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.

AMD PHENOM X4 9950 BLACK EDITION

The processor phenom X4 9950 (2.6 GHz) with TDP level not more than 140 W will be release in the usual version with the limited multiplier. According to the last reference , this processor will be presented in the fourth quarter of the present year. Motherboards producers already declared about the readiness of their products for work with socket AM2+ processor , which have the heat emission level of approximately 140 W. Besides Asus and Gigabyte, we can also note MSI company. The processor phenom X4 with 2.6 GHz frequency can appear earlier than the fourth quarter. References about the processor phenom X4 9950 Black edition are already prescribed in some stores. Data about the TDP value differ.

Since AMD cannot propose the models series phenom FX only after passage on 45 NM technical process, temporary their place will be occupied by the black edition processor, which possesses the more attractive price. According to some data, this processor will be released in first July, moreover in the 140- watt version. Version with the lowered to 125 W TDP level will appear later (Q4 2008). The price of processor in parties from 1000 pieces will be $235. AMD Will simultaneously release the four core economical processors phenom X3 9350e (2.0 GHz) and Phenom X3 9150e (1.9 GHz) with TDP level is not more than 65 W. Their wholesale cost will be equal to $195 and $175 respectively. The prices of existing processors will be also lowered .