AMD 45nm CPU naming scheme changed

AMD will begin to optimize their naming scheme for their 45nm CPU: they will keep Phenom X4/X3 brand, but numbers after it will have five digits.

Sources mentioned that the name of two 45nm CPU this year will be Phenom X4 20550 and Phenom X4 20350, with their AM2+ and DDR2 support, these two 45nm Deneb CPU are only available for a short period (last order at 09Q2), for AM2+ mobo users to update AMD’s latest CPU.

In 2009 Q1 and Q2, all Deneb CPU will shift to AM3, supports DDR3. also in 09Q1 Propus will show up, they will become Phenom X4 16×00. 45nm triple core CPU Heka and Rana will become Phenom X3 14×00 and Phenom X3 12×00.

Later on, in Q2, AMD is expecting to introduce a 3.0 GHz Phenom X4 and three Phenom X3s codename Heka. The processors' prices have yet to be determined but hopefully they'll be low enough to heat up the CPU price war with Intel.

AMD Phenom X4 9950 & 9350e Review -part 4-

Pricing:

AMD has released official pricing, but what we see now on the net is a bit high. The Phenom X4 9950 initially comes in at $235 taking over the spot from the 9850. In a week however pricing will drop to about $205. With the Core 2 Quad Q9300 at $270 that looks like favorable pricing. With this move the 9850 will become a non Black Edition part, but AMD expects it to continue as a Black Edition for some time until later this year.

The 9150E and 9350E are priced at $175 and $195 respectively. You pay the premium for the lower power consumption here. Currently we have found these CPUs below.

Phenom X4 9950 Black Edition
Buy.com $300.99 free shipping

Phenom X4 9150
PC Nation $223.48 free shipping

We were not able to dig up pricing on the 9350, but as of right now things are at first availability costs, and should come down soon.

Conclusion:

This is a much needed booster shot to the Phenom line which doesn't solve AMD's overall problem with performance but provides great value and excellent power consumption levels. Thanks to ATI's amazing chipset in the 780G with already very low power requirements and that of the Phenom X4 9150e or 9350e you have one heck of an HTPC machine with low power consumption and heat. This is very alluring and AMD is clearly on top currently with Intel and Nvidia when it comes to IGP. The 9950 is a good boost if a small one but does yield easily the best Phenom overclock we've seen yet going all the way up to 3.2GHz stable, beating the 9850BE overclock by 300MHz so it definitely is a great chip too. The problem is it isn't good enough, and although a good deal at $235 compared to the Q9300 $275 or so AMD needs to come back strong with the next architecture. There is already talk of 45nm falling behind and that is already a fairly large blunder. Intel will probably charge a fortune for Nehalem but AMD wins a clear winner with their next new architecture, enough at least to match Intel's bottom line parts. ATI is doing great so far with their mid-range target strategy, which actually isn't that mid-range since it clobbers the GTX 260. Intel is a much larger competitor than Nvidia but hopefully some of that magic can rub off.



Phenom 9350e Score: 95%

Phenom 9950 Score: 91%

AMD Phenom X4 9950 & 9350e Review -part 2-

We used Asus' Crosshair II Formula 780a motherboard for overclocking using the Zero Therm NV120. Not adjusting the voltage we were able to hit 3GHz stable, a new high for Phenoms, but adjusting the voltage to 1.425v we were able to hit 3.2GHz stable and reach 3.3GHz though it blue screened in 3DMark. This was a 600MHz stable overclock, the best yet for AMD's Phenom.

Trying to overclock the low wattage 9350e didn't fair as well moving only from 2GHz to 2.34GHz despite increasing the voltage heavily.

Here's our current test system.

Mother Board	Asus Crosshair II Formula
CPU	Various
Video Card	Asus 9600 GT Top
Memory	Corsair XMS Dominator 2GB
Hard	Western Digital Raptor
=Case	Tsunami Thermaltake
Display	Samsung 20" LCD Westinghouse W4207

Our test OS was Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 with nForce driver revisions 175.19 and chipset driver revision of 18.11. V-sync was disabled for graphic tests.

For our games testing we used lower graphic settings in order to stress the processor and relieve the graphics card from being the bottleneck.

UT3 shows the 9950 as a great competitor with the more expensive Intel Q9300.

Unsurprisingly the 9950 isn't too far from the 9850 in Crysis. The Intel Q9300 comes out on top here.

Not too many shocks here in 3DMark 2006 but the 9950 does over 100 points more than the 9850.

Phenom X4 9950 Black Edition only $205

The Phenom X4 9950 BE for $205. Just when you thought it couldn't get any cheaper, it has. The Phenom X4 9600 Black Edition is $134.99 with code EMCAHBABH .That is super cheap. Here are some other good deals. AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ Windsor 3.2GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM2 125W Dual-Core Processor - Retail Newegg $129.99 with code EMCAHBABG free shipping

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Brisbane 2.5GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail Newegg $58.99 free shipping

AMD Phenom X4 9350e and 9950

Technically, the trio of new processors from AMD are pretty much the same: they have the same core, and similar feature sets. But while the 9950 Black Edition is a 140W, 2.6GHz overclockable monster (the most power-hungry Phenom AMD has made) the 9350 (2GHz) and 9150 (1.8GHz) are selectively binned and draw just 65W TDP. This makes them the most "power friendly" quadcore processors there are. The 9950 will cost $235 and at HotHardware.com they think it compares with Intel's Core 2 Quad Q6600. While the 9350 and 9150 will cost $195 and $175 respectively, meaning that "eco-friendliness" won't save you many dollars in the chip price, but will cost you a chunk of clock speed. [gizmodo via HotHardware ]

Specifications and Features

Model / Processor Frequency:	AMD Phenom Processor Model X4 9950, 9350e, 9150e / 2.6GHz, 2.0GHz, 1.8GHz
L1 Cache Sizes:	64K of L1 instruction and 64K of L1 data cache per core (512KB total L1 per processor)
L2 Cache Sizes:	512KB of L2 data cache per core (2MB total L2 per processor)
L3 Cache Size:	2MB (shared)
Memory Controller Type:	Integrated 128-bit wide memory controller, capable of being configured for dual 64-bit channels for simultaneous read/writes
Memory Controller Frequency:	Up to 1.6GHz - 2.0GHz with Dual Dynamic Power Management
Types of Memory:	Support for unregistered DIMMs up to PC2 8500 (DDR2-1066MHz)
HyperTransport 3.0:	One 16-bit/16-bit link @ 3200MHz to 3600MHz full duplex
Total Processor Bandwidth:	Up to 33.1 GB/s bandwidth (9950), 31,5GB/s (9350e), 29.9GB/s (9150e)
Packaging:	Socket AM2+ 940-pin organic micro pin grid array (micro-PGA) (backward compatible with Socket AM2)
Fab location:	AMD's Fab 36 wafer fabrication facilities in Dresden, Germany
Process Technology:	65nm (.065-micron) DSL Silicon on Insulator (SOI)
Approximate Transistor count:	approx. 450 million (65nm)
Approximate Die Size:	285 mm2 (65nm)
Nominal Voltage:	1.05-1.3 Volts (9950), 1.0-1.125v (9150e, 9350e)
Max Ambient Case Temp:	61 degress (9950) 70 degrees (9350e, 9150e) Celsius
Max TDP:	140 Watts (9950), 65 Watts (9350e, 9150e)
ACP:	*to be announced after launch
Future Memory Controller Note:	Future 45nm processors versions are planned to include support for DDR3 memory

AMD increase the performance of Phenom

Taipei (Taiwan) - AMD has pulled a rabbit out of its hat to increase the performance of its existing Phenom triple-core (8000-series) and quad-core (9000-series) processors. Six “hidden pins” on the processors and chipsets are the secret, which, our sources told us, will enable simple overclocking through the southbridge – and accelerate the current processors on demand.

The name of the game is called “unlocking the multiplier”, which will be played with the SB700 and SB750 southbridge chips. If you are running an upcoming 2.8 GHz Black Edition CPU, a motherboard with the old SB600 model (RD690) will keep the processor cores operating at 2.8 GHz. However, if you have a motherboard with the SB700 chipset, you will receive a free upgrade to 3.0 GHz. And if you get a motherboard with a SB750 chip, your processor will run at 3.2 GHz, which matches the clock speed of the Athlon X2 6400+ - the highest clocked processor AMD ever offerred.

We have seen motherboards with 780G, 790FX and 790GX chipsets in ATX and mATX form factors, which all support this feature. Now it is up to AMD to execute and deliver a compelling user processor.

The actual overclocking is done either through the BIOS, a utility, or simply by pressing a physical button on certain motherboards. The release date of this technology is unknown, but we know that it will be available in time for the 790GX launch.

There you have it: An overclocking feature for AMD CPUs. It just does not get any more better than this. Now we just need to know how this overclocking feature will compare to Intel’s processors, how power consumption and heat dissipation will be affected and what that all means for AMD’s balanced platform marketing pitch.

(Source: Theo Valich - TGDaily.com)

Gigabyte offers Phenom 9950 support via new BIOS updates

Asus apologizing Taiwanese company, Gigabyte has released a few new BIOS versions to make its AMD 790FX boards, the GA-MA790FX-DQ6 and GA-MA790FX-DS5 ready for the release of the Phenom 9950. Although AMD has kept pretty quiet about the CPU and its release, the Phenom 9950, which will be clocked at 2.6 GHz, (or 2.66 GHz) is expected to arrive in Q3 and show people that a TDP of 140W is very doable.

Last month Asus has also announced a full line-up of boards supporting the Phenom 9950.