Phenom 9700, AMD's 1st Quad-Core CPU

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/11/19/the_spider_weaves_its_web/index.html


Benchmarks are in. Even the highest clocked Phenom which will not be available for a while gets its silicon handed to it in every single benchmark by Intel. Heck, even the top K8's made breakfast out of Phenom in single threaded applications.

Not good for AMD.

All I can say is WOW. I'm just amazed that in most benchmarks even Intel's first "double cheeseburger" quad-core schools Phenom in all it's native glory. This means that AMD will have to bargain price their chips, as their best (but very unavailable chip) won't be shipping for what some estimate as months.
 

Iain1974

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Phenom was butchered across the board.

I didn't expect the progress AMD have made with their chips to be so limited.
 
I didn't expect the progress AMD have made with their chips to be so limited.

I don't know if "progress" is the word. In many benchmarks quad-core Phenom is bested by dual-core K8 Athlons.

I'm still speechless, just speechless! I guess some of us weren't trolling all these months but telling our true concerns of AMD inadequacies.

I could understand this kind of performance from a June launch of K10, but they delayed it 6 months. Just imagine what it was like BEFORE the delay!
 
THG: "The Phenom 9600 is about 13.5% slower than Intel's Q6600 in our benchmarks."

WOW, I'm still reading it all, just amazing! I predict another year of AMD loses in the billions. Not because their processors suck (compared to Intel), but because they aren't going to be able to make any money out it. Intel gets to charge hundreds and hundreds more for its top part, while AMD isn't even able to make their top part or deliver it.
 

Iain1974

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Agreed.

I'm partway through building an AM2 system for my boy and note that the X2 6400 is now under $180. It makes the Phenoms seem absolutely pointless.

It looks like the poor yields for Phenom might not cause AMD too many problems - there may well be very poor demand.
 

leo2kp

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I'm not defending AMD here but I reckon since most AM2 boards can support the Phenom without any upgrades, and the fact that it IS the cheapest quad-core on the market, that's where they will find their demand. Although when they mentioned that you won't need to upgrade boards with the Phenom, that's assuming most Intel users don't already have a quad-core supportive board, which IMO is false (but don't quote me on that). If you need to upgrade an Intel board it will be for the Penryn, and Phenom doesn't even come close to Penryn. Besides, whose going to spend $1,500 on a processor if you're seriously considering price? If you're going to spend that much on a Penryn then you should be able to afford a board as well, aye? I guess what I'm trying to say is AMD seems to be trying to coax people in to buying their product because you don't need to upgrade the motherboard to use it, but most of us who build our PCs (with Intel chips) already have a quad-core supportive board. It's like trying to sell American gasoline to the Saudis. They already have it! I don't think they're going to make much money advertising that you don't need to upgrade the board. Who knows what it'll do for them though. And like it said on the article, it's price/performance is the same as Intel's right now and I think that's the only way they're going to sell these things.
 

doghills

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Just thought I might mention, it seems to me like Tom's signed an agreement with AMD to let AMD read over their article and make it benefiting to AMD.
 

spoonboy

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THG: "The Phenom 9600 is about 13.5% slower than Intel's Q6600 in our benchmarks."

WOW, I'm still reading it all, just amazing! I predict another year of AMD loses in the billions. Not because their processors suck (compared to Intel), but because they aren't going to be able to make any money out it. Intel gets to charge hundreds and hundreds more for its top part, while AMD isn't even able to make their top part or deliver it.

No there wont be another year of losses in the billions. Phenom in a black box form will sell like hotcakes, in a regular form it'll sell like hotcakes, cos its cheap. It'll make it into laptops and oem desktops in the millions, cos its a quad core and its cheap. At the right price everything has its consumer appeal, and cheap quad cores would seem extremely marketable.

Im relieved its just here in the marketplace. As of now AMD/ATI has a better range of products both comparitively and absolutely than it has done for probably about 2 years.
 

cnumartyr

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I think its great that it will work with AM2 and current AM2 chipsets. With Intel, you will need yet another chipset, the X38 wont even work with the new 45nm processors. You can bet these boards (x48) will be outrageous in price like the c2d mobos were when they came out.


Penryns will work on P35s. They will work on X38s. If it's not working on (insert X38 motherboard here) it's most likely a BIOS issue.


QX9650 on Asus P5K Premium (P35)

Edit: But yes I do think it's a good thing that it's a drop in replacement on AM2 boards. It's just unfortunate that it will have to use HT2.0 instead of the HT3.0 on AM2+ boards.
 

Zephyn

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Agreed.

I'm partway through building an AM2 system for my boy and note that the X2 6400 is now under $180. It makes the Phenoms seem absolutely pointless.

It looks like the poor yields for Phenom might not cause AMD too many problems - there may well be very poor demand.

I would do the 5000 black eddition for that price: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103194 prolly AMD's best processor for price at the moment and its only $129.99 at newegg.
 
Im relieved its just here in the marketplace. As of now AMD/ATI has a better range of products both comparitively and absolutely than it has done for probably about 2 years.

True. As midrange or upper midrange products, sometimes "good enough" is good enough.
 

epsilon84

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I think its great that it will work with AM2 and current AM2 chipsets. With Intel, you will need yet another chipset, the X38 wont even work with the new 45nm processors. You can bet these boards (x48) will be outrageous in price like the c2d mobos were when they came out.

Quit the FUD will ya? Even my 15 month old Asus P5B Deluxe (P965 chipset) works with 45nm, as will all P35 chipsets.
 
No there wont be another year of losses in the billions.

I don't agree. The margins on those processors are going to be much smaller. Intel is able to sell its processors for much more because they perform more. However, the cost to make them is relatively the same.

I'm interested to see how the stock market reacts to the failure of a launch.
 
What's the bet the Phenom drops in price quite a bit.

Then it will sell ...

Plus a couple of the early articles mentionned it OC'ing to around 2.8 to 3Gig. If that is so and it is that much cheaper then I'm looking at it for the kids machines which are duals at present.

Otherwise Iv'e gotta changout three mobos (AM2's) and thats not cheap ... Intel mobos are way more expensive.

Swapping out a couple of chips is a 5 min job in comparison to major surgery.

Still ... the QX6600 does have one real strength ... we know the G0 stepping overclocks like mad.

So my money is presntly still on the cheap Intel quad ... better value for money for the enthusiast.

After seeing all of the articles now I'm getting a low end Intel quad ... well for my PC anyway ... not for my kids tho ... heh heh.

Lets hope this launch lowers the entry price for Quads.

If so .. thank you AMD.


 

Sirfiroth

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Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770: Paper Tiger?
"With this launch, Intel is presenting another 45 nm processor in the over-$1,470 price range that also requires a new high-end platform based on the equally as-yet-unavailable X48 chipset. Intel's intentions here are crystal clear, namely to disrupt AMD's launch, try to win a battle in the technology war, and to make a profit. Also, this is the first time in the company's history that it has announced two new $1,470+ processors based on the same technology within the space of three weeks.
Barely two months after the introduction of the X38 chipset, Intel is announcing a new CPU that will no longer run on this supposed high end platform - and some motherboard companies haven't even had the chance to introduce a product based on this chipset! What does Intel expect its customers to do now, when it only adds to their confusion and insecurities in this manner?
Since the currently available Core 2 processors all run flawlessly with the P35 chipset, which is actually on sale as a real product in the market, we can't recommend buying an X38-based motherboard. As soon as the QX9770 goes on sale, you'll be able to find an appropriate X48 board for the same price X38 boards sell for now. It's definitely not worth purchasing an expensive X38 board now that may not be compatible with newer processors later due to upgraded specifications , e.g. FSB 1600.
Let's hope that the mid-range and budget 45 nm processors expected for 2008 are not all locked on FSB1600 - otherwise, users looking to upgrade will be forced to exchange their entire platform (X48 motherboard plus DDR3 memory), just to use a new processor."

Think again!
 

xrider

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I'm new to the thread but I always hear that intels mobo cost more that may be true but if you go on newegg you can find the 775 mobos for under100$ and yes some 775 mobos will run the new penryn chip.
 

cnumartyr

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Perhaps you'd like to realize that MOST of the Penryns will work on a 1333 MHz FSB which means they will be supported. The QX9650 works at 1333 MHz FSB. This has nothing to do with Penryn, but FSB support. If they wanted to release a Q6600 @ 1600 MHz FSB.. guess what? You'd need a new mobo if you wanted to OFFICIALLY support it.

Saying all Penryns require a new motherboard is fairly ignorant. However yes, in the instance of 1600 MHz FSB X48 is the only one that will officially support it from Intel.. But Gigabyte and Asus already support 1600 MHz FSB on their X38 platforms.

Since it was buried in a paragraph let me restate for emphasis.

QX9770 support has nothing to do with 45nm support on P35s/X38s. It has 100% to do with FSB support.
 

cnumartyr

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I'm new to the thread but I always hear that intels mobo cost more that may be true but if you go on newegg you can find the 775 mobos for under100$ and yes some 775 mobos will run the new penryn chip.

Good OCing Intel mobos cost more.

Vanillas are still cheap.