as the AM2+ (940) packaging, but don't let the looks fool you about this new gem. The Phenom II increases the L3 Cache to a whopping 6MB shared. The Phenom II has a maximum TDP of 125 watts and is manufactured using a 45nm process. It is designed to be more power efficient then the previous generation as well. The Phenom II also supports up to DDR2-1066MHz unbuffered memory natively for increased performance when paired with a 790GX board supporting 1066MHz memory as well. There are 758 million transistors and it can take a voltage up to 1.5 volts with a maximum temperature threshold of 62C degrees.