Surprising Benchmarks on AMD Processors
The good old x6 Phenom II performs *almost* as fast as the latest unreleased generation of AMD processors!
Remember the last processor AMD made before Bulldozer? The Phenom II? Remember its x6 rendition, the 1100T and its smaller brother the 1050T (iirc). Of course, *now* what were originally all physical processors in the first AMD Bulldozer processor, the 1150 x8, are considered pairs of logical processors. This means that the AMD 1150 would today be marketed as having 4 physical cores, and has been treated by the Windows CPU Scheduler ever since a hotfix to it shortly after the release of Bulldozer.Well, check out this latest Benchmark from ExtremeTech ...
The good old x6 Phenom II performs *almost* as fast as the latest unreleased generation of AMD processors, running at 700mhz less clock speed! Further, NONE have more than 4 physical cores (as advertised anyway, count them as you prefer I guess).
Therefore, the AMD Phenom II x6 is perhaps the last AMD processor to have 6 fully independent cores for some time. Perhaps they may even command a market premium for this (or should).
The only *problem* is that the AMD Phenom II was constantly in a state of boosting some core frequencies, using its TurboBoost technology. They couldn't clock the whole chip at full load that high, but could clock a few cores a bit higher if the load was not too great. Thus, they made this compromise, but it results in a chip that really has to 'work for its money'.
