AMD Phenom II X6 1090T and 1055T Six-Core Processor Review

[Apoptosis]

AMD Phenom II X6 1090T and 1055T Six-Core Processor Review

AMD has released the Phenom II X6 processor series and claims that it ushers in a new era of computing. Legit Reviews has the flagship AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition processor and puts it to the test against other common desktop processors in a vast number of benchmarks. We also overclock it to see how high we can get this six-core chip!



Article Title: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T and 1055T Six-Core Processor Review
Article URL: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1289/1/

[BiGg RiE]

1st Post! WooHoo!

Great Review...pretty freakin impressed with a $300 & in some cases a $199 CPU competing with the 900+ & 1000+ intel behemoths! It's certainly got me rethinking my decision to go i7 on my new build... simply because... of the price point! I mean on the power consumtion too.. they are awesome... which is a concern for anyone with a power bill... I'd love to see some reviews for the 890FX boards... any idea when those will be tested and available.. and their price point?

[Apoptosis]

1st Post! WooHoo!

Great Review...pretty freakin impressed with a $300 & in some cases a $199 CPU competing with the 900+ & 1000+ intel behemoths! It's certainly got me rethinking my decision to go i7 on my new build... simply because... of the price point! I mean on the power consumtion too.. they are awesome... which is a concern for anyone with a power bill... I'd love to see some reviews for the 890FX boards... any idea when those will be tested and available.. and their price point?

Thanks for the feedback! TigerDirect is doing a $50 rebate on Phenom II X6 processors so you can get the 1090T for $250 and the 1055T for $150 from 4/27 to 4/30, which is a great deal. As for motherboards... I have 890FX boards here, but they are honestly no different than 890GX boards other than the dual PCIe x16 lanes... For single GPU use I saw no real performance difference. AMD claims they have better overclocking, but that is just because they have optimized BIOS's on them. I wanted to review the board for launch day also, but with 21 pages I figured this was enough already! I'll have a review up soon of an 890FX board, but have to get motivated...

[jnanster]

Great Review Apo!
Looks like a incredible deal at 1/4 the price of the Intel processor.
Now if the software people could just get their act together (to utilize all them cores) ..... still waiting.

[gwolfman]

Thanks for the review as always!

Btw, why is the voltage so high on the stock speeds (CPU-Z screenshot)?

Nice to see TigerDirect supplying the rebate, what an amazing price.

[Apoptosis]

Thanks for the review as always!

Btw, why is the voltage so high on the stock speeds (CPU-Z screenshot)?

Nice to see TigerDirect supplying the rebate, what an amazing price.

Auto voltage was doing that... not sure if it's a proper reading though as when increased the voltage manually you see the voltage go down.

[Gomeler]

Power consumption on these chips is surprisingly low. A shame Thuban didn't come out a year ago to compete with i7 920. AMD is looking pretty good right now, hopefully Intel delays mainstream 32nm quad/hex-core CPUs a bit more for AMD's sake

[skier]

maybe once i have my fun with the Q8300 i'll sell it and stick with the AMD camp, pick up a 890 board too, still remains to be seen ;)

great work Nate

out of curiosity, why was the Entry level used for 3DM Vantage? it'd be awesome if you ran just the phenom's on performance preset, as that is how i buy processors, i've learned what each CPU gets/can get in it from HWBOT as everyone is forced to use Performance & no physX(if the CPU2 test is over 65 steps/s, physX is on. even a 980X @5.7GHz can't break 65 steps)

[BiGg RiE]

Thanks for the feedback! TigerDirect is doing a $50 rebate on Phenom II X6 processors so you can get the 1090T for $250 and the 1055T for $150 from 4/27 to 4/30, which is a great deal. As for motherboards... I have 890FX boards here, but they are honestly no different than 890GX boards other than the dual PCIe x16 lanes... For single GPU use I saw no real performance difference. AMD claims they have better overclocking, but that is just because they have optimized BIOS's on them. I wanted to review the board for launch day also, but with 21 pages I figured this was enough already! I'll have a review up soon of an 890FX board, but have to get motivated...

Ok but here's my dilemma, 2 system options:

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Intel i7
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

CPU: i7 930 = $200 (purchased already)
Mobo: ASUS P6X58D Premium = $300
Ram: OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 = $150

Total = $650

Pros: Faster gaming performance, on par performance witht he new AMD Hexcores in most other categories, can eventually upgrade to Intel Hexcores that are dominating right now.

Cons: 3 year old chipset will most likely get replaced next year, hex cores are 3x price of AMD's

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
AMD AM3:
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

CPU: 1090T = 250
Mobo: Crosshair Formula IV or Extreme = 200
Ram: G.SKILL Trident 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2000 = $150

Total = $600

Pros: Pretty much guaranteed a long life given AMD's history in socket & chipset support, much much cheeper 6xcore setup, Preformance is on par with i7 930 in most instances, 6 cores!,

Cons: New (hasn't really been put through it's paces just yet), Bulldozer support questionable, Some reviews I've read are hinting that the CPU+Chipset combo could be the limiting factor in the gaming performance (possible fix with Bios update)

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

I mean with a $50 difference between these systems... should I go with the better performing aged combo, or the newly released 6xCore Bargain? I'm thinking with the sinthetic benchmarks being so close on the 1090T vs. 975 i7 intel's gonna respond with something of a price drop which could result in an intel hexcore upgrade sooner rather than later...

Ugghh what to do, what to do?

[kenc51]

Thanks for the feedback! TigerDirect is doing a $50 rebate on Phenom II X6 processors so you can get the 1090T for $250 and the 1055T for $150 from 4/27 to 4/30, which is a great deal. As for motherboards... I have 890FX boards here, but they are honestly no different than 890GX boards other than the dual PCIe x16 lanes... For single GPU use I saw no real performance difference. AMD claims they have better overclocking, but that is just because they have optimized BIOS's on them. I wanted to review the board for launch day also, but with 21 pages I figured this was enough already! I'll have a review up soon of an 890FX board, but have to get motivated...

Ok but here's my dilemma, 2 system options:

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Intel i7
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

CPU: i7 930 = $200 (purchased already)
Mobo: ASUS P6X58D Premium = $300
Ram: OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 = $150

Total = $650

Pros: Faster gaming performance, on par performance witht he new AMD Hexcores in most other categories, can eventually upgrade to Intel Hexcores that are dominating right now.

Cons: 3 year old chipset will most likely get replaced next year, hex cores are 3x price of AMD's

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
AMD AM3:
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

CPU: 1090T = 250
Mobo: Crosshair Formula IV or Extreme = 200
Ram: G.SKILL Trident 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2000 = $150

Total = $600

Pros: Pretty much guaranteed a long life given AMD's history in socket & chipset support, much much cheeper 6xcore setup, Preformance is on par with i7 930 in most instances, 6 cores!,

Cons: New (hasn't really been put through it's paces just yet), Bulldozer support questionable, Some reviews I've read are hinting that the CPU+Chipset combo could be the limiting factor in the gaming performance (possible fix with Bios update)

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

I mean with a $50 difference between these systems... should I go with the better performing aged combo, or the newly released 6xCore Bargain? I'm thinking with the sinthetic benchmarks being so close on the 1090T vs. 975 i7 intel's gonna respond with something of a price drop which could result in an intel hexcore upgrade sooner rather than later...

Ugghh what to do, what to do?

I'd still go with Intel, especially if it's only $50 in the difference and Intel performs better.
Having 6 cores sure can be great, but unless you do serious encoding, virtualisation, photoshop etc. the two extra cores will go un-used for 99% of the time.
Also with Intel you can also go with either Xfire or SLI

[BiGg RiE]

I'd still go with Intel, especially if it's only $50 in the difference and Intel performs better.
Having 6 cores sure can be great, but unless you do serious encoding, virtualisation, photoshop etc. the two extra cores will go un-used for 99% of the time.
Also with Intel you can also go with either Xfire or SLI

Thanks Ken.. what about Multitasking:

On any given day it's not uncommon for me to have running at once:

Flash CS4
Photoshop CS4
Illustrator CS4
Dreamweaver CS4
Media Player / or VLC
Firefox(10-20 Tabs)
Thunderbird
Filezilla
Ultramon
Otaku Deskspace
Comodo Firewall
Winpatrol
Opject Dock
LogMeIn
uTorrent
Logitech G15 programs for M-Keys and LCD

I thinks that's about it, lol.

Will I benefit from the AMD 6xCores over the Quad 930?

[XstollieX]

Don't forget with the I7 you have the hyperthreading that will aid in multi-tasking.

[Apoptosis]

With how you have it configured I'd go Intel as you get 2GB more memory and a damn great processor that loves to be overclocked.

However if I was looking at an AMD system this very second it would be more along the lines of this:

CPU: 1090T = 250
Mobo: ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 Motherboard= 117
Ram: OCZ AMD Black Edition 4GB DDR3 1600MHz CL8 (OCZ3BE1600C8LV4GK) = $110

Total = $477

Now you are talking about a $173 price difference. I don't see any 890FX board pricing up yet.

[BiGg RiE]

With how you have it configured I'd go Intel as you get 2GB more memory and a damn great processor that loves to be overclocked.

However if I was looking at an AMD system this very second it would be more along the lines of this:

CPU: 1090T = 250
Mobo: ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 Motherboard= 117
Ram: OCZ AMD Black Edition 4GB DDR3 1600MHz CL8 (OCZ3BE1600C8LV4GK) = $110

Total = $477

Now you are talking about a $173 price difference. I don't see any 890FX board pricing up yet.

Hmmm.. that's pretty tantalizing...

Newegg has the prices for the Crosshair IV, MSI 890FXA, ASUS M4A89TD PRO @ $229, $199, & $179 respectively

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... x+&x=0&y=0

[kenc51]

BiGg RiE --> As Nate said, Intel all the way.
You gotta respect AMD as it can't be hard competing with Intel, but just they're not there yet IMO

[hnzw_rui]

Why no Lynnfield? Looking at the price point, the 1055T seems to be competing directly with the i5-750...

[Apoptosis]

Why no Lynnfield? Looking at the price point, the 1055T seems to be competing directly with the i5-750...

Time constraints... I couldn't imagine including another platform into the testing right now... It's all about Return On Investment (ROI) these days... Would including the Core i5-750 really be worth the extra day of work? I said no in this situation and have moved on to the next review. With Brian and I leaving for Taiwan in just one month the LR staff has more things to review than days left before the show... That sucks as new products will be released at Computex and we need to cover those and review them after the show.

[Gomeler]

Thanks for the feedback! TigerDirect is doing a $50 rebate on Phenom II X6 processors so you can get the 1090T for $250 and the 1055T for $150 from 4/27 to 4/30, which is a great deal. As for motherboards... I have 890FX boards here, but they are honestly no different than 890GX boards other than the dual PCIe x16 lanes... For single GPU use I saw no real performance difference. AMD claims they have better overclocking, but that is just because they have optimized BIOS's on them. I wanted to review the board for launch day also, but with 21 pages I figured this was enough already! I'll have a review up soon of an 890FX board, but have to get motivated...

Ok but here's my dilemma, 2 system options:
*snip*

No need for a $300 X58 board when a $200 X58 with SATA6/USB3 exists.

Asus P6X58D-E -> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R -> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

Thuban competes with Bloomfield. If/when Intel releases cheaper 32nm quad/hex-core CPUs AMD will once again be playing second fiddle.

[geokilla]

Great review! Nice to see that somebody pointed out the Vcore readings in the CPU-Z screenshots. I'm wondering about that as well and assuming I didn't mis-read anything, other review sites are saying that CPU-Z ain't reading the Vcore properly.

Since you reviewed the 1090T in the overclocking section, can we see some multiplier overclocking and a combination of both HT and multiplier overclocking?

For the Intel Core i7 CPUs, was hyper-threading enabled? I'm going to guess that HT is enabled. Also, is it possible for you to throw in some Core iX benchmarks as well?

[iseeman]

I love AMD