Phenom II X4 955: AMD's Dragon Platform Evolves

[cangelini]

Np--as always, I read all of (and appreciate) the feedback.

 

[cruiseoveride]

So what happened to colour coding and sorting the data by ascending order for the charts?

 

[sighQ2]

I just looked thru the review some more and I noticed that you DID NOT USE A I7 920 - that's really amusing. You admit it in Power Consumption = (you wrote it)

"First, it’s worth noting that with our Core i7 965 engineering sample keyed in to replicate the performance of a Core i7 920"

So no i7-920; and the i7-965 is an "engineering sample".

Congratulations = that's called cheating - and you just nullified the entire review.

If you don't get it = try "simulating" the 720 by downclocking a 955 - of course, you would say that is ridiculous - and using evolved tek to simulate a first version of i7-920 is pretty slick, slight of hand, and effectively LYING to your readers. As for using an engineering sample - it gets worse - read on.

You are using fake spintel cpu's = obviously.

You are spitting hairs in the interpretation of results - esp. gross where you declare a winner based on an fps difference of 1/3 fps - how dare you when the cpu's are MISREPRESENTED.

Also in Power Consumption - how is it measured?
If you measure at the WALL, you will also catch the invible "uncore" consumption, as it sucks on the PSU directly.

I thought you had a decent review; but now I see you are hiding truth. You are not being so up front honest. These are serious "slight of hand" cheats.

sorry chris - you just toasted all hope I had for you eventually learning to fully present an unbiased review.

Leaving out details like this - unacceptable. You can try to explain this - I dunno man, this is bad. And I am tired of pointing things out here - you really should know.

 

[sighQ2]

re Overclocking

4 Ghz +++ done several different ways.

and all YOU can do is 3.6????

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=222769

bias.
misrepresention
credibility = falling fast.

you fix it, you did it, I caught you.
you think people are stupid.
you get paid for that? by the monopoly king? this stuff is common, you are not the only one who does biased reviews.

 

[sighQ2]

[citation][nom]ezzy[/nom]Anyways Intel does have the upper hand in the high end market, since they are dominating with their i7, and as prices go down, surely it will be attractive to get these systems for the mainstream. Technology evolves quickly nowadays. Sorry for the multiple posts.[/citation]
Don't waste your money. Do some research b4 you spend. Beware of "benchMarketing". You don't but a system to run bench - esp. "bent" benches. Maybe try research at an AMD site, if you want to know what's in play here.
"Real men use real cores".
Why are people reporting "smooth" in PhII systems.?? The opposite is a hint.

 

[yang]

hard to picture that 3.2ghz amd quad still can't beat a 2.83ghz core 2 quad

 

[Thor]

Hello,

I do not think Tom's Hardware insist enough on the price at
tests.

For example, you can not compare

2009 Ford Mustang coupe
http://www.caranddriver.com/buying_guide/ford/mustang/2009_ford_mustang_coupe
Base Price
$20.530 - $29.170


with

2009 BMW M6 convertible
http://www.caranddriver.com/buying_guide/bmw/m6/2009_bmw_m6_convertible
Base Price
$108.325

---------------------------------------------
-1-
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition (Deneb) 3.2 GHz, AM3, 2,000 MHz HT, 6 MB L3 Cache, Power-savings disabled

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4588101&SRCCODE=GOOGLEBASE&cm_mmc_o=TBBTkwCjCVyBpAgf%20mwzygtCjCVRqCjCVRq
$259.99 (26%) (3.95X)

-----
-2-
AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition (Deneb) 3.0 GHz, AM2+, 1,800 MHz HT, 6 MB L3 Cache, Power-savings disabled

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4330959&CatId=3496
$199.99 (20%) (5X)

-----
-3-
AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (Heka) 2.8 GHz, AM2+, 2,000 MHz HT, 6 MB L3 Cache, Power-savings disabled

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4438239&CatId=4432
$154.99 (16%) (6.5X)


---------------------------------------------
-1-
Intel Core i7 965 Extreme (Bloomfield) 3.2 GHz, LGA 1366, 6.4 GT/s QPI, 8 MB L3, Power-savings disabled

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4240162&CatId=4074
$999.99 (100%) (1X)

-----
-2-
Intel Core i7 920 (Bloomfield) 2.66 GHz, LGA 1366, 4.8 GT/s QPI, 8 MB L3, Power-savings disabled

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4240166&csid=_21
$279.99 (28%) (3.6X)

-----
-3-
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550S (Yorkfield) 2.83 GHz, LGA 775, 1,333 MHz FSB, 12 MB L2, Power-savings disabled

http://www.antonline.com/p_BX80569Q9550S-GP_598472.htm
$362.97 (36%) (2.8X)

Have a nice day !

PS
I have a Intel and I don't work for Tiger (I don't like it anyway).

 

[joey301]

Which of these benchmarks would give the best indication of the best CPU for Second Life?

 

[jim09]

I think there is something wrong with this ASUS motherboard everyone keeps using for these reviews. One of the systems I recently put together is using an ASRock 790GX (sub $100.00 USD) board and a PII-920 w 4GB 1066. And with some cheap silver paste and the stock cooler I got 3.6Ghz easy with the FSB/HT adjustment alone (stock voltages too). The CPU didn't even climb much beyond 50c fully loaded and was completely stable. I'm not into this overclocking stuff as much as others, just been building PC's for 13 years and I like to play around once in a while, but this "We were only able to get 3.6 GHz out of the processor before peaking over 60 degrees C and losing Prime95 threads" is getting old. Try out some different hardware for a change if that is the cause.

 

[Bulldog64]

Let's put these Processors all on good water cooling as a real enthusiast would do clock up to a stable level and then run these benchmarks. I've already seen results like that on another WEB site. All you big i7 core buffs are in for a shock! The 955BE scales past 4.3GHz beautifully and just kicks butt. Keep in mind that the ASUS M4A79T deluxe BIOS is not mature at all and should see performance gains as it get tweaked. With a Northbridge tweak and a memory controller tweak above 2 GHz these results are going to start showing reversals away from the i7cores and towards the AM3 socket. I have seen a lot of claims of 4- 4.3GHz OCs on air for the 955. If those are accurate the i7cores time on top of the heap is numbered. As it is the 930 as already slower after OCing. Next year, the IBM/AMD 32nm new semiconductor Processors may appear. Intel would do well to put a strong foot forward or they are liable to get stepped on.

In the future it is my systems engineer's belief that ultimately this war will be determined not just by cycle speed alone but a combination of memory controller design and multprocessor flexibility to work on tasks such as graphics in partnership with GPUs and scalable processor tasking with regard to tasks and threads. This requires elegance of design not brute force such as much of the Intel design.

 

[Bulldog64]

Let's put these Processors all on good water cooling as a real enthusiast would do clock up to a stable level and then run these benchmarks. I've already seen results like that on another WEB site. All you big i7 core buffs are in for a shock! The 955BE scales well past 4.3GHz beautifully and just kicks butt. Keep in mind that the ASUS M4A79T deluxe BIOS is not mature at all and should see performance gains as it gets tweaked. With a Northbridge tweak and a memory controller tweak above 2 GHz these results are going to start showing reversals away from the i7cores and towards the AM3 socket. I have seen a lot of claims of 4- 4.3GHz OCs on air for the 955. If those are accurate the i7cores time on top of the heap is numbered. As it is the 920 is already slower after OCing the 955. Next year, the IBM/AMD 32nm new semiconductor Processors may appear. Intel would do well to put a strong foot forward or they are liable to get stepped on.

In the future it is my systems engineer's belief that ultimately this war will be determined not just by cycle speed alone but a combination of memory controller design and multprocessor flexibility to work on tasks such as graphics in partnership with GPUs and scalable processor tasking with regard to tasks and threads. This requires elegance of design not brute force such as much of the Intel design.

 

[menahunie]

Hey here is a fantasy
Take the 940 or 955 design a mother board for DUAL CPU; then increase the PCI-E bandwith ON ALL SLOTS to min. to 16x. Dual power supplies; one for the system and if needed one for system cooling.
Increase the board size say call it ATX+; reason to give you more room for cooling and extras. Hey isn't that what a full tower case should be used for? Not look into it and see a little dinky motherboard up in the corner with cables hanging from it like it was some kind of cyber spider...
I think Intel would see AMD tail lights in front of them if That happened.

 

[Marcus52]

[citation][nom]inmytaxi[/nom]Why call a 955 $255 plus 790GX mb $110 plus 4 gb ram $41 is $500, when it's actually $410 before shipping and rebates, which about cancel out? And that's just picking off the cheapest at newegg and not price shopping, which might knock it below $400.Not to mention the six months on the market the other set up has had to drop in price ...[/citation]

Pfft are you high?? When I'm building an enthusiast system I don't buy the cheapest thing out there; sorry, but I don't. Fact is, even if we used your numbers the difference in price does NOT make up for the difference in performance between the 2 platforms. Believe me, I have both, the Phenom II 955 is awesome but the i7 920 just, as the author says, walks away from it.

Using your same methodology though, the price of a basic i7 system becomes $500 for the i7 920, Foxconn mainboard, and 3 GB of matched 3-channel memory, and that system will, to say it again, walk away from your system which is only $90 less.

One thing the author didn't quite make clear (or I misseed it), the Overdrive 3 (BEMP) is only available if you have a Dragon system; just owning an AM3 processor won't get you that capability. not a big deal, there are mainboard manufacturers which supply similar OCing software, but there ya go.

Speaking of mainboard manufacturers, several offer programs to OC your rig on-the-fly as well, so it isn't like you are getting something you can't get if you buy an i7 instead of a Phenom II, it's just not made by Intel, as is the BEMP by AMD.

 

[Guest]

I've had AMD PC's for years, but AMD is stuffed, if the best they can now offer is the Phenom II 955. The i7 is much faster, uses less power, supports more RAM, doesn't cost much more, and OC's better.

I've had enough of AMD's excuses, so have just ordered a pre-tested 4GHz overclocked Intel i7 920, Gigabyte mobo, fast 6GB RAM, and Heatsink kit, to upgrade my current (broken AMD/ASUS) PC. If this works out, AMD will have to wait another 3 years before I look at them again.

 

[ReTardReTard]

Tell the truth about the 955 and crappy or lack of working motherboards and 80% customers = extremely angry about their purchases of AMD 955.

The motherboard crysis that is there where 90%+ of am3 / am2+ motherboards CAN NOT work with the 955 with bios updates before or after install and then stilled runs at barely advertised speed.

Search for amd 955 and 800mhz issues with cool&quote = off and a lot of angry buyers.

Sending my 955 and biojunk 800mhz / 960mhz overclocked board back for refund and replacing with i7c 720.
Will never again buy AMD anything even if I have to sleep with the fattest ugliest chick in town to get extra cash to buy a working i7c Intel.

Sending parts back and forth to get it working with tested by online shop and still running at 960mhz with new 1000w psu = no fun and very expensive. 3 times tested and not enough commonsense by online shop to notice the different parts and different 955's runs at 800mhz to 960mhz overclocked.

Tell the story with all the parts not just fanboy AMD as AMD is loosing lots of 955 buyers to Intel dew to supposed 5x AMD 955 actual compatible motherboards and only 2 actually works after bios updates at full spec / overclock.

Waisted 3 weeks with this lack of motherboards and tested by online shop rubish parts.