One of the funnier reviews I've read in a while:
tomshardware.com
At its stock speed, the Phenom 9600 BE lags behind its rival from Intel by 13.5%. When overclocked to 2.7 GHz, the Phenom 9600 BE is still not quite able to catch up to the Q6600 running at its default speed.
Like AMD's first Black Edition model, the Athlon 64 X2 6400+, the overclocking potential is so low that the unlocked multiplier is almost not worthwhile. This calls the entire concept of the Black Edition in general into question.
For now, AMD's OverDrive utility is unsuitable for overclocking. It's "functionality" ranged from the error message "No AMD CPU found" to crashing our review system. The values determined in the utility do not correspond to those found in the BIOS, and AMD itself does not support the OverDrive tool.
the Phenom's power consumption is much too high
Overclocked to 2.70 GHz, the Phenom 9600 BE offers nearly the same processing power as Intel's Core 2 Quad Q6600. However, the AMD processor consumes 150 watts, while the Intel Q6600 only draws 83 watts according to our measurements, a difference of 67 W.
In the end, we can't really recommend AMD's Phenom 9600 Black Edition, since the CPU draws more power than Intel's Core 2 Quad Q6600 while costing the same, offering less overclocking headroom, and thus providing lower performance overall.
The bottom line is that the Phenom 9600 Black Edition offers bad value for money. Based on our benchmark results and the direct comparison with Intel's Q6600, AMD's CPU should cost no more than $220, in our opinion.
Phenom is an utter and complete failure. |
