It seems a long time ago now that AMD were the gamers choice for processors. As we know, Intel, their biggest and possibly only rival, have dominated the market with highly overclockable processors and temperatures, that only green peace would worry about! This has been the case for about 3 years now... AMD had the FX-62, that was very good back in the summer of 2006, but was soon put to sleep by the first ever Intel Quad-Core Q6600 @2.4Ghz, that followed later that year. Speeds of around 3.6Ghz and beyond were achieved, while Athlons processors would only respond to an overclock, if you spent a ridiculous amount of money on a very good cooling system. Even then, the difference in performance was not noticeable and the system was generally un-stable, as I found out!
Intel continued to produce there Quad-Core processors, raising clock speeds and bringing out there Extreme edition, to give users the chance of really testing there overclocking skills, and leave AMD eating dust. This was in the hope that people with less money would go for their cheap Dual Cores, as they lowered there prices (and still continue till this day). There core size was at a huge 90nm, while Intel were at 65nm, which mean't that Intel would produce less heat and require less voltage.
AMD eventually got there act together and released there Phenom Quad cores at 65nm, but there clock speeds (2.6 being the highest) were just to slow to even come close to Intel's now 45nm Quad Core processors. Still there processors ran too hot for an overclock, and AMD just disappeared. I thought that this was it for AMD. I mean they have finally had time to look at Intel, see what there doing and try to beat it, but no... They bring out something that just cannot even claw at Intel's slowest CPU. Just to rub salt into their wounds, earlier this year and the back end of 2008, Intel released the Core I7, which has just blown away games like Crysis, Warhead and Far Cry 2. How could AMD respond to get money flowing again, and get there name in people's mind when choosing a system?
Well they haven't to be blunt! Although, they have made a vast improvement over there last Quad Core, introducing the new Phenom II Quad Core. The first thing to say about this, is that it's core size has dropped to 45nm, which is the same as Intel, and would suggest higher speeds than before... and yes they are! They come at 2.8 Ghz x4 920, and 3.0Ghz Black Edition x4 940. They are also overclockable and stable at the same time! The Black Edition has achieved 3.6 Ghz on a good stock cooler, but has apparently reached the very dizzy heights of 6Ghz, with dry ice and liquid nitrogen... and remained stable! This is far further than any Intel, but then not all of us have dry ice, etc.
So what is this new CPU like?
Well... looking at the performance reviews, it suggests to me that this new AMD has got a good grip on Intel Core 2 Quad processors, but cant match the I7. Although, I would stress that these Phenoms are the first of many, as AMD say more are on the way, that will be faster and support DDR3 memory. I can see them... |
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