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.

AMD Phenom II X4 940 Processor Review

Phenom, Round Two

Nobody but perhaps an AMD employee could call the original Phenom a success. AMD initially struggled with their TLB (Translation Lookaside Buffer) errors which they solved with a crudely implemented BIOS patch that crippled CPU performance. Following this error, a B3 revision of Phenom was released which culminated in the 2.6GHz Phenom X4 9950. Since the Phenom X4 launch in the winter of 2007 it has been a rough journey for AMD with the only promising product coming out of their camp being their Radeon HD 4800 series graphics cards.

However, rumors started to surface a few weeks back about the powerhouse that AMD was working up in their labs. With claims of no cold bug, enhanced cache size and performance, and 3GHz launch frequencies, it was not surprising that a few of us were getting antsy. Prior to the Phenom launch we heard very similar yet astounding comments leaking from AMD insiders. So, with a Phenom II X4 940 sitting on my desk, how do these claims stack up?

First off, there is indeed no cold bug and these things just crave cold temperatures albeit with one caveat that will be discussed later. Second, there is no TLB issue resulting in castrated L3 cache so everything is shipshape with the circuits. And last, those 3GHz launch speeds? Very true, and judging from my sample, AMD should be able to release a 3.2GHz or faster Phenom II soon enough.

AMD finally launches Phenom II and its Dragon desktop platform

It was a struggle getting it "officially" out the door, and the reviews are already lackluster, but AMD's 45nm, quad-core Phenom II has finally arrived. It's available in two flavors, the 2.8GHz X4 920 and the 3.0GHz X4 940 Black Edition, going for $235 and $275, respectively. AMD's naturally touting the ostensible cost savings of the chips -- they're supposed to split the difference between Intel's Core 2 Quad and Core i7 processor -- but in reality they seems to trail Intel's offerings pretty soundly on the price / performance curve. The accompanying Dragon platform includes a Phenom II proc, 4800-series Radeon HD graphics and a 790-series motherboard, all of which should combine for low power consumption -- up to 40 percent compared to Phenom processors. Where the Phenom II definitely wins is the fact that some AMD folks will be able to drop in the chip to existing motherboards, but otherwise it looks like value hounds and performance junkies aren't being served by this new chip -- at least until unreasonable overclocking activities make all the pain go away.

AMD lashes back at Intel with Phenom II chip and Dragon platform

AMD is taking a swing at Intel today with the launch of its Phenom II microprocessor for the consumer desktop market, as well as a new Dragon platform that will house the processors in a variety of new high-end computers.

The Phenom II is based on AMD’s new 45-nanometer manufacturing process, which will let AMD stay competitive with Intel’s newest chips. In the case of consumer desktops, analysts now believe that AMD will leapfrog Intel for the first time in a few years. The chips have larger cache memories — up to eight megabytes — and the processors start at 3.0 gigahertz. Previously, the fastest Phenom I chips could only hit 2.6 gigahertz. With the improvements, AMD says its new chips will be 20 percent faster than previous chips.

The company is unveiling the product at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week, where AMD chief executive Dirk Meyer will be giving one of the keynote speeches.

The new chips will make AMD credible again at the high-end of the game PC market. The chips capitalize on a new production technology that comes along every couple of years for chip makers. The 45-nanometer technology lets AMD make smaller, faster, and cheaper chips because it shrinks the width betwen circuits, allowing for lower power and less material use. Intel launched its own 45-nanometer processors some time ago and refreshed its line-up in November. AMD launched its first 45-nanometer server chips in November.

AMD has shown that the new processor can be overclocked to 4 gigahertz with air cooling or 5 gigahertz in certain circumstances with liquid-nitrogen cooling. That shows the chip has plenty of headroom for future performance improvements. In gaming mode, the chips can run reliably at 3.5-gigahertz and 3.7 gigahertz.

The Dragon platform is a collection of key chips that PC makers can assemble into a computer. It includes the AMD Phenom II X4 processor, the ATI Radeon HD 4800 series graphics, and the AMD 7 series chip sets. With the graphics chips launched last year, the new machines based on Phenom II and the Dragon platform should be far faster than AMD’s previous line-up, with games running 40 percent to 180 percent faster.

David Schwarzbach, AMD’s division marketing manager for desktops, said he hopes that do-it-yourself PC builders will come back to the AMD platform with the launch of the Phenom II. Many of those PC builders, who are often hardcore gamers, defected to Intel’s Core chips starting in 2006, when the world’s biggest chip maker pulled ahead of AMD in performance.

The picture here shows a gamer pouring liquid-nitrogen into a cooling system for a PC at a preview event AMD held in December. Schwarzbach said the company will likely bump up the performance of the chips as it proceeds with new versions throughout 2009. (That’s not always the case with designs that don’t have much design headroom, or room for improvement). That means it’s time for Intel to be at the top of its game.

The chips are in production and computer makers are announcing a variety of models today. They will be listed on AMD’s web site.

AMD releases Dragon reference design

Chip firm AMD introduced a reference design for gaming desktops dubbed the Dragon, which will use the Phenom II X4 microprocessor.

It claimed that Alienware, Dell and HP will introduce machines based on the design and that the desktops will cost less than $900.
The design will use Radeon HD4800 graphics and AMD 7 chipsets. The PC manufacturers will introduce desktop systems in the first quarter of this year, and Dell will release the XPS625 as part of the roll-out.

The Phenom II CPU will provide clock frequencies of up to 3GHz and can be overclocked. AMD is comparing a Dragon system with an Intel based Core i7 3.2GHz machine, which it said costs over $2,100.

AMD has some fancy names for the its 3GHz Phenom II chip which it dubs the 940 "Black Edition". That will have an estimated street price of $275, while the 920 Phenom II X4 at 2.8GHz will cost $235.

AMD's Phenom II 940 guns for the Core 2 Quad Q9400

Product: AMD Phenom II 940
Price: $275 (USA), £230 approx (UK)

PHENOM MARK ONE was the proverbial wet fart, really. When the 9700 arrived, as part of the Spider platform, it drew a lot of power and couldn’t even keep pace with Intel’s cheapest Core 2 Quad Q6600.

But we’re in the 45nm era now, so step forth AMD’s new flagship CPU, the 3GHz Phenom II 940. In a nutshell, the new Phenom II 940 and the slower 2.8GHz Phenom II 920 (not tested here) are Deneb cores built with 45nm SOI tech. Each has four cores, a 125W TDP, a 1.8GHz (3.6GHz full duplex) Hypertransport bus and 4MB more L3 cache than previous Phenoms, giving a total 8MB cache.




The 940 and 920 are AM2+ package processors that support AM2+ motherboards as long as the Bios has been updated to support the latest CPUs. AM3 motherboards and AM3 Phenom IIs with DDR3 memory support will arrive in the second quarter of 2009. AM3 Phenoms will work with AM2+ motherboards (without DDR3 Ram support) but AM2+ Phenoms won’t work in AM3 motherboards.

AMD says Phenom II 940 is part of its Dragon platform, which consists of a Phenom II processor, a 790GX motherboard and an ATI Radeon HD 4800 series graphics card. Call us cynical old geeks, but the Dragon platform, like the Spider platform before it, is nothing more than a marketing programme. AMD’s own guidelines say a Dragon system with Phenom II 940 at 3GHz with 4GB Ram, a Radeon 4870 and WD Raptor hard drive should draw around 150W when idling. In fact, our system drew considerably less, which we’re happy to attribute to a Geforce GTX 260 card, so that’s one instance where the Dragon set of components isn’t necessarily the best.

AMD claims the Phenom II offers a 20 per cent performance increase compared with the Phenom 9950. More instructions per clock, a higher frequency and 4MB more cache are the heroes of the day. It’s interesting to note that AMD’s slide show only shows a limited four(ish) per cent performance increase due to DDR3, so the much cheaper DDR2 Ram should provide the best bang for buck for the foreseeable future.

AMD asked us to compare the Phenom II 940 to a Core 2 Quad Q9400, one of Intel’s cheapest Penryn quad cores that AMD says the Phenom II 940 will match closely in terms of price. As well as comparing the Phenom II 940 to the Core 2 Quad Q9400, we’ve chucked in the Core 2 Extreme QX9650 (which has the same 3GHz frequency as the Phenom II 940), a top of the range Core i7 965 and an old-school Phenom 9950 Black Box edition.

Phenom II 940 (left) and Core 2 Quad Q9400 (right).

Benchmark setup

Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit Service Pack 1

MSI DKA790GX (790GX) Platinum motherboard (Phenom)

Gigabyte GA-MA790GP-DS4H (790GX) motherboard (Phenom, 3DMark Vantage test only)

Intel DX58SO (X58) motherboard (Core i7)

ECS P45T-A (P45) Motherboard (Core 2 Quad)

Corsair 2GB 1,066MHz DDR2 CM2X1024-8500C5D with 5-5-5-15 timings (Phenom, Core 2 Quad)

Kingston HyperX 3GB 2,000MHz DDR3 KHX1600D3T1K3/3GX @ 1.6Ghz with 9-9-9-24 timings (Core i7)

Nvidia Geforce GTX 260 192-shaders 896MB DDR3 (180.48 drivers)

Western Digital Raptor 150GB

Asus BC-1205PT Blu-ray drive

Enermax Infiniti 720 power supply

Akasa AK-876 cooler (Phenom)

Akasa AK-965BL cooler (Core 2 Quad)

Akasa Nero cooler (Core i7)



System notes

Intel’s X58 motherboard enables turbo boost for the Core i7 by default and it therefore seemed unfair to disable this. As a result, we tested with the CPU running at 3.46GHz (26x133MHz) rather than the 3.2GHz (24x133MHz) it is usually advertised as operating at.

All the Phenom scores are taken with an MSI 790GX motherboard, with the exception of 3DMark Vantage, where the MSI board produced some unexpected results with the overclocked Phenom. We’ve therefore stated the 3DMark Vantage results from a Gigabyte 790GX motherboard (in a last minute dash we also re-did other benchmarks on the Gigabyte board just to confirm other benchmarks produced the correct result with the MSI board. And yes, scores remained within +/- 3 per cent).

Overclocking

AMD provided us with overclocking guidelines that stated: "On normal air cooling you will probably see results between 3.65GHz...3.90GHz”. We were able to boot into Windows at 3.9GHz (using multiplier only), but it was unstable at such a high frequency. For a completely stable system, we couldn’t push our CPU ratio beyond 18.5 (resulting in 3.7GHz clock) with a core voltage of 1.55. Increasing the voltage to 1.60 and 1.65, as AMD’s overclocking notes suggest for systems with advanced cooling, didn’t let us move the ratio up any further.

Increasing the CPU reference bus frequency, even by tiny amounts, resulted in instability. So we stayed at 3.7GHz for rock-solid reliability when benchmarking. AMD says “a 32-bit OS will likely allow slightly higher overclock results (in general) compared to a 64-bit OS” so our choice of 64-bit Vista may have held us back a little. There’s no doubt that many punters will get 3.9GHz out of their Phenom II 940s with the right CPU (since every one reacts differently to overclocking), a really big air cooler and a better motherboard.

On that note, since the reference bus and Ram frequencies are linked due to the CPU-integrated memory controller, our Ram frequency went up as our the bus speed went up. These small increases may have been what tipped our system over, since the MSI 790GX motherboard really hated custom memory timings and voltages – we went through four different premium brands of Ram before getting a set that worked reliably with the MSI board.

Our Phenom II 940 idled at 36°C at 3GHz and 47°C when overclocked, which isn’t a bad result at all.

Phenom IIs support Cool n’ Quiet 3.0, which cuts peak power consumption up to 50 per cent compared with Cool n’ Quiet 2.0 (featured on the Phenom 9950), according to AMD. In the real world, Cool n’ Quiet 3.0 simply downclocks the Phenom II to 800MHz when idling (with balanced power settings enabled in Vista) compared with a downclock of 1300MHz on the Phenom 9950. Despite its integrated graphics (which AMD says draw nothing when a separate graphics card is added) the 790GX chipset is also noticeably more efficient than the original “Spider” 790FX chipset, drawing up to 10 Watts less in our estimations.

The swanky Core i7 architecture doesn’t draw more or less when idling in balanced or performance power modes – that’s despite the frequency halving in balanced mode. Our Core i7 rig will have drawn more power due to the third gigabyte of Ram present.

The Phenom II 940 draws more power than the Core 2 Quad Q9400, especially if you forget to turn balanced power settings on in Vista. The gap became even more pronounced when we enabled MSI’s “green power” (which isn’t a default setting) on our Core 2 Quad test rig. Then the Core 2 Quad Q9400 system drew just 89W when idling.

Based on an eight-hour day with seven hours idling and one hour going flat out, the Phenom II 940 is £2.21 more expensive than a Core 2 Quad Q9400 per year to run in energy bills (based on an 11p/kWh tariff), so the power consumption difference isn’t that important for work PCs.

The idle power consumption of an overclocked Phenom II 940 is commendable, so long as you remember to enable balanced power settings in Vista. Power consumption sky rockets when an overclocked Phenom II 940 is put under strain, so it doesn’t make much sense for gaming rigs to use overclocked Phenom IIs when you get such a small increase in gaming performance.

We didn’t have the time (or the will) to test every processor available, but we did do some last minute tests with a Core i7 920 and Core 2 Quad Q9450. Intel’s cheapest Nehalem, the 2.66GHz Core i7 920, scored 9337 in PCMark05’s CPU test, an area where the Phenom II 940 excelled. That’s three per cent quicker than the Phenom II 940 and confirms pretty emphatically that the Phenom II is not a threat to the Core i7 line-up. The Core 2 Quad Q9450 has twice the L2 cache of the Q9400 and is only a tiny bit more expensive. The only benchmark the Q9450 did better in was the Cinebench mutli-CPU test (a four per cent improvement), the rest were identical to the Q9400.

Conclusion

If you already have an AM2+ motherboard then the Phenom II 940 is the upgrade your system deserves. It performs nine to 31 per cent better than the 9950 in most CPU and non-GPU bound gaming tests. However, if you’re choosing between a brand new AMD and Intel PC, things get a little muddier.

Let’s be clear: Core i7 is still king of the hill and Core 2 Quads remain the most energy efficient processors.

Assuming the Phenom II 940, Core 2 Quad Q9400 and Q9450 end up retailing for a similar amount, as AMD predicts, then the Phenom II 940 is generally better value for money. Although the Core 2 Quad Q9400 has a thin lead in gaming, the Phenom II 940 is a bit faster in 2D tasks. Leaked pre-order pricing info suggests the Phenom II 940 may cost as much as a Q9550, in which case Intel is the better buy. Of course, if only the price of DDR3 Ram and X58 motherboards would halve in price, then the Core i7 920 would be a no brainer.

Another issue is ye old cliché, future-proofing. AMD is switching to AM3 motherboards and processors in Q2, which have DDR3 Ram support. You can’t use the AM2+ Phenom II 940 with an AM3 motherboard, but at least you can buy a Phenom setup now knowing your AM2+ motherboard can accommodate future processors. If you go the Core 2 route then you’ll have to chuck the motherboard when you transition to Core i7.

As for overclocking, well, it’s a mixed bag. The Phenom II has much better overclocking capabilities than the original Phenoms, but it’s no better than Intel’s quad cores. The easy way to overclock a Phenom II 940 (just turn up the multiplier, like we did) doesn’t improve 3D performance much. Tweaking the Hypertransport frequency may improve gaming performance a bit (since the GPU can be fed by the CPU a bit quicker), but patience and a good motherboard are essential if you are to have much success.

If we put our pretend shareholder hats on for a minute and consider the manufacturing side of things, AMD seems to be less competitive than Intel. The Phenom II is a 758 million transistor chip with a 258mm2 die area, while Core 2 Quads with 12MB L2 cache have two dies measuring 107mm2 (in effect 214 mm2) which appears to suggest Intel’s chips use less silicon and are therefore cheaper to make.

There are too many factors to say that’s a certainty – yields, manufacturing process, equipment costs – but it does look like AMD is in for a precarious 2009.

That also means we’re in for an expensive 2009, because the lack of Core i7 competition means we’ll be paying sky-high prices for Intel’s best CPUs and its monopoly is assured.

The good Faster than low end Penryn chips in CPU-specific tasks

The bad Intel chips remain best for gaming. Phenom II has slightly higher power draw than Penryn chips.

The really ugly Intel’s monopoly is here to stay.

AMD launches Phenom II

Today, 8 January 2009, AMD launch their new Phenom II CPU.

Pricing

A local AMD representative said that the 940 Black Edition is expected to retail locally at around R3500, undercutting Intel’s entry level i7 920.

These prices put Phenom II just bellow Intel’s cheapest i7 CPU.

Can Phenom challenge i7?

In November 2008 Intel launched their new Core i7 CPU. The votes are in and the overwhelming consensus is that i7 is simply the fastest consumer CPU solution available today.

However, the added speed comes at a high price, with the entry level i7 920 costing R4000.

Furthermore, you will be pressed to find a compatible X58 motherboard for less than R3500. There is also the requirement of expensive DDR3 RAM to take into consideration. The fact that i7 requires the replacement of three major parts of the PC makes for an inelegant upgrade path.

Enter AMD’s new Phenom II along with its Dragon platform.

While it’s no secret that AMD has been playing catch up ever since Intel began dominating the performance charts in 2006 with Dual Core, the manner in which Phenom II matches up to i7 in terms of pricing and performance should be interesting.

AMD’s previous attempt at a unifying platform combining their CPU, chipset and graphics card, codenamed “Spider” was based on the original Phenom and ATI Radeon 3800. To be frank, the platform wasn’t anything special.

So why might Dragon be different?

Dragon combines the new Phenom II with the AMD 790GX chipset and Radeon HD 4800 graphics line.

Firstly, the Radeon HD 4800 series is a huge improvement over the HD3800, so already “Dragon” is looking a lot more promising than “Spider”.

Secondly, early information indicates that the Phenom II will offer significantly better performance than its predecessor. The new 45 nm die shrink will allow the Phenom II to compete more closely with Intel in terms of energy and heat efficiency as well as overall performance.

Already, the Phenom II has been reported to over-clock beyond 4GHz on air, a far-cry from the original Phenom’s comparatively limited over-clocking headroom.

Phenom II will feature up to 8MB of total Cache, balanced between L2 and L3 and more instructions per clock (IPC), effectively enabling more performance squeeze out of the relative clock speeds.

Furthermore, AMD have allowed for a backwards compatible upgrade path. The Phenom II will happily run on the current AM2+ platform. This makes it an attractive upgrade to current Phenom owners using AM2+. In contrast, those looking to upgrade to Intel’s latest will have to buy an expensive new motherboard and DDR3 RAM.

It seems unlikely that Phenom II will be as fast as i7. However, it may not need to. If it can get close enough to i7 in terms of performance, then the fact that it is a cheaper and easier upgrade solution could end up making it a more practical option.

AMD’s approach to Phenom II could not be better. Instead of trying to compete with Intel in terms of raw performance, they are following on from their Radeon HD4800 strategy by aiming for the best price-performance ratio.

Time will tell if Phenom II offers enough of a performance boost to seriously compete with i7.

AMD Phenom II X4 940 & 920 review

Today we are covering the official launch of the new AMD Phenom II X4 processors. The flagship model in this new series is the Phenom II X4 940 which works at 3.0GHz, while the 920 is just slightly slower at 2.80GHz. Both processors should be available from retailers anytime soon and are meant to be compatible with all current AM2+ motherboards provided they are supported with an updated BIOS.

Based on the AMD 45nm Deneb core, the new Phenom II CPUs have been eagerly anticipated in hope that they could rival the dominant Core 2 Quad and most recently the devastating Core i7 series that Intel used to up the ante and most likely put its closest competitor in further trouble.

As we've pointed out in our few last articles related to the Core i7 platform, the basic components of building such a system will set you back no less than $700. What AMD will need to exploit here then is the value that they can provide using the Phenom II, much like they are doing in the graphics world with the very successful Radeon HD 4000 series.

AMD Phenom II CPU Review

AMD have officially announced the launch of the Phenom II, which is their most powerful CPU yet. The new processor from AMD will be sandwiched between Intel’s Intel’s Core 2 Quad and Core i7 processors. There is to be two Phenom II chips available, the X4 920 and the X4 940 Black Edition with speeds of 2.8 and 3.0 GHz, respectively.

The AMD Phenom II with its HyperTransport interface and integrated memory controller gives the CPU a technical edge over the Intel Core 2 Quad chips which do not have those features. Intel do use a similar system called QuickPath Interconnect, but is only used on their latest Core i7 platform.

With this feature, the Phenom II processor manages to achieve higher bandwidth than Intel’s Core 2 Quad processors; it does this by eliminating bottlenecks which are created by the frontside bus and an external controller. This new processor proves that AMD is waging the war with Intel and their faster Core i7 chips, as the new Phenom II is a dream for Upgraders’ and Overclockers.

AMD Launches Phenom II CPU, Its Fastest Yet

The story sounds familiar: Intel hits a new milestone in nanometer architecture, and AMD waits a while to follow up. It happened with 65nm processors, and it's happening again now. Two days shy of a year since Intel launched Penryn, its first 45nm chip, AMD is finally ready to counter with a few 45nm CPUs of its own--Phenom II has finally arrived. But based on our hands-on testing of two Phenom II machines--the Dell XPS 625 and the Maingear Dash--the chip isn't quite as dominating as AMD would have you believe.
AMD Phenom II Explained

AMD is positioning Phenom II in between Intel's Core 2 Quad and Core i7 offerings. Phenom II chips are available in two versions, the X4 920 and the X4 940 Black Edition, which compete tit-for-tat against Intel's highest Core 2 Quad CPU frequencies at 2.8 and 3.0 GHz, respectively.

AMD bumped the shared L3 cache of the Phenom II processors up from 2MB to 6MB, giving each CPU a total cache of 8MB. L3 cache serves as a shared memory space for the cores to draw from. Increasing the amount improves the CPU's ability to pull data from this faster memory space instead of having to issue slower requests to the system's main memory. The move puts Phenom II processors right in the middle of Intel's Core 2 Quad lineup for cache size, but the result is still short of the 12MB caches found on higher-end Core i7 chips.

Though limited overclocking of the 920-edition processors is available through AMD's OverDrive software, the company is tipping its hat toward the extreme-performance crowd with its Black Edition processors. These CPUs run multiplier-unlocked, which liquid-nitrogen-armed enthusiasts have been able to exploit to frequencies above 6 GHz, surpassing the world record for Intel Core i7 processors, which stands at 5.5 GHz.
Performance

The Phenom II's integrated memory controller and HyperTransport interface give it a technical edge over competing Core 2 Quad chips, which lack those features. Intel moved to an integrated memory controller and began incorporating its own version of HyperTransport--dubbed QuickPath Interconnect--only with its Core i7 platform. The integrated memory controller and HyperTransport interface allow Phenom II processors to achieve a higher memory bandwidth than Core 2 Quad processors can, by eliminating the bottlenecks created by a frontside bus and an external controller. The arrangement, in theory, improves system performance.

But not in practice, apparently. In comprehensive PC World lab testing of two $1499 Phenom II-based desktops, Dell's XPS 625 and Maingear's Dash, these brand-new chips failed to blow Intel's Core 2 Quad and Core i7 offerings out of the water.

The Phenom II systems crushed most of our top-ranked sub-$1500 value PCs, but that's to be expected, as they have twice the cores and are generally almost twice the price of predominantly Core 2 Duo-based value desktops. We then went on to compare these Phenom II systems against the best that the $1500-plus machines on our Top 10 Power PCs chart had to offer, including both Core i7 and Core 2 Quad PCs with varying amounts of system memory and hard-drive RAID configurations. Neither Phenom II desktop was able to beat any of our nine best Intel-based power PCs on our WorldBench 6 tests. Even Maingear's Dash, a Phenom II desktop running an X4 940 Black Edition CPU overclocked to 3.4 GHz, wasn't up to the task. Adding insult to injury, the Phenom II systems couldn't even best the CPU benchmark scores of the Xi Mtower PCIe Centurion, a power PC sporting a 3.16-GHz Core 2 Duo E8500 processor.
Upgraders' and Overclockers' Dream?

That said, AMD is waging its war against the speedier Core i7 chips on price, not performance--especially for potential upgraders. Moving from a Core 2 Quad CPU to a Core i7 chip requires a obtaining a new motherboard and new memory, in addition to the processor. Moving from a Socket AM2+ processor to a Phenom II requires buying only the new processor. And if you decide to upgrade to an AM3-socket Phenom II CPU, expected to be released in early 2009, you'll be able to keep your DDR2 memory--possibly even your motherboard. But from what we've seen so far, the price benefit isn't as drastic if you're in the market for a new computer: The two Phenom II systems we tested each rang up at $1499; three of our higher-performing power PCs (including both Core i7 and Core 2 Quad models) cost from $1600 to $1800.

AMD is launching its next-generation platform alongside the Phenom II processors. The successor to the company's Phenom quad-core-based Spider platform, the new Dragon platform consists of AMD's Phenom II processors, 4800-series Radeon HD graphics cards, and 790-series motherboard chip sets. The platform focuses on energy savings, thanks to a combination of AMD's Cool'n'Quiet 3.0 software and 45nm architecture. Together, they allow Phenom II processors to reduce their heavy-load power consumption by a reported 30 to 40 percent versus Phenom processors, with a savings of up to 50 percent at idle.

Considering that AMD had a full year to ponder Intel's Core 2 Quad and Core i7 chips, it isn't exploding out of the gate. Core i7 remains the high-end processor to beat for average consumers. Judging from our testing, a Phenom II will require a solid system backed by strong overclocking to surpass the prowess of even a midrange or high-end Core 2 Quad processor. If you're looking to upgrade and you care more about simplicity than you do about high stock clock speeds, AMD's single-CPU upgrade is a powerful statement. As for performance, perhaps AMD's products will seem more appealing once extreme-system manufacturers start pushing their Phenom II chip sets past the 4-GHz range. We'll hold our breath to see how everything pans out.

AMD Launches Phenom II X4 940 and 920

After much anticipation and a series of leaked details running on the Internet, the Sunnyvale, California-based chip maker has finally seen it fit to officially introduce its next generation of desktop computer processors. Designed on a 45nm process technology, the new desktop-tailored CPUs have been dubbed Phenom II, coming as an evolved product, when compared to the company's first Phenom processors. With the launch, AMD announced two new processor models, namely the Phenom II X4 920 and what is now the company's flagship model, the Phenom II X4 940. Both processors boast a quad-core architecture and, despite their design similarities with Intel's Core i7, these new CPUs will be priced lower than $300.



The technical specifications on these new processors are pretty much what has been rumored for a good time now. Boasting a 45nm process technology, the Phenom II comes as the first AMD consumer processor based on a manufacturing technology that Intel's CPUs have benefited from for a while now. The Phenom II processors have a higher 6MB L3 cache, compared to the first generation, which only provided a 2MB cache size. The L2 and L1 cache size is similar to that of the 65nm Phenoms, namely 512KB per core and 64K+64K per core, respectively. There are 758M transistors on the new Phenoms while the maximum TDP is rated at 125W.

Additional features include support for a series of instructions, such as MMX 3DNow!, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSE 4a. As far as specific technical details go, the Phenom II X4 920, the lowest performance and cheapest (at the moment) Phenom II processor, will provide its users with a clock speed of 2.8GHz. The higher-clocked X4 940, also dubbed the Black Edition, is expected to come with a core speed of 3.0GHz. What is more impressive about the new Phenoms is that, according to AMD, they will be capable of providing an overclocking capability that will allow them to exploit frequencies in the 6GHz area, using extreme cooling solutions.



This next-generation of Phenom processors will be priced at $235 and $275 for the X4 920 and X4 940, respectively. The expected price point is even more impressive when compared to that of Intel's latest, high-performance CPU, the Core i7, codenamed Nehalem. Also, due to their support for both AM3 and AM2+ sockets, the new 45nm-based quad core CPUs from AMD will make up for an excellent upgrading choice, for all AMD users that up until now could only go with the first generation of Phenom processors.

A series of reviews have already made their way on the Internet, providing crucial info on the performance capabilities of the new Phenoms, which have, unfortunately, failed to rise to those of Intel's Core i7. Nevertheless, the Phenom II is regarded as a considerable leap forward, offering users what the first Phenom processors could have provided. The Phenom II would be a much better competitor for some of Intel's Core 2 Quad processors, which still take advantage of the company's old CPU architecture.

Mesh first with AMD Phenom II PC

High-end AMD platform to challenge Intel


AMD has launched its new Dragon high-performance PC platform alongside a new range of Phenom II processors, and PCs based on the technology are now available in the UK.

Mesh Computers is one of the first UK manufacturers to offer the technology, releasing a new range of Mesh Matrix II systems starting with an AMD Phenom II X4 920-based desktop costing £749.

The Matrix II includes an HIS 4850 IceQ graphics accelerator on an AMD-chipset mainboard from Asus. The system is supplied with a 22in Iiyama widescreen monitor that supports full HD resolutions up to 1920x1080.

The Windows Vista 64-bit Mesh Matrix II X4 940 uses the more powerful of the AMD processors, with all four 64-bit cores running at 3GHz, as well as a 1GB HIS 4870 IceQ4+ graphics card. The hard drive doubles to 1TB and the system comes complete with a Blu-Ray drive.

More details will be available on the Mesh website later today.

The Phenom II is based on AMD's new 45-nanometre manufacturing process, and some analysts believe the chip will allow AMD to overtake Intel in terms of raw performance for the first time in years. Phenom II chips have up to 8MB of cache and clock speeds start at 3GHz. Using a 45nm process shrinks the width between circuits, therefore the power demands are lower.

AMD is launching the chip range at the Consumer Electronics Show, which kicked off with Steve Ballmer's keynote in Las Vegas last night, but begins in earnest today. AMD chief executive Dirk Meyer is scheduled to give one of the keynote speeches.

Hardware Roundup: AMD Phenom II X4 Edition

AMD has officially announced its first round of 45nm desktop processors. The Phenom II X4 920 runs at 2.8GHz and the Phenom II X4 940 is clocked at 3.0GHz. This promises to be just the first in the lineup of Deneb core processors AMD is slated to release in 2009. The Phenom II X4 will be part of the Dragon enthusiast platform consisting of a 790GX chipset motherboard and an AMD/ATI HD 4800-series videocard. While the chipset and videocard components of the platform are familiar to users by now, the CPU component is new so read on to found out what the Phenom II X4 processors can do.

AMD Unleashes Dragon, Touts Performance for Under US$900

With the launch of the new and highly-anticipated next generation of desktop processors from AMD, the company has also introduced a new desktop platform, codenamed the Dragon. Rumored since as early back as the first Phenom II leaked details surfaced, the new platform has been designed to provide its users with an alternative choice for a high-performance desktop that is also price competitive. In fact, one of the most significant aspects of the new platform is that, according to the Sunnyvale, California-based chip maker, it will provide a “soaring performance for less than US$900.”



“With Dragon platform technology, AMD is changing the desktop industry landscape by offering affordable performance and maximum headroom for gaming, video editing, and other media-intensive tasks,” said Leslie Sobon, vice president of product marketing, AMD. “Through our Fusion platform approach, AMD is able to deliver CPUs, GPUs and chipsets that work better together to meet the industry’s evolving needs today and well into the future.”



At the heart of the Dragon platform, AMD has provided the new 45nm Phenom II processors, which the company has just officially launched. These new desktop CPUs boast core frequencies of up to 3GHz, but also provide a significant overclocking capability. In addition to the next-generation Phenom processors, ATI's Radeon HD 4800 series graphics card, along with the AMD 7-series chipsets, provide for the performance features and capabilities that can be delivered by the company's new “Dragon.”



In addition to its performance capabilities, the new platform has been designed to allow system builders to enable PCs to save power, while not comprising on performance. One of the main features provided in this respect is the AMD Cool'n'Quiet 3.0 technology enabled by the company's newest and highest-performance processors to date, the Phenom II X4 920 and 940.



Users who want to take advantage of the new platform should be on the lookout for new computer systems from major PC makers, such as HP, Dell or Alienware. Also, AMD has posted a video to showcase the features enabled by its latest products and technologies.

AMD Phenom II X4 940

AMD is introducing yet another CPU- this time it’s the follow up to their high-end desktop CPU and is being labeled as Phenom II. We received the X4-940 version, which is currently the highest end in the Phenom II range, clocked at 3.0Ghz and featuring four cores. With the Core i7 from Intel already dominating the benchmarks, lets find out if the Phenom II can hold its own or if it’s a bit too little too late from AMD.

AMD Phenom 2 X4 940 Black Edition Processor Review

Today we will be taking a look at the latest processor in the Phenom family, the Phenom 2 X4 940 Black Edition. This CPU will be AMDs highest performing processor until the DDR3 variants reach the market later this year. Through a selection of benchmarks including media encoding, Photoshop and gaming we will establish how good the Phenom 2 is, and whether it is worth the upgrade for existing Phenom users.

AMD releases Phenom II X4 and Dragon desktop platform

Las Vegas (NV) - AMD took the opportunity to use the CES 2009 forum to officially release its latest update to its 64-bit line of 45nm microprocessors. Phenom II X4 and Dragon platform for desktop PCs represent an "elite-level" of computing performance for about $900. But what do the benchmarks say?


The new Phenom II X4 sports a new numbering convention. The 940 model relates more directly to Intel's number scheme, and runs at 3.0 GHz. The quad-core Phenom II X4 is built on a 45nm process technology, Deneb core, contains 758 million transistors, is Socket AM2 compatible. It has proven easily overclockable so far. HotHardware.com has gotten the 940 model to 3.73 GHz (a 24.3% overclock).

A 920 model was also released at 2.8 GHz. Both models sport a 6 MB shared L3 cache. Power consumption drops from previous high-end 140W TDP to a more common 125W TDP at 3.0 GHz. L1 cache remains the same, 64KB data, 64KB instruction; with an L2 cache of 512KB per core. It includes an update to Cool'n'Quiet 3.0, though most other specs remain the same as previous high-end Phenoms.

AMD's Dragon PC platform sports an ATI Radeon 4800 GPU and AMD 790GX chipset, with HyperTransport 3.0, support for DDR2-1333 (and DDR3 memory on Socket AM3 versions with 880G chipset - due out later, probably in February), DirectX 10.1 (DisplayPort available in future 880G chipset), Cool'n'Quiet 3.0 support along with platform idea concepts, such as a call for quieter fans. The previous Spider platform used a Radeon 3800-series GPU and 700-Series chipset, including 790FX or 790GX.

Additional conceptual features include AMD's Fusion for Gaming - which is a feature allowing users single-click access to suspend background tasks thereby increasing performance for gaming; AMD's OverDrive utility which helps with overclocking (though AMD indicates overclocking of any kind voids the warranty); ATI Catalyst 8.12 and ATI Stream technology for GPGPU acceleration of several popular apps; and a new AMD Fusion Media Explorer Beta which "Simplifies the entertainment experiencing by enabling a simple but powerful way for consumers to interact with their music, photos, movies, TV and social media on their PC. This utility offers one-button postings of photos to Facebook™ accounts as well as automatic related media searches when the system is online, etc."

Reviews out at Tom's Hardware, The Tech Report and HotHardware.com indicate that at idle the CPU throttles down to 800 MHz and 0.992 volts with Cool'n'Quiet 3.0, resulting in a CPU energy consumption of 10.3 watts for 940, 10.0 watts for 920, and a platform energy consumption of 113.4 and 112.5 watts, respectively - which is currently "best in class" platform-wise.

Under heavy loads power consumption increases to 93.3 and 87.9 watts for CPU alone, and 204.8 and 199.4 watts for 940 and 920, respectively, which is only bested by Phenom X4 9350's 127.7 watts and Intel's Core 2 Quad Q6600 (which Intel discontinued yesterday) at 203.1 watts.

On benchmarks, Phenom II X4 940 is roughly 15% to 19% faster than Phenom X4 9950 across the board in gaming and compute applications, with the highest differences coming in Mainconcept H.264 compression which is 19.8% faster, Unreal Tournament 3 which is also 19.8% faster. The slowest increase came in Supreme Commander, which was 1.5% and Studio 12 which was 6.9%. 18 other benchmarks on Tom's Hardware were at least 15% faster.

In a break from tradition, Tom's Hardware is showing a relative percentage comparison for comparable platforms and applications, but is not doing full graphs with individual specs. For example, on average Intel's Core 2 Quad Q6600 (now discontinued) is 9% slower on average than Phenom II X4 940 (faster on all benchmarks, min is 0.7%, max is 22.6%). With Core i7 920 systems, Intel's offering performs 22% better on average. Some benchmarks include better performances of 60.5% and 43.3%.

Products are immediately available. Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition, 3.0 GHz, 6 MB L3 sells for $275. 920 2.8 GHz version sells for $235. AMD claims the following system can be purchased for approximately $900: "Dragon platform technology consisting of the new AMD Phenom II X4 processor, ATI Radeon™ HD 4870 1GB graphics card, the AMD 790GX motherboard and 4 GB of DDR2-1066 memory."

AMD debuts 45nm desktop CPUs

Advanced Micro Devices announced at the Consumer Electronics Show the second processor design to come out of its new 45nm process technology. The Phenom II is a quad-core family of desktop processors running up to 3 GHz with up to 8 Mbytes of on-board cache.

AMD officially rolled out its first 45nm CPUs just weeks ago. The Shanghai processors are quad-core chips aimed at PC servers.

Archrival Intel Corp. already rolled out its second-generation of 45nm chips, starting with desktop versions released in mid-November. The Core i7 CPUs are Intel's first to use an AMD-like architecture of having on-board memory controllers and high-speed processor interconnects.

The AMD Phenom II chips provide up to 20 percent improvements in performance over the original 65nm Phenom CPUs which ran at up to 2.6 GHz. The boost comes from faster data rates, doubling of total cache, improvements in instructions per clock and use of DDR3.

AMD is positioning its parts as having roughly similar performance to Intel's latest desktop chips at significantly lower costs.

"This will be a great spoiler product, well positioned against Core i7," said Simon Solotko, senior brand manager in AMD's desktop division. "There's no good reason to spend hundreds of dollars more on a platform," he added.

AMD is pricing the 3.0 GHz Phenom II for $275 and a 2.8 GHz version for $235. The chips are expected to appear in systems at the Consumer Electronics Show in January.

The competing Intel Core i7 chips include the 965 Extreme Edition, a 3.2 GHz part with 8 Mbytes L3 cache aimed at enthusiast systems and costing $999 and a low-end 920 part running at 2.66 GHz and selling for $284. They are already shipping in several OEM systems.

The CPUs initially come in versions supporting the company's AM2+ socket for DDR2 memory. Later this year AMD will ship versions for its AM3 socket for DDR3 memory.

First Look: AMD Phenom II

As a new year begins, the seemingly age-old processor war moves on.

On Wednesday, Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE:AMD) (AMD) is launching its first line of CPUs built with 45 nm technology. Dubbed the Phenom II, the pair of quad-core processors are the 3.0GHz X4 940 Black Edition and the 2.8GHz X4 920. The Test Center got a pre-release unit of the X4 940 and ran it through our standard tests to see how it stands up.

The Phenom II is considered the heart of AMD's newly announced Dragon platform, which also consists of ATI Radeon HD 4800 series graphics (AMD acquired ATI in 2006), AMD 7-series chipsets and AMD software. The goal of Dragon is to enable computers for high-definition gaming, video processing and entertainment at an affordable price.

The X4 940 carries AMD's traditional Black Edition moniker, which signifies its unlocked multiplier. As such, this will likely make it popular among the overclocking community. Keeping the latest AM2+ form factor, the new processors will be backward compatible with most current motherboards, although a BIOS update will most likely be needed.

Major feature enhancements include an 8 MB total cache (L2+L3) and additional power states that provide a lower power idle and lower power consumption under moderate load when used with the company's Cool'n'Quiet 3.0 Technology (enabled via the BIOS).

Our test system consisted of an NZXT chassis and PSU, with the X4 940 installed into an MSI DKA790GX Platinum motherboard and 4 GB of Kingston Technologies ValueRAM memory. We decided to stick with the motherboard's integrated Radeon HD 3300 GPU to focus on the capabilities of the processor.

After installing Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 and all the necessary drivers, and updating the OS with the latest patches, we ran the latest version of Primate Labs' benchmarking program Geekbench2, which returned a respectable score of 5,477. Since this is a Black Edition processor, reviewers then decided to do some minor overclocking to see how far we could push the X4 940. Using only a heatsink and fan for cooling, we focused primarily on the FSB frequency, slowly increasing the setting, and rebooting after each change to run Geekbench2 again. This allowed us to track performance gains, while at the same time putting the system under a load to check for stability.

As is usually the case, eventually the blue screens started appearing and we had to throttle back a little to get the OS steady again. In the end, we were able to bump the clock up to 3.50GHz and achieve a Geekbench2 score of 6,392. Were it not forIntel (NSDQ: INTC) (NSDQ:INTC)'s latest Core i7 models built on the Nehalem microarchitecture, this would have been the highest score the Test Center had seen for a desktop system. In the near future, we intend to resume overclocking the X4 940 a little more aggressively, with the addition of liquid cooling.

Of course, it really isn't fair to compare the Phenom II to the Core i7. Although their stock processor speeds are similar, the Core i7 is priced significantly higher.

Additionally, it brings with it a list of necessities, such as a new motherboard and DDR3 memory with specific voltage requirements. This essentially means you need a whole new system.

At the end of the day, both companies have their loyal fan base that will argue to the death why one is better than the other. What it basically comes down to is a balance between price and performance. Although a new system built around Nehalem will probably be the top performer, it will cost you. With the Phenom II and AMD's Dragon platform, a powerful system can be built for a relatively lower price.

At $275 and $235 respectively (priced in 1KU quantities), the X4 920 and X4 940 are great options for those with fairly new AMD-based computers who would like to upgrade to the latest processor. They also allow system builders and VARs to upgrade their standard models without adding a whole new list of SKUs to their inventory.

AMD readies low-cost, low-power "ultra value" CPUs

On top of prepping some very interesting hardware for ultra-portable laptops, AMD is also bringing some very low-cost CPUs to the market looking to capture more low-cost desktop PCs. AMD has released two new processors, both under 2Ghz, which will attempt to compete with the Atom and other processors the like lower-end Celerons.

The Athlon 2650e will be a 1.6GHz part with 512KB of L2 cache, and the Athlon X2 3250e will be a 1.5GHz part with 1MB of L2 cache. They will have TDPs of 15W and 22W, respectively, quite a bit more than the Atom which uses anywhere from a third to a fourth of that much power. The platform as a whole won't be more power-hungry than Intel's offerings, as the CPU + Chipset together will still have a TDP of 27W, the same as a 945G Atom-based offering. The CPUs will be sold at a fairly low price point, as low as $40, aimed at the “Ultra-Value Clients.”

The Atom is doing well right now, though there is clearly room for improvement in the low-power market. Via’s Nano has a lot of changes planned, some vendors (like Asus) are preferring the Celeron over the Atom and the performance of the CPU still leaves a lot to be desired. If AMD's low-cost, low-power CPUs can give the Atom a run for its money in both price and performance, they have a good shot at stealing away some of its market.

AMD, Via Battle Intel's Atom

Mark my words: 2009 will be the year of the affordable portable computer. Last year people showed that they were hungry for netbooks, but this year we'll see the birth of a new class of computer, an ultrathin laptop that can offer a little more than just basic performance. About a month ago, nVidia raised the stakes when it started to show off its Ion platform concept, an nVidia GeForce 9400M GPU married to an Intel Atom CPU on a tiny motherboard.

Earlier this week, for CES, AMD made its case with its new Neo mobile processors (code-named Yukon). Think of the Neo as a step up from Intel's Atom and a competitor to the Ion. AMD sees the Neo as part of a new class of ultraportable that could cost between $700 and $1400.

HP's Pavilion dv2 seems to be the poster child for the new AMD processor. The dv2 is fully loaded with features, all packed into a 11.50-by-9.45-by-0.93-inch, 3.8-pound magnesium-alloy frame--the most obvious feature being the 1.6-GHz AMD Athlon Neo MV-40 CPU. In addition, the dv2 hosts a full suite of external ports (three USB 2.0 ports, VGA, RJ-45/ethernet, headphone/line-out, microphone-in, a five-in-one digital media reader), Wi-Fi connectivity, and optional Gobi WWAN integration. I'm especially curious to see how well graphics from the ATI Mobility Radeon HD3410 GPU will look on the machine's 12.1-inch-diagonal, WXGA (1280 by 800) LED screen.
Via Vies for Position

Via, which claims to hold 10 to 15 percent of the netbook market, was one of the first companies to dip a toe into the budget-processor waters. The C7-M (certainly not a speedy CPU) showed up in a couple of lightweight laptops, such as the HP 2133, early last year. And this year a few more models will be coming stateside; at CES, spokespeople are promising that several new laptops based on the C7-M are on the way. That's rather ho-hum news--unless, of course, we get to see some slick new designs. For example, I'm hearing rumblings about a company, WonderMedia, that will have ARM-based mobile products using Via chip sets, devices that will be mostly a screen and a pull-down keyboard.

The slightly more exciting bit is seeing what Via's Nano platform can pull off. One machine on hand is Dr. Mobile's FreeStyle 1300n, which breaks netbook rules (as handed down by Microsoft until now) with a 11.3-inch, 1366-by-768-pixel screen. This little number will measure 11 by 7.8 by 0.9 inches, and promises to be, as Via's Timothy Brown says, a flagship product. It'll pack in WWAN support and be WiMax-ready, and the 1.3-GHz Nano CPU will be able to run Windows XP or, Via claims, Windows Vista Home Basic. (Sorry, but I still have painful memories of watching a C7-M slog through Vista on the HP 2133. I hope never to repeat that.)

As I mentioned earlier, AMD and Via are obviously far from alone in this market--who knows how long it will be before we see a couple vendors biting on nVidia's Ion platform? (I sure hope to see some vendors demoing units behind closed doors.) That leaves the big, blue, 800-pound gorilla squatting in the middle of the room. Intel currently owns the low-end space with the Atom processor, but no news of a next-gen mobile CPU is coming out of the company during CES. Intel is, however, more than happy to show off its Personal Area Network tech, My WiFi (the artist formerly known as "Cliffside"). This technology, already built into Centrino 2 chip sets, turns a laptop into an access point--perfect if you want to do something like sync your digital camera with your laptop. The good news here: You're just a firmware upgrade away.