Introduction

AMD Phenom II X4 945 and 955BE processors tested

AMD is trying really hard to get the most out of their processor series. As such nearly on a bi-monthly basis they introduce a new processor, sometimes even two at a time. And that's good, great in fact as it shows that the new Phenom II architecture is working out really well for them.

On that note, AMD today will release two more new processors in the Phenom II processor line. Ever since the release of Phenom II things have been going really well for AMD, yields are good and the processors certainly can clock much higher than I originally anticipated. On air the BE edition processors often can be fairly easily lifted towards 3.6 GHz, so it's not exactly a surprise that we heard about a Phenom II 955BE processor back in march already ... with the launch today.

Yields are good, clock frequencies go up, performance goes up. And that's nice as the Phenom II series processors offer great performance for the money you have to lay down on the table. AMD Phenom series processors are slowly ripening, and are aging like a fine wine (they get better over time).

What is AMD releasing today:

• AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 3.2 GHz at a suggested price of $245 USD
• AMD Phenom II X4 945 3.0 GHz at a suggested price of $225 USD

AMD started its Dragon desktop platform with the introduction of their flagship CPU, the Phenom II X4 940. This processor however, is not compliant with the AM3 socket, and as such does not support DDR3 memory. Based on the 45 nm Deneb core the two processors released today supports socket AM3 motherboards, and DDR3 memory.

Today AMD is releasing two processors in the Phenom II line-up, the Phenom II 955BE and the Phenom II X4 945 processor. Both processors can be considered and positioned in AMDs high-end segment, yet will be priced friendly.

Also a good thing to be very aware of .. these AM3-packaged processors will fit into existing AM2+ motherboards as well. Pop in the latest BIOS on your AMD 790FX/GX DDR motherboard, and you will be good to go as well.

Anyway, good gosh darn it .. I'm already going into detail whilst we still are in the introduction.

For this review we will test the Phenom II X4 955BE processor yet also have a look at AMD Phenom II X4 945 performance. Move onwards to the next page please where we'll startup this review with a technical overview followed by an in-depth benchmark report to see where AMD is with it's fastest processor anno Q2 2009. And sure, though this primarily is a Phenom II X4 955BE review, we include AMD Phenom II X4 945 processor results as well, yeah we like to eat our cake and a little icing on top of it.