# AMD Readies 3.70 GHz Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Processor



## btarunr (Mar 18, 2011)

AMD is looking to give its Phenom II series a finale, with a new quad-core Phenom II X4 model, the Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition. The new chip will be clocked at 3.70 GHz out of the box (18.5 x 200 MHz). It achieves this speed while staying within the 125W TDP envelope. Based on the 45 nm "Deneb" silicon, the X4 980 BE features four x86-64 cores with 512 KB dedicated L2 cache each, and a 6 MB shared cache. Compatible with AM3 and AM2+ sockets, the chip packs a dual-channel memory controller that supports DDR3-1333 MHz or DDR2-1066 MHz memory standards. AMD will unveil the new chip soon, as the company gears up to launch next-generation chips in June.





*View at TechPowerUp Main Site*


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## Lionheart (Mar 18, 2011)

Interesting AMD, dat would be nice for ppl who dont know how to overclock, and I thought Phenom II supported 1600MHz Ram speeds????


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## Melvis (Mar 18, 2011)

WTF??? lol, i thought they was done with Phenom II, o well still a nice stock clock, id take one if some one gave me one lol  

Naaa Lionheart, only 1333, gotta overclock for those speeds.


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## Kitkat (Mar 18, 2011)

Lionheart said:


> Interesting AMD, dat would be nice for ppl who dont know how to overclock, and I thought Phenom II supported 1600MHz Ram speeds????



"dat's" the motherboard @1600 and "dat's" the 790FX. The 890FX supports 1800-2XXX. At the chip its 1333 you oc to get there. You wouldn't buy a black without ocing its a waste of money.



Melvis said:


> WTF??? lol, i thought they was done with Phenom II, o well still a nice stock clock, id take one if some one gave me one lol
> 
> Naaa Lionheart, only 1333, gotta overclock for those speeds.



Yes "they was done" with it. there is more than one "team" working on things im sure this is one of there last projects b4 moving on.


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## Lionheart (Mar 18, 2011)

Oh ok that makes sense now, cheers guys.


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## inferKNOX (Mar 18, 2011)

Interesting... nice to know that the person I'm selling my mobo & CPU to after the Bulldozers come to light will still have plenty upgrade options. At least AMD doesn't just dump previous gen owners.


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## Dr. Nick (Mar 18, 2011)

3.7Ghz stock speed sounds nice. I bet you could reach 4Ghz without even raising the voltage.


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## Imsochobo (Mar 18, 2011)

Dr. Nick said:


> 3.7Ghz stock speed sounds nice. I bet you could reach 4Ghz without even raising the voltage.



perhaps.
but 3,7 ghz, will we reach 3.8 stock speeds ? highest stock clocked desktop cpu ?


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## blibba (Mar 18, 2011)

http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=27492&processor=&spec-codes=SL7Z4


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## (FIH) The Don (Mar 18, 2011)

they should just put it at 4.0 instead to finish the PII lineup with a proper speed


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## Hustler (Mar 18, 2011)

Well i suppose they have to use up the last remaining stocks of Phenom II's somehow......

Still a good , cheap CPU though, that will have more than enough grunt (for games) for the next couple of years.

Infact, put one of these with a 560 or 6950, and you have a kick ass cheap gaming rig.....


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## Over_Lord (Mar 18, 2011)

Imsochobo said:


> perhaps.
> but 3,7 ghz, will we reach 3.8 stock speeds ? highest stock clocked desktop cpu ?



this was imminent. SInce Bulldozer is launching in June 2nd week, AMD as customary have to refresh their line-up every quarter, starting this may is Q2 2011

So I guess a 3.4GHz Phenom II X6 is possible.


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## Imsochobo (Mar 18, 2011)

thunderising said:


> this was imminent. SInce Bulldozer is launching in June 2nd week, AMD as customary have to refresh their line-up every quarter, starting this may is Q2 2011
> 
> So I guess a 3.4GHz Phenom II X6 is possible.



Maybe we will see one last phenom II at 3.8
Just to have beaten intel in mhz's and its almost 7 years since last intel set the record for x86 mhz cpu's

mhz doesnt really matter, but just for the fun side of it


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## Yellow&Nerdy? (Mar 18, 2011)

Just give us Bulldozer already...


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## NC37 (Mar 18, 2011)

But still for the price...why bother when the other BE models can clock just as high. Course I'll reserve final judgment for when a review is done, but right now I'm doubting it would be worth the expense which likely has it in the X6 range. Might as well go X6 at that point.


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## IceCreamBarr (Mar 18, 2011)

(FIH) The Don said:


> they should just put it at 4.0 instead to finish the PII lineup with a proper speed



I believe AMD needs to keep the chip within the TDP of 125W.  Their cooling solution must be up to par and the mobo needs to have proper power delivery.

I can't say for sure but it actually sounds like a pretty big achievement for AMD.  You can argue that they are making new SKU's just to sell chips (and that would be a strong argument) but I'd like to take a more positive view and say that 3.5GHz was their limit for 125W TDP at one time (just for example).  As the manufacturing process matured, they were able to hit 3.6GHz within 125W and again, further maturation has allowed them to squeeze 3.7GHz out of 125W.

If that is in fact the case then Bulldozer should be a more mature chip than it would have been without those milestones from the Gen before it.


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## Semi-Lobster (Mar 18, 2011)

Hey that backwards compatibility with DDR2 is still pretty enticing...


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## Mindweaver (Mar 18, 2011)

I think this is kickass! The average user doesn't overclock. So, giving them the option of buying a 3.7ghz cpu is great for everyone that likes amd.


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## Dave63 (Mar 18, 2011)

IceCreamBarr said:


> I believe AMD needs to keep the chip within the TDP of 125W.  Their cooling solution must be up to par and the mobo needs to have proper power delivery.
> 
> I can't say for sure but it actually sounds like a pretty big achievement for AMD.  You can argue that they are making new SKU's just to sell chips (and that would be a strong argument) but I'd like to take a more positive view and say that 3.5GHz was their limit for 125W TDP at one time (just for example).  As the manufacturing process matured, they were able to hit 3.6GHz within 125W and again, further maturation has allowed them to squeeze 3.7GHz out of 125W.
> 
> If that is in fact the case then Bulldozer should be a more mature chip than it would have been without those milestones from the Gen before it.



If the 3.5GHz was their limit for 125W TDP,  what is it for the 95W that is my max TDP on my mobo and I am at 3.5GHz stable. So I can see this new chip over 4.0GHz eazy, I will be holding off for bulldozer to be out to start the new build this fall and turn this one into a 24/7 folder for fun


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## HalfAHertz (Mar 18, 2011)

Nah. It was the same back in the days with the Brisbane Athlons 6000+ . They had a pretty high base clock but you could barely OC them because they had reached the limits of the current process node. I doubt we will see any new Ph II's unless of course you don't count Llano as Phenom ;]


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## pantherx12 (Mar 18, 2011)

Dave63 said:


> If the 3.5GHz was their limit for 125W TDP,  what is it for the 95W that is my max TDP on my mobo and I am at 3.5GHz stable. So I can see this new chip over 4.0GHz eazy, I will be holding off for bulldozer to be out to start the new build this fall and turn this one into a 24/7 folder for fun



Those TDP ratings are what they are rated and guaranteed to work with is all. 

My mobo is 140w max but I could run 200w through it, it just isn't designed for it.


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## Dave63 (Mar 18, 2011)

I agree I do not think that the TDP would limit it to only 3.5GHz. And yes most current mobo you can run a higher TDP than thay are rated at.


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## RejZoR (Mar 18, 2011)

Why not go for another extra 300 and slam a magic 4GHz number on it?


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## DigitalUK (Mar 18, 2011)

not surprised on this, i built a system the other day for a customer with the 1100T and was simply amazed at how easy it reached 4.0ghz with a simple artic freezer pro rev2.


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## mstenholm (Mar 18, 2011)

RejZoR said:


> Why not go for another extra 300 and slam a magic 4GHz number on it?



I'm pretty sure there is a good reason for not doing that. 

Edit: More then one good reason...


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## Dave63 (Mar 18, 2011)

With this new chip we may see some push it to hit close to 5GHz with the right combo.


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## xsever (Mar 18, 2011)

Dave63 said:


> If the 3.5GHz was their limit for 125W TDP,  what is it for the 95W that is my max TDP on my mobo and I am at 3.5GHz stable. So I can see this new chip over 4.0GHz eazy, I will be holding off for bulldozer to be out to start the new build this fall and turn this one into a 24/7 folder for fun



Since we have the same CPU at the same speed and the same memory, I am wondering at what voltage are you with 3.5GHz?

As for the 380, there might be a 385 or 390 coming to put the icing on the cake = 4.0!


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## Dave63 (Mar 18, 2011)

xsever said:


> Since we have the same CPU at the same speed and the same memory, I am wondering at what voltage are you with 3.5GHz?
> 
> As for the 380, there might be a 385 or 390 coming to put the icing on the cake = 4.0!



I am at 1.475 and my temps do not go over 45c.


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## mstenholm (Mar 18, 2011)

Dave63 said:


> I am at 1.475 and my temps do not go over 45c.



Whenever I see a AMD temp read out like this and many other it always makes me wonder if it is correct. I know that a 2% CPU load will not tell the truth (unless your really have a <15 C room), but 125 W contra 140 W can not differ 20 C as many realcore SS show. On the other hand if you/we think that the temperatures are in check we sleep well.


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## cheesy999 (Mar 18, 2011)

mstenholm said:


> Whenever I see a AMD temp read out like this and many other it always makes me wonder if it is correct. I know that a 2% CPU load will not tell the truth (unless your really have a <15 C room), but 125 W contra 140 W can not differ 20 C as many realcore SS show. On the other hand if you/we think that the temperatures are in check we sleep well.



i don't think many are correct, on these cpu's its easier just to look at cpu-z and see if its thermal throttling

edit: even if they carry on releasing these they won't go over 4ghz as they'll run out of numbers on the current numbering scheme


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## HalfAHertz (Mar 18, 2011)

mstenholm said:


> Whenever I see a AMD temp read out like this and many other it always makes me wonder if it is correct. I know that a 2% CPU load will not tell the truth (unless your really have a <15 C room), but 125 W contra 140 W can not differ 20 C as many realcore SS show. On the other hand if you/we think that the temperatures are in check we sleep well.



And you are right to doubt it because it is in fact wrong. You have to add about ~12c more to it. Sometimes the temp sensor on the phenoms gets stuck like that


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## cheesy999 (Mar 18, 2011)

HalfAHertz said:


> And you are right to doubt it because it is in fact wrong. You have to add about ~12c more to it. Sometimes the temp sensor on the phenoms gets stuck like that



makes sense as mine thermal throttles at 56'c according to the temp sensor and with a max temp of 71'c on these chips ~12'c seams about right


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## Dave65 (Mar 18, 2011)

inferKNOX said:


> Interesting... nice to know that the person I'm selling my mobo & CPU to after the Bulldozers come to light will still have plenty upgrade options. At least AMD doesn't just dump previous gen owners.



Neither has Intel,socket 775 is still easily had,NewEgg has over 100 MBs available.


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## IceCreamBarr (Mar 18, 2011)

Dave65 said:


> Neither has Intel,socket 775 is still easily had,NewEgg has over 100 MBs available.



His comment is in reference to upgrading the CPU to a newer architecture.  The 775 socket is strictly for the "core 2" family whereas the AM3 socket is good for multiple families as was the AM2 socket.


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## Dave63 (Mar 18, 2011)

mstenholm said:


> Whenever I see a AMD temp read out like this and many other it always makes me wonder if it is correct. I know that a 2% CPU load will not tell the truth (unless your really have a <15 C room), but 125 W contra 140 W can not differ 20 C as many realcore SS show. On the other hand if you/we think that the temperatures are in check we sleep well.



Yes I looked at the temp isuwith AMD and my room is at 17c-19c most of the time it's been cold up here and have AC for summer time. So when I look at the temps I add 10c to them. I hope this will be fixed with the new chips.


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## xsever (Mar 18, 2011)

It's also another story when you unlock the 720 to a quad core: the cores' sensors go dead and on the "CPU" sensor remains functional.

Still mine idles at 22c and loads at 40c tops. Are you guys saying that these numbers in reality would be ~32c and ~50c respectively?


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## VulkanBros (Mar 18, 2011)

Why worry.....my old 965 is running 3.9 GHz - stable for at least 7-8 hours a day.....


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## Dave63 (Mar 18, 2011)

xsever said:


> It's also another story when you unlock the 720 to a quad core: the cores' sensors go dead and on the "CPU" sensor remains functional.
> 
> Still mine idles at 22c and loads at 40c tops. Are you guys saying that these numbers in reality would be ~32c and ~50c respectively?



Yes I am a member of the x3 700 club at OCN and alot of members say the same thing with the unlocking and temps.

I am unable to unlock mine do to the mobo.


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## cheesy999 (Mar 18, 2011)

xsever said:


> Still mine idles at 22c and loads at 40c tops. Are you guys saying that these numbers in reality would be ~32c and ~50c respectively?



no, closer to ~32c and ~55c from personal experience


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## cdawall (Mar 18, 2011)

pantherx12 said:


> Those TDP ratings are what they are rated and guaranteed to work with is all.
> 
> My mobo is 140w max but I could run 200w through it, it just isn't designed for it.



It entirely depends on the mobo I have pushed just over 95w on a 95w board and smoked mosfets. I also have pushed well over 200w thru my asus ch2/ch3/ch4 and m4a78t-e. 

As for everyone looking at temps. Amd spec says they are up to 10-14c off until the cpus hit 55c @ 55c they are correct. They are also safe temp wise all the way up to 95c as that's when the silicone begins to degrade. The 62c "safe temp" leaves a huge safety net for coolers and amd.


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## alexsubri (Mar 18, 2011)

Snooki want's smoosh smoosh and benchmarks!


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## Dave63 (Mar 18, 2011)

cdawall said:


> It entirely depends on the mobo I have pushed just over 95w on a 95w board and smoked mosfets. I also have pushed well over 200w thru my asus ch2/ch3/ch4 and m4a78t-e.
> 
> As for everyone looking at temps. Amd spec says they are up to 10-14c off until the cpus hit 55c @ 55c they are correct. They are also safe temp wise all the way up to 95c as that's when the silicone begins to degrade. The 62c "safe temp" leaves a huge safety net for coolers and amd.



That is why if my temp readings are 45c max in core-temp w/prim95 then I am safe. Thanks did not know about the 95c, AMD spec's say max 73c I think back when I look them up.


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## cdawall (Mar 18, 2011)

Dave63 said:


> That is why if my temp readings are 45c max in core-temp w/prim95 then I am safe. Thanks did not know about the 95c, AMD spec's say max 73c I think back when I look them up.



For phenom ii it says 62c unless you look at mobile chips which for the most part are labeled higher. Odd since they the same process. Also these chips won't throttle untill 95c


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## Dave63 (Mar 18, 2011)

This is where I got the 73c from here is the link to AMD. It may be differant for the mobile chips.

http://products.amd.com/en-us/Deskt...f1=&f2=&f3=&f4=&f5=&f6=&f7=&f8=&f9=&f10=&f11=


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## makwy2 (Mar 18, 2011)

Last hurray of the PIIx4 before AM3+ lands?


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## Deleted member 67555 (Mar 18, 2011)

My guess is these are disabled Thubans.....I hope someone can chack this for us...
It would be cool to hear a couple of unlock stories before PII is done


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## Hunt3r (Mar 18, 2011)

AMD is very crazy


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## m4gicfour (Mar 18, 2011)

jmcslob said:


> My guess is these are disabled Thubans.....I hope someone can chack this for us...
> It would be cool to hear a couple of unlock stories before PII is done





btarunr said:


> AMD is looking to give its Phenom II series a finale, with a new quad-core Phenom II X4 model, the Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition. The new chip will be clocked at 3.70 GHz out of the box (18.5 x 200 MHz). It achieves this speed while staying within the 125W TDP envelope. *Based on the 45 nm "Deneb" silicon*, the X4 980 BE features four x86-64 cores with 512 KB dedicated L2 cache each, and a 6 MB shared cache. Compatible with AM3 and AM2+ sockets, the chip packs a dual-channel memory controller that supports DDR3-1333 MHz or DDR2-1066 MHz memory standards. AMD will unveil the new chip soon, as the company gears up to launch next-generation chips in June.
> 
> [url]http://www.techpowerup.com/img/11-03-18/119a_thm.jpg[/URL]
> 
> Source: DonanimHaber



Guess not 

But this isn't straight from AMD as source, so who knows...


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## HalfAHertz (Mar 18, 2011)

cdawall said:


> For phenom ii it says 62c unless you look at mobile chips which for the most part are labeled higher. Odd since they the same process. Also these chips won't throttle untill 95c



Not exactly. The laptop cpus are higher binned cores with less transistor leakage so that they can work at lower voltages. And they also don't have a heat spreader which helps with the temps too.


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## Melvis (Mar 19, 2011)

jmcslob said:


> My guess is these are disabled Thubans.....I hope someone can chack this for us...
> It would be cool to hear a couple of unlock stories before PII is done



Negative!!


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## btarunr (Mar 19, 2011)

I think a 4.00 GHz SKU is affordable on C3 silicon at the expense of 140W TDP.


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## cdawall (Mar 19, 2011)

HalfAHertz said:


> Not exactly. The laptop cpus are higher binned cores with less transistor leakage so that they can work at lower voltages. And they also don't have a heat spreader which helps with the temps too.



Negative. Laptops are not higher binned they are lower leakage that doesn't make them better high leak chips clock best. Heatspreader doesn't make a huge difference in temps amd still rates both cpu's silicone at 95c oddly enough since its the same silicone. Same goes for opty chips aswell.


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## Over_Lord (Mar 19, 2011)

btarunr said:


> I think a 4.00 GHz SKU is affordable on C3 silicon at the expense of 140W TDP.



no point, this is the last refresh, next is Bulldozer and Llano


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## btarunr (Mar 19, 2011)

thunderising said:


> no point, this is the last refresh, next is Bulldozer and Llano



I didn't comment on there being a point. I just said it's possible to do a 4 GHz SKU within the 140W envelope. I'm fairly informed of AMD's product rollout plans.


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## HalfAHertz (Mar 19, 2011)

cdawall said:


> Negative. Laptops are not higher binned they are lower leakage that doesn't make them better high leak chips clock best. Heatspreader doesn't make a huge difference in temps amd still rates both cpu's silicone at 95c oddly enough since its the same silicone. Same goes for opty chips aswell.



I am pretty sure laptop cpus are binned server cpus that didn't quite make it.


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## xsever (Mar 19, 2011)

Dave63 said:


> I am at 1.475 and my temps do not go over 45c.



My unlocked 720 does 3.5GHz @ 1.424V and idles at 400MHz @0.720V.


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## wolf (Mar 19, 2011)

nice stock clock speed for a PII chip, theyve really come a long way since the original phenoms, 3.8ghz would be nice to round off the series however.

also heres hoping for a 3.4ghz 1110T chip before bulldozer lands, especiall if it lowers the prices of the rest of the chips for the destockage


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## dj-electric (Mar 20, 2011)

will it beat the I5 760 2.8GHZ?

*bam* *bam* *bam* *bam* *bam* .....





:shadedshu


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## Melvis (Mar 20, 2011)

Dj-ElectriC said:


> will it beat the I5 760 2.8GHZ?
> 
> *bam* *bam* *bam* *bam* *bam* .....
> 
> ...



Yep

http://www.guru3d.com/article/core-i5-750-core-i7-860-870-processor-review-test/16


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## cdawall (Mar 20, 2011)

Dj-ElectriC said:


> will it beat the I5 760 2.8GHZ?
> 
> *bam* *bam* *bam* *bam* *bam* .....
> 
> ...



ban ban ban?


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## wolf (Mar 20, 2011)

Dj-ElectriC said:


> will it beat the I5 760 2.8GHZ?
> 
> *bam* *bam* *bam* *bam* *bam* .....





cdawall said:


> ban ban ban?



lol lol lol


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## dj-electric (Mar 20, 2011)

Melvis said:


> Yep
> 
> http://www.guru3d.com/article/core-i5-750-core-i7-860-870-processor-review-test/16



talking about gaming you know
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/Phenom_II_X4_975/9.html




cdawall said:


> ban ban ban?



wish you could?


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## Tatty_One (Mar 20, 2011)

NC37 said:


> But still for the price...why bother when the other BE models can clock just as high. Course I'll reserve final judgment for when a review is done, but right now I'm doubting it would be worth the expense which likely has it in the X6 range. Might as well go X6 at that point.



I suppose because 90% dont overclock therefore most of them will automatically think that any CPU clocked at 3.7gig stock has gotta be faster than anything else.


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## Melvis (Mar 21, 2011)

Dj-ElectriC said:


> talking about gaming you know
> http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/Phenom_II_X4_975/9.html



And going by that there about the same in performance, depending on the game and both are around the same price? Gezzz even the dual core in that list gives out enough FPS. SO any of those CPU's are good enough for gaming on.



Tatty_One said:


> I suppose because 90% dont overclock therefore most of them will automatically think that any CPU clocked at 3.7gig stock has gotta be faster than anything else.



Thats so true, look back in the P4 days, it work for them back then.


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## pantherx12 (Mar 21, 2011)

Regarding temps. when you overclock a phenom II cpu the temps are usually out by 10 degrees or so.

You can test this by looking at your temps at stock speeds, and then looking at them right after a reboot after your overclock.


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