The AMD Phenom 2 - Hardware review

Ever since Intel launched its “CORE” series of processors, the designers at AMD have been having sleepless nights. To keep themselves abreast of the competition, AMD has now launched the Phenom II series of processors. These are available in following models namely: X4 940 Black edition @3.0 Ghz, X4 925 @Ghz, X4 810 @2.6Ghz, X3 720 Black edition @ 2.8 Ghz and X3 710 @ 2.6 Ghz.



The Phenom 2 has been built on the same architecture as that of its predecessor Phenom yet has a 9.5% smaller die size. This coupled with a L1 cache of 128 Kb, L2cache of 512 Kb and a L3 cache of 6 Mb (shared among all) does promise to give its rival a run for its money. However the first setback here is that unlike the Intel i7, Phenom 2 cannot switch off all its idle cores- thus increasing heat build up and electricity consumption.

The designer have come up with some neat architecture for this baby: AMD plans to launch this series with a AM2+ socket followed by low voltage tri-core models with DDR3 support. This means anyone with a motherboard based on AMD 780G, 790G or Nvidia 780A, Nvidia 750 Sli support can run the Phenom 2 just by flashing their BIOS. Here again the latter part is dangerous as one false move and the MoBo would end up like the circuit board worn my Abhishek Bachhan as the black monkey in Delhi 6.

All in all, backward compatibility, support for DDR2 and DDR3 memory controllers, more room for overclockers, new patented Cool’N’Quiet technology makes the Phenom 2 a worthy contender for the title of fastest processor on the block. But here again we have to wait for further models and also wait for Intel’s answer for the same. What would it be- the i7 successors or the Phenom II or better still AMD’s Spider series of processors; that would steal the win. The winner takes it all this year.

Post in your comments here so as what do you stand for- Intel or AMD? Or just give outyour rants for either of these Titans.

Credits: Yatin kamath