Hi everyone ,

i came across this article on www.legitreviews.com " AMD Phenom Processors Don't Have Crappy Memory Bandwidth Afterall "
Does this mean better real-world performance for Phenom than was reported earlier ?
Also can someone tell me if a 7500 phenom + 790 series MB + 3870 graphics card combo would draw more power than a q6600 + p35 + 8800gt ?

thanks in advance.

I would have thought the AMD system would draw a little less power.
I doubt there is much in it though.
I would base my comment on the fact the 3870 seems to not be a massive draw on the system.
Some guy on the Graphics forums has a 3850 (I think) running on a 360w PSU...

I'm sorry, but what does memory bandwidth of a phenom have to do with the draw of a 38xx?

He answered the second part of your question, which I agree. I'm disappointed in the power requirements of phenom. Barcelona opteron is more efficient as it comes at a lower setting of 1.7-1.8. Phenom real world performance may come closer to the q series Intel cpus, but won't match it. It's all a matter of how long amd can survive selling cpus at a loss. Intel has already delayed their new cpus for awhile, as amd can't compete with current inventory. That's bad for us. The 790 board is excellent, but very expensive.

Let stuff happen and just sit their and watch. Don't bother talking about it.

Nope. The truth is, for desktop applications (besides WinRAR), memory bandwidth hardly means anything. It means a lot more in server space, but not desktop and laptop.

This is why intel can still dominate desktop and laptop spaces, even though their memory bandwidth is limited compared to AMD.

As for power consumption, Phenom 9500 consumes roughly the same power as Q6600, but a 790FX motherboard consumes way less than a P35 (10W I think). 8800GT and 3870 consumes roughly the same power.

The 790FX northbridge may be low power, but it doesn't always show as a system based on a 790FX based Gigabyte MB in this review ended up using about the same power as a Nvidia 590 based MB.

http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/13628/12

This crops up quite often, but how exactly do you know that they are selling cpus at a loss?

The Phenom systems use more power than the Q6600.
They will be trailing significantly in 1-2 months when Intel release their new chips.

Phenom trails in clock for clock, total clock, and use more power.
Now, they just did slack the price on the current B2 with problems, but they will need to keep them
slashed with the B3s.

AMD needs to shoot for bargin bin shoppers and needs to price accordingly.

Quarterly Financial Reports are public records.

I think Phenoms a bust, but I have a good feeling 2008 will be a better year for AMD. Ive been an intel owner for quite a while, but i'm curious about what AMD has in store. :-)

If they keep it all under their hat. I think that's their best play. Don't give intel time to drop prices. Best strategy, spend the year developing, tweak and keep up midrange, then if they have a play up their sleeve, start leaking late in the year, about October, then release just in time for after thanksgiving and Christmas shopping so Intel doesn't have any time for price cuts or tweaks on their own stuff. Maybe that would get them a little quick cash.

The only reason that the 790FX chipset uses less power is due to no memory controller but with Intels new 45nm chips that gets erased. Even when running at 100% load and 3GHz the QX9650 uses roughly 20-25 watts less in the CPU area than a Phenom 9700. So even if the chipset uses 10 watts less than a P35 it wont be saved from Intels 45nm chips.