The tri-core processors presently on offer have frequencies between 2.1GHz and 2.5GHz. So the total frequencies are between 6.3GHz and 7.5GHz. It is no co-incidence that this frequency fills the gap between the top end Dual Cores (Intel's E8500 or AMD's X2 6400) clocking at about 3.0 and 3.2GHz per core (total 6 to 6.4GHz) and the lower end quad cores clocking at 2.2GHz per core (total 8.8GHz).
As well as filling this frequency gap the X3’s directly attack Intel's top of the range Dual Cores. The X3 processors are less expensive than the top dual cores and offering similar or better performance, especially for multitasking.
Although an application that can only utilise a single core will perform better on the faster dual core systems, the three core Phenom's come into their own when running applications that can utilise two cores. The spare core on which to run the system and do additional tasks. On a dual core system applications capable of utilising both cores begin to suffer when the user is multitasking; as the cpu is continuously interrupted with other tasks.
The Phenom x3 wins hands down in terms of performance, price and functionality:
Performance ratings for the 8750 outperform every 6400+ dual core AM2 rating, and are about the same as Intel’s slightly pricier E6850. The 8850 is more powerful again and it is likely that there will be chips with 2.6 to 2.8GHz cores before the end of the year.
Overclocking:
The original release of the Phenom did not over clock well. It required a very good board, RAM, heat sink and luck with the CPU. Even then performance increases were small. The new design has improved the CPUs ability to be overclocked somewhat with the x4’s but the X3’s are even better.
With lower stock voltage than the X4’s and only 3 cores the CPU generates less heat and has more headroom to increase the clock. So a very good increase is possible:
With good conditions the X3 8750 (2.4GHz cores) can be clocked up to 3GHz per core on a standard heatsink, giving slightly better performance ratings than the original 2.2GHz natively clocked 4 core Phenom’s.
It is also worth noting that although the X3 CPU's have the same amount of level 1 and level 2 cache per core, the CPU has hung onto the full 2MB L3 cache. So relative to the number of cores this is a small upgrade. So per core there is a slight gain in performance when running multimedia applications.
As well as filling this frequency gap the X3’s directly attack Intel's top of the range Dual Cores. The X3 processors are less expensive than the top dual cores and offering similar or better performance, especially for multitasking.
Although an application that can only utilise a single core will perform better on the faster dual core systems, the three core Phenom's come into their own when running applications that can utilise two cores. The spare core on which to run the system and do additional tasks. On a dual core system applications capable of utilising both cores begin to suffer when the user is multitasking; as the cpu is continuously interrupted with other tasks.
The Phenom x3 wins hands down in terms of performance, price and functionality:
Performance ratings for the 8750 outperform every 6400+ dual core AM2 rating, and are about the same as Intel’s slightly pricier E6850. The 8850 is more powerful again and it is likely that there will be chips with 2.6 to 2.8GHz cores before the end of the year.
Overclocking:
The original release of the Phenom did not over clock well. It required a very good board, RAM, heat sink and luck with the CPU. Even then performance increases were small. The new design has improved the CPUs ability to be overclocked somewhat with the x4’s but the X3’s are even better.
With lower stock voltage than the X4’s and only 3 cores the CPU generates less heat and has more headroom to increase the clock. So a very good increase is possible:
With good conditions the X3 8750 (2.4GHz cores) can be clocked up to 3GHz per core on a standard heatsink, giving slightly better performance ratings than the original 2.2GHz natively clocked 4 core Phenom’s.
It is also worth noting that although the X3 CPU's have the same amount of level 1 and level 2 cache per core, the CPU has hung onto the full 2MB L3 cache. So relative to the number of cores this is a small upgrade. So per core there is a slight gain in performance when running multimedia applications.
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