Socket AM3: AMD's Phenom II Gets DDR3
Table of contents
- 1. Introduction
- 2. A Slew Of New CPUs
- 3. Inside AM3
- 4. Modding And Overclocking–Doable?
- 5. Test Setup And Benchmarks
- 6. Benchmark Results: Synthetics
Running in second place is a strong motivator to do things differently—or even better—than your competition. For AMD, that has meant trying to develop a reputation for smoother, less disruptive platform transitions.
When Intel launched Core i7, it was a given that you’d need an X58 motherboard with the company’s LGA 1366 interface. Before that, LGA 775 served the Core micro-architecture well. But again, that was a complete departure from Socket 478, as the device required a completely new motherboard. Each step of the way, Intel has tweaked the packaging of its CPUs, altering thermals and mechanical load limits. Each new socket has addressed those alterations in kind.
A History Of Smoother Socket Launches?
Say what you will about its current performance deficit versus Intel’s fastest Core i7 processors, but AMD’s approach to adding functionality and shifting platform technologies has arguably been a bit less disruptive—at least on the surface. Missing from the below chart is Socket 940 and Socket AM2+. Socket 940 was only somewhat relevant to enthusiasts who purchased high-end Athlon 64 FX chips. And Socket AM2+ is perhaps the best example of AMD unveiling a new socket without stranding customers who invested in AM2. You could drop a newer AM2+ CPU in an older AM2 board and not run into trouble, aside from losing split power plane and HyperTransport 3.0 support.
What the table doesn't reflect are the situations where a new 140 W CPU might fit into a given socket, but still not work due to a motherboard design inadequacy (AMD and early 780G boards) or a fresh micro-architecture is launched on an existing platform, requiring new motherboards as a result of voltage changes (Intel and its Conroe).
| Disruptive Socket Launches | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | AMD | Intel |
| 2001 | Socket 478 | |
| 2002 | ||
| 2003 | Socket 754 | |
| 2004 | Socket 939 | LGA 775 |
| 2005 | ||
| 2006 | Socket AM2 | (Intel launches Core 2 Duo, most motherboards need to be replaced) |
| 2007 | ||
| 2008 | LGA 1366 | |
| 2009 | (Socket AM3–new processors work in old motherboards, but not the other way around) | |
Now, with the unveiling of Socket AM3, AMD brings half of that same story over to its newest PGA-ZIF interface. You see, AM3 processors include the DDR2 and DDR3 memory controllers needed to drop into either AM2/AM2+ or AM3 motherboards. However, aging AM2/AM2+ processors don’t have the DDR3 memory controller to drop into an AM3 motherboard. We have to imagine more enthusiasts would be interested in adopting modern 45 nm CPUs and recycling their platforms than keeping a dated processor, hoping to only upgrade the motherboard, so that's an acceptable trade-off to us. Just to be sure no mistakes are made, AM3 processors come armed with 938 pins—two shy of the 940 needed in an AM2/AM2+ configuration.
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Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition looks like it could be great value!
I'm glad you got the "What would happen if we chopped two pins off?" idea out of the way. Should save some tears.
However, I'm sure some will try it still and be a top question on tech forums for the next few months.
Why folks just cant do a simple google search before asking such questions is beyond me. Misplaced laziness I guess?
I wasnt going to wait and get a high clocked am3 phenom to replace my current phenom and then upgrade to ddr3 later. But now iv read this i mite aswell just get the 940 and keep with a ddr2 setup.
lol at all the peeps who hurried out and gobbled up an i7 setup for gaming purposes "the i7 needs to be ocd to function as a game machine" says it all when a stock 910 shows it up.
why rush and buy an am3 board and cpu yet its just a waste of time and money! teething problems galore and until amd release a quad core BE im not even gonna bother changing my 9850BE cos it will be pointless.
i upgrade when my computer does run the software i want to use not when someone releases somink with an extra digit in the name of it!!!
Nice article. Would have been nice to see some C2Q scores or at least the power figures for the 720 though. Wonder if we'll see another bench featuring fully air-OCd i7-920 vs 720 vs 810 sometime?
Interesting. C2D still rules the roost for dual-thread apps and AMD's slightly less flaky 3+cores implemetation on 45nm parts makes the cheaper quads very competitive, and the 720 a potential sleeper hit for gamers especially once more and more games start to be inherently massively multithreaded. And all those who tried to turn an enterprise platform into gaming rigs *cough*Bloomfield*cough* because "Intel said so" are still wiping bits of egg from their beards. Guess the hype was just that.
That said, the mainstream Nehalems coming out later this year might still prove solid competition if the stability improvements expected from AMDs next 45nm stepping fail to impress (or they again reserve stability enhancements for just the €200+ motherboards!). I'm not seeing any 4GHz Phenom2s on air yet...
Well I don't know about value coz the prices in my country differ considerably, but I can't help but saying investing in an AMD CPU is a great loss of performance.
I bet many intel core 2 quads could have beaten the "new" AMDs if they were added to the mix. It's unfortunate they were not included.
And the advantage of intel CPUs becomes much greater when it comes to overclocking..In fact I can't imagine what made AMD lag behind intel by such a big gap..How did it come to this?!!! Come on AMD! As an end-user I like to see neck to neck competitors in the field!
the x3 720 looks like a superb chip for the money and all the phenoms look pretty good in gaming , surprised to see the i7 920 doing so badly in gaming
Clock for clock an Intel quad core inc the "old" Q6600 CAN still beat the "new" Phenoms IIs even in AM3 mode.
My motherboard can take DDR2 or DDR3 ram if i added DDR3 + Q6600 it would beat the Phenoms IIs even ones made for the AM3.
x3 720 is good but it take 3 cores to try and beat an Intel 2 core......
Now which is better AMD or Intel........ Intel of course.
if you can find a better intel chip for 100 pounds sterling or 145 dollars than the 720 x3 , well then intel is better , but seen as Intels i7 lags behind whilst costing 3 times as much .. well .. you get my drift
if you can find a better intel chip for 100 pounds sterling or 145 dollars than the 720 x3 , well then intel is better , but seen as Intels i7 lags behind whilst costing 3 times as much .. well .. you get my drift
Obviously this is why AMD has reduced their CPU prices. Being unable to produce high end performance beasts foeced the company to cut their profits so they can at least compete in the entry and lower mid-range markets.
As we all know, and THW's system building marathons every month prove, a worthy gaming rig (that can play all the games with decent visual quality @ decent frame rates) cannot be assembled for less than $1200. At that price range AMD just can't present anyhting which can run in parallel with the GPU and ram's performance.
Again I hope AMD will soon close the gap. Even then, to be quite honest, I would go for Intel chips in my buils (since applications are and has always been optimized more for them and they experienced far much less issues), but the competition would then force Intel to drop prices, and both Intel and AMD's fanboys will be happy!
fair enough but personally I don't spend more than a couple of undred pounds when I upgrade (Istill run a skt 939 ) and decent gaming to me is ..well .. command and conquer red alert 3 at 1056 x whatever ,but I think I represent the majority of folks , and yes you are right about amd targeting the budget market , but that's what they have to do
In my country (Malaysia) A reasonable (say for decent gaming with a 9800GTX+) motherboard + CPU, Intel way is US $222. AMD way is half of that, just about US $100 for a simple reasonable Gigabyte Board and a AMD X2 5000+
I mean an AMD X2 5000+ DDR2 RAM and playing Crysis, the bottleneck say at 1440x900 is definitely still the GPU. Anything Nvidia GTX260 and above, of course, Intel. Anything Nvidia 9800 or less, AMD is more than good enough.
I'm talking gaming here, I don't intend to encode and I do all my "productivity" on a Mac.
My AMD X2 5200 is still going strong xD Luckily i rarely have to defragment, scan for viruses, burn a dvd and play a game at the same time
During normal day to day activity , the systems don’t outperform each other. It depends on the person and uses. I suggest for an average office and home user go with AMD because of cost. High end user will decide what to but according to performance.