AMD CPUs: Phenom II X4 980 BE And X6 1100T
The allure of AMD's Phenom II is that it facilitates a lot of cores at a (relatively) low price. The article AMD Phenom II X6 1090T And 890FX Platform Review: Hello, Leo contains all the information about its architecture and performance. The six-core Phenom II X6 and the less expensive quad-core Phenom II X4 are the most relevant to our discussion here.
AMD puts 256 KB of L2 cache in each core, and 6 MB of shared L3 cache per CPU in its highest-end Phenom II processors. Those same models get 125 watt TDP ratings, which is hardly a surprise given their aggressive clocks and aging 45 nm lithograph node. On paper, at least, the FX's architecture has the potential to deliver energy savings. Bulldozer incorporates a number of power-reducing features and it leverages a more advanced 32 nm process. That potential bears out in the fact that AMD does offer 95 W versions of the multiplier-unlocked FX.