AMD to Release Phenom 9600 Black Edition

[malware]

According to a press event held in Japan, AMD is planning on releasing a Black Edition of its quad-core Phenom 9600 processor. It will go on sale by the end of the year and it's obvious that the Black Edition Phenom will offer unlocked multiplier. In addition, Phenom 9700 (2.4GHz) and Phenom 9900 (2.6GHz) will be available in 1Q 2008. The first triple core Phenom 8000 series and Phenom FX will also be announced in 1H of 2008.



Source: OCWORKBENCH

[OrbitzXT]

What is with the hype of triple cores? I imagine if you're not going with quad, it's better to get dual for less heat and higher clocks. I am of course used to Intel chips so if there's something I don't know please let me know. I don't like being misinformed =p

[robodude666]

Wait, huh? You mean the current 9500 and 9600 don't have unlocked multipliers? What about the AMD OverDrive videos? We saw the guy crank the multipliers from 11x to 14x! Is multiplier manipulation only available via OverDrive?

[GLD]

The Black Edition X4 Phenom will be the one to have and will prob. sell out on launch day. They will prob. be as hard to find as the 3870's and the 8800GT's. That will be the cpu for me.

[TheGuruStud]

Originally Posted by robodude666

Wait, huh? You mean the current 9500 and 9600 don't have unlocked multipliers? What about the AMD OverDrive videos? We saw the guy crank the multipliers from 11x to 14x! Is multiplier manipulation only available via OverDrive?

That was an engineering sample cpu, I imagine.

[AthlonX2]

Originally Posted by TheGuruStud

That was an engineering sample cpu, I imagine.

exactly

[Wile E]

Originally Posted by OrbitzXT

What is with the hype of triple cores? I imagine if you're not going with quad, it's better to get dual for less heat and higher clocks. I am of course used to Intel chips so if there's something I don't know please let me know. I don't like being misinformed =p

Depends on the software you are running. I alway use video encoding as an example. A slower clock tri core can encode faster than a lower clocked dual core. (depending on the amount of clock difference, obviously) Some games can benefit from it too, SupCom as an example, tho not all games will benefit.

[OrbitzXT]

Originally Posted by Wile E

Depends on the software you are running. I alway use video encoding as an example. A slower clock tri core can encode faster than a lower clocked dual core. (depending on the amount of clock difference, obviously) Some games can benefit from it too, SupCom as an example, tho not all games will benefit.

You're leaving out quad cores which is where I become confused. Won't a quad core encode faster than a tricore? And the multithreaded games, like SupCom, won't quad core outperform the tricore in that as well? Obviously compared solely with dual cores, 3 sounds better, but with quads available...I'm still curious if theres a reason or place where 3 is superior to 4.

[Wile E]

Originally Posted by OrbitzXT

You're leaving out quad cores which is where I become confused. Won't a quad core encode faster than a tricore? And the multithreaded games, like SupCom, won't quad core outperform the tricore in that as well? Obviously compared solely with dual cores, 3 sounds better, but with quads available...I'm still curious if theres a reason or place where 3 is superior to 4.

You are correct, quads are better than tris, when the software utilizes it. Whether or not tri cores become successful depends purely on how AMD prices them. If they are much cheaper than a quad, but only a few dollars more than a dual, they have the potential for great bang for the buck. Then again, if the situation is reversed, such that a quad is only a few dollars more, but a dual is way cheaper, they'll be a terrible buy.

[brian.ca]

You're leaving out quad cores which is where I become confused. Won't a quad core encode faster than a tricore? And the multithreaded games, like SupCom, won't quad core outperform the tricore in that as well? Obviously compared solely with dual cores, 3 sounds better, but with quads available...I'm still curious if theres a reason or place where 3 is superior to 4.

They're not meant to be better than the quads, but rather a just step between duals and quads (in terms of price and performance). So if you want faster but don't want to shell out for a quad you could go triple. A lot of it will depend on the pricing though but since it's something currently exclusive to AMD and it will also be used as a way to reclaim waste (say they make a quad core but one of the individual core's clock is off or the core is defunct - instead of throwing it out they just completely disable the core and sell it as a triple) I'd imagine the price should be pretty competitive.

[hat]

AMD's triplets are broken quads anyway. One of the cores is borked, so they disable it. Now you have a triple-core processor. Yay. Makes me wonder if they do the same thing for the Phenom x2's...

[phanbuey]

but its good bc when they come out intel's response just might be something like a q4400-series quad core... which i could afford

[Tatty_One]

Originally Posted by phanbuey

but its good bc when they come out intel's response just might be something like a q4400-series quad core... which i could afford

You may be surprised then as I think a Q4400 is planned for Q2 2008

[trog100]

it enables them a top get a better yield and gives them a good price/performance range from the one chip.. it kinda takes over from the so called speed binning we had with single core..

in reality just like with speed binning.. chips will get "broken" to match demand assuming a reasonable yield..

trog

[WarEagleAU]

Im all for this black edition. Truth be told, its really just the Phenom FX making its debut a tad bit early with a different name. The Phenom FXs are gonna have unlocked multipliers and will be AMDs top performing chips.

[robodude666]

Originally Posted by TheGuruStud

That was an engineering sample cpu, I imagine.

Awwww! That ain't cool. I thought all Phenoms have adjustable multipliers. Oh well, guess I'll be saving up for the Black Edition