| AMD Phenom-II X4-975 BE CPU HDZ975FBGMBOX |  |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Processors | |
| Written by Hank Tolman | |
| Monday, 03 January 2011 | |
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AMD Phenom-II X4-975 BE Deneb Processor ReviewTo start off the new year right, AMD is filling in some more of their Phenom-II lineup. Two AMD CPUs set for release in early January 2011 are the Phenom-II X4-840 and the Phenom-II X4-975BE. The Phenom-II X4-975BE HDZ975FBGMBOX will become AMDs newest flagship quad-core processor. The Thuban based 6-core processors have taken AMD's top spot away from the Phenom-II X4 Deneb based series, but the quad-cores still pack a lot of performance and come at a price that is much less expensive than the Intel alternative. The Phenom-II X4-975BE comes set for release at an MSRP of $195 and at a screaming 3.6Ghz clock speed. In this article, Benchmark Reviews is putting the Phenom-II X4-975BE through its paces. It's really going to have to perform well to compete with the new Sandy Bridge platform coming out at the same time.
The Phenom-II X4-975BE comes to us as no surprise off the back of the X4-970BE and all the previous Phenom-II X4 quad-core, black edition processors. AMD is very consistent in their releasing and naming of incrementally faster CPUs. In all reality, the Phenom-II X4-975BE isn't all that different from the original Phenom-II X4-940 released back in January 2009. The Deneb die remains the same, as well as almost all the specifications of the processor. AMD also has a precedent of releasing their newest Phenom-II processors as "Black Edition" processors. The difference between a Black Edition (BE) processor and any other AMD processor is that the BE CPU has an unlocked multiplier. In the case of the Phenom-II X4-975BE, the multiplier is set to x18. Black Edition CPUs are meant for computer enthusiasts who are bent on overclocking their machines. In recent times, both AMD and Intel began locking the CPU multiplier, making it more difficult to overclock a CPU. Now, with the BE CPUs from AMD and the K series CPUs from Intel, the companies have unlocked the multipliers on some of their CPUs and, of course, charge more for these processors. With the game-changing performance expected from the upcoming Sandy Bridge release, AMD really needs to provide a quality product at a great price here with the Phenom-II X4-975BE. Until AMD comes out with its Fusion line of processors built on a smaller 32nm like the Sandy Bridge, the same old 45nm Phenom-II series will have to do. We will see in this article how the Phenom-II X4-975BE holds up against a similarly priced (and similarly unlocked) Sandy Bridge CPU.
Manufacturer: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been provided by AMD, Inc.
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Comments
CPU CPU Clock Motherboard Chipset Memory CL-RCD-RP-RAS Score
4x Core i7 920 HT 3800 MHz Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD5 v2 X58 Triple DDR3-1448 8-8-8-24 CR2
This is a Bloomfield chip.
Passmark 7
CPU Mark: 7884
Memory Mark: 3263
Street Fighter IV: 8934
x264
AVI: 84
MP4: 34
And note that although the 975BE @ 4Ghz comes close to the stock 920 in Queen, it's still about 6% slower and in Photoworxx a full 30%+ slower. That at 4Ghz the best of AMD can only muster what a now lowly 920 can do at 2.66Ghz is pretty sad.
Feel free to read my review of the Phenom-II X4-840 as well -- #benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=662&Itemid=63
965 + 300MHz OC = stock 975BE and it's the same deneb die you only going to get out of a 975BE what would be attainable from an 965 + a descent cooler