It was awhile ago we tested a processor so today it's time again. AMD sent us their second fastest processor that is on the market right now, X4 9850BE. We are going to put this vs our Intel QX6700 that is a bit outdated compared to the faster i7 processors but you will also see some results on how the i7 perform so lets get this show on the road.
About Amd:
Over the course of AMD's three decades in business, silicon and software have become the steel and plastic of the worldwide digital economy. Technology companies have become global pacesetters, making technical advances at a prodigious rate — always driving the industry to deliver more and more, faster and faster.
However, “technology for technology's sake” is not the way we do business at AMD. Our history is marked by a commitment to innovation that's truly useful for customers — putting the real needs of people ahead of technical one-upmanship. AMD founder Jerry Sanders has always maintained that “customers should come first, at every stage of a company's activities.” Our current CEO, Hector de Jesus Ruiz, continues to carry the torch, saying, “Customer-centric innovation is the pre-eminent value at AMD. It is our reason for being and our strategy for success.”
Specifications:
Processor Frequency: 2.5GHz
L1 Cache Sizes: 64K of L1 instruction and 64K of L1 data cache per core (512KB total L1 per processor)
L2 Cache Sizes: 512KB of L2 data cache per core (2MB total L2 per processor)
L3 Cache Size: 2MB
Memory Controller Type: Integrated 128-bit wide memory controller
Memory Controller Speed: Up to 2.0GHz with Dual Dynamic Power Management
Types of Memory Supported: Support for unregistered DIMMs up to PC2 8500 (DDR2-1066MHz)
HyperTransport 3.0: One 16-bit/16-bit link @ up to 4.0GHz full duplex (2.0GHz x2)
Total Processor Bandwidth: Up to 33.1 GB/s bandwidth
Packaging: Socket AM2+ 940-pin organic micro pin grid array (micro-PGA)
Fab location: AMD's Fab 36 wafer fabrication facilities in Dresden, Germany
Process Technology: 65-nanometer DSL SOI (silicon-on-insulator) technology
Approximate Transistor count: ~ 450 million (65nm)
Approximate Die Size: 285 mm2 (65nm)
Max Ambient Case Temp: 61o Celsius
Nominal Voltage: 1.2-1.3 Volts
Max TDP: 125 Watts
The product:
Please click on thumbnails to get bigger pictures
We got a small kit with the processor and a Foxconn motherboard that should work good with this AM2+ processor.
Testing:
AMD X4 9850BE CPU
Foxconn A70A-S Motherboard
Asus 8800GT Videocard
Mushkin Redline DDR2 kit
WD Caviar SATA HDD
We used the following software to test the processor with, Sisoft Sandra 2009, Pcmark Vantage and SuperPi. Overclocking was done with AMD Overclocking Utility and also the bios.
Please click on thumbnails to get bigger pictures
To show you the difference between the processors that we are using and the i7 I decided to post the whole Sisoft Sandra 2009 Cpu arithmetic screen. The i7 is actually way infront of all the processors listed in the test.
Sisoft Sandra 2009, Cpu Arithmetic:
As we can see there is quite a bit of difference on these two processors in the first test.
Sisoft Sandra 2009, Cpu Multimedia:
This test benchmarked how the processor handles multimedia functions and the AMD processor is actually a bit faster in one part of the test.
