Wednesday, 29 August 2012

AMD FX-6200 Processor Performance Benchmarks Unlocking core Secrets Review

AMD FX-6200 CPU Review: A Small Bulldozer Refresh

The FX-6200

Ryan and I have covered the Bulldozer architecture in previous articles, so I will not go over the finer details here. I will discuss some of the basics of the chip and the architecture.
The FX-6200 is based off of the same Bulldozer revision as the previous FX series of parts that was released last October. There may have been some minor changes along the way, but they would have more to do with manufacturing rather than any kind of base silicon or extreme metal layer change. The product is still built by GLOBALFOUNDRIES on their 32 nm HKMG SOI process. The chip is a native 4 module/8 core product, but one of the modules has been fused off and is unavailable for unlocking. This leaves 3 modules/6 cores for the processor to work with. Each module features 2 MB of L2 cache to be shared between the two integer units and the single FPU/MMX/SSE/AVX unit, for a total of 6 MB of L2 for the entire CPU. The L3 features the full 8 MB of cache that is available on fully enabled CPUs.

The full meal deal of a retail/boxed processor. The 3 year warranty and heatsink/fan are likely worth it to most users.

AMD Upcoming FX-series Specifications & Details:

AMD FX-4130 (FD4130FRW4MGU)

General information
Type	CPU / Microprocessor
Market segment	Desktop
Family	AMD FX-Series
Model number ?	FX-4130
CPU part number	FD4130FRW4MGU is an OEM/tray microprocessor
Frequency ?	3800 MHz
Turbo frequency	3900 MHz
Package	938-pin micro-PGA package
Socket	Socket AM3+
Estimated release date	2nd quarter 2012

Hybrid PhysX - AMD/ATI RADEON + NVIDIA PHYSX Performance Benchmarks Secrets Review

Hybrid PhysX (ATI RADEON + NVIDIA COMBO PERFORMANCE) BY GneL

Hybrid PhysX is an name of unofficial configurations, where AMD Radeon and NVIDIA GeForce cards are used simultaneously, AMD GPU for graphics, and NVIDIA GPU - for PhysX.

Hybrid PhysX configurations are not supported and even chased by NVIDIA (if AMD card is detected in the system, NVIDIA GPU will lock PhysX processing capabilities), thus are available only through special driver hack, known as Hybrid PhysX Mod, developed by a user with nickname "GenL".

Important note.

Hybrid PhysX is not officially supported by NVIDIA and AMD. Use it for your own risk.

Driver compatibility

Hybrid PhysX mod 1.05ff works normally with: (the list might be not full)

PhysX System Software verion: 9.10.0224, 9.10.0512, 9.10.0513, 9.10.0514, 9.11.0621
NVIDIA GPU Drivers version: 258.69 Beta, 258.96 Beta/WHQL, 259.09, 259.31, 259.32, 259.47 WHQL, 260.63 Beta, 260.89 Beta/WHQL, 260.93 Beta, 260.99 WHQL, 261.00 Beta, 275.33 WHQL, 280.19 Beta, 280.26 WHQL, 285.36 Beta, 285.58 WHQL, 285.62 WHQL, 285.79 Beta

Hybrid PhysX mod 1.05ff is not compatible or not working with:

PhysX System Software: 9.11.1107, 9.11.1111, 9.12.0209 & 9.12.0213 .

AMD Phenom II X4 Processors Spotted

When it comes to desktop processors the AMD Phenom series of processors hasn’t been too phenomenal when it comes to performance or efficiency, but AMD hopes to turn that around in the months to come. AMD recently invited some key members of the press down to their Austin, Texas headquarters to take a look at Phenom II. This processor has been known under the code name ‘Deneb’ for many months now, but Phenom II is what the processor will be launched as.

Athlon is Back!! Long Live Athlon II X2

What doesn't look right with this picture?

Could it be? Did AMD really inject the old Athlon series with new life?!?! Damn right they did!

With the new processor series come new marketing logos, so here are the fancy new logos for each respective series. These will be used on retail boxes and for promotional ads, so get used to seeing them for some time.

AMD Socket AM3 Processors Arrive - X3 720 BE & X4 810

Last month during the Consumer Electronics Show, AMD announced their new 45nm desktop processors with the launch of the Phenom II series. The series consisted of Phenom II X4 940 and Phenom II X4 920 processors. In our review of the Phenom II X4 940 processor we saw that the new 45nm processors looked much improved from both a performance and overclocking stand point. AMD cannot pose a threat to the Intel Core i7 processor series with Phenom II, but they can compete with them when it comes to the price of the processor and the overall final price of the platform in its entirety.

AMD Phenom II X4 810 Processor Overclocking

Phenom II Meets Dry Ice

Months befores AMD Phenom II processors hit retail shelves the marketing department at AMD was in hard at work showing both the media and the enthusiast community and that Phenom II processors were overclocking giants once again. The original AMD Phenom processors were sensitive to temperature changes and once you got sub-zero they often had negative scaling when it came to overclocking. With the vast majoirty of Phenom processors hit a wall at -20C the most extreme overclockers were out of luck. AMD has done a great job at getting the word out that Phenom II is a new and improved processor, but how do these new Phenom II processors overclock with extreme cooling? AMD showed us that the temperature bug is long gone by running a AMD Phenom II X4 processor at 1.95V and at below -190C, but what can we pull off on our own test bench? This weekend we purchased ten pounds of dry ice along with some Acetone to see what we could get a pair of Phenom II socket AM3 processors could do on the ASUS M4A79T Deluxe motherboard.

AMD Phenom Errarta 298 - Important or Hype?

When AMD was briefing the media about Phenom at their launch event they mentioned that a fix was in the works for one of the hundreds of erratums that the Phenom processor has. All processors have glitches and they are documented and given a erratum number. As time goes on many of these get fixed with BIOS updates and whole new CPU steppings. This is normal and the way AMD and Intel have developed and updated processors for decades. The erratum that was in the fix dealt with the Translation lookaside buffers (TLB) on the new L3 cache fond only on Phenom processors. Translation lookaside buffers help the processor map virtual addresses to physical addresses. They hold the most recently used page mapping information in fast, chip-resident memory to speed up address translation. When a TLB miss occurs, page mapping information can be lost if it is not found in the L1 or L2 caches. For some reason AMD didn't fully expose how minor/major the erratum was, so when Scott over at the Tech Report wrote about huge performance loses when the TLB erratum was fixed many in the industry freaked out. At the time of his article the BIOS fix for the TLB erratum was automatically enabled in the BIOS and was not able to be turned off. A couple weeks ago we got our hands on OverDrive 2.0.12 and found by using the Turbo button the TLB patch can be disabled. AMD just this week released OverDrive 2.0.13 beta, which adds more features but still lacks 64-Bit driver signing. That means if you are running 64-bit Vista for example you have to disable driver signing by hitting F8 while windows is booting, change the setting and then let Windows Vista 64-bit fully load.

Memory Performance on AMD's A-Series APU

We've had a number of readers write in saying that it was great that we tested this platform with 1866MHz memory, but they are building budget systems and want to use 1333MHz or 1600MHz memory. It is true that we didn't look at performance numbers of AMD's A-Series APUs on the A75 chipset at 1333MHz, 1600MHz and since this platform is very budget friendly we see this as a valid point.

AMD Shows Off 32nm Llano Processors!

At a recent press event in Los Angeles, Legit Reviews got a a chance to take a look at an AMD development platform that was running an early revision of AMD's Llano Fusion processor. This is the first time that one of AMD Llano Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) have been seen outside an AMD test lab so it looks like they are coming along nicely. We have been told that these processors are being manufactured by GlobalFoundries and from the sounds of it these processors will be slightly delayed as this was GlobalFoundries first 32 nanometer process run. It looks like the shrink down to 32nm wasn't as easy as first thought, but the company obviously figured it out and wafers are rolling out the fab as you read this. In fact we got in touch with GlobalFoundaries and asked them if they would like to make a comment on the status of Llano for this article and they made this statement.

"AMD’s Llano is the industry’s first foundry product with High-k Metal Gate (HKMG), so it is an important proof point of our ability to deliver this new technology. Our 32nm HKMG technology ramp is currently in early production at Fab 1 in Dresden and we are making continued progress on ramping the process in support of AMD’s 1H 2011 customer commitments." - GlobalFoundaries PR

AMD Turbo Core Technology Introduction

This morning we got word from AMD that they would be announcing some more details on AMD Turbo CORE technology, which will be found on select AMD Phenom II Processors. With the AMD Phenom II X6 processor series launching later this month we wanted to cover this new technology as all AMD six-core 'Thuban' processors will use Turbo CORE technology.

AMD Athlon II X3 445

In recent years AMD has been leading the market when it comes to price to performance ratios. Today we are going to look at one such processor. The AMD Athlon II X3 445 is a triple core processor that can be found on the web for as little as $84.99 with free shipping at Newegg.com.

AMD Phenom II X6 1090T and 1055T Six-Core Processor Review

AMD Phenom II X6 Processors Arrive

The long awaited AMD Phenom II X6 processors have finally arrived and AMD officially has 6-core desktop processors on the market! AMD today released their new flagship desktop processors that feature six processor cores, but that is not all! The have also rolled out a new frequency boosting technology called AMD Turbo CORE that is available on these new 'Thuban' processors, a brand new chipset that goes by the name of 890 FX for high-end motherboards.

The new AMD Phenom II X6 processors, AMD 8-series chipsets, and ATI Radeon HD 5800 series cards make up what is called the 'Leo' platform and is said to be the ultimate AMD platform for power users. Today, our focus will be on the new AMD Phenom II X6 processors as we have the AMD Phenom II X6 1090T processor in-house and have been pounding away on it for the past several days.

AMD Phenom II X6 1100T Black Edition Processor

Speed bumps, not so great when your cruising on a motorcycle and didn't see it. When it comes to processors they are a great thing. Unless of course you just bought the previous model, then you might be kicking yourself. Haven't we all been there though? Today however, speed bumps are a great thing. AMD is releasing three new processors that have all received speed bumps.

Unlike the speeds of the processors today, which are going up. The prices are not! These processors will be replacing the previous processor in the price line up. The Athlon II X3 455 will maintain the $87.00 msrp of the Athlon II X3 450 and you can find the AMD Athlon II pricing line up here. The Phenom II X2 565 will fall in line at only $112.00. The AMD Phenom II X6 1100T Black Edition has already knocked the price of the AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition to $235.00 while the AMD Phenom II X6 1100T Black Edition will sit pretty at just $265.00. Prices for the entire AMD Phenom II series here. Today we are getting a faster processor for less money, that's a win-win if you want my opinion.

AMD Phenom II X6 1100T Black Edition Processor overclocking

The Secret is Out: AMD TWKR CPUs!!

A few weeks ago rumors about an AMD Phenom II X4 TWKR processor hit the internet after a system builder posted a little more than he was supposed to on his private blog. A small metal black box also arrived here at Reviews Site, but we honored the NDA that we agreed to with AMD and kept our knowledge of the AMD Phenom II Black Edition TWKR processor under wraps.

Today, that pesky NDA that we agreed to has been lifted and we can freely talk about the TKWR processors that AMD sent out to key press and overclockers. Before we go any further let's take a look at the basic AMD Phenom II TWKR CPU Details:

Phenom II X4 955 - 3.2GHz

In our review of the Phenom II X4 940 processor we saw that the new 45nm processors looked much improved from both a performance and overclocking stand point. It is hard to believe it has been five months since AMD announced the Phenom II X4 940 processor, but it has been. Late last month AMD announced the Phenom II 955 Black Edition processor, which is more than just a 200MHz speed bump as brings socket AM3 support to the very top of AMD's desktop offerings.

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Processor

This processor is based off the same 45nm 'Deneb' core that the previous Phenom II processors use, but with a few tweaks and a new memory controller. This new memory controller allows the processor to run both DDR2 and DDR3 memory kits, which is good news for AMD as up to a 5% performance boost can be seen when running DDR3 memory on Phenom II processors. What is even better news is that AM3 processors are 100% backwards compatible with motherboards using AM2+ sockets, which means you do not have to run out and buy a brand new Socket AM3 motherboard and a DDR3 memory kit to upgrade to one of these processors.

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Processor Socket AM3

AMD Brings Bulldozer To The Yard

Today is a huge day in terms of significance for AMD, who just moments ago launched the first major redesign of their processor architecture since 2003. AMD has not been able to keep the new architecture much of a secret as the new 'Bulldozer' core architecture is widely known amongst enthusiasts and gamers. Another reason that so many people know about Bulldozer-based CPUs is because AMD already announced Valencia and Interlagos processors for the server market. Today is significant in the sense that AMD is launching the first new Bulldozer-based desktop CPUs that are codenamed Zambezi and feature up to eight cores.

Bulldozer will be the first major redesign of AMD’s processor architecture since 2003, when AMD launched its Athlon 64/Opteron (K8) processors. Bulldozer features two 128-bit FMA-capable FPUs that can be combined into one 256-bit FPU. This design is accompanied by two integer cores each with 4 pipelines (the fetch/decode stage is shared). Bulldozer will also introduce shared L2 cache in the new architecture. A 16-core processor design would feature eight of these modules, but the operating system will recognize each module as two physical cores. The module, described as two cores, can be contrasted with a single Intel core with HyperThreading. The difference between the two approaches is that Bulldozer provides dedicated schedulers and integer units for each thread, whereas in Intel's core all threads must compete for available execution resources.

The Bulldozer die is built by GlobalFoundaries using the 32nm DSL SOI (silicon-on-insulator) technology process and measures in at ~315mm² in size with a transistor count of ~2 billion.

The AMD Bulldozer lineup consists of seven high-end consumer desktop processors that are clearly aimed at performance minded individuals.

AMD FX 'Bulldozer' Extreme Cooling Demonstration Event

AMD Bulldozer World Record Overclocking Event

AMD recently invited Legit Reviews to their campus in Austin Texas. While we were there we had the opportunity to see an overclocking demonstration with AMD's newest processors, the AMD FX series of processors. Not only did we have the opportunity to see what they could do under air cooling, but we also saw phase change cooling, liquid Nitrogen, and even Liquid Helium! We aren't able to give you specific details on the processor architecture or performance numbers just yet. Today though, we have the chance to see how far the top AMD overclockers are able to push the new AMD FX processors under extreme cooling! While we were there we were able to take some video of the overclocking demonstration, so we thought we would share that with you!

The Fastest Quad-Core AMD Has Ever Released - 980 BE

AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Performance Review

When Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) first introduced the Phenom II line of processors, we were still stuck in the days of the AM2+ socket. The processor that the Phenom II launched with was the AMD Phenom II X4 940 back in 2009. The Phenom II X4 940 is a quad core processor that cruised along at 3.0GHz and proved to be a very capable processor. Here we are though, a little more than two years later, looking at the latest variation of the original Phenom II X4 940, the AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition. It's been over two years since the original AMD Phenom II X4 processor was released using the 'Deneb' core architecture and, believe it or not, the core architecture remains exactly the same. The clock frequency has increased from 3.0GHz to 3.7GHz over the past two years, though, and that is good news for those that don't overclock. If you overclock your processor then you are likely going to yawn right about now as we were able to hit 3.8GHz on the AMD Phenom II X4 940 processor way back in 2008 when we overclocked the first Phenom II X4 that we laid our hands on.
There are a couple of serious differences between the two processors. We will touch on those differences in a bit, though. Though I'm betting you're familiar with them already, or at least some of them.

In the last 2+ years AMD has increased the speed of the Phenom II X4 processors 700MHz which is nearly 25%!.

AMD Processors Get ARM Security Processor

Over the past year there has been much speculation that AMD and ARM would enter some sort of an IP licensing deal. Many expected to hear some big announcement like AMD licensing ARM’s CPU cores or ARM licensing AMD's Radeon IP, but that didn't exactly happen. Yesterday at the AMD Fusion Developer Summit AMD announced the HSA foundation. The HSA Foundation partners AMD, ARM Imagination, MediaTek and Texas Instruments to come up with an open standard, you can find the full story on that here. Today though, AMD is extending the partnership with ARM to further reaches and has signed a licensing agreement with the company! AMD just announced that they are going to start implementing new security measures into their future APU's (Accelerated Processing Units) by using an ARM Cortex-A5 processor with TrustZone Technology. This means that AMD is licensing ARM cores and actually integrating them into their x86 based APUs as a platform security processor. AMD told us the company's "commitment to x86 hasn't changed," and that x86 is still here to stay.

AMD has been working on this for some time and is going to start introducing this technology select APU's in 2013. The first devices to see this technology should be fanless class (tablets and other small mobile devices). By the end of 2014 it will be implemented across AMD's entire product stack.

By utilizing a system-on-a-chip (SoC) design,

AMD FX-4170 Zambezi 4.2GHz (4.3GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 125W Quad-Core Desktop Processor FD4170FRGUBOX REVIEW

It's been quite while since AMD released it's bulldozer processors. When they were launched we reviewed the FX-8150 and the FX-8120 octacore CPUs. These two processors haven't been able to convince because of their poor performance per MHz. Now we're going to check wether the FX-4170 with 4.2 GHz is a fierce competitor for Intel or not.

Model

Brand AMD

Series FX-Series

Model FD4170FRGUBOX

CPU Socket Type

CPU Socket Type Socket AM3+

Tech Specs

Core Zambezi

Multi-Core Quad-Core

Name FX-4170

Operating Freq. 4.2GHz (4.3GHz Turbo)

L2 Cache 2 x 2MB

L3 Cache 8MB

Manufacturing Tech 32 nm

64 bit Support Yes

HT Support Yes

Virtualization

Technology Support Yes

Thermal Design

Power 125W

Cooling Device Heatsink and Fan included

APPLICATION BENCHMARK TESTS:

AMD FX 8150 - 8120 - 6100 and 4100 performance review

AMD released the FX series Zambezi - Bulldozer based processor. Everybody has been focusing on that most high-end AMD FX 8150 processor. However there where three other processors released.

The processors added into the chart are the eight core AMD FX 8120, the six-core AMD FX 6100 and the four core AMD FX 4100.

So the top of the range part, FX-8150, is clocked at 3.6 GHz, with a TDP of 125W. Next in line is the FX-8120, clocked at 3.1 GHz.

The sole 6-core CPU will be FX-6100 at 3.3 GHz while the 4-core CPU will be FX-4100 clocked at 3.6 GHz, interestign as for less threaded applications that 4100 would be faster..

Both feature a 95W TDP, and will compete up against the Core i5 series. All CPUs feature 8MB L3 cache. This suggests that FX-6100 and FX-4100 are simply Zambezi processors with 1 module or 2 modules disabled, respectively.

Hardware and Software Used

AMD PHENOM X3 8600/8600B SPECS & PERFORMANCE UNLOCKING CORE SECRETS

iNTROdUCTIOn:

AMD PHENOM X3 8600B Based on a single die design, AMD's K10 are vulnerable to manufacturing defects. To counter the low-yields, they decided to disable the 'buggy' core and sell them as triple-cores. This process allows AMD to launch a wide range of products with dual, tri and quad core processors fitting every price points in the market. Resulting from AMD's pricing strategy, these triple-cores will be competing against Intel's 45nm Wolfdale Core 2 Duo. But in this extract of the original review (in Chinese), we shall see how the tri-core will perform against it's own quad-core brother.

Looking at the identification code,
we can see that the naming schema has changed since the dual-core days.

CPU-Z reveals that the processor is based on the Toliman core,
and shares the same amount of L3 (2MB) as its quad-core brother.

Test Rig:AMD Phenom X4 9600 （Socket AM2+, 2.3GHz, 4*512K L2, 2MB L3）
AMD Phenom X3 8600 （Socket AM2+, 2.3Ghz, 3*512K L2, 2MB L3）
AMD Athlon64 X2 4400+ （Socket AM2, 2.3Ghz, 2*512K L2）

The AMD FX-4100 CPU

The AMD FX-4100 is a quad-core processor is basically a FX-8150 with 4-cores disabled. This obviously means that the chip has half of the L2 cache (4MB) enabled and a lower TDP (95W). The AMD FX-4100 even has the same 3.6 GHz base clock speed as the FX-8150, but differs slightly in Turbo mode as it is clocked lower. Turbo mode on the FX-4100 runs at just 3.7 (4 cores at load) or 3.8 GHz (2 cores at load), so it doesn't scale as high as the FX-8150.

The best part about the FX-4100 is without a doubt the price. The FX-4100 has a street price of $109.99 shipped, which is far less expensive than the FX-8150 that will set you back $269.99 shipped. Could the FX-4100 processor be the value play for the AMD desktop market? That is what we set to find out and we'll be comparing it against processors like the Intel Core i3-2120 quad-core 3.3GHz CPU that runs $127.01 shipped to see how this budget processors compare.

The AMD FX-4100 will work only on AMD AM3+ ready motherboards, but the good news is that sites like Newegg have 46 AMD AM3+ boards to pick from with prices ranging from $54.99 to $239.99. This means that you can easily get a motherboard, 8GB DDR3 memory and the FX-4100 processor for far less than just the FX-8150!

When running all the threads at 100% when using a application like handbrake the AMD FX-4100 was observed running at 3600MHz, which just happens to be the standard base clock speed for this processor.

AMD FX-4100 CPU Overclocking

When you want to purchase a PC(or Build your Own Rig), but you need performance/price balance then my choice is only & only AMD (Advanced micro devices) Processor based PC's.

Benefit of AMD Processor Based PC's given below:

1. Continuous outclass performance for every type of Application.