AMD Phenom II X2 555

By Raja

Key Specs

Socket Type: AM3; AM2+ Number of Cores: Two Operating Frequency: 3.2GHz Front-Side Bus: HyperTransport 3.0 L2 Cache: 2MB

AMD Phenom II X2 555 Review

Reviewed by: Matt Safford Review Date: January 2010

We reviewed AMD’s Phenom II X2 550 dual-core CPU back in June of 2009, and we awarded it our Editors’ Choice distinction. At the time, we called it a smart bargain processor for those who spend more time gaming or doing basic computing tasks than they do working with content-creation apps (such as video editors and Adobe’s Creative Suite). And we pointed out that power users who like to try eking out extra performance from their CPUs would also appreciate that the 550 chip has an unlocked multiplier for easy overclocking. For the $99 asking price, the 550 was one speedy budget processor. Now AMD is back with a slight improvement to that CPU, bumping the clock speed up from 3.1GHz to 3.2GHz, and prosaically dubbing it the Phenom II X2 555. It’s not a major upgrade, by any means, so if you picked up the 550 last year, there's no point in upgrading. But at the same suggested selling price ($99), this CPU is still a great choice for those who want speed but are tied to CPU budgets that can't exceed double digits in dollars.   Like all current AMD CPUs, the Phenom II X2 555 supports older AM2+ motherboards and DDR2 RAM. If you’re strapped for cash, you can drop this processor into an existing AMD-based system right now for a quick-and-easy speed boost. Then, later on, when the cost of the surrounding hardware falls (or your upgrade budget rises), you can carry it over to a newer AM3 motherboard that uses speedier DDR3 RAM. This strategy has served AMD well with builders and the budget-conscious. All of Intel’s latest-generation CPUs, be they Core i3, Core i5, or Core i7, force upgraders switching from Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad systems to replace their motherboards, as well, because of the chips' new socket requirements. With all the hype surrounding much pricier quad-core processors, such as Intel’s Core i7 and AMD’s Phenom II X4 lines, it’s easy to forget that relatively few programs can actually take advantage of more than one processor core at a time. Having multiple cores is important for multitasking, of course, so that one processor-intensive task doesn’t bog down your whole system, but the average user isn’t likely to be doing more than a couple of these tasks at once. Apart from multithreaded programs like Sony’s Vegas Pro 9, Adobe’s Creative Suite, and a handful of other apps, the vast majority of programs aren’t written to make use of more than one processor core simultaneously. That means for the average PC user—and, for that matter, even the hard-core gamer—a quad-core processor is overkill, considering that half the processor is going to be idle nearly all of the time. As a result, smart, budget-conscious PC builders and upgraders who want speed but don’t often use the aforementioned apps would be smart to stick to dual-core CPUs like this one, or Intel’s more-expensive Core i5-661. Of course, Intel also announced a new line of dual-core Core i3 CPUs with price points a bit closer to $100. (The 2.93GHz Core i3-530 currently sells for about $125.) These CPUs also have graphics integrated into the CPU that can handle HD content and mainstream gaming. (Think World of Warcraft and The Sims.) If you’re building a new system in which high-end gaming won't be a priority, that may make these CPUs from Intel an enticing option, as well. Unfortunately, Intel has yet to provide us with review units of its lower-end CPUs, so we couldn’t compare the AMD Phenom II X2 555’s performance to the current comparable offerings from Intel. Still, while the AMD Phenom II X2 555 did lag noticeably behind Intel’s Core i5-661 in all of our tests, it wasn’t left completely in the dust, which is noteworthy because the Intel CPU currently sells online for more than twice as much—about $209, at the time we wrote this. And the Phenom II X2 555 did manage to score a bit better than AMD’s previous dual-core champ, the Phenom II X2 550. In our Cinebench 10 test, which taxes the CPU heavily by rendering a large, photorealistic image, the Phenom II X2 555’s score of 7,202 was a bit ahead of the Phenom II X2 550’s 6,697, but the more expensive Intel Core i5-661 did much better, pulling in 10,746. The Phenom II X2 555 took 3 minutes flat to complete our 11-track iTunes 7 file-conversion test, while Intel’s CPU came in 30 seconds faster, and the Phenom II X2 550 brought up the rear, taking 3 minutes and 8 seconds. In our Windows Media Encoder test, the Core i5 CPU pulled even further ahead, converting our test video more than a minute and a half faster than the 4 minutes and 29 seconds the Phenom II X2 555 took to complete the same test. And in our Sony Vegas 8 MPEG-2 rendering test, the Core i5 crossed the finish line in just 4 minutes, while the Phenom II X2 555 managed a time of 6 minutes and 51 seconds. While Intel’s Core i5-661 dual-core CPU costs twice as much, and definitely dominates most of our tests, the Phenom II X2 555 does quite well for itself, considering it slides in at just under $100. Those with bigger budgets can, of course, do better with a costlier chip. And those who edit video or use other fully multithreaded programs that actually take full advantage of all CPU cores would be better off opting for AMD’s quad-core Athlon II X4 620, which sells for about the same price. But with the same architecture, easy overclocking options, and clock speed as its quad-core Phenom II X4 955 big brother, the Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition is a very good choice for the price if robust multithreading support and intense multitasking aren't your prime concerns. Price (at time of review): $99 (mfr. est.)

Meeting Intel's Future Processor Family

By Raja

SAN FRANCISCO – Intel today offered a look inside its next generation of processors, the Nehalem family, with new details and demos during the Intel Developer Forum (IDF). Nehalem was the code name for the processor, which Intel recently dubbed officially as the Core i7.
The Penryn family of processors fades into the sunset with Dunnington, the six-core Xeon server processor that Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) began shipping to OEM partners in July. It will appear in systems in September. The official product name is Xeon 7400.
Penryn is certainly going out in a big way. Pat Gelsinger, senior vice president and general manager of the Digital Enterprise group, showed some record high benchmarks, including the first TPCC benchmark to break the one million mark for transaction processing. An IBM eight-socket server scored 1.2 million in a TPC-C benchmark, a means of measuring server performance by measuring how many online transactions can be performed in a set period.
Gelsinger also discussed the improved virtualization technology in Nehalem. One of the major problems for virtual environments is the bottleneck of I/O, which consumes a lot of CPU power as the CPU plays traffic cop. Nehalem addressed this with VT-d, a direct path to the hardware that lets the virtualization software share physical devices directly, reducing CPU overhead.

Power management on Nehalem will be better than today's systems because the old gate technology that attempted to shut off unused cores was lacking. It didn't address voltage leak, which is the main cause of power drain.
Nehalem's Integrated Power Gate technology will take voltage down to zero when the core is idle. A "power switch" was built into the chip silicon to handle this. Each core is handled independently, similar to AMD's Phenom and Quad Core Opteron. Gelsinger noted that the one million transistors in the Integrated Power Gate "is more than my 486!"
Intel did disclose one major new customer: NASA. The Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., has begun construction of a massive supercomputer based on Itanium chips called Pleiades. At the time of announcement, NASA was unsure if it would use Nehalem, but Gelsinger said the chip would be used to build out what will be a one petaflop supercomputer. The Nehalem architecture is not planned for Itanium, but NASA has said the Pleiades supercomputer could handle a mix of processors.


What's coming in mobile
Gelsinger also discussed mobility, saying the company has scored more than 700 design engagements for Atom, its new ultra mobile/embedded processor, and most are new businesses for them in medical, entertainment and defense industries. One demo involved a BMW on the stage with DVD players and a navigation system that provides information as you drive.
David "Dadi" Perlmutter, executive vice president of the Mobility group, took over to further the mobile discusson. He said that there would be a Nehalem family for laptops, codenamed Capella, then promptly informed the audience that that information would be reserved for the next IDF, which takes place in April 2009 in China.
Perlmutter announced that Intel will release a small form factor Centrino 2 processor for very small devices later this year. The chips would shrink from 45 millimeters in size to around 20 millimeters. One is already on the market in the MacBook Air from Apple. More can be expected in the coming months, he said.
There was a lengthy talk about WiMAX, which will be launched in Q4 by Intel and several broadband partners, including ClearWire, Comcast Cable and Time Warner. Baltimore, Maryland will be the first city to get it. Intel is promising 15 megabits (Mbps) per second wireless access in your car while driving.

AMD’s CPU Roadmap, 2008-2011

By Raja

AMD’s desktop plans

Conclusion