Phenom II X4 955: AMD's Dragon Platform Evolves
Introduction
We were frankly a little surprised when AMD introduced its Socket AM3 interface two months ago next to a handful of lower-end CPUs, especially with the Phenom II X4 940 already available on AM2+ platforms. Not that the triple-core Phenom II X3 700- and cache-hacked X4 800-series chips were snoozers or anything, but…alright, actually, they were a little dry--especially in benchmark charts comparing them to quick quad-core CPUs with all of their cache intact.
Of course, AMD’s big story back then was interoperability. You could buy any of those newer, cheaper processors and plug them right into Socket AM3 boards or older Socket AM2+ platforms employing DDR2 memory technology. Pricier DDR3 modules didn’t fit AMD’s value message as well, so the company understandably de-emphasized the importance of AM3—at least right out of the gate.
But the story has changed a little bit for AMD since then. To begin, it has a new flagship processor able to drop into the AM3 socket. It also has a new graphics solution in the Radeon HD 4890, ready to help bolster the Dragon platform’s overall performance. And there’s also an updated version of AMD Overdrive in development, now at version 3.0 and purportedly able to enhance setups employing DDR3 memory.
A Little History: Dragon, Then And Now
When AMD launched the Dragon platform in January of this year, it consisted of a Phenom II X4 processor, ATI’s Radeon HD 4800-series graphics cards, and AMD’s 7-series chipsets. More commonly, a model Dragon setup described by AMD included a Phenom II X4 940, a Radeon HD 4870, and a 790GX-based motherboard.
AMD says that every single component of Dragon has changed in the few short months since then. It’s partly correct. After all, the company’s chipset lineup hasn’t been altered and, if the component roadmap we have on hand is correct, it won’t evolve until the beginning of 2010 when 790FX gives way to RD890/SB850. Believe it or not, 790GX will march into the sunset at that point, leaving 790X/SB850 to tend to the performance market. But we're getting ahead of ourselves.
There are new Phenom II X4s to discuss—now up to model 955 and 945 (the xx5 representing Socket AM3 compatibility and differentiating from the even-numbered 920/940). Socket AM3 support, as you know, shifts the platform from DDR2 to DDR3 memory. Moreover, the Radeon HD 4890 adds what we consider to be a fairly significant price premium (although prices after rebate are down to $229 online) in the interest of boosting game performance roughly 10% versus the 4870 1GB. Perhaps a little less significant, AMD recently started shipping a new PIB heatsink that is both narrower and shorter than the previous model.
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And of course, there’s the new Overdrive application. We’ll get into that shortly. First, a little more detail on these new Phenom II X4 processors.
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inmytaxi Why call a 955 $255 plus 790GX mb $110 plus 4 gb ram $41 is $500, when it's actually $410 before shipping and rebates, which about cancel out? And that's just picking off the cheapest at newegg and not price shopping, which might knock it below $400.Reply
Not to mention the six months on the market the other set up has had to drop in price ... -
inmytaxi Of course, even at NewEgg, the i7 is still just a benny more, at $280 for the i7, $84 for 1600 6gb ram and $200 for a MB. What's, $564 before ship and rebates, knock $50 if you get the i7 at microcenter, and another $20 on real cost after nit picking out shipping and rebates ... and settle for 1333 ram ... you're within fifty bucks!!!Reply
If it wasn't for that Nvidia issue with the i7 ...
Hell, -
inmytaxi Hell, you can knock seventy off the hundred dollar price diff. with an open box motherboard for one thirty instead of twoo hundred.Reply
Nice processor, but until the price drop comes the only reason to buy it is if you're upgrading. If you're doing a clean sweep it's the i7 all the way.
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gsacks inmytaxiHell, you can knock seventy off the hundred dollar price diff. with an open box motherboard for one thirty instead of twoo hundred.Nice processor, but until the price drop comes the only reason to buy it is if you're upgrading. If you're doing a clean sweep it's the i7 all the way.Reply
Not fair. Don't compare open box prices to new prices. If you want to buy used/refurb/reconditioned/open box, then compare the prices against the same used/refurb/reconditioned/open box equivalent for the other platform. Otherwise, you are fudging your numbers.
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trevorvdw "The only standout in this clumsy console port is AMD’s Phenom II X3 720, which lags at both 1680x1050 and 1920x1200. The rest of the processors serve up reasonably close performance, per what we’ve come to expect from Grand Theft Auto 4."Reply
Yeah that whole less than 10% behind the i7 920 is totally lagging and not close in performance... who writes this drivel? -
for gamers: seriously, get the 720BE and oc it to death. then spend your money on VIDEO CARD(S)... that's what's important here!Reply