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AMD introduces six new desktop processors, including new six-core Phenom II

By | September 21, 2010, 5:07am PDT

Summary: If you’re looking for a new CPU to build a system around, AMD has just dropped a half dozen onto the marketplace, including a new six-core Phenom II. The new processors comprise three Athlon II chips and a trio of Phenom II parts. On the low end, there’s the 3.3GHz dual-core Athlon II X2 265 for [...]

If you’re looking for a new CPU to build a system around, AMD has just dropped a half dozen onto the marketplace, including a new six-core Phenom II.

The new processors comprise three Athlon II chips and a trio of Phenom II parts. On the low end, there’s the 3.3GHz dual-core Athlon II X2 265 for $76 and the 3.2GHz triple-core Athlon II X3 450 for $87. A 3.1GHz quad-core Athlon II X4 645 runs $122, while the 3.3GHz dual-core Phenom II X2 560 Black Edition is cheaper at $105. (The Black Edition means the multiplier is unlocked for easier overclocking.) Rounding out the new CPUs are a 3.5GHz quad-core Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition for $185 and the $245 3GHz six-core Phenom II X6 1075T.

None of these processors is a major overhaul, so their performance gains will be mild, as Hot Hardware found when it tested the Phenom II X6 1075T, Athlon II X4 645, and Athlon II X4 645, though it concluded that “the Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition offers the best single-thread performance of any AMD desktop processor to date along with excellent multi-threaded performance as well.” The Phenom II X6 lineup also offers hexa-core performance for less than a third of the price of Intel’s six-core Gulftown CPUs. And the new Athlon II quad core is roughly one third cheaper than the least costliest Intel quad-core chip, which helps keep AMD ahead in price versus performance if you’re planning to build a PC on a budget.

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Desktop, AMD Athlon, Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Processors, Semiconductors, Hardware, Components, Sean Portnoy

Sean Portnoy is a freelance technology journalist.

Disclosure

Sean Portnoy

Sean Portnoy is a freelance technology journalist; currently, all work that Sean does is on a contractural basis. Sean has also written corporate communications documents for CA.

Sean does not accept gifts from companies he covers. All hardware products he writes about are purchased with his own funds or are review units covered under formal loan agreements and are returned after the review is complete.

Biography

Sean Portnoy

Sean Portnoy started his tech writing career at ZDNet nearly a decade ago. He then spent several years as an editor at Computer Shopper magazine, most recently serving as online executive editor. He received a B.A. from Brown University and an M.A. from the University of Southern California.

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RE: AMD introduces six new desktop processors, including new six-core Phenom II
zxxc 6th Oct 2010
@rbslack@... you're clearly doing something wrong. you might want to invest at a little re-training for you and your system builders. btw, whats the name of your company so that we all know NOT to order from you?
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RE: AMD introduces six new desktop processors, including new six-core Phenom II
1djk1 21st Sep 2010
Already using the X6 1055T. Dropped transcoding time on a 2 hour movie from almost 2 hours down to 38 minutes (vs a dual core AMD X2 6000)
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RE: AMD introduces six new desktop processors, including new six-core Phenom II
crativearun 24th Sep 2010
@1djk1 not only that not all multithreaded apps support upto six cores, at max they support only quad cores
for more info http://goo.gl/nz2B
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Nice incremental improvement
mark@... 21st Sep 2010
Nothing really new here, just faster versions of what AMD already makes. Still, it should keep them shipping chips until the next generation parts come out next year.
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RE: AMD introduces six new desktop processors, including new six-core Phenom II
acmw@... 21st Sep 2010
C'mon guys - "least costliest" ?? Really?
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Not breakthroughs, but still good news
goyta 21st Sep 2010
No matter what performance benchmarks say about Intel processors, which no doubt beat AMD's offerings to a pulp in that respect, in real life many other factors have to be considered, and in certain circumstances AMD still shines. I just found myself in an emergency situation where I had to build a new PC for myself at the worst possible moment, when I'm very tight of money (and I live in Brazil, where hardware prices are outrageous, often three times the U.S. prices). Yet, being a temporary situation, I wanted something that I could upgrade to a better config later without throwing everything away.

I soon found out that it had to be AMD, as its AM3 socket on a reasonable motherboard can go from a disposable Sempron 140 to a Phenom II X6 1090T without a fuss. The cheapest Intel configs, with the aging LGA775 socket, were still much more expensive than a large part of AMD's vast multi-range catalog, and it would cost me a lot to upgrade to an LGA1156 or 1366 mobo and CPU later.

So I went for a modest Athlon II X2 245 for now ("modest" but it still outperforms the FX-57 of not so long ago, which used to cost in the 4-digit USD range), but knowing that I'll have a lot of good value options for an upgrade later. I couldn't be happier.

And now we have these new offerings. Incremental, but it's still good to know that I have even more choices now. The X4 970 appears particularly interesting, let's see for which price it will arrive down here, but it appears to be great bang for the buck. Intel may win the benchmark battles, but AMD can still teach it many lessons in terms of value for money.
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RE: AMD introduces six new desktop processors, including new six-core Phenom II
Jimster480 23rd Sep 2010
@goyta actually Intel only wins benchmarks at the high end. For example; the athlon ll x4 620 ($90) beats the piss out of all Intel chips until you get into quad core I5s which cost almost 3x the price.
The x6 black edition for $300 rivals the performance of the I7 975 for half the price (meaning it beats basically every CPU upto that).
So while Intels 980x might reign supreme in the desktop market, its 1k+ price tag makes it look like a joke compared to what you can get from AMD for a fraction of the cost.
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This is brilliant.
peter_erskine@... 21st Sep 2010
We can now look forward to faster, cheaper, cooler computers, perfect for Linux and Windows. PC Makers - fill your boots!
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RE: AMD introduces six new desktop processors, including new six-core Phenom II
HaknGolfer 21st Sep 2010
As a speed freak, I have to wait for Intel's Sandy Bridge. The preproduction benchmarks on these chips are outstanding and I will probably upgrade my desktop from the Core i7-860 to the middle-of-the-pack Sandy Bridge offering sometime next year.

That said, AMD does offer good bang for the buck when speed is not the main issue. My Media Center PC uses an AMD X3 processor...
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RE: AMD introduces six new desktop processors, including new six-core Phenom II
sam54 21st Sep 2010
The question is will it force the price of the Core i7-970 down to compete with it?
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Not likely
nix_hed 21st Sep 2010
@sam54 The Intel Core i7 800 and 900 series chips are still faster, which means that Intel will allow them to still command that premium.

Having said that, Sandy Bridge and the next generation sockets will be what drives the prices of all but extreme edition 1156 and 1366 chips down.
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RE: AMD introduces six new desktop processors, including new six-core Phenom II
Jimster480 23rd Sep 2010
@nix_hed some of them are faster than the AMD quad. But not the hex core CPU's. Because for all intensive purposes the k10 architecture that the phenoms run on are every bit as fast (faster in some things) clock for clock. Without hyper threading. Which gives a 40% speed boost compared to a chip with the same amount of cores and no hyper threading. So the AMD true 6 cores are faster than the Intel hyper threading quad cores (atleast in most things).
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RE: AMD introduces six new desktop processors, including new six-core Phenom II
shankx 22nd Sep 2010
with that can we expect a price cut from AMD on the older hexa cores?
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RE: AMD introduces six new desktop processors, including new six-core Phenom II
rbslack@... Updated - 22nd Sep 2010
Well their price may be alright but their quality still sucks. after getting an order fort 20 new systems all based on the paster versions of the Athalon II out of the 20 18 had problems. Amd replaced the chips and out of the replacements 16 had the same problems again replaced by AMD then 16 out of 16 failed at which time I upgraded the customer to th I-7 950 at my expense. Needless to say these problems are becoming more and more frequent with AMD's processors and in the future my company is no longer going to offer them in our systems. on average we build from 85 to 100 systems a week and cannot afford the extremely high fail rate that is becoming common for AMD processors of late.
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RE: AMD introduces six new desktop processors, including new six-core Phenom II
duckles10 26th Sep 2010
@rbslack@... 50 out of 54 were bad? Seems not very likely if you are running them within specs and with a quality motherboard.
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RE: AMD introduces six new desktop processors, including new six-core Phenom II
zxxc 6th Oct 2010
@rbslack@... you're clearly doing something wrong. you might want to invest at a little re-training for you and your system builders. btw, whats the name of your company so that we all know NOT to order from you?

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