Hardware AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Review

The final AMD CPU to wear the Phenom badge is put through our benchmarks.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2011/07/13/amd-phenom-ii-x4-980-black-edition/1

 

I maybe being a think git, and not seen it, but shouldn't it have a score at the end of it? That really helps me sum up if I should invest in it or not :{

 

"The 980 BE lacks grunt in all our benchmarks – even Intel’s inexpensive dual-core Core i3-2100 proved faster in some tests, and that was before we’d even overclocked the AMD CPU."

This doesn't make sense. Did you mean "...AFTER we'd even overclocked the AMD CPU" or "before we'd even overclocked the INTEL CPU"???

 

Jake, from the looks of it you'll only want to invest in it if you can't afford to replace both the mobo and the cpu.

 

Sorry Jake, you're not being thick We're being rubbish

The score box went AWOL and is currently being added in now.

 

You're not being rubbish, I'm to quick on the gun.

 

Why are AMD wasting the resources of releasing yet another clock bump of a positively prehistoric chip when thy could be using them on bulldozer? come on AMD get on with it, the people you created all the hype in will likely be dead before they ever see one on a retailers shelves at this rate.

 

Yeah I noticed that too lol, they must have meant after theyd over-clocked the AMD chip

 

It means the 2100 was faster than the AMD chip before we overclocked the latter - I've rephrased it slightly to make it clearer.

 

Thanks. That is clearer now.

 

I guess if you have a large stock of Phenom II's and you know you can still sell them, then why not?
I mean i know they are not anywhere close to being a competitive product but its better selling them for £140 than writing off a whole batch. Especialy as a clock increse would probably take very little modification.

Think you would have to be a bit mad or a fanboy to buy one at this late stage, but people still have to upgrade and no doubt there are a fair few users still rocking on AM2+ boards.

Im desparate for an upgrade to my Athlon II X 2 645 but i know with new release form AMD on the horizon and solid performance of Intel to fall back on if Bulldozer is a flop.

Im also limated to 95w TDP as im running a Mini ITX board so sepetember is make or brake for AMD in my eyes.

Its either gonna be a one of the many Intel ITX boards + a tasty i5

Or less likely an AM3+ ITX (havent seen any crop up yet) and a Bulldozer CPU.

 

In as much as I understand AMD wanting to sell as many old chips as possible...I dont think it was worth being reviewed. (No offense BT just feels kind of odd to see a review of this)

Bulldozer oh Bulldozer where the F*** are you Bulldozer?

 

Were BT a bit generous with their 63%? From the charts and price I'd expect nearer 33% or lower ...

 

30 %? Really? lets face it, its not THAT BAD, its just not very good in comparison with Intel products which are 2 lightyears ahead.

 

Stand back a bit and look at how far AMDs 45nm progressed. Crappy old Deneb went form 3.0 to 3.7ghz, then the much larger Thuban came along and topped out at 3.2 ghz.

....hope Bulldozer evolves like this too!

 

Exactly. BT said themselves for £20 more you can have Intel's i5-2500K. Mine runs cleanly with the Asus P8P67 board auto-overclocking the chip to 4.2ghz. Now look at those charts again and work out what you think the percentage should be. Unless I'm missing the point of the reviews, they aren't for charity are they? In which case I'd understand the charitable score ...

I must have missed something because the chip looks worthless ... sorry!

 

Pretty much this. Intel have moved on three(?) generations whilst AMD still faff around with an outdated architecture that is rivalled by Intel's chips from 2006.

Still, maybe AMD will pull something out of the bag. After all, in the past, Nvidia was far ahead with the 8800 series, then got complacent and allowed ATI/AMD to catch up again (and at one point were actually overtaken). Having said that, Intel show no signs of slowing...

 

You imply there is some development costs associated with the 980. As far as I know, this isn't a new stepping, this is just a product of yields on an upward trend.

 

Gulp! OK, these figures make AMD's current offerings look pants. There is one glimmer of hope for this cpu that you've all missed - we all retire systems from being our main system, to being the PC for Dad, or the son, or for the HTPC. In that case, if you can remember, when Phenom was first released socket 939 demand for X2 4800 Athlons went through the roof as a way of prolonging the life of older systems - I still have a socket 939 X2 somewhere in the house (Ubuntu). Same thing for AM2 and AM3 - those systems are going to be retired very soon, and this chip (because some of the AM2 boards don't support X6 processors) is the last hurrah for keeping them alive...

Bet you see demand for these chips that'll surprise you - it only makes sense in this context

 

Think the 63% is way to generous.

50% tops!