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AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition CPU Review - PAGE 1
Carl Poirier - Monday, June 1st, 2009 Like (1) ShareAMD's strategy of disabling cores has begun a while ago with the Phenom architecture. In that time, triple-cores were launched with many different frequencies, varying from 1.9GHz to 2.5GHz. Doing so allows to make use of a processor that has a faulty core, and it offers a good compromise between dual-cores and quad-cores.
The same strategy got appplied to the next series of processors: the Phenom IIs. However, the major difference between the previous triple-cores is that this time, AMD targeted the enthusiast crowd by launching a Black Edition processor: the Phenom II X3 720. In fact, none of the previous triple-cores featured an unlocked multiplier. Many dual-core in the Athlon series did, though.
As I stated in my previous article, the Athlon II X2 250 review, as of now, Black Edition processors will be found only in the Phenom II series so there will be no Athlon II X2 Black Edition. But what if the user wants a dual-core with an unlocked mutliplier? AMD went further by disabling a second core to Phenom II processors, yielding a dual-core Phenom II X2. This means the chip hidden under the heatspreader is still a quad-core.
This is what we will be looking at today. AMD just launched a 3.1GHz Phenom II X2, named the 550. This makes of it the second fastest Phenom II on the market, the first one being the X4 955. Furthermore, it is a Black Edition!

Its price tag is $102. Looking at Newegg's offerings, it does not have many competitors in this price range. On the cheaper side, there is the 2.7GHz E5400 sold for $90. On the other side, there is the 2.8GHz E7400 retails for $119, but the Phenom II X3 710 already takes care of it. Furthermore, for that mere $102, one gets an unlocked processor!
Specifications
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Model Number & Core Frequency
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X2 550 Black Edition = 3.1GHz
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TRAY OPN#
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HDZ550WFK2DGI
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PIB OPN#
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HDZ550WGIBOX
|
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L1 Cache Sizes
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64K of L1 instruction and 64K of L1 data cache per core (256KB total L1 per processor) |
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L2 Cache Sizes
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512KB of L2 data cache per core (1MB total L2 per processor)
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L3 Cache Size
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6MB (shared)
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Total Cache (L2+L3)
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7MB
|
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Memory Controller Type
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Integrated 128-bit wide memory controller
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Memory Controller Speed
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Up to 2.0GHz with Dual Dynamic Power Management
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Types of Memory Supported
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Unregistered DIMMs up to PC2-8500 (DDR2-1066MHz) -AND- PC3-10600 (DDR3-1333MHz) |
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HyperTransport 3.0 Specification
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One 16-bit/16-bit link @ up to 4.0GHz full duplex (2.0GHz x2)
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|
Total Processor-to-System Bandwidth
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Up to 37.3GB/s total bandwidth [Up to 21.3 GB/s memory bandwidth (DDR3-1333) + 16.0GB/s (HT3)] Up to 33.1GB/s total bandwidth [Up to 17.1 GB/s memory bandwidth (DDR2-1066) + 16.0GB/s (HT3)] |
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Packaging
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Socket AM3 938-pin organic micro pin grid array (micro-PGA)
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Fab location
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GLOBALFOUNDARIES Fab 1 Module 1
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Process Technology
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45-nanometer DSL SOI (silicon-on-insulator) technology
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Approximate Die Size
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258 mm2
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Approximate Transistor count
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~ 758 million
|
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Max Temp
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70o Celsius
|
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Nominal Voltage
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0.850-1.425V
|
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Max TDP
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80 Watts
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Article Index |
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I've just been reading the review at
http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/pii550/
and in the specifications section I find this
Model Number & Core Frequency = X4 955 Black Edition = 3.2GHz
seems to be the wrong data
Q. is all of the data in this table for the "x4 955" or does the rest of the data belong to the "x2 550"?
Thank you for letting me know. I apologize for this minor mistake. The specifications you have seen two days ago belong to the 550, only the processor name and frequency were wrong.
Have a good day,
Carl Poirier
I would just like to note that AMD did release a Black Edition Athlon, it was the Athlon 2X 6400+, simply a over clocked 2X 6000+ (btw Kik ass CPU), but it dident come with a H/S and fan.
and just quickly can you please site your source for the 3X broken 4th core, i have long belived that this is the case, why else would they do it, but to write it as fact you should have a source eg. AMD.
Thanks
cybersloth