Feature Articles

AMD's New Phenom X4 9000 Series

By Vijay Anand - 12 Apr 2008

Results - SPEC CPU2000 v1.3

Results - SPEC CPU2000 v1.3

To get a good gauge of the processor's integer and floating-point performance prowess, our first order of testing began with SPEC CPU2000. Unfortunately right from the get-go, the Phenom X4 processors put out appalling results. It's without a doubt that the low clock speeds account for the low performance in SPEC CPU2000's speed tests, but the architecture is also at fault if you consider the clock frequency differences between the Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 and the Phenom X4 9850 'Black Edition' processor. In fact, the scores for the Phenom X4 don't really seem to improve the performance of the Athlon 64 X2 series if you compare the result with those from our Q3 2007 CPU Performance Charts article (even if you take into account the testbed differences). This also means any Core 2 Duo processor can run circles around the Phenom X4 in non-thread applications.

SPEC CPU's rate tests simulate running multiple copies of the workload and the outcome unfortunately remains quite similar to the above SPEC CPU's speed tests. When you consider the fact that the older Intel Core 2 Duo processors's dual-user results almost rival those of the new Phenom X4's quad-user results, it's not good at all for AMD.

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