Feature Articles

The Phenom II X6 - AMD Replies with Six Cores

By Vincent Chang - 27 Apr 2010

Conclusion

Conclusion

One can't help but have mixed feelings about the Phenom II X6. AMD has to get some credit for bringing a 6-core processor down to less than US$300 for the top, unlocked model, which is pretty affordable, considering that this sum just about gets you an above average Core i7 quad-core. Throw in the new Turbo Core feature that seeks to alleviate the weakness of multi-core processors - in order to keep within the TDP, they are generally restricted to lower clock frequencies than dual-cores - and we should have a winner right? That's even before one considers that at 125W TDP, these Phenom II X6 processors are quite close to the quad-core Phenom II X4 965 in terms of power consumption.

The fly in the ointment is that all those extra cores only get to show off their capabilities in certain applications, namely those CPU intensive, multi-threaded ones, like video encoding and 3D rendering. While Turbo Core helps to a certain extent to improve lightly threaded performance, it's not as powerful or as flexible as its inspiration, Intel's Turbo Boost and its power-gating scheme that reduces the voltage of idle cores to almost zero.

In the end, what you make of the Phenom II X6 boils down to your usage. If one judges an all-round system suite like SYSmark as the gauge, then there's hardly any difference between Turbo Core or not. For those who are heavily into multi-threaded applications, then the results, exemplified by Cinebench, will be a distinct improvement over AMD's own quad-core.

However, if gaming is your focus, then the Phenom II X6, despite Turbo Core, is as lackluster as any of AMD's processors. When everything works fine, like in World in Conflict or a gaming benchmark like 3DMark06, one gets negligible to marginal improvements. If it's like our experience in Crysis, then something's obviously not working properly and even a high-end graphics card, like AMD's own Radeon 5800 series, will be constrained by the processor. Intel's Lynnfield processors will be the better deal here, especially coupled with their very decent overclocking limits and vastly lower power consumption.

There's no doubt that the Phenom II X6 1090T is very affordable for a 6-core processor at US$289, but while it manages to just edge out its opponents, the Core i7-860 and i7-930 in some multi-threaded applications, it's in turn heavily beaten by them in lightly threaded ones. It should nevertheless pull some users away from Intel, especially for certain usage models. In fact, the X6's greatest competitor may come from within. The quad-core Phenom II X4 965 is around US$100 cheaper at $186 and it's generally not that far off from the Phenom II X6 1090T. Is that premium worth paying for two more cores? Check your own list of applications to find the answer. 

Our Ratings
AMD Phenom II X6 1090T (Black Edition)
AMD Phenom II X6 1055T
Join HWZ's Telegram channel here and catch all the latest tech news!
Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.