AMD announces Phenom X4 9950 Black Edition

I'm in the process of building new PC right now, went with AMD 5000 Black and motherboard to compliment it's abilities. I am no computer pro but in comparing actual performance of game or application I have seen that a 2.0 ghz or a 2.4 ghz rating from AMD runs better than the same from Intel. I am happy to see that others have seen the same, I dont know what to make of some of the "Official" independent results sometimes. I still have a 3000 Barton that does more than Intel's newer sockets, I'm all in with AMD.

Comment by KLMallender at 2:51pm 4th July 2008

It's about £150, it overclocks well and gives good comparitable performance too that of a Core 2 Duo whilst running very cool (40 load odd). It's fantastic, but yes as Mr.Lightning Pete has said, they need to start work on Deneb.

Comment by C7ouD at 1:22pm 4th July 2008

Does AMD ever just admit defeat with its phenom range? Hello? Intel announced Nahalem. Wakey Wakey

Comment by Lightning_Pete at 11:19am 4th July 2008

lol.

Comment by C7ouD at 9:14am 4th July 2008

the credit crunch is hitt n hard but NViDiA is OK for now . BUT that BIG HEEP of SH;T AMDATi has got big troubles , iNTEL is KILLING it every day and nvidia is on top at the moment for GPUs .

Comment by kingjohn721 at 11:03pm 3rd July 2008

apparently nVidia, the company endorsed by Forbes as the top company to buy AMD is in financial trouble....so they'll probably have a different shopping list now...and no summer party...and less company Amex cards...and no coffee machine...

Comment by EdArch at 9:45pm 3rd July 2008

forbes can recommend anything they want, doesn't mean it's going to happen until AMD recommend it. I'm sure people on here could name a vast array of companies who apparently have been 'looking at AMD' or 'possibly buying them'. I've heard it about nVidia on four occainsions now, samsung, sony and I'll let other people fill in the gaps. as much as it might sound good to you, nVidia probably dont want to inherit all the flak that AMD hae been having over the past year or so, and they have a 65-70% share of the GPU market so there's no real need for them to take over AMD for graphics domination. Plus, yes they may be touting for an x86 licence but if you were a cpu & gpu company, and your nearest gpu rival came up to you and said "do you awfully mind if we have a look at your x86 licence while testing you photocopier?" what would be your reaction? I just can't see AMD taking the bait on that, if any of the takeover rumours are true, it would likely be someone like samsung, who are stable financially and have no conflict of intrest or possibility of monopolising a market sector if they bought AMD. Forbes is a magazine and alot of magazines, like alot of TV 'news' shows, love to speculate and hype things up, jst like groups of women at afternoon tea parties do

Comment by EdArch at 9:31pm 3rd July 2008

What if your PC still does everything you need it too? I would be more inclined to just upgrade to a Phenom FX when they are released - that being if they are any good.

Comment by C7ouD at 3:07pm 2nd July 2008

if intel are still leading when nahalem is released then I might just move over to intel

Comment by NikoBellic at 2:43pm 2nd July 2008

I dont plan to build a new system just yet - there is no need when my system does everything I need it to!!

Comment by NikoBellic at 1:48pm 2nd July 2008

"I dont have a Core 2 because I dont want to encourage intel to keep on selling the same products for years on end"

You keep saying this, but surely you're not serious.... are you? If you are being serious and you had to build a new gaming/performance PC now would you build an AMD based system?

Comment by cjagusz at 1:11pm 2nd July 2008

I wouldn't buy an AMD CPU just because the CPU cooler is easier to install, if I was building a brand new media PC from scratch right now then I would go with an Intel CPU and an ATI 4850 due to better price performance plus the 4850 is better for media PC features and doesn't get half as hot as a GTX2x0 model GPU!

Comment by NikoBellic at 10:07am 2nd July 2008

Hi guyz. I think that amd have a long way to go for them to go bust. I don't think they will go bust until/unless the new cpus(new core design) are an absolute flop. I think t5hat they could cut all their phenom prices by half a s well. Just a thought But let's face it, in Oz they are still cheaper(x2 athlon 64) than core 2 duo. Peoplke in the uk may not give a fig, but look online(www.eyo.com.au) amds dual core are at least half the price of core 2. Alkso, in south america, etc third world, they were still holdi9ng thjeir own IThe only rwson I want to bui9ld a media box with amd is 1) the cpu coolers are WAY easier to install 2) Dual core(best performing intel) or quad core goodness are too extarvagant for 90% of pc users. My next graphics chip will probably be nvidia, but as to cpu + mobo on my meadia centre pc, it will probably be amd. I am not an amd fanboi, i will NOT buy any of the quad core until az new core design. prob 50/50 chance i will chosse amd or intel. my 2 cents

Comment by wasimsouk at 9:48am 2nd July 2008

If AMD cant catch up then I think we will never see that Dream 6Ghz QC CPU OC'd to 9Ghz, even if Intel had that sort of tech, they wouldn't need to release it because there is no competition, which means that obviously Intel may as well just get as much cash out of the core 2 series, and not everyone has a core 2 just yet... I dont have a Core 2 because I dont want to encourage intel to keep on selling the same products for years on end, Where as if they developed faster CPUs all the time for bargain Prices I would of moved to intel a long time ago!.

Comment by NikoBellic at 9:55am 2nd July 2008

actually, FORBES awarded Nvidia company of the year for 2007 based on its business performance ahead of every other company in the US. Beating such companies as Microsoft, Apple, Walmart, etc.. In the article highlighting the award, they quoted insiders saying they would look at AMD closely as a via target for expansion. Forbes went one step further and recommended it as it would change the fortunes of AMD massively. Since Nvidia are touting an x86 license through VIA recently, it kind of backs up the insiders statements of Nvidia looking at the CPU markets.

Comment by crazyceo at 9:51am 2nd July 2008

The cheaper Q6600 still gives better performance at stock speeds on Crysis. Add to this the overclocking ability of the Q6600 and I dont see the 9950 swaying the gamers away from Intel this time around.

Comment by pveater at 8:09am 2nd July 2008

to see how this chip performs on the newer nForce chipsets as well as AMD's own offerings

Comment by EdArch at 12:06am 2nd July 2008

lol the only places I've heard about nVidia buying AMD are on blogs and comment sections such as this (oh and didn't they recently shake hands and kiss with Cyrix?). Anyway, most comments on here are daft. We haven't had an official price on any of these things and people are talking about £ for £ nonsense before a proper review/comparison has surfaced. This should be a quad-core version of the X2 5000 Black Edition (which I have @3.2 more than comfortably). If the 9950 can match the 5000BE for speed and be stable, then I'll buy one, and if it's too expensive here, I'll get it from the States...simple. I know Phenom's don't do as well against Intel's in games or on PCmark, but one test where they are consistently about the same as Intel (or better) is CineBench, and because I do alot of rendering, that test gives me the performance info I need to make a purchase decision, because it relates to what I do...So...CPC...review dates???

Comment by EdArch at 11:40pm 1st July 2008

If their own PR department can't give you the right information on a launch of their new shiny CPU then what hope do we have on every other piece of BS they shout out? I'm sorry but Intel still have their boot marks all over every launch of an AMD CPU's ass! AMD really need to employ a better marketing company and get their prices right because every CPU they launch (BADLY), Intel have a better CPU for price and performance already released or in the back burner for backup. Nvidia need to get in there now and buy AMD before it implodes in it's own failure and underperformance.

Comment by crazyceo at 11:01pm 1st July 2008

I've just read a review on the 9950 and it held it's own against the intel processers,Head over to www.techspot.com/news. where they overclock the 9950 to 3.1G. It maybe the start AMD need?

Comment by jezzab at 8:38pm 1st July 2008

I've just read a review on the 9950 and it held it's own against the intel processers,Head over to www.techspot.com/news. where they overclock the 9950 to 3.1G. It maybe the start AMD need?

Comment by jezzab at 8:38pm 1st July 2008

the availability of motherboards with half useful integrated video, and the low power do make them tempting for a media pc, trouble is, with just a cheap g.card you can get a better performing intel system... guess it depends onm if you are trying to cram stuff in to a really tiny space.

Comment by NewParadigm at 8:30pm 1st July 2008

Just to clarify - AMD originally told us that the TDP of the 9950 was 125W this morning, but we've now been informed that it is indeed 140W - we've updated the story to reflect this.

Comment by hardwidge at 3:05pm 1st July 2008

personally don't care if the TDP of 140w.... i just want a mean cPU that does a good job for gaming.. over clocked or not.. dont care if it can clock to 3.6 intel knew there chips could go that far but decided too sell them at 2.6 to make us fell we are getting a better deal.. easy too do when AMD are struggling too hit the 3gig mark. AMD fanboy orginally but had too change to intel for better performance will go once AMD sort them selfs out.

Comment by dmc_dc at 2:49pm 1st July 2008

... but just not good enough vs Intel £ for £.

Comment by C7ouD at 2:29pm 1st July 2008

Theres nothing gimmicky about 65w Quad Core CPU's. For a media center AMD, with their superb integrated IGP chipsets, offer a much better solution than Intel imo.

Comment by D_Cypher at 1:35pm 1st July 2008

Yawn! Lets recognise it for what it is - marketing tosh and a few bells & whistles to help them shift a little more stock before the inevitable fire sale. It saddens me to see AMD in such a mess, but not enough for me to buy into a failing design. Come up with the goods and I'll buy AMD. Until then don't be fooled by these gimmicky releases.

Comment by Spreadie at 1:11pm 1st July 2008

I cant see this getting anywhere... I think it will only help AMD to hang onto them last few fanboys for a little longer!... Well, at least the rest of the rig will be nice... I just think that the CPU is too huge a bottleneck to have an entire AMD based System.... Although I personally feel that AMD may just do something special by sep-oct... Lets just wait and see hey!! :)

Comment by NikoBellic at 1:04pm 1st July 2008

Every other source shows the 9950 to have a TDP of 140w.... although theres also talk of a 9980, who knows. Either way what AMD desperately need is a G0-style 95-105w Black Edition that can clock to 3.6Ghz on air... although that may happen with current Phenoms if the SB700 boards are as good overclockers as the rumors say.

Comment by D_Cypher at 12:33pm 1st July 2008

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