Thanks to a larger L3 cache and IPC tweaks integrated into the architecture, Phenom II delivered on average roughly 4-8% more performance than Phenom on a clock-for-clock basis for the most part in our testing. In some apps it’s a little less, and others a little more. The biggest addition for enthusiasts is definitely Phenom II’s new 45-nm manufacturing process.
The new process allows AMD to scale to dramatically higher clock frequencies than Phenom. Launch speeds top out at 3.0GHz, and we managed to OC our CPU over 3.7GHz! Getting Phenom 9950 to 3.0GHz wasn’t impossible without ACC (last year we managed 3.05GHz with our chip), but you needed a little bit of luck and good cooling. With Phenom II a 400MHz OC is nothing; a few lucky souls may even be able to hit 3.8 or 3.9GHz with the best air cooling.
When compared to Intel’s Penryn line of CPUs, the closest direct competitor to the Phenom II 940 Black Edition is Intel’s Q9400. Here the Phenom II trades wins with the Intel CPU, with each processor winning tests in our suite of benchmarks, but the Q9400 runs faster overall. It’s a much closer fight than where AMD sat a year ago however, but considering this, AMD may want to shave a little off the top of the Phenom II 940’s price. $250 looks about right in our opinion (Intel’s Q9400 officially lists for $266, making it $9 cheaper than the Phenom II 940 as of right now). AMD could then reestablish the $275 price tag when DDR3-based AM3 arrives. It should run a little faster than today’s AM2-based 940 CPU, and should be able to push ahead of the Q9400 in a couple of the closer benchmarks.
Honestly though variety is probably our biggest disappointment with today’s launch. As good as the AM2-based Phenom II CPUs are, we wish AMD offered more variety in the Phenom II lineup right now. A 2.6GHz sub-$200 SKU would be awesome for the gamer on a budget, while a high performance range of Phenom II models with 1MB of L2 cache per core and a really large 12MB L3 could probably take on Intel’s $300+ Penryn processors. On the other hand though considering today’s economy, AMD is probably taking the right approach by focusing on the $100-$300 mainstream sweet spot of the market.
In summary Phenom II isn’t going to blow away the CPU world like Conroe Core 2 did in 2006, but just as the Phenom 9850 and 9950 Black Edition CPUs gave AMD a very competent competitor to Core 2 Quad Q6600, Phenom II 940 and 920 give AMD a serious challenger to low-end quad-core Penryn CPUs like the Q9400. We’re not getting a next-generation performance leap over Phenom just yet, but thanks to its higher clock speeds and larger cache Phenom II is a significant improvement over Phenom 9950 and will get even sweeter when AMD moves to DDR3 and AM3. The frequency scaling is also good. AMD hasn’t quite caught up to Intel in this department, but they have narrowed the gap significantly with Phenom II.
We’re a little surprised Intel has chosen not to respond to Phenom II just yet. If they don’t watch out, AMD could win back some of the enthusiasts who may have planned to go Intel with their next upgrade. AMD’s certainly got the more stable platform in terms of providing a solid upgrade path; AM2+ and AM3 CPUs are interchangeable with both platforms. With Nehalem eventually relying on two different sockets, and LGA775 finally coming to an end, AMD’s platform roadmap is definitely more stable.
But will this be enough for AMD to win back lost market share? That’s a question that will be interesting to follow over the course of the next 12 months…
Elemental: Fallen Enchantress Preview Elemental: Fallen Enchantress is a standalone expansion pack and follow-up to developer Stardock's previous game in the series, subtitled War of Magic. That 4X strategy game was highly-anticipated and slated to compete with games such as Sid Meier's Civilization V for your turn-based strategy play-time, but was released in an incredibly broken and unfinished state that it never fully recovered from. Lead designer Brad Wardell apologized profusely to fans and set out with his team to go back to the drawing board and try again.
Almost two years later, the result of that proverbial mulligan is currently undergoing closed beta testing. In today's article, Will reports his thoughts on how Fallen Enchantress is shaping up, and will tell you whether or not you should be keeping an eye on it as it nears release later this year.
The Elder Scrolls Online Details Leak - Should Fans Be Excited? The Elder Scrolls Online, long rumored to be in development, was officially announced yesterday. Still in development at Zenimax Online Studios, this MMO aims to combine traditional genre mechanics with the spirit and sensibilities, not to mention setting and lore, of the immensely popular series of single-player RPGs. Though the game is set for a full unveiling in the next issue of Game Informer magazine, what appears to be the entire cover story article has been leaked to the interwebs already. In today's article, you'll find summary and analysis of all the alleged details, as well as feast your eyes on the very first screenshots and concept art from the game. Of course, the burning question now is, should you be excited?
ANNO 2070 Review
The year is 2070. The majority of life on Earth was devastated when global sea levels surged after the melting of the polar ice caps. Swaths of previously habitable land are now deep underwater, and sovereign nations are a relic of the past. But there is still hope...
This city-building RTS/simulation game from Ubisoft tasks you with re-colonizing what little land areas are left on the planet following a global warming apocalypse. Does it have what it takes to be worthy of your time and money, or should it be cast out to sea with the rest of civilization? Find out in today's review!
Hear that? It's the sound of the largest computer chip manufacturer in the world churning out new processors to power your gaming rig. This week, Intel is launching their next generation of Core CPUs, code-named Ivy Bridge. Like last year's Sandy Bridge chips, they're low-power, quad-core powerhouses that also feature integrated graphics processors. Want to find out more? Maybe check out a whole bunch of performance benchmarks on both the CPU and graphics sides of things? Well you can, in today's review!
Intel Z77 Chipset & DZ77GA-70K Motherboard Overview
Looking forward to those new Ivy Bridge CPUs? In anticipation of their release later this month, Intel has already unveiled the new Series 7 chipsets designed especially to take advantage of what will be the 3rd-generation of Core processors. In today's article, we take a look at the architecture of the enthusiast variant, the Z77, and how it's used in the Intel Desktop Extreme DZ77GA-70K motherboard. Even if you're not particularly interested in the motherboard itself, you'll probably want to see some of the new features that come along with it, so read on!
Mass Effect 3 PC Review
This latest release from EA/BioWare is the final entry in their trilogy of sci-fi action RPGs, putting you in a dire situation: rally the troops to save Earth at all costs. There was a lot of hype surrounding the final act of what has been a vast and highly-customizable story-telling experience, and the reception among many hardcore fans has been less than stellar. Even people that haven't played the game have probably heard about all the nerd rage going on over Mass Effect 3's ending...
If you want to cut through all the crap and find out whether or not the rest of ME3 is worth playing, come check out Will's spoiler-free take on the first blockbuster game release of 2012.
Batman: Arkham City PC Review Batman: Arkham City is the sequel to 2009’s smash-hit action game Batman: Arkham Asylum. As the name suggests, you will be reprising your role as the Caped Crusader and going against an even larger 'prison' filled with Gotham's criminals and villains. A textbook example on how to do a proper sequel, Arkham City takes what worked in the original, excised or improved upon what didn’t, and elevated everything to an even greater scope. The PC version suffered from a few months of delay, but in that time, Rocksteady worked closely to NVIDIA to implement some familiar technologies from the last game, such as PhysX and 3D Vision, along with new DirectX 11 optimizations. But how well was the whole package executed? Read on to find out!
Saints Row: The Third PC Review Saints Row is one of most unique series of games to build upon the open-world action template forged by Grand Theft Auto, and has met with plenty of critical and commercial success since it began on consoles back in 2006. This latest iteration, titled Saints Row: The Third promises the most outlandish fun and freedom of customization of them all, and in a much more PC-friendly package than its predecessor. Does it live up to those expectations and, more importantly, is it worth the price of admission? Find out in Will's latest review!
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim PC Review The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is Bethesda Softworks’ latest offering in their series of epic fantasy RPGs, as well as one of the most highly-anticipated PC titles of 2011. As the Dovahkiin, or Dragonborn, prepare to take the fight to the mythical beasts that have returned to the realm after centuries of slumber, all the while exploring a huge and highly-detailed open world.
The PC version of the game promises enhanced graphical fidelity, standard RPG trimmings such as hotkeys and quick-save, as well as unbridled mod support, something we’ll all be thankful for once they release that SDK. Skyrim has already sold millions of copies and set records for play-time on Steam... Find out why in today's review, which happens to be one of the biggest and most in-depth articles on the subject out there!
L.A. Noire Complete Edition PC Review L.A. Noire, as the name clearly states, is a video game built on the tropes of one of the greatest periods of American cinema: film noir. Developed by the now defunct Australian developer Team Bondi and published by Rockstar Games, this title has been out on consoles for a full six months before finally making its way to the PC. This “Complete Edition” of the game features improved graphics, keyboard/mouse controls, and every bit of previously-released DLC for free. But was it truly worth the wait? Read on and find out!
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