Benchmark Results: Media And Transcoding Apps
Our iTunes test is perhaps the most telling indicator of the effectiveness of Turbo CORE. We know that this application is not threaded, so we’d expect our 3.2 GHz Phenom II X6 1090T to ramp up to its maximum Turbo speed of 3.6 GHz.
The results, however, suggest that the 3.2 GHz part is merely matching the performance of AMD’s quad-core Phenom II X4 965. Meanwhile, everything from the sub-$200 Core i5-750 to the $1,000 Core i7-980X is able to outpace the two AMD chips.
Reiterating my previous point, Turbo CORE is compensating for the loss of clock speed resulting from AMD’s move to hexa-core computing without an accompanying die shrink. It does not look to improve performance versus the company’s previous flagship in single-threaded titles.
Of course, most media-oriented apps are not as handicapped as iTunes. MainConcept is well-threaded, so even if the X6 isn’t running as fast as the X4, it’s extra cores more than compensate, propelling the chip ahead of Intel’s quad-core Core i7-920 and -930, just behind the Core i7-975 Extreme. That’s a significant finish given the price gap between the -975, X6, and -930.
HandBrake, freely available, turns the tables even more in favor of AMD’s Thuban design. The Phenom II X6 1090T shaves more than two minutes off of the X4’s transcode, and AMD even manages to beat Core i7-975 by three seconds. Thuban can’t touch Gulftown, but again, we’re talking about the difference between a $295 and $1,000 processor here.
In the threaded DivX test, Phenom II X6 1090T again outperforms Intel’s quad-core Core i7-975, losing out only to Intel’s Core i7-980X. The Xvid routine isn’t threaded, though, and AMD’s X6 succumbs to the faster-clocked X4 part. The competition from Intel doesn’t do as well here.
It’s also interesting to note that, despite the fact that Intel’s six-core Gulftown part is bugged in Xvid, AMD’s six-core contender does not suffer from the same problem, and manages to complete the test without seizing up.
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Awesome, good thing I waited for this release, hello six cores (first post)!
My 4 core Core2Quad @ 2.83 is still working everything great, so I won't be upgrading. Nice to see the price for 6 cores is very reasonable though!
This maaayy just be my "conspiracy theory" but please also test nvidia cards with the processors. Not flacking AMD or anything but there could possibly be optimizations and "reverse optimizations" for the processors.
I just cant remember tom's last review that had an nvidia card with an AMD processor.
Lol I was just into the hype at that last post, I didn't even start to read the review, now I think I'll just go back to the Phenom II X4, ah well lol
Finally this article comes out. I've been waiting since the morning for this. Lol but anyway, good read.
Got some GTX 480 numbers in there as well txt, and the results weren't much prettier.
Being that I have seemed to changed my use of my pc more toward video editing than gaming I am definitely selling off my Q9550 and going with the AMD X6. I still game some but don't care to have the cutting edge video card atm so this is perfect for me. I'm buying from AMD for my next cpu! Way to go AMD! I still have another Q9550 system so don't think I'm an AMD fan boy but I do love it when AMD gives such a great value for such a great product. Everyone should...
You know, AMD can make a 48core CPU, but if it performs worse than Intel's 4 core, than it does not matter that it costs only as much as Intel's 4 core.
In this case, it does not perform better than i7-920, even though the 920 is a 4 core cpu (and no, no one really runs it at 2.66, everyone pushes it at least to 3, since it takes nothing to get it to that speed, and it right away outperforms AMD's 6 core, and has a much better memory throughput).
Is the X6 1090T not oc'able at all? It would seem there should be some headroom for overclock to some degree. Starting out at 3.2g makes me think you should be able to get fairly close to 4.0.
Is the X6 1090T not oc'able at all? It would seem there should be some headroom for overclock to some degree. Starting out at 3.2g makes me think you should be able to get fairly close to 4.0.
I was able to hit 3.7 with Turbo CORE enabled fairly easily. It might go higher, but I'd argue this probably isn't as much of an overclocking chip as a 965 might be.
Great. Six cores for under $200, and I don't have to change my mobo and memory cards. Can't go wrong with that!
Where can I sign up to buy this thing NOW. It looks good considering the price. 6 cores is better than 4 IMHO.
Good to hear they're getting back into the performance market and still focusing on value.
Great. Six cores for under $200, and I don't have to change my mobo and memory cards. Can't go wrong with that!
Actually it's under 300$, but still really affordable
So, my understanding the only ocing you can do is with turbocore? 2 cores or less are working to hit the 3.7? If this is so, this is a little disappointing but as I said for video editing, 6 cores even at 3.2 sounds sweet to me. Thanks for the review and the replies! Nice job!
I remember we did have few articles here talking about what happen when there are multiple programs running at the same time (which I belive is closer to the reality). Will 6-core system look better when there are 2-3 program running at the same time?
Like playing games while having handbreak and antivirus running at the same time.
GRRR
I think you should add Bad Company 2 to the benchmarks.
I think you should add Bad Company 2 to the benchmarks.
I can see why you would but do you realize the time this would take to do everyones favorite game? Not a reasonable thing to do...