Six-core AMD processor is in fact no innovation. The company has already been shipping their six-core CPUs also known as Istanbul to the server and workstation market.
However, it has never prevented anyone interested from using these processors in desktops, which we have already discussed in detail here. Now CPUs similar to Istanbul have finally officially arrived into the desktop segment. It is quite obvious why AMD decided to release a six-core desktop processor only now. Now, it is not because of the introduction of the new manufacturing process. The thing is that the 45 nm technological process this company uses for manufacturing of their contemporary processors has matured enough to ensure that the production cost of relatively large six-core semiconductor dies allows the CPUs based on them to be priced acceptably for individual end-users.
Nevertheless, Phenom II X6 processors are based on a completely fully-functional monolithic semiconductor die measuring mm2 in size, which is exactly the same as server Opteron and processors. Of course, the number of HyperTransport busses in six-core Thuban processor has been cut down to one and the memory controller has been modified to support unbuffered memory DIMMs, but these are minor and insignificant changes.
At the same time I can say that Thuban is a direct successor to quad-core Deneb processors that simply acquired two additional cores. All shared units in Thuban, such as the memory controller or the HyperTransport bus are exactly the same as those in quad-core Phenom II X4 processors. Even the shared L3 cache memory remained the same: 6 MB. AMD keeps sticking to their platform continuity principles.
The only thing you might need to ensure that new processors work properly in the existing mainboards is a BIOS update. At the same time AMD prepared a much unexpected surprise for their loyal fans.
Phenom II X6 clock frequencies will reach 3. This produced six-core processors with relatively high clock frequency, but still the same W TDP. I would like to remind you that Turbo Boost technology implemented in Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors implies that their clock frequency increases when not all the CPU cores are loaded with work.
AMD had nothing to offer as an alternative to Turbo Boost until today, but they have finally found a way to strike back in their new six-core processors.
Phenom II X6 processors do not have any special units that would control the frequency, monitor processor temperature and their current levels interactively. In terms of microarchitecture, new six-core AMD processors are barely any different from their predecessors. In other words, AMD Phenom II X6 processors decide if they want to increase the clock frequency basing on only one single factor: the number of utilized processor cores. Besides, to ensure stability at higher clock speeds, the processor Vcore is also increased by 0.
Other models will be announced a little later, within the next few months. Just according to the theoretical explanations, when 4 or more cores are loaded with work, they all work at 3. But as soon as the number of utilized processor cores goes down to 3, the clock frequency multiplier gets automatically increased and the clock frequency rises to 3.
Although quad-core Phenom II X4 launched last August works at higher nominal clock frequency of 3. To illustrate this statement we compared the performance of Phenom II X6 T and Phenom II X4 processors in Fritz Chess Benchmark, when different number of computational threads are involved into task processing.
It is the change of the clock frequency that explains why the six-core processor gains less performance when it switches from using three computational threads to using four threads. The performance gain is significantly higher in all other cases. But as we have already indicated above, higher power consumption is the price you have to pay for higher performance under partial operational load.
And these are not just words. We used LinX 0. We manually limited the number of computational threads to create and measured the processor power consumption along the 12 V power line. If one, two or three processor cores out of six are in fact loaded with work, Turbo CORE technology increases the total processor power consumption by W.
As a result, Phenom II X6 T processor with enabled Turbo CORE technology consumes about the same amount of power as it would if five cores out of six were in fact working full throttle. This serious increase in power consumption is obviously caused by the Vcore increase that occurs when Turbo mode kicks in. However, we should keep in mind that the developers of this technology had very limited resources, because Turbo CORE should be fully compatible with the existing Socket AM3 platforms.
Since this processor is targeted for computer enthusiasts and overclockers, it allows traditional overclocking by multiplier as well as more flexible configuring of the Turbo mode. In the BIOS Setup there appears a special option for manual adjustment of the processor clock frequency multiplier used during Turbo mode activation, right next to the option for adjustment of the regular processor multiplier. Besides, there will also be quad-core processor based on the same Thuban with two cores disabled.
We are going to compare new six-core AMD processors against dual- and quad-core competitor CPUs from the same price range. For your reference, we also included the results for the new six-core Intel Core iX processor, which is undoubtedly a much faster solution. Moreover, the diagrams will also show the performance numbers for the top quad-core AMD processor, which will be replaced eventually by Phenom II X6 in the mainstream price segment. As a result, we ended up with the following hardware and software components for our testbeds:.
The thing is that far not all applications can split the load in six equal threads and that has a serious effect on the results in this case. At the same time, Phenom II X6 processors perform pretty well in applications working with video content. Today we can only once again confirm the same conclusion: at this time games obviously have no use for six-core Phenom II X6 processors.
In other words, Intel quad-core processor seem to be the best choice for gaming these days, because their microarchitecture is best suited for the type of load created during contemporary gameplay. And it means that in reality the major bottleneck of the contemporary gaming system will be not the CPU but the graphics accelerator, which should be picked out very thoroughly for this reason. Therefore, it becomes an excellent test for processors working in Turbo mode, which is now supported not only by Intel processors but also by CPUs from AMD.
The processor test from, the 3DMark Vantage suite splits the load into parallel threads according to the number of available processor cores. The best they can do is to outperform the quad-core Core i As for Core i7 processors that have not only four physical cores but also four virtual ones due to Hyper-Threading technology, they prove to be much faster.
Now that we have measured Phenom II X6 performance in several popular applications we can draw a very sad conclusion that new six-core AMD processors can only compete successfully against quad-core competitor solutions that do not support Hyper-Threading technology. As for Core i7 processors, which do support this technology, they will be faster in most cases. However, it is not always the case.
There are a number of tasks where new AMD processors do really well. These are the tasks dealing with video processing and transcoding. This is where Phenom II X6 look way better than in all other cases, they even run faster than Core i or Core i So if you work with media content a lot, we would strongly recommend you to consider the new AMD processors.
This results from certain improvements in the utilized production process, as well as from the introduction of the new processor stepping. However, it is hard to believe that 1. Therefore, in order to get a more detailed picture we performed some power consumption tests. In this case we do not take into account the efficiency of the PSU itself.
During our tests we used bit LinX 0. We see the same exact picture under heavy load. However, LGA platforms still outperform them in this respect. Unlike Intel, AMD decided not to involve more advanced manufacturing process for the production of their new processors.
I would like to remind you that this processor boasts an unlocked clock frequency multiplier, which allows increasing its clock frequency fairly easily.
Turbo CORE technology was disabled during our overclocking tests. First of all we decided to check how far we could push the frequency of our six-core Phenom II X6 T at its default Vcore.
Practical tests showed that the system remained stable at 3. Are you an E-Blast Insider? Get Educated. Used - Like New This means that the product has been opened, possibly used but is in perfect condition with no signs of cosmetic or functional defect. Product may includes warranty, and accessories found with the original product. Product may or may not be in the original packaging. Returned items with minor packaging defects fall under this category. See more " am3 processor ".
AMD64 with Direct Connect Architecture and 45nm technology has created a tuned processing pipeline that helps keep your system performing at the highest levels. HyperTransport technology provides up to Energy efficiency is important to AMD, allowing you to enjoy a cool, quiet PC while saving energy and reducing heat, noise and the effect of your computer on the environment. These technologies reduce power consumption by balancing the processor activity.
You can run virtual environments on one system with ease, allowing you to use legacy programs on a separate operating system. Six-Core Processor with Unlocked Multiplier With the power of six processor cores on a single chip, the AMD Phenom II X6 T BE processor delivers industry-leading multitasking performance with each core having its own L2 cache memory and ability to quickly share data among cores utilizing the L3 cache. Its multiplier is fully unlocked for easy overclocking.
0コメント