With the Phenom II, based on the recent Deneb core AMD seems to rise like a phoenix in the CPU market. They now have a CPU with a per-MHz-performance that is nearly as good as the competitors. But the big advantage AMD has, is the actual performance you get for your money. For an AMD system you pay much less than you do for an equivalent Intel System. AMD meanwhile also has a DDR3 memory interface and probably they will even outperform Intels Core i7 with it.
On the following pages we will show you what AMDs Phenom II X4 955 is capable of.
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Spezifikationen / Technische Details
| Phenom II X4 920 | Phenom II X4 940 | Phenom II X4 955 | |
| Manufacturing | 45 nm | 45 nm | 45 nm |
| Area | 258 mm2 | 258 mm2 | 258 mm2 |
| Transistors | 758 Mio | 758 Mio | 758 Mio |
| Socket | AM2(+) | AM2(+) | AM2(+)/AM3 |
| Cores | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Clock | 2.8 GHz | 3.0 GHz | 3.2 GHz |
| L2 Cache | 4 x 512 KiB | 4 x 512 KiB | 4 x 512 KiB |
| L3 Cache | 6 MiB | 6 MiB | 6 MiB |
| HTT | 3.6 GT/s | 3.6 GT/s | 4.0 GT/s |
| Memory controller | DDR2, Dual-Channel | DDR2, Dual-Channel | DDR2/DDR3, Dual-Channel |
| TDP | 125 Watt | 125 Watt | 125 Watt |
| Price | $ 195 | $ 225 | estimated $ 260 |
The chip with 45 nanometer structures is being manufactured, using the so called immersion lithography process. Therefore AMD/IBM are using light with a wavelanght of 193 nm. The difference to the usual process is that between lense and laser there now isn't air anymore instead they use water which has a different different index of refraction. This affects the precision in a positive way and they are able to develop smaller structures.
Since the K8 core AMD also produces its CPUs with SOI, Silicon
on Insulator.
On the DIE-plot below you can clearly recognize the 6 MByte big L3-Cache which has now tripled and takes nearly to complete right part of the picture. Left of it you find the four cores with its 512 KByte L2-Cache as well as 64 + 64 KByte L1-Cache which they can access. The L3-Cache also uses a special technique to save power: smart-fetch. This allows the L3-Cache to directly access data from the L1- or L2-Cache. Therefore the L1- and L2-Cache can be put to sleep.
A further and important improvement are the overworked energy saving features Cool and Quiet as well as C1E. If you activated them with a Phenom processor you lost between 10 to 15 percent of performance by saving 25 percent of energy. With the Phenom II you'll only lose one to twoo percent performance but still the energy consumption will decrease by 25 percent. Therefore we can now also recommend to use AMDs energy saving features.
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Testenvironment
Hardware |
|
| Mainboard | Intel DX58SO Extreme, Intel X58 Express Chipset, LGA 1366 Sockel ASUS P5E3 Premium, Intel X48 Express Chipset, LGA 775 Sockel ASUS M4A79T Deluxe, AM3 Sockel |
| CPU | AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE 3.2 GHZ Intel Extreme Edition, 3.20 GHz Intel Core i7-920, 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650, 3.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E8600, 3.30 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E7200, 2.53 GHz |
| Speicher | QIMONDA 3 x 1GB DDR3 1067 MHz CL7 (Triple Channel Kit) Corsair XMS3 Dominator 2 x 1 GB DDR3 1333 MHz CL7 (Dual Channel Kit) |
| Grafikkarten | ATI Radeon HD 4870 512 MB GDDR5 |
| Festplatte |
Intel SSD X25-M 80GB MLC Western Digital 160GB RE16 |
| Netzteil | Corsair HX 1000 Watt |
Software |
|
| Betriebssystem | Windows VISTA Home Premium 64Bit SP1 |
| Grafiktreiber | ATI Catalyst 9.4 mit CCC |
| Benchmarks: | PCMark Vantage 3DMark Vantage 3DMark 06 SiSoftware Sandra Lite 2009 7-Zip WinRaR POV-Ray 3.7 Cinebench R10 Lame 3.97 (MP3 Audioencoding) Virtual DUB (Videoencoding) Sony Vegas Pro 8.0 (Videoencoding) F.E.A.R Call of Juarez Crysis |
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[pagebreak]
Synthetic benchmarks
| PCMark Vantage, Performance Preset results in points | |
| Intel Core I7-965 Extr. Edition, 3.2 GHz | 7'457 |
| AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE, 3.2 GHz, (Deneb) | 6'695 |
| Intel Core I7-920, 2.66 GHz | 6'655 |
| Intel Core2 Quad Extreme Q9650 | 6'004 |
| Intel Core2 Dual E8600 | 5'230 |
| Intel Core2 Dual E7200 | 4'297 |
more is better | |
| 3DMark Vantage, Performance Preset (CPU Score), results in points | |
| Intel Core I7-965 Extr. Edition, 3.2 GHz | 19'837 |
| Intel Core I7-920, 2.66 GHz | 17'033 |
| Intel Core2 Quad Extreme Q9650, 3.0 GHz | 12'627 |
| AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE, 3.2 GHz, (Deneb) | 11'181 |
| Intel Core2 Dual E8600, 3.3 GHz | 6'883 |
| Intel Core2 Dual E7200, 2.53 GHz | 5'095 |
more is better | |
| SuperPI 1.5 - 1M | |
| Intel Core I7-965 Extr.Edition 3.2 GHz | 12.106 sec |
| Intel Core2 Dual E8600, 3.3 GHz | 13.843 sec |
| Intel Core I7-920, 2.66 GHz | 14.562 sec |
| Intel Core2 Quad Extreme Q9650, 3.0 GHz | 14.390 sec |
| Intel Core2 Dual E7200, 2.53 GHz | 19.905 sec |
| AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE, 3.2 GHz, (Deneb) | 21.258 sec |
less is better | |
| SuperPI 1.5 - 32M | |
| IntelCore I7-965 Extr. Edition 3.2 GHz | 680.875 sec |
| Intel Core I7-920, 2.66 GHz | 798.552 sec |
| Intel Core2 Dual E8600, 3.3 GHz | 855.047 sec |
| Intel Core2 Quad Extreme Q9650, 3.0 GHz | 912.469 sec |
| Intel Core2 Dual E7200,2.53 GHz DDR3 | 1105.000 sec |
| AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE, 3.2 GHz, (Deneb) | 1279.668 sec |
less is better | |
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Synthetic benchmarks - SiSoftSandra
| Sisoft Sandra XIIc CPU-Arithmetik Drystone Benchmarks, results in MIPS (million instructions per second) | |
| Intel Core I7-965 Extreme Edition,3.2 GHz | 79'280 |
| Inel Core I7-920, 2.66 GHz | 66'460 |
| Intel Core2 Quad Extreme Q9650, 3.0 GHz | 55'781 |
| AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE, 3.2 GHz, (Deneb) | 45'490 |
| Intel Core2 Dual E8600, 3.3 GHz | 30'983 |
| Intel Core2 Dual E7200, 2.53 GHz | 23'544 |
more is better | |
| Sisoft Sandra XIIc CPU-Arithmetik Whetstone Benchmarks, results in MFLOPS (million floating point operations per second) | |
| Intel Core I7-965 Extr. Edition, 3.2 GHz | 68'850 |
| Intel Core I7-920, 2.66 GHz | 58'170 |
| Intel Core2 Quad Extreme Q9650, 3.0 GHz | 39'859 |
| AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE, 3.2 GHz, (Deneb) | 36'870 |
| Intel Core2 Dual E8600, 3.3 GHz | 22'544 |
| Intel Core2 Dual E7200, 2.53 GHz | 17'183 |
more is better | |
| Sisoft Sandra XIIc CPU-Multimedia Fliesskomma Benchmarks, results in MPixel/s | |
| Intel Core I7-965 Extr. Edition,3 .2 GHz | 130.02 |
| Intel Core I7-920, 2.66 GHz | 109.22 |
| Intel Core2 Quad Extreme Q9650, 3.0 GHz | 95.20 |
| AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE, 3.2 GHz, (Deneb) | 90.55 |
| Intel Core2 Dual E8600, 3.3 GHz | 59.98 |
| Intel Core2 Dual E7200, 2.53 GHz | 6.57 |
more is better | |
| Sisoft Sandra XIIc CPU-Multimedia Integer Benchmarks, results in MPixel/s | |
| Intel Core I7-965 Extr. Edition, 3.2 GHz | 168.11 |
| AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE, 3.2 GHz, (Deneb) | 148.79 |
| Intel Core I7-920, 2.66 GHz | 141.08 |
| Intel Core2 Quad Extreme Q9650, 3.0 GHz | 135.17 |
| Intel Core2 Dual E8600, 3.3 GHz | 75.25 |
| Intel Core2 Dual E7200, 2.53 GHz | 6.61 |
more is better | |
| Sisoft Sandra XIIc Memory Bandwidth Fliesskomma, results in MB/s | |
| Intel Core I7-965 Extr. Edition, 3.2 GHz | 18'260 |
| Intel Core I7-920, 2.66 GHz | 17'090 |
| AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE, 3.2 GHz, (Deneb) | 12'079 |
| Intel Core2 Quad Extreme Q9650, 3.0 GHz | 7'354 |
| Intel Core2 Dual E8600, 3.3 GHz | 7'305 |
| Intel Core2 Dual E7200, 2.53 GHz | 6'023 |
more is better | |
| Sisoft Sandra XIIc Memory Bandwidth Integer, results in MB/s | |
| Intel Core I7-965 Extr. Edition, 3.2 GHz | 18'150 |
| Intel Core I7-920, 2.66 GHz | 17'010 |
| AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE, 3.2 GHz, (Deneb) | 12'067 |
| Intel Core2 Quad Extreme Q9650, 3.0 GHz | 7'412 |
| Intel Core2 Dual E8600, 3.3 GHz | 7'332 |
| Intel Core2 Dual E7200, 2.53 GHz | 5'990 |
more is better | |
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Datacompression and rendering
Data compression
| 7-Zip Kompression 64MB, results in MIPS (million instructions per second) | |
| Intel Core I7-965 Extr. Edition 3.2 GHz | 16'030 |
| Intel Core I7-920, 2.66 GHz | 11'726 |
| AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE, 3.2 GHz, (Deneb) | 11'236 |
| Intel Core2 Quad Extreme Q9650, 3.0 GHz | 10'952 |
| Intel Core2 Dual E8600, 3.3 GHz | 6'342 |
| Intel Core2 Dual E7200, 2.53 GHz | 4'769 |
more is better | |
| WinRAR, 4 x 70MB 48 Bit TIFF pictures to a 297 MB archive file | |
| Intel Core I7-965 Extr. Edition, 3.2 GHz | 77 sec |
| Intel Core I7-920, 2.66 GHz | 89 sec |
| AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE, 3.2 GHz, (Deneb) | 99 sec |
| Intel Core2 Quad Extreme Q9650, 3.0 GHz | 118 sec |
| Intel Core2 Dual E8600, 3.3 GHz | 172 sec |
| Intel Core2 Dual E7200, 2.53 GHz | 185 sec |
less is better | |
Rendering
| Cinebench R10 Multi CPU Rendering, Cinebench Score | |
| Intel Core I7-965 Extr. Edition 3.2 GHz | 19'046 |
| Intel Core I7-920, 2.66 GHz | 15'920 |
| AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE, 3.2 GHz, (Deneb) | 13'487 |
| Intel Core2 Quad Extreme Q9650, 3.0 GHz | 12'943 |
| Intel Core2 Dual E8600, 3.3 GHz | 7'963 |
| Intel Core2 Dual E7200, 2.53 GHz | 5'981 |
more is better | |
| POV-Ray 3.7, All CPU Benchmark | |
| IntelCore I7-965 Extr. Edition,3.2 GHz | 62 sec |
| Intel Core I7-920,2.66 GHz | 74 sec |
| AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE, 3.2 GHz, (Deneb) | 92 sec |
| IntelCore2 Quad Extreme Q9650, 3.0 GHz | 103 sec |
| Intel Core2 Dual E8600, 3.3 GHz | 187 sec |
| Intel Core2 Dual E7200,2.53 GHz | 247 sec |
less is better | |
| POV- Ray 3.7, All CPU Benchmark, results in pixels per second (PPS) | |
| Intel Core I7-965 Extr. Edition 3.2 GHz | 4'164.52 |
| Intel Core I7-920, 2.66 GHz | 3'532.03 |
| AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE, 3.2 GHz, (Deneb) | 2'857.31 |
| Intel Core2 Quad Extreme Q9650, 3.0 GHz | 2'542.23 |
| Intel Core2 Dual E8600, 3.3 GHz | 1'398.71 |
| Intel Core2 Dual E7200, 2.53 GHz | 1'057.86 |
more is better |
Video- and audioencoding
Videoencoding
| Sony Vegas, 320MB 1440x1080 HD video zum 1920x1080 60i Blu-ray Disc ISO image | |
| Intel Core I7-965 Extr.Edition 3.2 GHz | 171 sec |
| Intel Core I7-920, 2.66 GHz | 210 sec |
| AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE, 3.2 GHz, (Deneb) | 292 sec |
| Intel Core2 Quad Extreme Q9650, 3.0 GHz | 276 sec |
| Intel Core2 Dual E8600, 3.3 GHz | 379 sec |
| Intel Core2 Dual E7200, 2.53 GHz | 493 sec |
| VirtualDub 1.8.1 640 MB MPEG2 File zu AVI (DivX 6.8, SSE4) | |
| Intel Core I7-965 Extreme Edition, 3.2 GHz | 224 sec |
| Intel Core I7-920, 2.66 GHz | 265 sec |
| AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE, 3.2 GHz, (Deneb) | 291 sec |
| Intel Core2 Quad Extreme Q9650, 3.0 GHz | 318 sec |
| Intel Core2 Dual E8600, 3.3 GHz | 364 sec |
| Intel Core2 Dual E7200, 2.53 GHz | 399 sec |
less is better | |
Audioencoding
| mp3-Kompression mit lame3.97 (656 MB Musik CD) | |
| Intel Core I7-965 Extr.Edition, 3.2 GHz | 38 sec |
| Intel Core I7-920, 2.66 GHz | 41 sec |
| AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE, 3.2 GHz, (Deneb) | 49 sec |
| Intel Core2 Quad Extreme Q9650, 3.0 GHz | 54 sec |
| Intel Core2 Dual E8600, 3.3 GHz | 95 sec |
| Intel Core2 Dual E7200, 2.53 GHz | 121 sec |
less is better | |
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Games
| Call of Juarez 1024x768, No AA, No AF, Details: Medium, results in frames per second | |
| Intel Core I7-965 Extr. Edition 3.2 GHz | 81.2 |
| Intel Core I7-920, 2.66 GHz | 78.0 |
| AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE, 3.2 GHz, (Deneb) | 76.4 |
| Intel Core2 Quad Extreme Q9650, 3.0 GHz | 62.6 |
| Intel Core2 Dual E8600, 3.3 GHz | 61.4 |
| Intel Core2 Dual E7200, 2.53 GHz | 57.9 |
more is better | |
| World in Conflict 800x600, No AA, No AF, Details: Medium, results in frames per second | |
| Intel Core I7-965 Extr. Edition,3.2 GHz | 125 |
| Intel Core I7-920, 2.66 GHz | 81 |
| Intel Core2 Quad Extreme Q9650, 3.0 GHz | 78 |
| AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE, 3.2 GHz, (Deneb) | 76 |
| Intel Core2 Dual E8600, 3.3 GHz | 76 |
| Intel Core2 Dual E7200, 2.53 GHz | 67 |
more is better | |
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Overclocking
| Phenom II X4 955 BE @ 3.80 GHz 16 x 238MHz / 1.44 VCore | Phenom II X4 955 BE, 3.20 GHz 16 x 200MHz / 1.35 VCore | |
| 3DMark Vantage, CPU Score | 13120 | 11181 |
| Call of Juarez, Frames pro Sekunde | 82.5 | 76.4 |
| SuperPI 1.5 32M | 1082.654 sec | 1279.668 sec |
| POV- Ray 3.7, Resultate in Sekunden | 78 | 92 |
| POV- Ray 3.7 Resultate in Pixel pro Sekunden PPS | 3397.12 | 2857.31 |
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Conclusion
With the Phenom II AMD is on the right way. Especially with the Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition they can catch up with intels Core i7 CPUs and they therefore perform as well as Intels Core i7 920 or QX9650 quad core CPUs.
Especially in datacompression, rendering and Video/Audio encoding they cought up whith Intel. Meanwhile AMDs Phenom II X4 955 BE competes with Intels Core i7 920 for the corresponding place in the rankings.
Also regarding the gaming performance AMD doesn't need to hide. Down to the higher frequencies and the DDR3 memory interface they are able to perform at least as well as a QX9650 and under the very CPU optimized circumstances we tested they still can catch up with the Core i7 920.
The main reason to actually buy a Phenom II X4 955 BE based system is its price/performance rating. A recent and very well equipped ASUS M4A79T mainboard costs about CHF 220.- 4 GByte of DDR3 1333 MHz memory from Kingston you can get for about CHF 85.- and the CPU might cost about CHF 280.- Therefore you are able to buy a recent and quick quad core platform for about CHF 600.- If you want to buy an equivalent Intel based system with a well equipped mainboard you need to spend about CHF 900.- In this case the price/performance rating speaks very clear words in favour of AMD.
These times, if you are looking for a solid basis for office computing, games or a multimedia PC you'll find that a platform based on AMDs Phenom II X4 955 BE is extremely good value for money.
AMDs Phenom II X4 955 BE can now be bought at Digitec.ch to a very attractive Price of CHF 317.- (ca. EUR 210.-).
To the commentsAuthors: jl.hadey@ocaholic.ch and m.buechel@ocaholic.ch
English translation by: m.buechel@ocaholic.ch