First real Phenom review....

Let's hope the price drops nicely on this. If amd can get a lower price point than intel they can probably get a decent amount of OEM support.
 
Ever wonder why we didn't have an early look at Phenom like we did for every Core 2 processor before the embargo lifted? Not only are CPUs scarce, but AMD itself didn't really know what would be launching until the last moment.

At first Phenom was going to launch at either 2.8GHz or 2.6GHz; then we got word that it would be either 2.6GHz or 2.4GHz. A week ago the story was 2.4GHz and lower, then a few days ago we got the final launch frequencies: 2.2GHz and 2.3GHz.
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AMD couldn't simply get enough quantities of the Phenom at 2.4GHz to have a sizable launch this year (not to mention a late discovery of a TLB error in the chips), and the company was committed to delivering Phenom before the holiday buying season as these are tough times and simply waiting to introduce its first quad-core desktop parts was just not an option. Rather than paper launch a 2.4GHz part, AMD chose to go with more modest frequencies, promising faster, more competitive chips in Q1 2008. It's not the best PR story in the world, but it's the honest truth.

Two more quad-core Phenoms will come out in Q1: the 9900 and 9700, clocked at 2.6GHz and 2.4GHz respectively. The Phenom 9900 will be priced below $350 while the 9700 will be a sub-$300 part. As you can probably guess, the introduction of those two will push down the pricing of the 9600 and 9500, which will help Phenom be a bit more competitive.

It's worth mentioning that in the 11th hour AMD decided to introduce a multiplier-unlocked version of the Phenom 9600 sometime this year that will be priced at the same $283 mark. Whether or not it's called a Black Edition is yet to be determined.
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He also confirms (at length....) the shenanigens that the INQ reported on,on how AMD tried to micro manage the reviews.... :( :eek:


I dont often,heck at all agree with e-thug,but hell this IS a mess. :( It goes from bad to horrible.And I deep down got the distinct feeling that Anand tried to give AMD and this chip (now,and over the last year +) a very fair shake,but its just not to be...
 
honestly, nobody with a fair take on the situation expects AMD to trounce intel at all anytime soon. their R&D and manufacturing budgets just cant keep up with Intel... it just isnt a fair fight.

that said.... I actually WILL be purchasing a Phenom chip.... for my girlfriend. Last year i built her a cheapy AM2 system with a low end Sempr0n and going from that to a Phenom will be a beautiful upgrade for her...

one thing, I can just imagine how all the people that were holding out for Phenom and R600 must be feeling. people have been enjoying Q6600s and 8800s for many, many months now... it really must sting
 
I was also under the impression that Tom's was very biased towards intel, so that's a bit odd to read.

[Edit:] Although after reading through the whole [H] article on the Phenom, I guess it's not too ludicrous to think that Tom's would also praise all the things, other than performance, that AMD got right.
 
especially when we all know that from a performance standpoint, amd is behind right now..

the fun factor in overclocking has yet to be determined though ;)
 
When I read Anandtech's subheading "The Long Road to Phenom", the song I had running through my head was the Foo Fighters' "Long Road to Ruin". Coincidence?

I may still get one just because of the sexy Overdrive software, but I'll probably wait until prices come down a bit. Go ahead and get the sexy M3A32-MVP, some good 1066 RAM, and wait it out with a Black Edition X2...

Edit: Oh my, unlocked 9600. I will definitely have to see what happens there...
 
It's interesting to see Toms Hardware looking at the silver lining for AMD. The thing is the points they stress are in in fact accurate for the most part.

I agree that if you want to keep your motherboard and still have something to upgrade to in the future, AM2 is the platform with more longevity in terms of upgrades. The question is it worth the wait?

LGA 775 is on the way out with the arrival of Nehalem. The thing is will AMD's 45nm Quad Core's be able to match Intel Yorkfield's as the Agena's currently don't match the Kentsfields.

I don't believe they should use overclocking as an indicator of what AMD will ship in the future. Intel can be overclocked to 3.5 - 4.0 GHz but you don't see Intel shipping that.
 
Wow, hate to say I told you so. :p

Waaaa whhha waaaaaaaa!
 
when i saw the first graph, my reactions made me close the window without hesitation.

what a huge disappointment:(
 
harpoon said:
LOL, wasn't THG meant to be Intel payrolled?! :rolleyes:

I think there was a change of management a few months ago though, which may explain things. ;)
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Yeah...which makes the sudden change all the more frightening. I think that, without a doubt, my faith in AMD is officially finished. The THG double-talk, ironically, is the icing on the cake.
 
Mav451 said:
Yeah...which makes the sudden change all the more frightening. I think that, without a doubt, my faith in AMD is officially finished. The THG double-talk, ironically, is the icing on the cake.
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how do you know that's not what THG wants you to think? :D
 
Honestly, I don't find it horrendously bad. Yes, it is slower than Penryn, but it's also a fair bit cheaper as well. Price per dollar seems fairly even with the Core2 Q6600, which isn't horrible.

Power consumption sure does ramp up with clockspeed though. Hopefully that'll change in the future, but I would imagine that's the reason why these don't overclock too well (at least consistantly, some sites report better than others).
 
Its really hard to pick anything positive out of these reviews no matter how hard I tried.

AMD have no choice but to undercut Intel heavily, but that will eat into there already suffering bottom line.

Saying its not a fair fight, is unfortunately not going to help AMD to sell processors.

The best we (Intel fans as well) can hope for is a Ver2 Phenom with higher clocks in the not so distant future, AMD really need to pull something out of there ass.

Today is a bad day for all processor consumers.
 
Ranari said:
Honestly, I don't find it horrendously bad. Yes, it is slower than Penryn, but it's also a fair bit cheaper as well. Price per dollar seems fairly even with the Core2 Q6600, which isn't horrible.

Power consumption sure does ramp up with clockspeed though. Hopefully that'll change in the future, but I would imagine that's the reason why these don't overclock too well (at least consistantly, some sites report better than others).
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i think you will find AMD and intel are EXACTLY THE SAME when it comes to "price per dollar" unless you pay for the AMD in canadian.
 
Ranari said:
Yes, it is slower than Penryn, but it's also a fair bit cheaper as well. Price per dollar seems fairly even with the Core2 Q6600, which isn't horrible.
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Not because they want to be. While you may be glad to see cheap prices on a totally new architecture, I'll bet ya that AMD would just LOVE to be able to price their new CPU at 2x what today's market would bear. Their price realization is low because today's Intel is that much better.

In other words, the cheap price is not up to AMD to decide, and it does the company no favors.
 
(cf)Eclipse said:
especially when we all know that from a performance standpoint, amd is behind right now..

the fun factor in overclocking has yet to be determined though ;)
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The place I worked for in the summer have some 9600's and none of them will do over 2.6Ghz on water. :( Voltage needed goes from not bad @ 1.27 to bad @ 1.5~ Its nuts
how thier is no consistency in them seemingly.

Still I thought about all that I read,and how very depressing it all is,and did not cancel my order but switched my deposit over to a Black Edition.No eta,but I will have one pretty soon. :D I have a M3A32-MVP on order and should have it in a few weeks,possibly less.
 
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