Six-core intel core i7 processors. The whole truth about multi-core processors

Until recently, Intel processors were developed according to the time-tested Tick-Tock system, that is, according to the principle of a pendulum: at each “tick” a new, significantly redesigned architecture is born, and at each “tock” the existing architecture is transferred to a new one , a more advanced technical process. Intel plans to continue to adhere to this approach, but the pendulum does not swing quite evenly, and therefore some “intermediate” solutions appear periodically. One of these products is the Intel Core i7 980X processor we are considering, which represents the Nehalem architecture, which is being transferred as part of the next “so” to a 32-nm process technology. But in this case, the swing of the pendulum is slightly different from usual - the transition to a new technological process most often makes it possible to increase the operating frequency of the processor, but Intel chose a different path and increased the number of cores to six. So, the Intel Core i7 980X is the first six-core desktop processor to hit our test lab. Let's take a closer look at its architecture.

⇡ Architecture

The Intel Core i7 980X processor belongs to the Gulftown family and is its first and so far the only representative of processors of this family. There are no fundamental differences from the architecture of the Bloomfield family, on which all other processors for the LGA1366 platform are based, in the Intel Gulftown architecture. We can assume that the Core i7 980X is the same Bloomfield, operating at a frequency of 3.33 GHz, with a third-level cache increased by 4 MB and manufactured using a 32 nm process technology. However, there are some significant differences.

First, thanks to Intel HyperThreading technology, this six-core processor can handle up to twelve data threads, which is four more than all other Core i7 processors.

Secondly, the Core i7 980X received a new AES-NI (Advanced Encryption Standard New Instructions) instruction set, consisting of twelve different instructions designed to speed up all applications that actively use the AES algorithm. The AES-NI instruction set is already used in Clarkdale processors, but this is the first solution for the LGA1366 platform with this instruction set. Adding them will significantly increase processor performance in tasks such as encryption, VoIP, Internet firewalls and other applications that rely heavily on encryption. For other applications, the presence of AES-NI will have virtually no effect.

Thirdly, the L3 cache increased to 12 MB can have a positive effect on performance in games and other applications that use large amounts of cache memory. At the same time, other applications may lose some performance, since the increase in cache memory also led to an increase in latencies - the Uncore bus frequency in the new processor was reduced from 3.2 GHz to 2.6 GHz.

Finally, fourthly, the transfer of the processor to a 32-nm process technology using transistors with a metal gate had a positive effect on its physical dimensions: the Gulftown die has an area of ​​248 mm², while the quad-core Bloomfield die has an area of ​​263 mm², and the Lynnfield die has an area of ​​263 mm², and altogether 296 mm². Reducing the technological process standards should have a positive effect on the heat dissipation of the processor and its overclocking potential. The Core i7 980X has 1.17 billion transistors, making it the first home processor to surpass one billion transistors.

Otherwise, the Core i7 980X is similar to the Core i7 975: the same QPI bus frequency of 6.4 GT/s, that is, 25.6 GB/s, a similar built-in memory controller that allows you to work with DDR3 1333 memory in three-channel mode. Both processors operate at the same frequency and have an unlocked multiplier, the value of which can vary from 12 to 60 (in nominal mode - 25, in Turbo Boost mode - 27).

⇡ Cooling system

Many buyers of top-end Intel processors were very surprised when they took out of the box with a processor for several tens of thousands of rubles a simple aluminum radiator with radially diverging fins and a small noisy fan. Standard Intel cooling systems practically did not change from processor to processor, except that the height of the fins increased. With the release of the Core i7 980X, for the first time in many years, Intel changed its approach to standard processor cooling and equipped the new product with a much more serious cooler, called the Intel DBX-B Thermal Solution.

The new cooler is a tower heatsink with four heat pipes running through a copper base. On one side there is a fan with a diameter of 100 mm with a transparent impeller and blue backlight. Let's look at the cooler in a little more detail.

The radiator itself consists of aluminum fins of medium thickness, and the distance between them is very small - it will be difficult for fans with low speeds to blow through such a structure. Four heat pipes with a diameter of 6 mm are neatly sealed in the hollows of the base - of course, there is no technology for direct contact of heat pipes with the processor itself, but this is not necessary. The top of the radiator is covered with a cover with protrusions for heat pipes, on which the Intel logo is placed.

The fan impeller is the strangest part of the cooler: its blades have a slightly curved shape, and it is not enclosed in a frame. As a result, only a small part of the air flow is sent directly to the radiator, but the airflow around the motherboard around the processor is at a high level.

The processing of the base of the cooler is at an average level: it is not mirror-like, but without any distinct irregularities. At the same time, the base is slightly convex, which ensures good contact with the processor cover in the middle, where the crystal itself is located. This solution is ineffective if the processor cover is perfectly flat, but in our case it turned out to be slightly concave, and here the convexity of the cooler base came in very handy.

The Intel DBX-B thermal Solution attaches to the motherboard using four finger-tight screws. A soft plastic plate is installed on the back of the motherboard, into which screws are screwed. Despite the inconvenient location of the screws (you have to reach up to the heads of two of them) and the flimsy design of the plate, this mount is a huge step forward compared to all previous versions of mounts.

There is a two-position switch at the top of the radiator. The letter "S" stands for Silence, while the letter "P" stands for Performance. In the first mode, the fan rotates at a speed of approximately 800-900 rpm, and in the second - about 1800 rpm. And if in the Silence mode the fan can be called moderately noisy, then in the Performance mode it is very loud: its noise drowns out both the power supply fan, the video card fan, and the sound from the hard drive heads. The blue illumination of the impeller cannot be turned off, but it is not too bright and does not hurt the eyes.

In general, despite the huge number of shortcomings, the Intel DBX-B cooler is far superior to all previous cooling systems that were equipped with Intel processors. Unfortunately, it is intended only for Gulftown processors - other processors will be equipped with old coolers. Let's see what the new cooling system is capable of in action - let's try to overclock the processor.

The maximum frequency at which we were able to load the system using air cooling was almost 4.5 GHz. At this frequency it was even possible to pass some tests, but stability was not observed. Therefore, the frequency had to be reduced to 4.2 GHz - at this frequency, all tests passed properly, and the processor with the Intel DBX-B Thermal Solution cooler installed on it did not warm up above 65 degrees Celsius. However, when trying to check the stability of the processor in the OCCT utility, the Core i7 980X processor with a standard cooler still warmed up to 85 degrees, and the system eventually produced a blue screen. Despite this, we will consider the operation of the processor at this frequency to be conditionally stable, since the loads created by the OCCT LinPack utility are not encountered in real applications.

⇡ Temperature and power consumption

Let's move on to the processor performance tests and compare its results with the results of other latest generation Intel processors, but first let's evaluate the system's power consumption.

At standard frequencies, our test bench, together with the Core i7 980X processor, consumed only 185 W, which is not bad for a computer with the most powerful desktop processor and a dual-chip video card. Under load using the OCCT utility, the system's power consumption increased significantly and amounted to 297 W - this is only due to the processor, because the OCCT LinPack test does not load the video card.

Overclocking with an increase in processor voltage to 1.35 V does not greatly affect the system's power consumption when idle - it is 192 W, but under load, power consumption increases to 344 W - almost 50 W more than without overclocking.

After the line of processors from AMD was replenished with FX models with a large number of cores, all users, even fans of Intel products, started talking about them. How can it be - the price of the processor is two times cheaper than that of a competitor, and the performance is right on your heels! In this article we will talk about a rather interesting modification of AMD - FX-6100. The fact is that this processor has 6 cores - a middling product between a budget device and a top-end 8-core chip, as the buyer might think. But he will be wrong. It would be more accurate to call the processor the most powerful device in the inexpensive budget class.

The reader will get acquainted with the technical tests of the new product and, thanks to reviews from the owners, will get a complete understanding of this wonderful AMD product.

Main competitor

Perhaps the world would not have seen an AMD processor with six cores on store shelves, but this became inevitable for the manufacturer when its main competitor, Intel, introduced the new Core i3-2125 to the market in the mid-range budget class. The power of budget-class processors (on the Russian market there was only one crystal with the old Phenom technology, which all buyers bypassed) AMD at that time was not enough to fight the competitor, and modifications with eight cores competed for primacy with the Core i5. There was an urgent need to occupy an open price niche.

The manufacturer presented to the world community several products for the budget price niche. All of them differed slightly in cost and performance. Such a decision was supposed to drive a competitor out of the market. The new FX-6100, its characteristics and price immediately attracted the attention of the buyer. The new product was definitely interesting because there were six cores on board the crystal, which worked independently of each other. It was from this moment that the battle of the titans began:

Specifications

The consumer clearly liked the manufacturer's approach to creating the processor, because to create it, the company's technologists developed a completely new Zambezi core, refusing to use old technologies. As a result, the new AMD FX-6100 BOX received the following technical characteristics:

1. Interaction with motherboards on
2. The production uses a new 32-nanometer process technology, which makes it possible to place 1.2 billion transistors on one chip.
3. The number of computing processes corresponds to the number of cores - 6 pieces.
4. The nominal core frequency is 3300 MHz (3900 in Max Turbo mode).
5. Full amounts of cache memory of all three levels are used.
6. The processor supports two DDR3 memory channels operating at frequencies of 1333/1600/1866 MHz.
7. All instruction sets are supported for running 32-bit and 64-bit applications, including MMX.
8. Heat dissipation at peak loads does not exceed 95 watts. We are talking about a base frequency of 3300 MHz. With increased performance, heat dissipation can reach 150 watts.

Appearance and packaging

Even though the AMD FX-6100 processor is the smallest device in the system, it is a given that the packaging for the “heart” of a computer will always be beautiful and huge in size. It is worth noting that the manufacturer has completely changed the design of the box for all Black Edition processors. Instead of the utopian black color, it is made in a red and white style, to match all AMD products. The main attribute - packaging with a window for contemplating the processor - has not changed. The contents of the box for all brands are identical and have long been considered the norm:

• the processor itself is in a miniature plastic package that can protect the device from physical impacts during transportation;
• AMD branded sticker on the owner’s system unit;
• cooling system assembly (fan and radiator);
• colorful instructions with pictures for installing the processor and mounting the cooler;
• a lot of “waste paper” (leaflets, certificates, guarantees and recommendations).

Questions about the cooling system

Coolers that came in the same package with devices always received low ratings from those who wanted to test processor power through overclocking. Therefore, the AMD FX-6100 Six-Core Processor product was no exception. The aluminum radiator with a copper core at the base and a 70mm cooler looks a bit weak. However, according to the manufacturer, such a system can cope with processor cooling at peak loads of up to 100 W.

As users note in their reviews, for standard frequencies (3300-3900 MHz) this cooling system is quite sufficient, but overclocking enthusiasts should think about more advanced coolers from well-known world brands. Accordingly, in such cases it is recommended to purchase the processor not in the BOX version, but to give preference to OEM delivery.

Sports interest

Naturally, all potential buyers are interested in comparing two processors in the same niche from different manufacturers. For the purity of the experiment, the AMD FX(TM)6100 Six-Core must be compared in tests with the Intel Core i3-2125. In fact, these are two identical processors, judging by their technical characteristics and price, although the latter has only two cores.

As test results show, in resource-intensive applications that require processor power (archivers, password crackers, video and audio encoders, mathematical calculations), the new product from AMD is the leader. Undoubtedly, 6 cores are more productive than two. However, the situation changes dramatically in benchmarks, when only one core is involved in the test - Intel Core i3-2125 wins by a huge gap over its competitor (Cinebench R11.529, 3DMark).

But with games the issue is controversial. Applications that are designed to run on one or two cores undoubtedly show better results with an Intel processor. And all the rest, which require overall system performance, show decent results with the AMD FX-6100 crystal. It is worth noting that recently many game manufacturers have been writing codes without reference to processor threads, and accordingly, AMD’s new product has a greater chance of winning in performance over its competitor.

Higher, faster, stronger

In the media you can find many arguments from “experts” who assure others that the AMD FX-6100 Six processor is a lightweight version of its older brother FX-6300. Logically, these two processors have many of the same parameters: number of cores, cache, memory bus, instructions, heat dissipation and technical process. But the chipsets used for their production are different, and the technologies have slight differences. Testing will put everything in its place.

1. The GeekBench CPU benchmark shows the 6300's CPU performance to be 7,677 (the 6100's 6,945).
2. The AMD FX-6100 processor does not support FMA3, which is used to speed up tasks.
3. The 6300 chip runs 10% faster with all applications running the updated version of the Turbo Core AMD instructions (video editing and 3D modeling).

The right approach

For many potential buyers who want to overclock the AMD FX-6100 processor, reviews from owners lead them to believe that it is worth purchasing a decent cooling system to protect the crystal from overheating. The choice falls on expensive high-end devices, the cost of which is not comparable to the price of the processor itself. Naturally, the buyer immediately gives up his desires. There is no need to rush here, the main thing is to know one truth: any cooler on the market positioned for a certain heat dissipation is definitely more efficient than the BOX version.

The choice of a decent cooling system within 3,000 rubles is quite large, and for most buyers it is not carried out at the level of characteristics, but is tied to the brand. Devices from Zalman, Scythe, Deepcool, and Cooler Master have proven themselves to be excellent. Any cooler you like from the proposed options is guaranteed to cope with the task. For an AMD FX-6100 processor with a heat dissipation of 95 W, it is worth selecting a cooling system with a coefficient of one and a half. That is, the cooler must cope with the dissipated power of the processor of 142.5 W.

Overclocking potential

Many beginners, after installing AMD Catalyst proprietary software, discover that on one of the application tabs there is information on the processor, which indicates the nominal processor frequency and overclocking potential. Very often the user contemplates a figure equal to 4.3 GHz; naturally, he overclocks the crystal to the maximum.

You should not do this at the initial stages; IT technology experts recommend overclocking the AMD FX-6100 3.3 GHz processor to the maximum permissible level specified in the device specification - 3.9 GHz in Max Turbo mode. It is necessary to work in this mode, observe the temperature characteristics of the cooling system, including programmatically, using special utilities. If there are problems, reduce the frequency by 100 units. If heating is under control and the processor is operating stably, you can start increasing the frequency in 100 MHz increments.

Overclocking instructions

How to overclock AMD FX-6100? Judging by reviews in the media, many users are interested in complete step-by-step instructions with recommendations for overclocking the processor. No problem:

1. Enter the computer's BIOS.
2. Go to the "Advanced" tab.
3. Select the item “JumperFree Configuration”.
4. Find the “CPU Ratio” menu.
5. To the right of the found menu there is an “Auto” option. You need to click on it and select the correct multiplier in the list that appears (19.5x corresponds to a frequency of 3900 MHz).
6. Save and restart your computer.

But the overclocking saga does not end there, because many users pay minimal attention to the cooling system, so the manufacturer took full responsibility. The AMD FX-6100 Six processor is equipped with an overheating protection system (58 degrees Celsius). The protection works great - it simply reduces the core frequency by half by setting the required parameter in the BIOS. There are two ways to solve the problem: either install a powerful cooling system, or deceive the lock.

Walking on the blade

As a result, through trial and error, the user will arrive at the correct result. It is worth noting that for each computer these indicators are different (3600 MHz and 1.24 V, 3900 MHz and 1.36 V). After overclocking, many owners in their reviews recommend not focusing on the maximum, because at peak loads the processors do not have time to cool in a timely manner, and accordingly, blocking will occur.

CPU stress test

For many users, judging by their reviews, the question of testing an overclocked processor is not particularly clear, because there is so much similar software on the Internet that it can be confusing when choosing. Professionals recommend testing the stability of the AMD FX-6100 processor, the characteristics of which have been changed by the user, using the OCCT program. The fact is that only this application can perform testing according to specified parameters and provides a lot of useful information.

To set parameters in the OCCT program, the user must set the test time (10-20 minutes is considered normal). Be sure to specify the test version (32 or 64 bits). Select the maximum testing mode - a large set, and it is better to set the number of tests to “Auto”.

In addition to the test result, at the end of the program, the user is given the opportunity to monitor the temperature and voltage of the processor while the cores are loaded. The system will naturally freeze. This is normal, because OCCT takes over all the resources.

When you're buying a new laptop or building a computer, the processor is the most important decision. But there is a lot of jargon, especially regarding kernels. Which processor to choose: dual-core, quad-core, six-core or eight-core. Read the article to understand what this really means.

Dual core or quad core, as simple as possible

Let's keep it simple. Here's everything you need to know:

• There is only one processor chip. This chip may have one, two, four, six or eight cores.
• Currently, an 18-core processor is the best you can get on consumer PCs.
• Each "core" is the part of the chip that does the processing. Essentially, each core is a central processing unit (CPU).

Speed

Now simple logic dictates that more cores will make your processor faster overall. But this is not always the case. It's a little more complicated.

More cores only give more speed if a program can divide its tasks among the cores. Not all programs are designed to split tasks between cores. More on this later.

The clock speed of each core is also a decisive factor in speed, as is the architecture. A newer dual-core processor with a higher clock speed will often outperform an older quad-core processor with a lower clock speed.

Power consumption

More cores also result in higher CPU power consumption. When the processor is turned on, it supplies power to all cores, not just the ones involved.

Chip manufacturers are trying to reduce power consumption and make processors more energy efficient. But, the general rule is that a quad-core processor will drain more power from your laptop than a dual-core processor (and therefore drain the battery faster).

Heat release

Each core affects the heat generated by the processor. Again, as a general rule, more cores lead to higher temperatures.

Because of this extra heat, manufacturers must add better radiators or other cooling solutions.

Price

More cores are not always a higher price. As we said earlier, clock speed, architectural versions, and other considerations come into play.

But if all other factors are equal, then more cores will fetch a higher price.

All about the software

Here's a little secret that processor manufacturers don't want you to know. It's not about how many cores you use, but what software you run on them.

Programs must be specifically designed to take advantage of multiple processors. This kind of "multithreading software" is not as common as you might think.

It's important to note that even if it's a multi-threaded program, what it's used for is also important. For example, the Google Chrome web browser supports multiple processes, as well as the Adobe Premier Pro video editing software.

Adobe Premier Pro offers different engines to work on different aspects of your editing. Given the many layers involved in video editing, this makes sense as each core can work on a different task.

Likewise, Google Chrome offers different kernels to run on different tabs. But therein lies the problem. Once you open a web page in a tab, it is usually static after that. No further processing is necessary; the rest of the work is to store the page in RAM. This means that even though the kernel can be used to lay out the background, it is not necessary.

This Google Chrome example provides an illustration of how even multi-threaded software may not give you much of a real performance boost.

Two cores don't double the speed

So let's say you have the right software and all your other hardware is the same. Will a quad core processor be twice as fast as a dual core processor? No.

Increasing cores does not address the software scaling issue. Scaling to cores is the theoretical ability of any software to assign the right tasks to the right cores, so each core computes at its optimal speed. This is not what is really happening.

In reality, tasks are split sequentially (as most multithreaded programs do) or randomly. For example, let's say you need to complete three tasks to complete an activity, and you have five such activities. The software tells core 1 to solve problem 1, while core 2 solves the second, core 3 solves the third; Meanwhile, core 4 is idle.

If the third task is the hardest and longest, then it would make sense for the software to split the third task between cores 3 and 4. But that's not what it does. Instead, although cores 1 and 2 will complete the task faster, the action will have to wait for core 3 to complete and then compute the results of cores 1, 2, and 3 together.

This is all a roundabout way of saying that the software, much like today, is not optimized to take full advantage of multiple cores. And doubling the cores does not equal doubling the speed.

Where will more cores really help?

Now that you know what cores do and their performance limitations, you should ask yourself, "Do I need more cores?" Well, it depends on what you plan to do with them.

If you frequently play computer games, then more cores on your PC will undoubtedly come in handy. The vast majority of new popular games from major studios support multi-threaded architecture. Video gaming is still largely dependent on what kind of graphics card you have, but a multi-core processor helps too.

For any professional who works with video or audio programs, more cores will be useful. Most popular audio and video editing tools use multi-threaded processing.

Photoshop and design

If you are a designer, then higher clock speeds and more CPU cache will increase speed better than more cores. Even the most popular design software, Adobe Photoshop, largely supports single-threaded or slightly threaded processes. Lots of cores won't be a significant incentive for this.

Faster web browsing

As we've already said, having more cores doesn't mean faster web browsing. While all modern browsers support multi-process architecture, kernels will only help if your background tabs are sites that require a lot of processing power.

Office tasks

All core Office applications are single-threaded, so a quad-core processor won't add speed.

Do you need more cores?

In general, a quad-core processor will perform faster than a dual-core processor for general computing. Each program you open will run on its own kernel, so if the tasks are separated the speeds will be better. If you use many programs at the same time, often switch between them and assign their own tasks to them, choose a processor with a large number of cores.

Just know this: Overall system performance is one area where there are too many factors. Don't expect a magical performance boost by replacing just one component, even the processor.

My regular readers probably remember that I would like to see a popular (inexpensive and productive) six-core processor from Intel on sale as soon as possible. AMD has similar solutions in the sub-$300 category; Intel's 6-core solutions cost at least $900, or even more. Let's remember the Core i7 980x, its price tag is $999; few people can afford to buy such a processor. But Intel has a Core i7 970, also a hexacore, but with somewhat reduced capabilities and price. Does it make sense to buy it, will it be able to compete with its older brother i7 980x? Perhaps in this review we will find out the answers to these questions.

First, a few words about the Core i7 980x - this is Intel's first six-core processor, it is based on the 32nm Gulftown core. In fact, this is the fastest solution from Intel for the home user - six cores, high clock speeds and an increased L3 cache ensure this. And in Turbo mode, the processor was simply unmatched by its competitors in both single-threaded and multi-threaded applications. According to the old Intel tradition, the new king of the processor market should cost nearly $1,000. Early next year, Intel will roll out the Core i7 990x, a slightly faster version of the 980x, most likely its clock speed will be 3.46 GHz (using Turbo mode, it will increase on its own). And in the second quarter of 2011, an even faster representative of the six-core family from Intel will probably be released, but here everything depends on the actions of AMD, as the main and only competitor.

And for the next six months, the only six-core processor other than the 980x will be the Core i7 970, the hero of our testing today.

The cost of this processor, when ordering from 1000 pieces, is $885. Like the 980x, it is based on 32nm Gulftown and has six cores (unlike the other Corei7s on Bloomfield and Lynnfield, which are all quads).

Looking at the table, it’s quite clear how the i7 970 differs from its older brother; I won’t focus on that. Let's take a better look at the table with some characteristics of the processors from today's testing:

And here is the configuration of the test platform (test platforms) on which... yes, testing took place:

By the way, since we mentioned motherboards, when purchasing this processor, the buyer must remember that in order for it to work, it will be necessary to update the motherboard BIOS to the latest one available, at least to the one with which the Core i7 will work 980x.

The battle between two eternal rivals - manufacturers of central processors continues. Some time after Intel announced the new six-core Intel Core series processors for the consumer segment, AMD released its six-core AMD Phenom II X6 processor, thereby proving that six cores can cost no more than $300. The new AMD processor includes all the best from the previous series, and also introduced a new technology called Turbo CORE. We will talk about the new processor, its technical characteristics and innovations, as well as testing results in this article.

The new AMD Phenom II X6 processors are based on the Thuban core, while the K10.5 architecture remains the same. Unlike Intel, AMD went its own way: having increased the Phenom II X4 by two cores and thereby turning it into the Phenom II X6, it did not increase the L3 cache in the processor. This made it possible to reduce the total number of transistors and not go beyond the thermal package, without changing the 45-nm process technology.

The new AMD Phenom II X6 series of processors today offers the user a choice of four six-core processors with support for the new Turbo CORE technology. The first and weakest model is the AMD Phenom II X6 1035T (2.6 GHz with an increase to 3.0 GHz), followed by the AMD Phenom II X6 1055T, which has a clock frequency of 2.8 GHz with the ability to increase the frequency of individual cores to 3.2 GHz in Turbo CORE mode. The AMD Phenom II X6 1075T processor has a clock speed of 3 GHz, up to 3.4 GHz when Turbo CORE mode is enabled. The latest processor in this line, the AMD Phenom II X6 1090T, was the most powerful AMD processor in the consumer segment of the market at the time of writing. Its nominal clock speed is 3.2 GHz, boosted to 3.6 GHz. It comes with an unlocked multiplier, allowing you to overclock it to high frequencies. There are rumors on the World Wide Web about plans to release a more powerful AMD Phenom II X6 1095T processor, which have not yet been confirmed by anything.

AMD Phenom II X6 1090T processor

The AMD Phenom II X6 1090T is based on the Thuban core found in the Phenom II X4 quad-core processors, but adds AMD Turbo CORE technology to the new processor. According to its technical data, this function is the antipode of the Cool’and’Quiet technology, which lowers the clock frequency of the processor cores when there is no load on them. The new technology allows you to increase the clock frequency of active processor cores (no more than three) if the remaining cores (three or more) are not loaded. In this case, the frequency increase factor is chosen in such a way that the processor does not go beyond the TDP package during operation. A sort of analogue of the TurboBoost technology that Intel uses in its processors. And if Intel's TurboBoost technology is more transparent (its work can be seen using any system processor monitoring utility, for example CPU-Z), then for AMD processors with Turbo CORE, the frequency increase can only be detected using a special AMD OverDrive utility. Unlike Intel, AMD Phenom II X6 processors do not have any special control chips that monitor processor temperature and current consumption in real time. The principle of operation of the Turbo CORE technology is quite simple: as soon as three or more processor cores are in a power-saving state with the frequency reduced to 800 MHz as part of the Cool’and’Quiet technology, the processor raises the frequency of the active cores by 400 MHz, that is, the multiplier increases by two. At the same time, to ensure stable operation at higher frequencies, the processor supply voltage is automatically increased from 1.3 to 1.475 V (in our testing). According to AMD's announcement, the new Turbo CORE technology will be used in the next processors of this and other Phenom II X4 processor lines. That is, the company is betting on this technology because, according to AMD, it allows for performance gains for applications that do not support multi-cores. This is a very large segment of software, because until now no more than 30% of programs provide full multi-core support. The rest either use it ineffectively, or only one core is enough for them. In general, parallelization support is a topic for a separate article, so we won’t digress. Let us only note that the introduction of TurboBoost and Turbo CORE technologies by processor giants speaks volumes. Technical characteristics of the AMD Phenom II X6 1090T processor are given in table. 1.

We cannot ignore the announcement of the new AMD Leo platform, which should become a continuation of the Dragon platform, combining the highest-performance processor, high-performance video subsystem and the most functional AMD chipset. The new platform should include a six-core AMD Phenom II X6 processor, AMD Radeon HD5800 series video card(s) and an AMD 890FX system logic set. There has been no official announcement of this platform yet.

But let's return to the processor in question. The AMD Phenom II X6 1090T model arrived at our test laboratory in the form of an engineering sample, so it is not yet clear in what packaging it will be delivered to the end user. The appearance of the processor remains the same, only the inscription has been updated - AMD Phenom X6.

In order to see how Turbo CORE technology works, the latest version of the AMD OverDrive 3.2.1 utility was installed. To load the processor cores, we used our laboratory’s own development, which is used when testing coolers. The processor was gradually loaded with several threads. When running one, two or three load threads, the OverDrive utility displayed a very interesting result (Fig. 1).

Unlike Intel processors, where each thread is sent to a separate core, this model takes a different approach. Each thread is evenly distributed among the processor cores, that is, first part of the code is executed on one core, then on another, etc. As a result, smooth heating of the processor is achieved, and the clock frequency of all cores without exception varies from 800 MHz to 3.645 GHz. This pattern of operation is observed when the processor load is one, two or three threads.

When increasing to four threads (Fig. 2), Turbo CORE technology is disabled, and the frequency of all processor cores without exception becomes standard - 3.2 GHz. Today it is difficult to say how justified this approach is when implementing this technology.

Testing methodology

To test this processor, we were provided with the Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H motherboard, based on the latest AMD 890GX system logic. Since this board, like all modern models, supports DDR3 memory, two Kingston KVR1333D3N8K2 memory modules were installed in it, each with a capacity of 1 GB. The operating system used was a 32-bit version of Microsoft Windows 7. The testing methodology for this processor is no different from that described in detail in the article “New version of the ComputerPress Benchmark Script v.8.0” and published in the November issue of the magazine last year . In table Figure 2 shows the execution time of test tasks in seconds for the assembled test bench and the reference PC we used for comparison. In addition, using utilities from the AMD CPU Cooler Test Kit, the AMD Phenom II X6 1090T was tested under stress load mode to determine its temperature performance. Note that during testing we used a standard cooler for AMD processors.

Test results

Based on those given in table. 2 test results, it can be argued that this processor has 33% lower performance than the reference system. The fields where the processor lags behind by more than a minute when executing a task are highlighted in red, and those tests in green are those in which the result of the new processor approaches the reference values. Let us remember that as a reference PC we used a stand based on the Inte Core Extreme I7-965 processor and the Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD7 board. According to our classification, the result obtained can be characterized as quite expected. Since AMD has been pursuing a policy of developing mid-range and budget-class processors for quite some time, you shouldn’t expect very high performance from the new processor. However, AMD has decided to take an important step towards users by making six-core processors available with fairly high performance. As can be seen from table. 2, in most tests the new processor loses to its competitor. However, in the Adobe Soundbooth CS4 test when editing an audio stream, this processor outperformed the Intel Core Extreme I7-965.

As for heat dissipation tests, here the new processor can pleasantly amaze the user. When operating in idle mode with all cores, the processor temperature did not exceed 25 °C. In the maximum load mode for all cores, the temperature increased by only 20 °C and stabilized at around 45 °C. This is a very worthy result, considering the six processor cores combined with the 45 nm process technology.

Conclusions

Compared to previous high-performance Phenom II X4 models of the previous generation, the new product has a number of important advantages. The first is, of course, two additional cores, which gives a certain increase in performance when working with multi-threaded applications. The second plus is the low power consumption and heat dissipation for the 45 nm process technology. The third advantage, of course, is the introduction of the new Turbo CORE technology, which can increase processor performance when working with single-threaded applications. However, the most important advantage of the new AMD processors is the company's pricing policy, which continues to make inexpensive, technologically advanced, but at the same time productive processors available to users. The officially recommended price of the most productive Phenom II X6 1090T model is set at up to $300 - this means that multi-core architecture will be available to the user like never before.