AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE | Introduction | CPU & Mainboard
AMD’s release new quad core processor!
As time has gone by, it’s become widely accepted that AMD’s 45nm processors have much to offer to a vast number of consumers. Starting from the runt of the pack, the Sempron 140 2.70GHz single core all the way to the bang per buck monster, the Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition, the CPU manufacturer has aggressively pitched their processors against the entire Intel Celeron, Pentium and Core 2 range, often with lower price tags and/or higher clock-speeds. That’s not all because there’s also a cracking selection of motherboards from £40 to around £150, most of which sporting the infamous AMD SB710/750 southbridges, which can often unlock the cores of selected CPU’s, unlock CPU Multipliers and unlock missing L3 cache. When you factor in that LGA775 will soon be as dead as a dodo and with AMD’s plans to retain the same socket for future releases at least into 2011 (according to road maps), Socket AM3 CPU’s have arguably become the #1 choice for all users barring the «extreme» performance enthusiasts.
So you’d think that after making so much progress after over two years of falling considerably short of Intel’s offerings, AMD have some scope to feel a little smug? Sadly, far from it I’m afraid. They may have Intel’s line up attended to, right up to the Core 2 Quad Q9650 with it’s Phenom II X4 955 3.20GHz Black Edition but only in a matter of weeks, there’ll be a new kid on the block who goes by the name of Lynnfield. To be more precise, Lynnfield is Intel’s mainstream variant of the existing Nehalem Core i7 but on a new socket, LGA1156. Boasting the same architecture as the number crunching LGA1366 Core i7’s, minus Triple Channel Memory, Quickpath Technology, the upcoming lineup is expected to pack a considerable punch within a smaller and less complex package which will inevitably cost the consumer considerably less. It remains to be seen how well these processors will perform and how well they will overclock but if one thing is for sure, now of all days would be the worst time for AMD to sit back with their favourite glass of single malt, watch some television then perhaps go for a nap.
After all, if one fail’s to prepare then one must prepare to fail and this is exactly what happened when the previous performance champion, the AMD Athlon 64 X2 series received a punch in the face by the well received Core 2 Duo «Conroe» core…And on that bomb shell I wish to present to you the latest addition to the Phenom II family. Meet the AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition.
| Model | Clock Speed | L2 Cache | L3 Cache | Voltage | TDP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition | 3.4GHz | 2MB | 6MB | 0.875 — 1.5v | 140w |
| Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition | 3. 2GHz |
2MB | 6MB | 0.875 — 1.5v | 125w |
| Phenom II X4 945 | 3.0GHz | 2MB | 6MB | 0.85 — 1.25V | 95w |
| Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition | 3.0GHz | 2MB | 6MB | 0.875 — 1.5v | 125w |
| Phenom II X4 920 | 2.8GHz | 2MB | 6MB | 0.875 — 1.5v | 125w |
| Phenom II X4 910 | 2.6GHz | 2MB | 6MB | 0. 875 — 1.425v |
95w |
| Phenom II X4 905e | 2.5GHz | 2MB | 6MB | 0.825 — 1.25v | 65w |
| Phenom II X4 900e | 2.4GHz | 2MB | 6MB | 0.850 — 1.25v | 65w |
| Phenom II X4 810 | 2.6GHz | 2MB | 4MB | 0.875 — 1.425v | 95w |
| Phenom II X4 805 | 2.5GHz | 2MB | 4MB | 0.875 — 1.425v | 95w |
So here it is.
Another AMD Phenom II based on the Deneb core. 6MB of unified Level 3 cache, 512kB of Level 2 Cache per core and a frisky 2000MHz on the Northbridge Clock. Aside, a 200MHz clockspeed increment, it is no different to the previous Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition. Ah, though it does have a 140W TDP, a 15W increase from the 955BE. From what I gather so far, it’s essentially the existing Phenom II with a clockspeed hike along with an increase in reference CPU Voltage to compensate for varying yields on the production line. Going by my previous experiences with overclocking AMD Phenom II processors, I would hope that this is more of a precaution rather than a requirement and that the yields of the Deneb core are improving quite nicely. All should soon be revealed when we get round to overclocking our sample.
So here’s a couple of questions that need answering. How much of a performance gain can be had from another 200MHz increment? Is this processor worth the £175 price tag? We’ll soon find out.
As usual at Overclock3D, to ensure all reviews are fair and unbiased, a standard set of hardware and software is used when ever it is possible. The systems we will be using today will consist of the following;
AMD Phenom II Systems
Processors
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 3.2GHz
AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 3.4GHz
Motherboard
Gigabyte MA770T-UD3P
Cooling
OCZ Gladiator MAX
Memory
4GB (2x2GB) DDR3-1333 Corsair Dominator
Graphics Card
NVIDIA GeForce GTX260 896MB
Hard Disk Drive
500GB Maxtor DiamondMax 22 (SATA 3Gb/s)
Power Supply
Tuniq Ensemble 1200w
Graphics Drivers
Geforce WHQL 190.38
Operating System
Windows Vista Ultimate SP2 (x64)
Intel Core I7 System
Processors
Intel Core i7 920 2.
66GHz
Motherboards
Biostar TPower X58A
Cooling
OCZ Gladiator MAX
Memory
6GB (3x2GB) DDR3-1333 Corsair Dominator
Graphics Card
NVIDIA GeForce GTX260 896MB
Hard Disk Drive
500GB Maxtor DiamondMax 22 (SATA 3Gb/s)
Power Supply
Tuniq Ensemble 1200w
Graphics Drivers
Geforce WHQL 190.38
Operating System
Windows VIsta Ultimate SP2 (x64)
Intel Core 2 Duo System
Processors
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz
Motherboards
ASUS ROG Maximus II Gene P45
Cooling
OCZ Gladiator MAX
Memory
4GB (2x2GB) DDR2-1066 Buffalo Firestix
Graphics Card
NVIDIA GeForce GTX260 896MB
Hard Disk Drive
500GB Maxtor DiamondMax 22 (SATA 3Gb/s)
Power Supply
Tuniq Ensemble 1200w
Graphics Drivers
Geforce WHQL 190.
38
Operating System
Windows VIsta Ultimate SP2 (x64)
AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE (125W)
Top specs and features
- Passmark test
- Power Consumption (TDP)
- L1 cache size
- L2 cache size
- Number of Cores
Passmark test
AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE (125W):
2692
Best indicator:
89379
Test results
AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE (125W):
287616
Best indicator:
Performance
AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE (125W):
1644
Best indicator:
Interfaces and communications
AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE (125W):
500
Best indicator:
Main characteristics
AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE (125W):
1342
Best indicator:
Description
In this case, the maximum frequency in Boost mode reaches 3.
4 Hz. 4 cores available. L1 cache size is 512 KB, L2 2.048 MB and L3 4 MB. Power consumption at peak times can reach 125W.
The maximum number of threads that AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE (125W) can work with is 4.
AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE (125W) works on the 45 nm architecture. Total number of transistors 758 million
Regarding the memory specification.
Now about AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE (125W) tests. According to PassMark, the processor scored 2692 of the possible points. After analyzing more than 4,000 processors, AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE (125W) ranked 1251 in the top rankings.
Why AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE (125W) is better than others
- L1 cache size 512 KB. This parameter is higher than that of 50% goods
- Passmark test 2692 . This parameter is lower than that of 28% goods
- Power Consumption (TDP) 125 W. This parameter is higher than that of 82% goods
- L2 cache size 2.048 MB. This parameter is lower than that of 20% goods
- Number of Cores 4 .
This parameter is lower than that of 54% goods - Number of transistors 758 million. This parameter is lower than that of 27% goods
- Technological process 45 nm. This parameter is higher than that of 67% goods
- L3 cache size 6 MB. This parameter is lower than that of 34% goods
Review AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE (125W)
Test results
Performance
Interfaces and communications
Main characteristics
Review AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE (125W): highlights
Passmark test
The PassMark test considers read speed, write speed, and seek time when testing SSD performance.
2692
max 89379
Average: 6033.5
89379
Number of threads
The more threads, the higher the performance of the processor will be, and it will be able to perform several tasks at the same time.
4
max 256
Average: 10.7
256
L1 cache size
large amount of L1 memory accelerates results in the CPU and system performance settings
512 KB
max 4608
Average: 299.
3 KB
4608 KB
L2 cache size
An L2 cache with a large amount of scratchpad memory allows you to increase the speed of the processor and the overall performance of the system.
2.048 MB
max 512
Average: 4.5 MB
512 MB
L3 cache size
A large amount of L3 memory accelerates results in the CPU and system performance settings
6 MB
max 768
Average: 16.3 MB
768 MB
Maximum processor frequency
When the processor’s speed drops below its limit, it can jump to a higher clock speed to improve performance.
3.4 GHz
max 5.7
Average: 3.2 GHz
5.7 GHz
Number of Cores
The number of cores in processors indicates the number of independent computing units that can execute tasks in parallel. More cores allow the processor to handle more tasks at once, which improves overall performance and the ability to handle multi-threaded applications.
Show more
4
max 72
Average: 5.8
72
Multiplier unlocked
Some processors have an unlocked multiplier, thanks to which they work faster and improve the quality in games and other applications.
Available
Max. the number of processors in the configuration
1
Average: 1.3
8
Socket
Connector on the motherboard for installing the processor.
AM3
Technological process
The small size of semiconductors means that this is a new generation chip.
45 nm
Average: 36.8 nm
5 nm
Number of transistors
The higher their number, the more processor power this indicates.
758 million
max 57000
Average: 1517.3 million
57000 million
Power Consumption (TDP)
The heat dissipation requirement (TDP) is the maximum amount of energy that can be dissipated by the cooling system.
The lower the TDP, the less power will be consumed.
Show more
125 W
Average: 67.6 W
0.025 W
Supports 64-bit system
64-bit system, unlike a 32-bit one, can support more than 4 GB of RAM. This increases productivity. It also allows you to run 64-bit applications.
Available
Architecture codename
Deneb
Appointment
Desktop
FAQ
How many cores does AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE (125W) have?
4 cores.
Which socket is AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE (125W)
Use AM3 to set AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE (125W).
Is AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE (125W) a 64-bit processor
Есть
What architecture does AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE (125W) use?
AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE (125W) is built on the Deneb architecture.
Is the AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE (125W) CPU multiplier unlocked?
Есть
How does the AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE (125W) processor perform in benchmarks?
According to PassMark, AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE (125W) scored 2692 points.