AMD's Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition
by Anand Lal Shimpi on August 13, 2009 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
I’ve found myself in between two product launches. From AMD we have today’s announcement: the 3.4GHz Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition.

Priced at $245, the 965 is a mere clock speed bump, but an important one. It comes at the same price as this spring’s Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition; you get more performance at the same price.
| Processor | Clock Speed | un-core Clock | L2 Cache | L3 Cache | TDP | Price |
| AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE | 3.4GHz | 2.0GHz | 2MB | 6MB | 140W | $245 |
| AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE | 3.2GHz | 2.0GHz | 2MB | 6MB | 125W | $245 |
| AMD Phenom II X4 945 | 3.0GHz | 2.0GHz | 2MB | 6MB | 125W | $225 |
| AMD Phenom II X3 720 BE | 2.8GHz | 2.0GHz | 1.5MB | 6MB | 95W | $145 |
| AMD Phenom II X2 550 BE | 3.1GHz | 2.0GHz | 1MB | 6MB | 80W | $105 |
It is also the highest clocked processor AMD has ever shipped; K8 topped out at 3.2GHz and the original Phenom never went beyond 2.6GHz. We're also back up to a 140W TDP, something we haven't seen since the old Phenom 9950 went away.

With the 965 BE, AMD has simplified its product lineup. The 800 series Phenom II X4 is gone, as are the DDR2-only Phenom II X4 940 and 920. Most of the 700 series is also done with. Yields are clearly improving and much of the die harvesting is clearly no longer necessary. AMD ought to get rid of the Xn suffix and just use simple model numbers at this point. For more information on the Phenom II architecture, see our launch article.
The second product launch is rumored to happen next month. It’s the introduction of Intel’s Lynnfield processor. The affordable Nehalem, available in both Core i5 and Core i7 flavors, promises to start at just $199 with motherboards in the low $100s.




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Eeqmcsq - Thursday, August 13, 2009 - link
Page 6, char for "POV-Ray 3.73 beta 23 Ray Tracing Performance". ReplyVozer - Thursday, August 13, 2009 - link
Based on our preliminary results, I'd expect the race to be reasonably close between the 965 BE and the Core i5 750 but the i7 850 may prove to be the sweet spot at only $40 more.Core i7 850? :) Reply
jmke - Thursday, August 13, 2009 - link
Yup, Core i7; All Nehalem CPUs with 8 threads are i7 series, those with 4 threads are i5 series; those without turboboost are i3http://www.madshrimps.be/vbulletin/f22/intel-core-...">http://www.madshrimps.be/vbulletin/f22/...870-850-...
http://en.expreview.com/2009/08/11/a-simple-way-to...">http://en.expreview.com/2009/08/11/a-si...tinguish... Reply
Eeqmcsq - Thursday, August 13, 2009 - link
Er, sorry, page 5 Replymichssxx - Saturday, December 11, 2010 - link
HiI'm new and I want to just say Hello.
My nick is: http://www.25mbits.com">michssxx
I hope to write many of posts in this forum...
If it's wrong thread to say Hello, please move to correct one. Reply
ToeringsNthong - Saturday, January 22, 2011 - link
One main problem i see with this review although its a good review is you should also include the SAME CLOCK SPEEDS! like example i'll just pick a RANDOM cpu like the q6600 you are comparing something at 2.4 ghz to something that's running at 3.4ghz that just don't make any sense whatsoever ! can you please explain how is that is a fair comparison?And dont try and say we don't over clock these! anyone with half a brain knows the q6600 can hit 3.4ghz without even breaking a sweat ! even with a crappy mobo ! I know this isn't a overclock review BUT STILL you should have included a fair comparison like hardocp does they always do a APPLES TO APPLES comparison.
Second thing is you mention you don't know why intel still sells socket 775 cpus,i know why its because we are not all rich like you guys and cant afford a complete upgrade,
Some of us still have 775 motherboards and don't have the money to run out and buy new motherboards and ddr3 ram,does that explain it to you?? Glad i could be of assistance. Reply