Customer Reviews:
 Fast and inexpensive April 28, 2010
Darth Vader (San Francisco, CA USA)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
AMD has delivered and this 6 core CPU is less than 1/4 the cost of Intel's 6 core CPU. In addition the new core now supports Turbo mode and it really puts it on par with the Intel core i7 but at a fraction of the price. The 6 core CPU will ensure this processor will last for years to come.
This performance improve is very apparent once I upgraded from my quad core. Best of all, it works with my older motherboard and RAM. A bargain for little over $200.
New AMD x6 Performs June 5, 2010
Scott Brown (Trauco Canyon, Ca United States)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
For what I ended up paying, about $200, it was worth going for the six-core AMD. I've always been comfortable with the AMD processor and this one is no exception. I had an old AMD Phenom quad-core and it was time for an upgrade. I looked at the Intel chips and the icores but the prices was just too much. Then I heard about the new six core AMD chips and that one had just come out so I looked into it. I ended up getting a new motherboard to, the Asus M4N98TD EVO and was excited about the core unlock feature.
While it is true that you won't need a six core processor for a while to do software not being utilized by it (this is because software is typically required to be programmed to use the extra cores) I figured it was worth the price and the performance with the core unlocker on my board helps. I do like Intel but generally avoid them because of the price and because AMD performance is always at least satisfactory.
What's the best part? Most of you may not even need to upgrade to a new motherboard if you have an older ASUS board or another manufacture. Many AMD board makers are releasing bios updates that will allow you to use the new x6 AMD chips. Just check out your board's website.
Best bang for your buck for a 6 core processor May 3, 2010
tony (atlanta, ga)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
this processor is an overkilled for its price ratio compare to the much faster i7-980x so 200.00 dollar really justify this awesome cpu. Of course the benchmark score is higher for some i7 but this cpu beats the i7-920 and on the same par as the i7-930 not overclock.this cpu should future proof me for years until there are enough software that can utilized all six cores on the mainstreanm level.Not an amd fan but more of a common sense wise buyer.
Great processor, at a price Intel won't dare to go June 19, 2010
Jackson Andres (Florida, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Bought this to replace my aging Phenom 9850. Not counting the BIOS update for a Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P and backplate heatsink mount (CM Hyper Z600), the upgrade was pop-out the old, pop-in the new, and boot 'er up.
The first thing I noticed in the BIOS were that the temperature changes from Phenom to Phenom II X6 were amazing. My old original Phenom 9850, whose series was known for being very hot-running, would idle at 37c reported in the BIOS. With the same heatsink and thermal compound used, the X6 idled around 22c at stock clocks. At stock settings I never saw it climb above 35c in an hour's worth of AMD Overdrive stress testing, or Everest Ultimate Stability Testing.
Overclocking is amazing as well. Going from a CPU that couldn't overclock 500MHz if its life depended on it, I was surprised when I went from the stock 2.8GHz to 3.64GHz with a bus bump to 260 and a volt bump to 1.35v. Just to see if I could, I overclocked it to 4GHz with 1.45 volts, and it was stable for an hour or two in AOD/Everest, and a 3DMark Vantage run, but I set it back to 3.64 since there's no need for the extra power. It still won't get to above 40c with normal usage.
Even though I'm a gamer, I didn't buy a six-core expecting improvements in games by adding two more cores, but it got rid of the CPU bottleneck in Bad Company 2. A lower-end CPU in a game like Bad Company 2, which eats through low-end quad cores like they're nothing, can often cause the CPU to climb to 90% use, which creates a bottleneck in the graphics card. If you've got a monitor (a Logitech G15 keyboard is an invaluable peripheral) showing usage of both, you can see that if the CPU is maxed out, the GPU will be sitting back picking its nose being used about 40%. Getting this processor got rid of that and almost doubled my FPS, though it didn't do much for other games, but graphics cards matter for games more than the CPU does as long as the CPU can keep up (It's why you don't see Intel's i7s beating any of AMD's Phenom II quads by more than a few FPS in games when the resolution and settings are maxed out)
The stock heatsink didn't go on this build, but I did use it in a second build that was one of the aluminum blocks that come with the Athlon II series. The 1055T comes with one of the heatpipe based heatsinks you usually find in a Black Edition processor box, and lowered the temperatures of the Dual-core Athlon II it went on by a few celcius. It gets loud if it's set to run at 100% all the time, but it's PWM, so it can be set to run at lower RPMs until the CPU starts getting hot, in which case it's not bad at all.
One interesting thing to note is that the Cool'n'Quiet feature seems to be integrated into the processor itself now. Even with CnQ disabled in the BIOS, I'll see CPU-Z read the processor at 1GHz with lowered volts every now and then, and sometimes at the normal 3.64GHz with volts of around 1.2v. It hasn't been a problem so far, and they go right back up to where they need to go with even a slight work load put on the CPU. I didn't see the Turbo Core working when I was monitoring the CPU at stock settings, so I disabled it when OCing.
All-in-all the 1055T is a great processor for those looking to build a system, but don't want to pay Intel's insane prices, or for those with aging quad-cores, or lower-end (Athlons and etc.) processors that are seeing a bottleneck. I don't believe it's worth it to go from a Phenom II X4 to one of these, but for everyone else, it's great. Even though it's not a Black Edition, it's got some serious overclocking potential when paired with the right heatsink. AMD's made another great one.
WHOA FAST! July 2, 2010
J. Davey (Sacramento, CA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This processor is super fast! I havent found a program to break the 50% threshold. And it's got super over clocking abilities that I haven't even tested yet. I dont think I'll ever need to. And what a great price! Recommending this to all for sure.
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