Meet Zosma: AMD's Quad-Core Phenom II X4 960T Gets Unlocked

[triculious]

but... can it run crysis?

no, really... what's the gaming performance of this puppy? does this new architecture make any difference with a good old X4 965/955?

 

[cangelini]

[citation][nom]reynod[/nom]Chris did you have turbo enabled on the Zos, or did the mobo not support it?The benchies compared to the PhenomII quad just didn't show much difference ... I'd have though the 200Mhz gap vs the respin would bave edged the Zos a bit closer ... or better with turbo enabled.A good review nevertheless Chris !![/citation]

Turbo was enabled, and I confirm that I saw cores jumping up to 3.3/3.4 GHz on at least a few tests.

BTW, if you haven't yet, check out the update just added to the end of the story. Turns out AMD might not actually launch this one into retail!

 

[pbalstar]

Anyone else notice how the 920 did "better" than the 930 for handbrake? Standard deviation much?

 

[cangelini]

[citation][nom]pbalstar[/nom]Anyone else notice how the 920 did "better" than the 930 for handbrake? Standard deviation much?[/citation]

It happens.

 

[haplo602]

[citation][nom]cangelini[/nom]Turbo was enabled, and I confirm that I saw cores jumping up to 3.3/3.4 GHz on at least a few tests.BTW, if you haven't yet, check out the update just added to the end of the story. Turns out AMD might not actually launch this one into retail![/citation]

Then they just ....their bottom line ... I am not willing to pay for more than a AII X4 630 unless it had some kind of native turbo capability ... I was looking forward to the Zosma chips. Seems I am staying with the AII X4.

 

[jerreece]

Glad to see that my 2.6Ghz i5-750 can beat AMD's new Six Core 'beast' running @ 3Ghz. Man.. imagine what my i5-750 does @ it's OC'd 4Ghz goodness!

Now obviously 6 cores does not automatically mean faster than 4 cores. Software/threading has an affect on this obviously. But Intel still does more work, faster, with less speed.

 

[eddieroolz]

Excellent article, though it's a shame that AMD may never release this.

 

[buzznut]

I was curious and forgive me if I missed it, but was the overclocking done with a retail heat sink? You noted thermals as the reason for decreasing the voltage on the unlocked cpu's overclock..I would expect a phII to be stuck @ 3.6 without more than 1.4V applied, regardless of unlocking.
Even though it appears to be acedemic at this point, I am curious as there may be another 4 core thuban at some point.

 

[tacoslave]

I cant believe no one mentioned this yet. What about the BADASS name! Zosma! IMO its better than bulldozer. Switch names? nah then they'd be pulling a nvidia.

 

[play_festivity]

[citation][nom]drowned[/nom]I know I'm going to get thumbed down a million times for this but I gotta get it out. Why are we cheering for AMD when they require 2 extra cores and 400 mhz more clock speed just to beat Intel while Intel also maintains 2x the overclocking headroom as AMD? Yes I know AMD's prices are great, but tons of applications still only support 1 core where these clock to clock comparisons and overclock-ability are critical.No I'm not saying Intel is the greatest company in the world blah blah because I remember when AMD was handing their ass to them pre-Core2, but I'm struggling to root for AMD when they're handed the mid and high range to Intel and barely have a pulse in the low range against the last-gen core2's and i3's.[/citation]


I'd say because if it weren't for AMD, Intel would've never transitioned to Core and eventually Core 2. We would still be using some CPU as inefficient as the Pentium 4 and calling it high-performance.

 

[jecastej]

To be honest I am not planning an AMD route anytime soon but those who need and depend on AMD are helping everyone. It may not be that obvious If we think about what is the greatest just now. But I have my fingers crossed on AMD to recover bit by bit the ground they lost. Why? Because I want competition everywhere and from the bottom up, and it may not happen over night so lets be patient and hope for the best. Every time a big player lose a market we lose something too. So go AMD, go Nvidia, go Apple, go Intel, go ARM and so on...

 

[jecastej]

To be honest I am not planning an AMD route anytime soon but those who need and depend on AMD are helping everyone. It may not be that obvious If we think about what is the greatest just now. But I have my fingers crossed on AMD to recover bit by bit the ground they lost and that is why I keep reading and interested. Why? Because I want competition everywhere and from the bottom up, and it may not happen over night so lets be patient and hope for the best. Every time a big player lose a market we lose something too. So go AMD, go Nvidia, go Apple, go Intel, go ARM and so on... I have no side on this.

 

[barryv88]

100% agreed arterius2 . Very well said

 

[buzznut]

I agree with arterius as well, I have been telling people for a long time that either AMD or Intel will run games just fine. In fact, quad and above CPU's from either company will have more cores than most applications can use.
So it really is a question of what kind of performance can be had at a certain budget. To me, I think the 1055T is very intriguing at ~$200.

I'd expect to see 4 core thubans later this year, after AMD sells some more X3 and X4 from the current stock. I imagine the thubans will be more refined by then.

 

[randomkid]

If AMD wont sell Phenom II X4 960T because they got the X4 Deneb lined up nicely, they should sell X5 Thubans. This is will be totally new and 5 is better than 4 after all.

 

[randomkid]

Sorry... I submit too fast. What I mean is that if there will be Thubans with a defective core, they should sell an X5 out of it rather than let is go to waste. Heck, I don't understand why AMD will not sell a quad core Thuban as X4 955 rather than throw them away.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

You'd have to be an enthusiast to want to monkey around with unlocking cores that might not work.

 

[Stardude82]

So the question is when do we get the 95 W 955/965? I'm pretty sure a 95W 955 was supposed to be here by now. Efficiency is where AMD is hurting right now.

 

[dethsite2]

By the looks if it they tried and failed to put a 6 core or 8core cpu on the same platform as the the 2-4 core and failed big time

I would suspect a cpu redesign will be needed get the sextet and octet cpu's up and running trying to re-use an older platform doesn't always work the way it should.

 

[dethsite2]

secondary note, trying to go the green movement is quite a joke in some places, once you start talking about over clocking, you push past what ever standard benchmark is for power consumption..

sorry fo thee double post

I think AMD would be better off developing a dedicated 6 core processor instead ...... a 8 core processor same with the ...... of the x3 line processor..

l also think AMD should develop a proper 3 core processor and develop a new socket for the 3-6 core and a redevelopment of the 8 core platfor..

I think trying to marry a octet core in to a quad core frame while plausible it is to do this, you will be limiting what octet core can do

I think .... money away and disabling cores is rather counter productive amd a wate of a good cpu

 

[Guest]

dethsite2

because throwing away 4 perfectly good cores just because you got 2 dud cores makes perfect sense......

but you are right with one assertion, simply just adding full cores probably isn't going to cut it for more then 4 cores, not for the desktop applications.... roll on bulldozer

 

[rhino13]

Update =

 

[vaughn2k]

[citation][nom]otacon72[/nom]Since you didn't even read his comment why are you quoting him then? The only thing keeping AMD afloat right now is ATI. AMD has been relegated to value market ever since Core 2 left them in the dust. Thumb me down all you want it's the truth. All I keep hearing is just wait for Bulldozer. We'll see how Bulldozer stands up against Sandy Bridge. I like competition... lets see if AMD can give intel any...it's been years.[/citation]

Get real man...

 

[randomkid]

from my understanding of the article, AMD will not likely sell 960T for RETAIL. This decision is reasonable because 960T performs similar to 955T, there is really no need for it. And I can be pretty sure that the ones who are going to buy the 960T are going to attempt to unlock it into a 6-core. So, I don't see this as a very good reason for AMD to sell 960T exclusively for the unlockers. Although nothing is preventing AMD from selling these as OEM parts to the likes of HP or Dell, knowing that the average consumer of those machines are likely to be clueless about core-unlocking.

I am talking about a thuban with truly defective cores so there is no real chance of unlocking it. What I am saying is if AMD won't sell the 4core thuban as X4 960T, then they should sell it as X4 955 and brand it as phenom II. It is a better position for AMD compared to what they did with the Phenom II X3 720 where they have to intentionally disable a perfectly good core to meet the demand for an X3 simply because there is no X3 die.
For the case of X4, if the demand for it is too high, they have the Phenom II X4 die ready to crank up production or use the X4 Thuban help fill the demand. There is no loss of business opportunity while they make full use of otherwise good X4 thuban.

 

[randomkid]

l also think AMD should develop a proper 3 core processor and develop a new socket for the 3-6 core and a redevelopment of the 8 core platfor..

I think trying to marry a octet core in to a quad core frame while plausible it is to do this, you will be limiting what octet core can do

I think pissing money away and disabling cores is rather counter productive amd a wate of a good cpu

What for should AMD spend money on R&D to develop a 3core processor when they can get it from a quad core for the same cost of production and no more R&D expense.
And how can you say it is a waste of good CPU when it can be unlocked for free and put to good use. I actually think it helped AMD as much as it did the consumer who have switched to AMD just to get a shot at being able to unlock cores from X2's and X3's.