AMD Phenom Series CPU's

Phenom X4 - Agena   Phenom X3 - Toliman   Phenom II X6 - Thuban   Phenom II X4 - Zosma   Phenom II X4 - Denab  Phenom II X3 - Heka
Phenom II X2 - Callisto

The Phenom is the main range of micro processors from AMD, they range from dual core to the newer 6-core chips. We are going to take  an overview of these chips which began life back in November 2007.

Athlon and Phenom CPU marketing number scheme

Back before the release of the Phenom series, AMD used a performance rating system for its processors. It was based on what AMD would rate their CPU against a Pentium 4 from Intel. For example a 4800+ CPU from AMD would be said to perform around the same as a 4.8Ghz Pentium 4. Of course since then clock speed has not been the deciding factor for CPU's and is also not the main selling point. Many CPU's today run at lower clock speeds but can perform much better due to improved technologies and more cores on the CPU die.

Now neither Intel or AMD use Ghz as a rating system and so a new formula had to be introduced. This time to company's are relying on the brand name followed by a numerical value which will indicate its relative performance in the range. The higher number doesn't mean a higher performance overall but will mean a higher performance in that range of CPU's. For example you cant compare an Athlon X2 7450 against an Athlon II X4 610. as the later will have the higher performance but has the lower numerical value.

Phenom X4 - Agena

The Agena core was a native Quad core processor known as the Phenom X4. This was the first Phenom CPU to be released even though later there was other Phenoms with less cores. The Phenom X4 will slot into AMD's Socket AM2+ based motherboards and supports DDR2 SDRAM up to PC2-8500 (DDR2-1066)

The Phenom X 4 brought in Level 3 cache, SSE4a data instructions and enhanced PowerNow! technology as new features from previous AMD CPU's. It was built on 65nm manufacturing technology. Reports around the internet show that the agena core was a very good "overclocker" and as so proved popular.

Models of the Phenom X4

Model	Frequency	L2 Cache	L3 cache	HT	Multiplier	voltage	TDP	Price
Phenom X4 9100e	1.8 Ghz	4x 512kb	2 Mb	1.6 Ghz	9x	1.1-1.15v	65W	Compare
Phenom X4 9150e	1.8 Ghz	4x 512kb	2 Mb	1.6 Ghz	9x	1.075-1.125v	65W	Compare
Phenom X4 9350e	2.0 Ghz	4x 512kb	2 Mb	1.8 Ghz	10x	1.075-1.125v	65W	Compare
Phenom X4 9450e	2.1 Ghz	4x 512kb	2 Mb	1.8 Ghz	10.5x	1.075-1.125v	65W	Compare
Phenom X4 9500	2.2 Ghz	4x 512kb	2 Mb	1.8 Ghz	11x	1.15-1.25v	95W	Compare
Phenom X4 9550	2.2 Ghz	4x 512kb	2 Mb	1.8 Ghz	11x	1.15-1.25v	95W	Compare
Phenom X4 9600	2.3 Ghz	4x 512kb	2 Mb	1.8 Ghz	11.5x	1.15-1.25v	95W	Compare
Phenom X4 9600 Black Edition	2.3 Ghz	4x 512kb	2 Mb	1.8 Ghz	11.5x	1.15-1.25v	95W	Compare
Phenom X4 9650	2.3 Ghz	4x 512kb	2 Mb	1.8 Ghz	11.5x	1.15-1.25v	95W	Compare
Phenom X4 9750	2.4 Ghz	4x 512kb	2 Mb	1.8 Ghz	12x	1.15-1.25v	95W	Compare
	2.4 Ghz	4x 512kb	2 Mb	1.8 Ghz	12x	1.2-1.25v	125W
Phenom X4 9850	2.5 Ghz	4x 512kb	2 Mb	2.0 Ghz	12.5x	1.2-1.3v	95W	Compare
	2.5 Ghz	4x 512kb	2 Mb	2.0 Ghz	12.5x	1.2-1.3v	125W
Phenom X4 9850 Black Edition	2.5 Ghz	4x 512kb	2 Mb	2.0 Ghz	12.5x	1.2-1.3v	125W	Compare
Phenom X4 9950 Black edition	2.6 Ghz	4x 512kb	2 Mb	2.0 Ghz	13x	1.2-1.3v	125W	Compare
	2.6 Ghz	4x 512kb	2 Mb	2.0 Ghz	13x	1.25-1.3v	140W
Phenom X4 9600B	2.3 Ghz	4x 512kb	2 Mb	1.8 Ghz	11.5x	1.2-1.25v	95W	Compare
Phenom X4 9750B	2.4 Ghz	4x 512kb	2 Mb	1.8 Ghz	12x	1.2-1.25v	95W	Compare
Phenom X4 9850B	2.5 Ghz	4x 512kb	2 Mb	1.8 Ghz	12.5x	1.225 - 1.25v	95W	Compare

HT - Hyper Transport, a replacement for the FSB (front side bus) as a data connection between microprocessors. Hyper Transport is an open source platform allowing many different types of connections without the need for multiple adapters.

TDP - Thermal Design Power, Also known as Thermal Design Point. The amount of power that a computers cooling system will be required to dissipate in order to prevent the CPU from reaching a state of over heating. Of course modern processors will often throttle down before this happens but this will lower performance.

Black Edition - The Black edition CPU's are slightly different by having an unlocked multiplier allowing for easier overclocking.

Business Class - The business class CPU's (the 3 at the bottom of the list) have the "B" suffix. These denote processors made for the business market and offer a CPU designed at stability and longevity as well as energy efficiency.

Phenom X3 - Toliman

The Toliman (Phenom X3) is based on the previous Phenom X4 Agena but with one core disabled making it a tri-core processor. While a triple core processor did seem a bit weird as anything to do with computers rarely comes across an odd number, but there is a good reason behind it. It allowed AMD to focus on a new price point aiming to compete with lower Intel CPU's but it also allowed AMD to sell Phenom X4 CPU's which had a faulty core. By simply disabling the defective core a three core CPU could be legitimately sold under the new name of the Phenom X3. Like the Phenom X4 the Phenom X3 supports memory up to PC2-8500 (DDR2-1066)

Other advantages of the Phenom X3 which remember was the same as the X4 but without the 4th core, where that 3 cores used less power and were more energy efficient. They also ran at a cooler temperature and required less cooling than the Phenom X4. Couple this with the lower price point and the Phenom X3 becomes a good buy for a selection of users.

The downside of the Phenom X3 is still the software, at its time the software for quad-core processors was rare and that was hurting both the X4 and the X3. Benchmarks still showed that the faster clock speeds of the Core 2 Duo from Intel were still producing better results than the 3/4 cores of the Phenoms.

Phenom X3 models

Model	Frequency	L2 Cache	L3 cache	HT	Multiplier	Voltage	TDP	Price
Phenom X3 8250e	1.9 Ghz	3x 512kb	2Mb	1.6 Ghz	9.5x	1.125-1.20v	65W	Compare
Phenom X3 8400	2.1 Ghz	3x 512kb	2Mb	1.8 Ghz	10.5x	1.20-1.25v	95W	Compare
Phenom X3 8450	2.1 Ghz	3x 512kb	2Mb	1.8 Ghz	10.5x	1.20-1.25v	95W	Compare
Phenom X3 8450e	2.1 Ghz	3x 512kb	2Mb	1.8 Ghz	10.5x	1.125-1.20v	95W	Compare
Phenom X3 8550	2.2 Ghz	3x 512kb	2Mb	1.8 Ghz	11x	1.20-1.25v	95W	Compare
Phenom X3 8600	2.3 Ghz	3x 512kb	2Mb	1.8 Ghz	11.5x	1.20-1.25v	95W	Compare
Phenom X3 8650	2.3 Ghz	3x 512kb	2Mb	1.8 Ghz	11.5x	1.20-1.25v	95W	Compare
Phenom X3 8750	2.4 Ghz	3x 512kb	2Mb	1.8 Ghz	12x	1.20-1.25v	95W	Compare
Phenom X3 8750 Black Edition	2.4 Ghz	3x 512kb	2Mb	1.8 Ghz	12x	1.20-1.25v	95W	Compare
Phenom X3 8850	2.5 Ghz
		3x 512kb	2Mb	1.8 Ghz	12.5x	1.20-1.25v	95W	Compare
Phenom X3 8600B	2.3 Ghz
		3x 512kb	2Mb	1.8 Ghz	11.5x	1.25v	95W	Compare
Phenom X3 8750B	2.4 Ghz	3x 512kb	2Mb	1.8 Ghz	12x	1.25v	95W	Compare

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