CPU Comparison
Looking at the prices, you can tell that AMD has specifically targeted two Intel processors – the 1055T is battling the Core i5 750, with its four non-HyperThreaded cores. And the 1090T is intended to go head-to-head with the Core i7 860. Just last month though, Intel quietly introduced the Core i7 930, which throws a bit of a curveball in AMD’s direction. Now they are looking at competing with a triple-channel system with better PCI-E capabilities than Intel’s other offerings. We’ll see how things compare in the end though.
| Model | Family | Base Clock Speed | Turbo Max | Cores Threads | Final Stage Cache | TDP | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core i7 980X Extreme Edition | Gulftown | 3.33 GHz | 3.60 GHz | 6/12 | 12MB | 130W | $1050 |
| Phenom II X6 1090T | Thuban | 3.20 GHz | 3.60 GHz | 6/6 | 6MB | 125W | $310 (MSRP $285) |
| Core i7 930 | Bloomfield | 2.80 GHz | 3.06 GHz | 4/8 | 8MB | 130W | $289 |
| Core i7 860 | Lynnfield | 2.80 GHz | 3.46 GHz | 4/8 | 8MB | 95W | $280 |
| Phenom II X6 1055T | Thuban | 2.80 GHz | 3.30 GHz | 6/6 | 6MB | 125W | $205 |
| Core i5 750 | Lynnfield | 2.66 GHz | 3.20 GHz | 4/4 | 8MB | 95W | $199 |
| Phenom II X4 965 | Deneb | 3.40 GHz | 4/4 | 6MB | 125W | $185 |
Looking at this chart, the 1090T certainly has its work cut out for it. While AMD provides six true hardware cores, Intel’s clever HyperThreading design still calculates more threads overall. We’ll have to wait and see if logical threads are enough to beat ‘pure hardware’ (other differences notwithstanding).
Test Setup
| CPU Family | Core i7 9xx | Core i5, i7 8xx | Phenom II X4, X6 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Motherboard | Intel DX58SO (Intel X58 Chipset) | Intel DP55KG (Intel P55 Chipset) | MSI 890GXM-G65 (AMD 890 Chipset) |
| Memory | 3GB Quimonda DDR3-1066 @ 7-7-7-20 | 4GB Corsair Dominator DDR3-1333 @ 7-7-7-20 |
|
| Chipset Driver | 9.1.1.1025 | Catalyst 10.4 | |
| Video Card, Driver | Radeon HD4890 1GB Catalyst 10.4 | ||
| HDD | Hitachi DeskStar 250GB 7200 RPM SATAII | ||
| OS | Windows 7 Professional Edition x64 RTM | ||
Test Notes:
-The Phenom II X6 1055T is simulated by using the 1090T and changing the settings in the BIOS. Our results will be identical to a retail unit, but power consumption results may differ
-The Core i7 930 is also replicated, and I made sure that all the memory, QPI, and uncore timings were correct.
SiSoft Sandra 2010
As always, we start out with a look at theoretical performance with SiSoft Sandra. We do mostly stick to real-world benchmarks, but this program has its use, and remains our one fully synthetic benchmark. It’s interesting to see where performance gains are found, exactly how each feature affects performance, and so on. It is especially intriguing when huge changes are made, such as more cores or special instruction sets.
In the past, I have been posting aggregated scores, but I think I will switch back to posting scores separately for now. I think it tells a bit more about how different CPUs perform depending on workload:
AMD has traditionally done well with floating-point calculation, and that allows them to keep up in the Whetstone test. But integer performance is nothing to write home about…
The Phenoms seem to be more evenly matched in Multimedia performance, which is a good thing because this is more like what they’ll do in the real world.
Cryptography
This relatively new module measures each processor’s performance in cryptography, specifically their performance in encryption, decryption, and hashing tasks. AMD processors typically do very well in this test. This test supports Intel’s new AES-NI instructions, so the few CPUs that support them will see vastly improved performance:
Now doesn’t that look just a bit silly? It might be worth noting that the one encryption program we use doesn’t utilize these instructions yet.. But as you can probably guess, it’s only a matter of time before everyone hops on board.
Memory Performance
Memory and cache performance can vary drastically from CPU to CPU, so let’s take a quick look at how today’s batch contrast against each other:
(click for full res)
Nothing is out of the norm here, so we can move on quickly to the real-world tests :)
[...] AMD Six-Core Phenom II X6 CPU Review AKPC_IDS += "1990,"; [...]
I was waiting for this review! ;)
AMD made a good chip, but the Core i7 is just too much for them to compete with. I was thinking of upgrading from my X4 945 but probably not worth it, I’ll just wait until my next build
Most reviews do not show the increases games get in minimum FPS at HIGH resolutions, there are one or 2 such reviews floating around and the minimum fps increase on both the 1055T and 1090T are impressive, compared to intel’s offerings(overclocked or not)
I’ve been wondering the same X6 1090T vs. i7 860 question. I don’t see a substantial performance difference in your review. However, I do wonder about multitasking, in the form of multiple applications running at the same time. For example: I use my machine as a Media Center Extender which is decoding video to the family TV, while at the same time I’m trying to perform work on my computer. There’s also background tasks that are running, which all start to add up when enough of them are running.
My hope is to eventually have a “mainframe” centralized computer in my home to service all our home’s computing needs. I’d rather have the computing power of 6 machines in a single machine. I think you can see advantages to administration, storage, shared resources, better utilization of idle resources, expansion, etc.
Also, power consumption is important too. I leave my computer running 24/7, and the power consumption adds up to a nice dinner at the end of the month.
Jake
Most of the tests in the SYSMark page are very highly multitasked, so you could pay particular attention to that section
The bad thing here is the fact that two more cores are sharing the same 6MB of L3 cache found in the quad core. That is why this 1090T is not a good step up from the 965 quad. That gives each core 1MB of L3 cache when all 6 open up. That is a really thin spread of butter on a big slice of bread. It has to be the slowest multi tasker in the world kinda like a big Truck. I bought a Phenom 2 550BE because of the fact that it is a 2 core with the same 6MB l3 and the 1 MB L2 for a total of 7MB shared on two cores. Its the most cache on any two core chip made and the 550 will beat a 965 quad in single and two core applications and I bet it beats out the 1090T in this area as well. The 550 represents a focus of power that no other chip can provide for single a dual core chips. An overclocked 550 doing 3.8mgz with all that cache has to be the fastest two core in the world kinda like a CorvetteZ. I think the 2 core 550 and the 6 core 1090t sit at the absolute opposite ends of the use scale.The 1090t as a workhorse tractor trailer truck. The 550 as the race car gamer. Oh yea, just one thing. The 550 can be unlocked to 4 core 945be in about a minute if your lucky.