AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition

[Rob Williams]

For each component that can go into a PC, there are usually countless models to choose from, and the CPU scheme of things is no different. For those looking to spend around $250, the options are AMD's Phenom II X4 955 and Intel's Core 2 Quad Q9550. AMD is confident that their product delivers a better value, so let's check to see if that's the case.

You can read our full article here and discuss it here!

 

[Doomsday]

nice review! this processor is really good for its price! would it have overclocked better on air with the Cooler Master V8 or Thermalright Ultra 120 ?!?

 

[Rob Williams]

To be honest, I'm not sure. I haven't used other coolers on the AMD, but I'm doubtful the V1 from Thermaltake is much of a slouch. The general room temperature I deal with isn't ideal, but I've had no problem before getting Intel processors to 4GHz and beyond, so I'm not sure what's up. I couldn't push it much past 3.5GHz even without stressing. Could be that I got a weak sample (which would actually be a good thing).

It shouldn't be much longer before I get into a new place and rid that problem. I'd like to find another solution past water, but with warm room temps, water-cooling isn't going to help much. And with cooling more exotic than water, the results might be a little skewed compared to what a regular user would be using. It's a tough situation, but I hope to not have to deal with ridiculous room temps much longer.

 

[Unregistered]

I run an AMD 955 and it works well.. Though. Under windows 64bit I have run into issues with overclocking. The most stable i could get it was approx 3.8Ghz (Though i am running at 3.7Ghz right now) but I just could not get it stable no matter what voltage I ran it at. Did it run hot. Not at all. I run a swiftech H20 120 water cooler. Temps at idle are 36deg and at load, i have not passed 51deg (Celcius).

It does everything I want it to do, it was cheaper than going the i7 intel and its my first AMD system in 6 years and it was worth the wait. Also i run this on a Gigabyte AM2+ mainboard with DDR2 memory.