AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition Review --- TheThirdMedia Hardware

AMD's Incremental Update

With a volley of its new Clarkdale Core i3/i5 processors, Intel has fired the first shots of 2010. It just so happens that with its cheapest Core i3 desktop processors starting from US$113 and AMD's competing products (with the exception of the Phenom II X4 processors) mostly falling below that price, Intel appears to have missed the mark.

To illustrate this point, AMD has responded with its own lineup of new processors that avoid competing with Intel's newest. New in the sense that these are models that have just been released but the less charitable will find nothing much new about them. What one finds is a minor clock speed bump of 100MHz for most of these models, which probably explains why AMD has merely incremented the model numbers by "5". So the Athlon II X4 630 (2.8GHz) that we covered previously gets a new sibling, the Athlon II X4 635 (2.9GHz).

Below are the new processors from AMD, which includes a new, low-power Phenom II X4, the 910e, which has a significantly lower rated TDP than all the others shown here, despite being a proper Phenom II class. It will also set you back by quite a premium for the power savings.

New AMD Processors
Processor Model	Clock Speed	L2 Cache	L3 Cache	Max TDP (W)	Retail Price (US$)	Availability
AMD Phenom II X4 910e	2.6GHz	2MB	6MB	65	169	Now (PiB)
AMD PhenomII X2 555 BE	3.2GHz	1MB	6MB	80	99	Now (PiB)
AMD Athlon II X4 635	2.9GHz	2MB	Nil	95	119	Now (PiB)
AMD AthlonII X3 440	3.0GHz	1.5MB	Nil	95	84	Now (PiB)
AMD AthlonII X2 255	3.1GHz	2MB	Nil	65	74	Now (PiB)

While the new processors span across AMD's dual, triple and quad-core offerings, our interest today has to do with the dual-core Phenom II X2 555 'Black Edition'. We did not get the opportunity to test the Phenom II X2 550 BE when it came out last year but AMD has finally sent us the new 555, which is based on the same core as the 550 (with a 100MHz bump), making it the fastest dual-core in AMD's lineup. This also leaves the Phenom II X2 family with two processors currently:

The Phenom II X2 Family
Processor Model	Clock Speed	L2 Cache	L3 Cache	HyperTransport Bus	Memory Controller Speed	Max TDP (W)	Retail Price (US$)	Availability
Phenom II X2 555 BE	3.2GHz	512KB x 2	6MB	2.0GHz	2.0GHz	80	$99	Now (PiB)
Phenom II X2 550 BE	3.1GHz	512KB x 2	6MB	2.0GHz	2.0GHz	80	$91	Now (PiB)

While the Phenom II X2 core is known as Callisto, you may have noticed the hefty 6MB L3 cache on it, similar to what's found on the Phenom II X4. AMD is indeed taking the time-tested route of locking two cores on those Phenom II X4 processors which didn't make the grade and selling them as dual-core Phenom II X2.

AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition Review

The Phenom II X2 555 'Black Edition' runs at 3.2GHz at default, the fastest among AMD's current dual-core processors.

Our Phenom II X2 555 BE chip.

Obviously, this also means that enthusiasts or anyone with some basic Google skills can find out how to unlock these processors to its full four cores. And it involves nothing more challenging than a BIOS update for most cases. This forum thread for example has a list of possible working motherboards and BIOSes, though luck is a factor when unlocking the chip.

Based on the original selling price of around US$99 for the Phenom II X2 550 BE, that means one can potentially get a Phenom II X4 for around two-thirds the price. With the new Phenom II X2 555 BE debuting at US$99 and running at 3.2GHz, a full unlock will give one an equivalent of a US$166 Phenom II X4 955 BE. We're pretty confident that more than a few enthusiasts would try this and we will be exploring that possibility in the near future. But how does the Phenom II X2 perform in its original state? More on that in the next few pages.



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