AMD Phenom II X6 PIB photo's

Here are some box-shots of the upcoming AMD six-core processors, the Phenom II X6, indicating that a release is just really close.

The Phenom II X6 is based on the 45 nm "Thuban" core, and comes in the socket AM3 package. The processor is said to be backwards-compatible with socket AM2+ on motherboards with a BIOS update. Expreview sourced pictures of three Phenom II X6 processor-in-box (PIB) units, of model 1055T.

AMD's Phenom II X6 series is going to have a Turbo feature much like Intel's Core i5/7 series have.

The new feature will be called turbo core and some details on it are now on the loose. Turbo Core will be able to increase the operational frequencies of three active cores by up to 500MHz if an application can't use all six. All monitoring and clock/voltage management is exclusively handled by the CPU (with no need for special drivers or software), and is triggered not by temperature, but based on operating conditions and load demand. When power consumption is below the CPU's TDP, the technology puts the three used cores in a boost-enabled P-state.

This means that, should the application demand it, those cores will be able to increase their clocks by an amount dependent on the processing workload. This approach has more than one advantage. Since cores don't need to operate at the same frequency, each will only be pushed higher if the application warrants it. This means that no power will be spent on unnecessary overclocking. Secondly, when turbo Core is in effect, the clocks of the three unused cores is reduced to 800MHz and the power they normally use is diverted to the others. This allows dynamic overclocking to be achieved without exceeding the rated thermal design power (TDP). Finally, it should be noted that the Cool