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AMD Phenom II unveiled
New 45nm Phenom II chips will be clocked at up to 3GHz, with a TDP of 125W and DDR3 memory support
After cycling through various Athlon monikers, not to mention the Phenom brand, AMD has now announced that it’s going back to the age-old sequel-naming tradition with its 45nm quad-core Phenom ‘Deneb’ chips, which will be called Phenom II X4.
AMD hasn’t made a big deal about the name, and we only came across it after spotting a single mention of it in AMD’s official release about the new 45nm Shanghai chips. The release mentions a new ‘Dragon’ platform, which we assume is going to be the equivalent of the ‘Spider’ platform when Phenom was first released. According to AMD, Dragon ‘is designed to harness the power of fusion by optimising the performance of new 45nm AMD Phenom II X4 quad-core processors with award-winning AMD 700 Series chipsets and award-winning ATI Radeon HD 4000 series graphics.’
AMD says that Dragon is currently on schedule for the first quarter of 2009, and that it will feature ‘all next-generation components in comparison to the first generation AMD “Spider” platform released in 2008.’ We don’t have all the details on Deneb yet, but we know that it will be based on the same 45nm technology as Shanghai, using immersion lithography. AMD claims that its new Shanghai Opteron chips deliver ‘up to 35 percent more performance with up to a 35 percent decrease in power consumption at idle,’ so we’re looking forward to seeing what Phenom II has to offer.
MSI has also just announced that it will be supporting the new 45nm CPUs on 20 of its AM2+ motherboards via a BIOS update, saying that ‘the upgradeable BIOS allow the previous Socket AM2+ mainboard to support the AM3 and AM2+ 45nm processors,’ which is great news in terms of socket compatibility. According to MSI, the AM3 CPUs will also add DDR3 memory support to the integrated memory controller. The company also says that the move to 45nm chips will allow AMD to clock a Phenom CPU to 3GHz, while the TDP drops from 140W to 125W. The full list of MSI’s supporting motherboards can be found here.
NOTE: The logo opposite isn’t an official AMD logo, but one we knocked up in Photoshop ourselves
Reddit | Technorati
that apparently AMD are pricing Shanghai 2.6/7GHz chips at the same current price of the Barcalona 2.3GHz chips...so hopefully the pricing for Deneb's will be similarly fashioned...
Comment by EdArch at 12:39pm 18th November 2008
I really can't see AMD being able to pitch their new desktop range on the cheap. The Phenom was very expensive on release and that was when the company share price was a lot higher than today. We also have no idea how their new range is going to perform. As to the i7 cost comparison, if you were going to build a new PC today. You would have to go with proven performance and reliability and I'm sorry but that has to exclude AMD. Just one Q6600 has made such a dent in the current AMD range that IF AMD had anything to compete with an i7, they would have shouted it from the highest rooftops. Anything else is just pure speculation. I would hold off the wish lists until we see CPC tear any of the NEW AMD range a new socket in the benchtests.
Comment by crazyceo at 1:14pm 17th November 2008
I really can't see AMD being able to pitch their new desktop range on the cheap. The Phenom was very expensive on release and that was when the company share price was a lot higher than today. We also have no idea how their new range is going to perform. As to the i7 cost comparison, if you were going to build a new PC today. You would have to go with proven performance and reliability and I'm sorry but that has to exclude AMD. Just one Q6600 has made such a dent in the current AMD range that IF AMD had anything to compete with an i7, they would have shouted it from the highest rooftops. Anything else is just pure speculation. I would hold off the wish lists until we see CPC tear any of the NEW AMD range a new socket in the benchtests.
Comment by crazyceo at 1:14pm 17th November 2008
Intel have priced the i7 at 250 odd pounds but with the new boards and ddr3 triple sets its going to be 700 pounds at least for the core of the system a current phenomx4 or core2 quad + board chip and ram weigh in at just 300 that leaves a huge 400 pound gap for AMD to aim the Phenom II at if there performance is where we think it is.
Comment by Cool_CR at 3:56pm 15th November 2008
If AMD can come in significantly cheaper than Intel my guess is that a lot of gamers will be questioning why they need to shell out for anything more than a quad core running at 3GHz, (including overclock). Even that's overkill for games at high resolutions. (And most other multi-threaded applications, particulary considering the trend for GPU's to be taking work away from CPU's in future).
Comment by Cybersciver at 1:34pm 15th November 2008
---but marketing can make a pig fly. Just about every IT company and every guy in the street is hurting so any steps to spread the upgradecosts over time must seem worth thinking about. I sure hope Deneb is a positive step forward as I have had good experiences with AMD -and I hope you are not right !
Comment by tigertop1 at 10:39pm 14th November 2008
Then expect to pay a high price for Deneb as well. With AMD making such huge losses, they cannot sell this series low. Their share price is already at it's lowest point since most can remember and even with this positive news this week, it's continued on it's downward spiral. Intel is already off the starting line again and with reviews looking as good as they are, AMD need to really come out stronger and better. Unfortunately, even by the little information we have it looks like they may just come in under the i7 in performance but probably just as expensive. I hope I am not right!
Comment by crazyceo at 10:36pm 14th November 2008
I am holding on a new build until things become a bit clearer on Intel and AMD latest offerings. Right now I am leaning to AMD because MSI for one and maybe others to come are offering BIOS updates for AM2+ mobos to support Deneb-and DDR3 -when we can afford it. If Deneb is any good it offers a whole new way to upgrade bit by bit instead of new X58 mobos,DDR3 and and pricy Corei7's all in one hefty money outlay. I hope I am right!
Comment by tigertop1 at 4:52pm 14th November 2008
Has been the bad press and benchmark/reviews on the Phenom. Cost, Performance/Overclocking and efficiency have all been hammered by Intel. One CPU in particular, the Q6600 managed to give them a kicking all by itself and wasn't Intels best performer. It does sound pretty positive on this news though but I'll hold off stating they are back as we've heard the AMD marketing machine before and wasted money on overpriced and underperforming products. CPC Benchtests would be nice, ASAP!
Comment by crazyceo at 3:20pm 14th November 2008
there's just no sb750 boards in this country. I got myself an asus M3A79-T Deluxe not long ago but was told I'd have to wait 2 months from various uk suppliers (if you can find them) so I ended up shipping it from the US and it still came to less than the UK price with shipping! daft. It's a great board too.
Comment by WoodSpoon at 12:19pm 14th November 2008
That said, I am getting 3.2 out of my 9950BE on an SB600 board (M3A32 MVP), with only a modest overvolt (and not such a good cooler). It will go further with better cooling... The Phenom II's should go much further...maybe even 3.8 to 4.0 on air? We can hope.
Comment by smartwasp at 11:06am 14th November 2008
I dont what the hell is with the lack of SB750 boards in the UK, theres a good 15-20 about in the US and even German stores have a half decent selection... It might just be that, as you say, Phenom's just aren't popular enough for the etailers to ship 'em in. :/
Comment by D_Cypher at 1:07am 14th November 2008
conceded in part the chipset was not the only problem with the top of the line 9950Black you could get around 3.2 - 3.5ghz but you would be really lucky to get more even with the the 790fx and sb750 and if i have been keeping my eye on the market there is still just Foxconn A79A- S, DFI DK790FXB-M2RSH and Asus M3A79-T Deluxe all over a hundred pounds what a choice. The AMD enthusiast overclockers market is becoming such a specialist market its not worth the motherboard manufacturers making them I hope these new chips will change that but im going for an i7 in the meantime.
Comment by Cool_CR at 11:58pm 13th November 2008
athlons said 64 on them but they supported x86/32bit and x64/64bit
Comment by NikoBellic at 11:24pm 13th November 2008
I know you have done the logo yourself, but does the 64 mean that it is only a 64 bit CPU?
Comment by AlSomething at 11:12pm 13th November 2008
see if it can match core i7 at clock, i suspect not. but anyway, the most important thing is surely the naming scheme? AMD are getting as good as nvidia at naming i see. phenom 2 X4 64 written on the logo. hmmmmmm
Comment by vulcanproject at 10:00pm 13th November 2008
I never seen any substantial benchmarks or record breakers with AMD recently.... Not even in the custompc's top 100... :/
Comment by Lightning_Pete at 8:56pm 13th November 2008
The 700 series chipsets were never the problem, it's always been the SB600 southbridge thats hampered Phenom overclocking. Reviews of 7 series motherboard with SB700/750 southbridges are far more positive. Most can get a 9850/9950 past 3Ghz no problems, even the 4Ghz mark was broken on a SB750 board. ;)
Comment by D_Cypher at 8:17pm 13th November 2008
35% thats a huge amount if they got a boost of the 35% clock for clock with the currant phenom they would be at least in the same ball park as the i7's. Good to see a cpu that will keep up with there award-winning ATI Radeon HD 4000 series graphics. Funny though award-winning AMD 700 Series chipsets is so good no good motherboard manufactures have a decent one out DFI one looks a shadow of the boards there putting out for intel maybe with some good processors in the mix they might rethink making 700 series just an after thought.
Comment by Cool_CR at 7:39pm 13th November 2008
AMD have gotten back into the competition on the graphics front, here's hoping the new Phenom does the same and doesn't follow the old one into being dubbed "Phailure" again.
Comment by Rkiver at 6:29pm 13th November 2008
All i can say is lets hope its true cause i would like another option other than nah.
Comment by nick101 at 6:07pm 13th November 2008
There were rumours on XS that Deneb can do 4.2Ghz on air, if true AMD can be quite competitive again I reckon... Combine the IPC boost, higher overclocking headroom, DDR2 and DDR3 support and drop-in compatibility to current AM2+ boards and Deneb sounds quite tasty.
Comment by D_Cypher at 5:34pm 13th November 2008
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