AMD Phenom II X6 1090T And 890FX Platform Review: Hello, Leo

[Guest]

Agree with the AMD conclusions; it's value is/has been proved to me on the 4-core "black" cpu; coupled with the DDR3 RAM makes this system plenty fast and smooth; no system hangs and blazes through the multi-tasking issues in my day-to-day.

 

[Guest]

Actually, even if you have an app that runs using just 3 threads, system services etc will be taking over another/rest of cores, so you'll rarely ever get to run at higher clock. I have a 4 core cpu, and the 4 of them run regularly.

 

[schmich]

Bad Company 2 to the benchmarks please! My 720BE with the 4th core unlocked OC'ed at 3.5Ghz wants to know if the 2 other care are utilized. Currently the game is keeping my CPU at 100% and there is eg. no room whatsoever for Xfire broadcasting or frapsing.

 

[littleleo]

Today's prices to give you a better price value comparison:

AMD Phenom II X6 1090T (3.2GHz) AM3, Retail (Black Edition) $295.00
AMD Phenom II X6 1055T (2.8GHz) AM3, Retail $199.00
AMD Phenom II X4 965 (3.4GHz) AM3, Retail $173.00

Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition i7-980X 3.33GHz $1049.00
Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition i7-975 3.33GHz $949.00
Intel Core i7 Processor i7-920 2.66GHz $257.00
Intel Core i5 Processor i5-750 2.66GHz $194.50

 

[SevenVirtues]

[citation][nom]wild9[/nom]Really impressed with what AMD has come up here, especially considering the price.. Powerful. Drop-in compatible. Same TDP as quad-core, despite two more cores. Very good idle power draw. Cheap considering what it's up againstThe net result is a 45nm, 6-core processor that can blow the socks off an i7, one that can be dropping into existing boards. Not bad is it, considering the age of the design and the size of AMD compared to Intel. To all those misinformed people who routinely like to slag off the green corner..enjoy your humble pie. This is powerful computing for the rest of us, and at a very good price whether you want dual, quad and now hex-core computing. Real cores, too..not threading units.Job well done, AMD.[/citation]

Because I might as well buy a i7 920 and overclock it or an AMD 965

 

[SevenVirtues]

oops wrong quote

 

[choonie2040]

heres a badcompany 2 review i just wish ea would change the guns back to the way they were before the update sniper is useless now really considering upgrading to this processor
http://www.guru3d.com/article/phenom-ii-x6-1055t-1090t-review/18

 

[victomofreality]

Seems the x6 isn't a gaming chip but works nicely for actual responsible computer use even though thats no fun lol...

 

[Guest]

DUdes I just bought a 6 core amd and ... you can overclock it .. jut can't go up to 62 degrees celcius .. have to be smart about it .. i will bo ocing it this week or next .. have to get some top of line heat sincs first. I allways asay .. time to create some heat .. lol.lol. Just not too much though.

 

[mrcairo]

[citation][nom]victomofreality[/nom]Seems the x6 isn't a gaming chip but works nicely for actual responsible computer use even though thats no fun lol...[/citation]

yes but would it's gaming be worse or the same as the x4 cores like the 955 0r 985s?

With the x2 extra cores being gravy for various apps?

 

[logainofhades]

For anyone wanting to upgrade their current AM2+/AM3 platform to the x6 make sure and check your MB manufacturer first to see if there is or going to be a bios update for it. Apparently Biostar for instance, has decided not to add any of the 790gx boards to the list. I emailed them about mine and it got this.

No, your motherboard does not support the 6-core CPU because it requires a dual power plane design. A BIOS update will not help. This incompatibility is hardware related. To see which of our motherboards support the 6-core CPU, Refer to the chart in the link: BIOSTAR supported Phenom II x6

 

[skadeet]

i dunno, i would love to see a come back from AMD with this. but it doesn't seem like software has caught up to utilizing more than one core...so Intel and AMD pumping out more core cpus seems kinda pointless for the consumer market. even a lot of enterprise level products don't use more than one core. Unless you're running VirtualBox or any other virtualization software i don't see the point in more than 2 or 4 cores at this point.

 

[Admiral Ackbar]

All things being equal, I would get an i5-750 over a 1055T for $200. Actually, I was planning to get a 750 for a new system I'm building. But with all the rebates and cashback from TD the 1055T will only cost me $125. That's competative as all hell. And the motherboard will be cheaper too. So it's definately worth saving the money if the performance is similar.

Also, The whole, "the 1055 and 1090 aren''t for gaming" is I think somewhat silly. I understand intellectually where the comment comes from. There are some design limitations that will make you cpu limited before an intel processor. But we're talking like, the difference between 90 fps in a game and 80fps in a game. I know it's a noticible (>10%) difference but really, lol.

 

[unwanted]

Where you get these bench, I want to see.

From this article. I just converted from the seconds in the benchmark to % faster.

EG. Goto the productivity benchmark on page 8. First benchmark is CS4 Took 980X 1:11 (71 seconds) and PIIx6 2:03(123 seconds). Hence the Intel chip did it 1.732 x faster or 73% faster.

 

[mayne92]

Great to see AMD still sticking it out with value and legit performance. All I need in my computing life...

Great article Chris!

 

[pixar1942]

can i use a ddr3 memory on this phenom 2 x6??? because its a am3 socket

 

[ankydu]

I was just wondering if I am running Adobe photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver and Illustrator all at once, which one will provide smoother performance, the phenom II x6 1090T or the core I7 930.

 

[rhino13]

When is AMD going to release a show stopper, like in the glory days?

You know, a CPU that stomps Intel's chips into the ground!

I'm sadly waiting with my i5 750.

 

[geofry]

Pepsi(AMD), Coke(INTEL), Pepsi, Coke.....which ever one gives me my fix and is on sale. Looks like I'll be drinking Pepsi this time around. First ATI comes out with an interesting 3-6 monitor supported GPU chipset and now AMD comes out with a reasonably priced hex-core CPU.

I'm due an upgrade this year. Looks like the old Intel machine is going to be delegated to the garage. Seriously I spend more time in the garage now than I do the nerd cave. I've been jones'n for a permanent computer setup down there for a while. Between needing to look things up when working on the vehicles and wanting to be able to enjoy music and movies and the fact that AMD/ATI has finally brought out something interesting enough to buy, I finally have my excuse to upgrade. Yea!

 

[tmc]

The overview is nice... but aside from comparing the high end chips, this review falls short of what chips the mid-level x6 processors are equivilent to.. I've heard that the i5-750 quad core can still outshine the x6 2.8ghz processor and both are comparably priced at around $199. So unless the AMD processor prices actually go lower (as opposed to threaten to with these $2-$10 temporary drops) this is much to do about nothing. Under Win7 multi-core processing gets its day in the sun but that doesn't necessarily make AMD's new six core chips a better choice. Everybody wants Intel to be threatened, for that to happen AMD has to make a BETTER product at a lower price.. not an inferior one. You can also see similarites in the ATi/Nvidia market. One guy has a vastly overpriced and underpowered product and the other spent wisely & kept up the pressure of having r&d monkeys that never stoped working. In this case amd's processors are analogous to Nvidia's graphics cards. Just releasing new product into the market doesn't mean sh*t, proving its a better product at comparable price points does. Somebody do the gaming and requisite apps benchmarks so AMD can fix their pricing points. I dobut they'll stick where they are as a result...

 

[lunyone]

If your upgrading from a AM2+ based mobo that supports the 6 core CPU, than you have a good and cheap upgrade, especially if your upgrading from a basic 2 core CPU. Most 2 core CPU's do most things well, but for those that need a bit more the ~$200 PhII x6 CPU would do just fine. If your building from scratch than you'll have to consider Intel builds too. If you don't OC than either will do just fine. The Intel builds will OC better and generally give you better bang for the buck "if you OC it". If you don't OC than AMD has some good options to consider. I like to have a good CPU and a bitchin' GPU for my better gaming experience. Generally a good x3/x4 CPU from AMD will allow me more $ for a better GPU than if I went with an Intel based build. Example: $80 mobo/~$100 CPU allows me more budget for a GPU than most Intel comparable builds. That is what I look at when buying parts for my system.

 

[Guest]

WRT the weird performance cap, could it be bus limited?
Memory access pattern (cache) or memory bandwidth?

 

[unwanted]

I was just wondering if I am running Adobe photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver and Illustrator all at once, which one will provide smoother performance, the phenom II x6 1090T or the core I7 930.

That would depend on if anything else is running in the background and how much processing power each application is using. If you have some process running in say photoshop while your on one of the other apps or if it is just sitting there idle doing nothing.

If they are just sitting there idle and the only one putting a load on the system is the one you currently have active then i'd say the Intel would probably give a similar performance but if you have anything running on any of the others say some filter or whatever running on photoshop thats going ot take 5 minutes to process while your doing whatever in dreamweaver then the AMD would almost certainly give you better smoother perofrmance especially if the processes working can make use of multiple cores.

 

[technoholic]

I dont understand how OC doesnt make that much of a difference in Px6. Either the CPU/MB is bugged or something elso is wrong. Also some other sites give different test results in favor of Px6. It's confusing

 

[Reynod]

Thanks Chris.

Great article.

Can you do something on overclocking the X6 when you get a chance please?