Phenom II
AMD-V | |
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Socket(s) | |
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History | |
Predecessor(s) | Phenom |
Successor(s) | FX |
Phenom II is a family of
The Phenom II X4 operates as the processor component of AMD's
Features
The Phenom II triples the shared L3 cache size from 2MB (in the original Phenom line) to 6MB,[5]: 3 leading to benchmark performance gains as high as 30%.[5]: 9 In another change from the original Phenom, Cool'n'Quiet applies to the processor as a whole, rather than on a per-core basis. AMD implemented this to address the mishandling of threads by Windows Vista, which can cause single-threaded applications to run on a core that idles at half its clock rate.[5]: 6 This feature can be disabled through BIOS options on most motherboards, which allows for customization and overclocking. Due to the nature of this feature, it reduces the effectiveness of overclocking the CPU and RAM, but also decreases power consumption and heat output.
"Thuban" and "Zosma" Phenom II processors support AMD's
Some top-level AM3 processors (x945 125W, x955 and x965) require a special power-supply feature, often called "dual power-plane". It's supported by default in all native AM3 mainboards, however not in most AM2+ mainboards, even those advertised as "AM3 optimized" or "AM3 ready". Processor running below its nominal speed (i.e. at 800 MHz), clock and multiplier locked are symptoms of this incompatibility. This is caused by the processor itself: when it detects that the motherboard does not supply dual power planes, the chip locks its multiplier to 4x. This issue is not resolvable via a BIOS update; however, users of AM2 and AM2+ motherboards can still use Phenom II processors excluding the 125 Watt variants.[9]
AMD Phenom II-based processor family | |||||
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AMD K10
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Desktop | ||||
Hexa-core | Quad-core | Quad-core | Triple-core | Dual-core | |
Code-named | Thuban | Zosma | Deneb | Heka | Callisto |
Process | 45 nm | 45 nm | 45 nm | 45 nm | 45 nm |
Date released | Apr 2010 | Jun 2010 | Jan 2009 | Feb 2009 | Jun 2009 |
List of AMD Phenom processors |
Beginning with the AM3 versions, Phenom II CPUs are based on two dies: the original Deneb die with four cores and the new Thuban die with six. These are divided into five series for marketing. The first two series are flagships based on full dies. The other three series are formed from Deneb dies by die harvesting, that is, chips that were produced with some amount of defects. The affected portions of these chips are disabled and the chips themselves marked as a lower-grade product.[1]
- 1000T series: Flagship X6 series with full complement of cores, L3 cache enabled and Turbo Core.
- 900T series: Based on X6 series but with two cores disabled and Turbo Core.
- 900 series: X4 series with full complement of cores and L3 cache enabled.
- 800 (original) series: These are X4 chips with some amount of defect in the L3 cache; 2 MB is disabled, leaving the chip with 4 MB L3 cache and fully operational cores. Available as model 805, 810, 820 and 830.
- 800 (second) series: These are chips based on the Athlon II Propus quad-core without L3 cache albeit marketed as Phenom II, available as model 840 and 850
- 700 series: These chips have one core disabled, leaving them with three operational cores (marketed as "X3") and a fully operational L3 cache.
- 500 series: These chips have two cores disabled, leaving them with two operational cores (marketed as "X2") and a fully operational L3 cache.
Some versions of the Phenom II X2 and X3 have one or two cores "deactivated" to enable AMD to target the lower end of its market.[10] However, from outside, a user can never determine whether the disabling of the core(s) was merely due to marketing reasons (with the disabled cores being fully functional in reality) or whether they are actually defective hardware-wise. So even though with the correct motherboard and BIOS, it is possible to unlock the deactivated core(s) of the processor, success is never guaranteed, because the user might catch the awkward case where one or more core(s) were deactivated due to faulty silicon. Hardware enthusiast websites have collected and summarized anecdotal reports that, overall, indicate about a 70% success rate,[11] but these reports likely have self-reporting bias, and more importantly, it is impossible to know whether an unlocked core is truly bug-free.
Overclocking
According to AMD, Black Edition CPUs are "designed to help you unleash the maximum potential of your system with tunable performance." What this means is that the core multiplier is unlocked, allowing for modification of the CPU speed without changing the FSB or HyperTransport. On a non-black edition CPU, the multiplier is allowed to only be lowered. The standard processors allow for overclocking, however not to the point that a Black edition CPU will.
The Phenom II range of CPUs is the first series of AMD CPUs to have a low enough minimum temperature of operation to support "extreme" cooling methods such as dry ice, liquid nitrogen or liquid helium, a deficiency in older CPUs referred to as the "Cold Bug".[12][13]
In a public demonstration of the Phenom II's overclocking potential at CES 2009 in Las Vegas on 10 January 2009, Sami "Macci" Mäkinen (a record-breaking overclocker) used a Phenom II X4 940 and a DFI LANParty 790FXB-M2RS with a combination of liquid nitrogen and liquid helium cooling to take the processor to a clock rate of 6.5 GHz and succeeded in beating the world record 3DMark 2005 score with a total of 45474.[14][15]
A group named LimitTeam successfully overclocked AMD’s Deneb 45 nm Phenom II X4 955 processor (Black Edition) on April 30, 2009, and submitted the results for validation to CPU-Z. During the process, the group used the Asus M4A79T Deluxe motherboard, dubbed as the Asus “multidimensional performance platform” featuring support for an AMD 140W CPU and the AMD 790FX/SB750 chipset. As a result, the group reached 7.127 GHz, beating the previous score of 6.7 GHz.
Note that these extreme overclocks involve specialized equipment and are nowhere near what the average consumer could expect using traditional air cooling even with expensive third party cooling fans. For instance, maximum overclocking on a Phenom II X4 955 processor using a heatsink and fan is approximately 4 GHz.[16][17]
Cores
Thuban
- Six AMD K10cores
- 45 nm SOI with immersion lithography and low-κ insulator
- L1 instructions) per core
- L2 cache: 512 KB per core, full-speed
- L3 cache: 6 MB shared among cores.[18]
- Memory controller: dual channel DDR2-1066 MHz (AM2+), dual channel DDR3-1333 with support for ECC (AM3) with unganging option
- AMD-V
- Turbo Core [4][19]
- Socket AM2+, Socket AM3, HyperTransport with 2 GHz
- Die size: 346 mm²
- Power consumption (
- First release
- 27 April 2010 (E0 stepping)
- Clock rate: 2.6 to 3.3 GHz,[3][18] up to 3.7 GHz with Turbo Core
- Models: Phenom II X6 1035T, 1045T, 1055T, 1065T, 1075T, 1090T and 1100T
Zosma
- Four AMD K10 cores chip harvested from Thuban with two cores disabled[20]
- 45 nm SOI with Immersion Lithography
- L1 instructions) per core
- L2 cache: 512 KB per core, full-speed
- L3 cache: 6 MB shared among cores.
- Memory controller: dual channel DDR2-1066 MHz (AM2+), dual channel DDR3-1333 (AM3) with unganging option
- AMD-V
- Turbo Core
- Socket AM2+, Socket AM3, HyperTransport with 2 GHz
- Power consumption (TDP): 95 Watt and 125 Watt
- First release
- Unknown, only released to certain OEMs.
- Clock rate: 2.7 GHz to 3.5 GHz
- Models: Phenom II X4 650T, Phenom II X4 840T, Phenom II X4 960T BE and Phenom II X4 970 BE (E0 stepping)
Deneb
- Four AMD K10cores
- 45 nm SOI with Immersion Lithography
- L1 instructions) per core
- L2 cache: 512 KB per core, full-speed
- L3 cache: 6 MB shared among cores.
- Memory controller: dual channel DDR2-1066 MHz (AM2+), dual channel DDR3-1333 (AM3) with unganging option
- AMD-V
- Socket AM2+, Socket AM3, HyperTransport with 1.8 to 2 GHz
- Die Size: 258 mm²
- Power consumption (TDP): 65, 95, 125 and 140 Watt
- First release
- 8 January 2009 (C2 stepping)
- Clock rate: 2.5 to 3.7 GHz
- Models: Phenom II X4 805 to 980 BE except Phenom II X4 840T, Phenom II X4 960T BE and Phenom II X4 970 BE (E0 stepping)
Heka
- Three AMD K10 cores chip harvested from Deneb, with one core disabled[20]
- 45 nm SOI with Immersion Lithography
- L1 instructions) per core
- L2 cache: 512 KB per core, full-speed
- L3 cache: 6 MB shared among cores
- Memory controller: dual channel DDR2-1066 MHz (AM2+), dual channel DDR3-1333 (AM3) with unganging option
- AMD-V
- Socket AM3, HyperTransport with 2 GHz
- Power consumption (TDP): 65 and 95 Watt
- First release
- 9 February 2009 (C2 stepping)
- Clock rate: 2.5 to 3.0 GHz
- Models: Phenom II X3 705e to 740
Callisto
- Two AMD K10 cores chip harvested from Deneb, with two cores disabled[20]
- 45 nm SOI with Immersion Lithography
- L1 instructions) per core
- L2 cache: 512 KB per core, full-speed
- L3 cache: 6 MB shared between cores
- Memory controller: dual channel DDR2-1066 MHz (AM2+), dual channel DDR3-1333 (AM3) with unganging option
- AMD-V
- Socket AM3, HyperTransport with 2 GHz
- Power consumption (TDP): 94 Watt (C2 stepping) and 80 Watt (C3 stepping)
- First release
- 1 June 2009 (C2 stepping)
- Clock rate: 3.0 to 3.5 GHz
- Models: Phenom II X2 545 to 570 BE
See also
References
- ^ a b Shimpi, Anand Lal (2009-02-09), The Phenom II X4 810 & X3 720: AMD Gets DDR3 But Doesn't Need It, AnandTech, retrieved 2012-01-23
- ^ Huynh, Anh Tuan (July 2, 2007), AMD Second-Generation 'Stars' Plans Unveiled, DailyTech, archived from the original on September 9, 2007, retrieved 2007-11-26
- ^ a b c Mann, Parm (2010-03-18). "GIGABYTE slips clock speeds for AMD hexa-core Thuban CPUs". HEXUS.net.
- ^ a b c Shimpi, Anand Lal (2010-04-27), AMD's Six-Core Phenom II X6 1090T & 1055T Reviewed, AnandTech, retrieved 2012-01-23
- ^ a b c Shimpi, Anand Lal (2009-01-08), AMD Phenom II X4 940 & 920: A True Return to Competition, AnandTech, retrieved 2012-01-23
- Advanced Micro Devices, 2009-10-04, archived from the originalon 2012-01-21, retrieved 2012-01-23
- ^ Nilsson, Lars-Göran (13 February 2009), "Phenom II has DDR3-1333 issue", www.fudzilla.com, archived from the original on March 30, 2009
- Advanced Micro Devices, archived from the originalon 2010-05-14, retrieved 2010-05-13,
Both the AMD Phenom II X6 1055T and 1090T come equipped with AMD's new Turbo CORE technology. AMD Turbo CORE technology is a performance boosting technology that automatically switches from six cores to three turbocharged core for applications that just need raw speed over multiple cores. While in Turbo CORE mode, the AMD Phenom II X6 1090T shifts frequency speed from 3.2GHz on six cores, to 3.6GHz on three cores, making it the fastest processor AMD has ever created.
- Advanced Micro Devices, archived from the originalon 2011-10-07, retrieved 2012-01-23
- ^ Taylor, Paul (31 May 2009), Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition is a big surprise, The Inquirer, archived from the original on June 11, 2009, retrieved 2012-01-23
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Shimpi, Anand Lal (2010-01-28), Unlocking the Phenom II X2, retrieved 2010-01-30
- ^ Vilches, Jose (2008-11-21), AMD Shows Off Phenom II OverClocked to 6.3 GHz, Techspot.com, retrieved 2012-01-23
- ZDNet, archived from the originalon 2009-01-15, retrieved 2012-01-23
- Advanced Micro Devices, retrieved 2009-09-18
- ^ Walrath, Josh (2008-11-20), "PC Perspective - 6.3 GHz Phenom II Overclock on LN2", www.pcper.com, PC Perspective, retrieved 2012-01-23
- ^ ajmatson (2009-04-22), AMD Phenom II X4 955 AM3 CPU Review, Overclockersclub.com, retrieved 2012-01-23
- ^ Rabel, Jason (2009-04-23), AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE & 945 AM3 Processors, Extremeoverclocking.com, retrieved 2012-01-23
- ^ a b c Galistel, Andreas (2010-03-22). "Hexa-core AMD Phenom II X6 priced under $200". NordicHardware.
- ^ Angelini, Chris (April 7, 2010), Phenom II X6: First Details Of 'Thuban' Design Emerge: What Makes It Different? How About Turbo CORE?, Tomshardware.com, p. 2, retrieved 2012-01-23
- ^ a b c Dela Cruz, Daryl (6 Apr 2011). "List of Unlockable AMD CPUs". docs.google.com.