Phenom II AM3 Processors: The New Best Value In CPUs

In January, AMD unveiled its new Phenom II processors. AMD has boasted that they would be faster, more efficient, and a better value than previous Phenom processors, and they were correct on all accounts. The Phenom II is still a fair bit behind Intel's Core i7, but the Phenom II is priced to compete with the dying Core 2 Quad architecture, not the Core i7. And against Core 2 Quads, the new AMD processors provided to have staying power, posting similar performance numbers and slightly better prices.

The two original Phenom II processors were the 920 and the 940, running at 2.8Ghz and 3.0Ghz respectively. These two processors were both AM2+ processors, however, which means they were not built to take advantage of AMD's new AM3 socket architecture. AMD was quick to bring AM3 processors to the market, however, and in mid February launched five AM3 processors. This put hardware review sites in the unusual position of writing a Phenom II processor review - and then writing another Phenom II processor review only a month later.

The five new AM3 processors consist of two triple-core models and three quad-core models. The triple core models are the 2.6Ghz X3 710 and the 2.8Ghz X3 720 Black Edition, while the quad-core lineup consists of the 2.5Ghz X4 805, the 2.6Ghz X4 810, and the 2.6Ghz X4 910. The X3 710 and X3 720 are similar, but the 720 offers a slightly higher clock speed and an unlocked multiplier, which is great for enthusiasts interested in overclocking. The quad-core models are all similar as well, but the X4 910 has a larger cache, which is why it is considered to be a higher-performance part than the X4 810, which has an identical clock speed.

Because the latest batch of Phenom II processors use the AM3 socket, there are some notable differences between them and the previously released 920 and 940 quad-cores. The biggest difference is that the new socket AM3 processors support DDR3 memory. The use of DDR3 memory is not going to substantially increased the performance of an AM3 processor when compared to an AM3 processor paired with DDR2 RAM, but it is an appropriate feature to have on any new architecture. DDR3 offers both better performance lower power consumption. It is a particularly attractive feature now that DDR3 prices have taken a nose-dive. Besides that, the new socket AM3 Phenom II processors also have a faster Hypertransport route, faster L3 cache, and a faster memory controller, all of which run at 2Ghz. This is a very minor improvement, but it is still nice to have.