AMD Phenom II 920 & 940 Full Review

[qurious63ss]

phenom 2 can do better i have seen it with my own eyes. and i know that it has the function of being overclocked as well which is why im wondering how it can be called a full review. its funny all the things that phenom II should be better at haven't been posted in this review. pricing, how well it overclocks, and power consumption. instead all we are seeing is benchmarks that don't even matter and how a cpu performs on that.

If you've seen it running can you provide any details?

[Morais]

You sound as if you were raped by AMD, which is of course besides a ridiculous thing to say, theoretically impossible.
You still sound like it though.

Someone sig this, fast!

[qurious63ss]

You sound as if you were raped by AMD, which is of course besides a ridiculous thing to say, theoretically impossible.
You still sound like it though.

Maybe he bought a lot shares when the stock was over $40. Almost the same as a raping.

[Donnie27]

Maybe he bought a lot shares when the stock was over $40. Almost the same as a raping.

Sig it Quick!

[SetteUltras]

phenom 2 can do better i have seen it with my own eyes. and i know that it has the function of being overclocked as well which is why im wondering how it can be called a full review. its funny all the things that phenom II should be better at haven't been posted in this review. pricing, how well it overclocks, and power consumption. instead all we are seeing is benchmarks that don't even matter and how a cpu performs on that.

Actually i am not the kind of person who posts on forums 100 posts per day, neither a fanboy of any company. Though i do try to explain to u a couple of things, because i know that those guys made the test are trustworthy simple users like most of us. So
1)the cpu was bought from local store. Not picked out of 1000 nor gifted by any company
2)All tests on all cpu's made from scratch. No previous records/setups used.
3)Because of #2, cpus tested at stock settings since a complete full extensive review needed more time. Though, as the they mentioned, part 2 with clock to clock o/c comparison will soon follow probably including power consumption.
4)As for the prices, they do mention that in last page, it 's written in Greek so i guess you could not read it, but u should try the translator.

Finally, if you have seen with your own eyes that ph2@stock can do better feel free to post in this thread your scores so we can see it too. Either now or the following weeks.

Regards.

[Leeghoofd]

Look i told you what i think about "benches" you used.They are lame and not representing real world apps(apart games and newly added x264 HD encoding Benchmark). Call it "Full preview in synthetic non real world applications" or something similar.

I think you saw reviews of another planet... if you even had the slightest idea how boring it is to watch all them gamedemos, benches,... To rerun them 3-5 times to obtain an average result... if the numbers don't please ya plz don't post anymore as it's getting very annoying what you and some other are trying to force here...

I find it a very objective review and it's one of the first too. It seems the guys are still working hard on the review and are adding results all the time. so it's not done yet !!!

Maybe it doesn't include all the applications you run. But feel free to link me to a website that does all your stuff in their reviews... people want to see what they are known to see... 3dmarks, Superpi's, games,... boring for you ? I think your stuff is even more boring even though they are your real world apps...

The review shows clearly the weaknesses and the strengths to me of the New Phenom II@stock... Is PII overhyped : yep it is to me. AMD's for sure is on the way back CPU wise, but not in a brutal way as some would have hoped (like they did with the GPU's...)

PhenomII is a decent CPU, is it a revolution ? Nope it's a nice evolution...but nothing earthshattering...If you don't see that too bad... it's a good upgrade for most AM2 users, can it compete with I7 ? ( as this seem to be the CPU of interest for most flamers here)... hardly think so... but it will extend the life cycle of AM2 socket for current AMD users which is a very good thing.

And don't repeat a zillion times how expensive I7 is... the i920 retails a tiny bit higher as your beloved PII 940 here... just the mobo and ram are more expensive ( this is if you like triple channel kits) What will you do with AM3 ? As you will have to use the same DDR3 modules as we are using now on socket 775 or I7 platform...I can buy a decent 4GB PC12800C9 kit for 120 euro's, I7 mobo's are retailing around 220 euro's...

Only thing that keeps me from moving to I7 is the heatoutput when doing 4Ghz ops...I'll await Bulldozer or the I7 die shrink...PII it will not be... unless to mess around with it

Give the HWbox guys some time to complete the review and add some more stuff instead of being so rude and ungratefull...

I really hope the AMD fanboys will get some "real" numbers from other sites, that are being referred to as more "reliable" or let's just say that they publish results that PLEASE you...

Good job Team Hwbox !! Plz add some more games and then finally the OC'ing and thermal/consumption part...

Nuff said...

[roofsniper]

Finally, if you have seen with your own eyes that ph2@stock can do better feel free to post in this thread your scores so we can see it too. Either now or the following weeks.

Regards.

i have nothing to post right now as i have never had one for my own use. if i am lucky tho i should have one in a few days. i will post my results then.

[Leeghoofd]

So where have you seen them magical numbers then ? a press meet ? Youtube ? At stock these results seems correct, maybe once OC'ed that it will get a nice boost but that apparently will be added later in their review...

[sundancerx]

I think you saw reviews of another planet... if you even had the slightest idea how boring it is to watch all them gamedemos, benches,... To rerun them 3-5 times to obtain an average result... if the numbers don't please ya plz don't post anymore as it's getting very annoying what you and some other are trying to force here...

I find it a very objective review and it's one of the first too. It seems the guys are still working hard on the review and are adding results all the time. so it's not done yet !!!

Maybe it doesn't include all the applications you run. But feel free to link me to a website that does all your stuff in their reviews... people want to see what they are known to see... 3dmarks, Superpi's, games,... boring for you ? I think your stuff is even more boring even though they are your real world apps...

The review shows clearly the weaknesses and the strengths to me of the New Phenom II@stock... Is PII overhyped : yep it is to me. AMD's for sure is on the way back CPU wise, but not in a brutal way as some would have hoped (like they did with the GPU's...)

PhenomII is a decent CPU, is it a revolution ? Nope it's a nice evolution...but nothing earthshattering...If you don't see that too bad... it's a good upgrade for most AM2 users, can it compete with I7 ? ( as this seem to be the CPU of interest for most flamers here)... hardly think so... but it will extend the life cycle of AM2 socket for current AMD users which is a very good thing.

And don't repeat a zillion times how expensive I7 is... the i920 retails a tiny bit higher as your beloved PII 940 here... just the mobo and ram are more expensive ( this is if you like triple channel kits) What will you do with AM3 ? As you will have to use the same DDR3 modules as we are using now on socket 775 or I7 platform...I can buy a decent 4GB PC12800C9 kit for 120 euro's, I7 mobo's are retailing around 220 euro's...

Only thing that keeps me from moving to I7 is the heatoutput when doing 4Ghz ops...I'll await Bulldozer or the I7 die shrink...PII it will not be... unless to mess around with it

Give the HWbox guys some time to complete the review and add some more stuff instead of being so rude and ungratefull...

I really hope the AMD fanboys will get some "real" numbers from other sites, that are being referred to as more "reliable" or let's just say that they publish results that PLEASE you...

Good job Team Hwbox !! Plz add some more games and then finally the OC'ing and thermal/consumption part...

Nuff said...

+ 111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
very good post!!!
yeah clock to clock comparison at say 3.2-3.4 (on air@stock cooler if possible) to see performance scaling (with corresponding temp/system wattage). more games pls.

[gosh]

lol Thats the new AMD fan cry, Benchmarks stopped mattering when AMD stopped winning and now the only important thing is gpu limited gaming benches, You could not make it up. Apparently The only important thing for a cpu now is running games on single gpu systems.

The best gaming CPU is the one that can handle the load when the game is working hard. All games differs in how much CPU power they need depending on what happens in the game. If the game is in a actions scene then physics, fights etc makes the processor work much harder, process more memory and there is where you need capacity from the CPU.
By using a slow video card or higher resolution it is possible to filter away fps numbers in the higher areas (the video card will cut the high fps values) because those aren't important for game play anyway (the game will slow down on the lower areas). The older Phenom was good if you did this filtering but it was rather hard to filter values in right areas. If the video card is to slow that will bottleneck the game all the time and then you don't see the lower fps areas.
Phenom II has make it easier to see the lower areas where it is strong, the margin is wider because it is good (better compared to Phenom) on areas where there is little action, maybe only one core need's to work and most data needed can be handled by the big L2 cache on Core 2 processors.
Making the filter more narrow (higher resolution and/or slower video card) will increase the lead from Phenom II if the test shows this behavior, of course it depends on how the game works. Single threaded games that doesn't use much data will probably get best performance for a high clocked C2D.

Testing average fps has the effect of counting frames from different areas in the game

[sundancerx]

in about an hour or so we will add X264 enconding comparison between

Q6600,Q9450,Q9550,i7 920 , pii 920 + 940

can you add few more games review?

[OverClocker_gr]

+ 111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
very good post!!!
yeah clock to clock comparison at say 3.2-3.4 (on air@stock cooler if possible) to see performance scaling (with corresponding temp/system wattage). more games pls.

the clock to clock comparison is set to be @ 3.1.
If i have enough time i will rerun them @ 3.7.

The power consumption is sthing easy.

About the temps,there is no program to read from the diode to support deneb.

So i think you dont want to see temps from a mobo prog(call me asus probe etc)

[Manicdan]

what i wish to see, which is probably not gonna happen, is benchies compared to an overclocked 9950 BE at 2.8 and 3.0 to see how it stacks up to the PII.
then to really get my attention, do a max oc of both a 9950 and 940 and compare them to each other. then when the price is available divide score/price to see how fairly the performance to price ratio can be with either system.

i really dont care to see much competition across brands, unless its showing the programs i use, with the hardware i use, at the settings i use. otherwise it usually ends up as a 15 page rant about why one lost and how its everyones fault except that only 5% of us will actually see the exact same thing as the review.

[_Lone_Wolf_]

and i told you that if you find that review useless and its done in a hurry close your tab,delete the history and thanx for your advices

It's somewhat disingenuous to complain about lack of time given you've chosen to publish when you did prior to the NDA lifting; Quality is never about what's easy.

To my mind your review is very lacking in detail and like some of others fail to see the point in devoting the bulk of your effort to synthetic benchmarks. Actual applications are what people experience and so better demonstrate a processors performance scaling when overclocking.

How does Phenom 2 scale both independently and combined with core and northbridge clocks? How much does this effect power draw? How well does it respond to memory overclocking with obvious implications to AM3 models, just to list a few.

[sundancerx]

the clock to clock comparison is set to be @ 3.1.
If i have enough time i will rerun them @ 3.7.

The power consumption is sthing easy.

About the temps,there is no program to read from the diode to support deneb.

So i think you dont want to see temps from a mobo prog(call me asus probe etc)

ok thnks very much. are you gonna review few more games, 3 or 4 more of the latest ones?
i forgot about 9950be(shud be very cheap these days), if you can include in review.

[Lestat]

i wont bash anyone's reviews because it takes alot of work and patience to go thru all they did to do the review.
for me the reivew is fine, although they NEEDED to compare it to a regular phenom.

my complaint is,,, Where's the Beef!!..... are you going to try and gain back market share with that AMD??
sorry it aint gunna happen.

[mongoled]

How does Phenom 2 scale both independently and combined with core and northbridge clocks? How much does this effect power draw? How well does it respond to memory overclocking with obvious implications to AM3 models, just to list a few.

Yes, please, this is exactly what I want to see from a PII 9xx review. I want to see just how much increasing the NB/HT clocks help relative performance.

I full review dedicated to this would be very much appreciated, however I think this will end up coming from an independant XS user rather than an actual website.

We generally know all we need to know about core 2 / i7 performance, what is an unkown to many of us is the performance scaling that PII will exhibit when overclocked. Since this is Xtreme Systems and you have been kind enough to share your review with us I would like to see you dedicate PART 2 of your review to performance scaling



Hope you can find time to do this as then you will find many more people will hit your site, with alot more love

[Leeghoofd]

How does Phenom 2 scale both independently and combined with core and northbridge clocks? How much does this effect power draw? How well does it respond to memory overclocking with obvious implications to AM3 models, just to list a few.

Massman will release an in depth look at that stuff soon... first with a regular phenom and then with a PII (if they get one)

[demonkevy666]

Yes, please, this is exactly what I want to see from a PII 9xx review. I want to see just how much increasing the NB/HT clocks help relative performance.

I full review dedicated to this would be very much appreciated, however I think this will end up coming from an independant XS user rather than an actual website.

We generally know all we need to know about core 2 / i7 performance, what is an unkown to many of us is the performance scaling that PII will exhibit when overclocked. Since this is Xtreme Systems and you have been kind enough to share your review with us I would like to see you dedicate PART 2 of your review to performance scaling



Hope you can find time to do this as then you will find many more people will hit your site, with alot more love

here one for the old phenom with NB increase, it will most likely give higher results on Deneb thanks to larger cache and a lower miss rate on L3
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu...x4-9850_4.html

[Barrok]

Not sure why anyone can pick on this guy for spending HIS time to throw out some valid numbers for you guys. Pretty insane that people can be such jerks to someone who didn't have to do this..

[OverClocker_gr]

ok.

9950BE will be added only at clock to clock comparison(pii 940 vs 9950 @ 3.0 and deneb with others @ 3.7)

How about adding GTAIV and UT3 ?

[leoy]

I'm pretty sure that ocing nb speed from 1.8(too looooW,9950 is @ 2ghz) to at least 2.4 u will see some nice numbers. That's why 945 will be @ 2.4 to show some difference.

[roofsniper]

ok.

9950BE will be added only at clock to clock comparison(pii 940 vs 9950 @ 3.0 and deneb with others @ 3.7)

How about adding GTAIV and UT3 ?

the clock to clock sounds good to me. and add w/e games you like.

[Leeghoofd]

ok.

9950BE will be added only at clock to clock comparison(pii 940 vs 9950 @ 3.0 and deneb with others @ 3.7)

How about adding GTAIV and UT3 ?

Good, excellent... more Metaxa and Retsina !!

[bedlamite]

UT3 shows quite funny results with Deneb used
Lucky ppl w/o NDA