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AMD will ship two new quad-core Phenom II X4 processors, 940 Black Edition and the 920, clocked at 3.0GHz and 2.8GHz, respectively. Black Edition processors come with an unlocked multiplier setting to make overclocking easier for PC enthusiasts. The processors differ only in clock speed, and have same specifications otherwise. The Phenom II X4 processors will come with 64K of L1 instruction and 64K of L1 data cache per core (512KB total L1 per processor), and 512KB of L2 data cache per core (2MB total L2 per processor). The processors will also have a shared 6MB L3 cache and will feature an onboard DDR2 memory controller with 17.1 GB/s of memory bandwidth.
Both are built on a 45nm manufacturing proces.To make sure existing Phenom owners happy, Phenom II X4 processors will be backward compatible with existing AM2+ motherboards. Motherboard manufacturers will release BIOS updates to ensure compatibility. As a follow-up in early 2009, AMD will release AM3 socket-based Phenom II X4 and X3 processors. Both will also be backward compatible with current AM2+ motherboards and will support both DDR2 and DDR3 memory.AMD's newest processor competes favorably against processors in its class. If we could fill in the spot where Intel's Q9400 sits, we're sure that the Phenom II X4 940 would outperform it.Overall, the Phenom II X4 looks to be a great purchase if you're upgrading. It keeps up gaming-wise with Intel's Core lineup and holds its own in intense processing situations. Backward compatibility with AM2+ motherboards gives existing users an easy and affordable upgrade path. The promise of future backward compatibility only sweetens the deal.
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