AMD Phenom X4 9850

A 200MHz increase in clock speed also goes a long way and sub-$200 quad core prices. Is it enough to take back the performance lead from Intel? Nope, not really and in fact far from it. But it keeps them in the game and with competitive pricing is a more than viable solution for those looking for a quad core under the $250 level and also for those already with a Socket AM2 processor now there's no reason not to recommend a Phenom with the B3 fix. Phenom so far is definitely not the processor that Athlon was and the question is whether or not AMD can ramp up the clock speed this year and make sure 45nm is on time. Intel has fallen behind in regards to their release of 45nm processors although their quad cores are out now in time for the B3 Phenom hitting in the market. AMD has to have 45nm available sometime this year and hope that Intel drops the ball with Nehalem, or the performance difference isn't that great between the upcoming 45nm Phenoms and Intel's next-gen tech. For now though in the present the Phenom is a more than capable processor and resolves the unfortunate bug with a few extra perks as well for a great value.

Just 91 points. AMD Phenom X4 9850 performs on a par with Intel Core 2 Duo E6600. These words sound like a hammer nailing down a coffin lid: the top quad-core processor from AMD, launched in 2008, demonstrates average performance on the level with a dual-core processor from Intel (!), launched about two years ago, which occupies the 14th place (!) in the official Intel rating. AMD will play its usual games with lower prices, of course - it has no other choice with this performance level. It's another question that I don't know the answer to: what's next? The K10 core is apparently weak. Besides, it was launched several years after Conroe. That is Intel enjoys a double advantage - in performance of the existing solution and in time to design a new one. I don't know how AMD will find a way out of this situation. But contemplating our test results, a bitter joke comes to mind - the main unfixable mistake in Phenom is this chip itself.

For now though in the present the Phenom is a more than capable processor and resolves a very unfortunate bug with a few extra perks as well for a really great price. For gamers, HTPC builders, en generic PC users that can't spend more than 235 USD on a quad-core processor, it's actually very recommended. And you know what? It is likely the cheapest quad-core processor you can find on the market, that's a lot of value & with this new B3 revision, a perfectly safe & stable product.

In November, our Phenom 9600 review concluded: "the immutable fact remains that AMD's fastest quad-core offering is slower than Intel's slowest. Compounding this depressing statement for AMD is the January 2008 launch of Penryn-based Core 2 Quads, furthering Intel's performance dominance." Phenom X4 9850 BE, AMD's new fastest quad-core offering doesn't provide the performance needed to change that fact. AMD's fastest Phenom X4 is still slower than Intel's slowest Core 2 Quad. With AMD seemingly incapable of competing on a performance basis, its challenge could have materialised in terms of pricing. Unfortunately for competition's sake, that potential threat hasn't materialised at all. AMD's Phenom X4 9850 BE, depending upon where you live, is today priced at around, or higher than, Intel's better-performing Core 2 Quad Q6600. AMD needs to drop its Phenom X4 9850 BE processor to, say, below the £130 mark in order to provide a reasonable alternative to Intel's Core 2 Quad Q6600.

Although the Phenom X4 9850 doesn't propel AMD to the head of the pack in terms of performance, it is a significant step forward for the company. AMD can now put the TLB issue behind them and focus on ramping clock speeds and their impending transition to a 45nm manufacturing process. Until all that happens, the Phenom X4 9850 allows AMD to compete better with Intel's offerings and eliminates a roadblock that was preventing some AMD faithfuls from migrating to a Phenom CPU. And when you consider the total platform, AMD is in a pretty good position. DDR2 RAM is dirt cheap at the moment, and AMD 770 and 790FX motherboards are priced anywhere between $100 and $220, not to mention the affordable 780G. In addition, the list of older socket AM2 motherboards that support Phenom is growing all the time. Drop in CPU upgrades sure are nice when a user doesn't have the funds to overhaul their entire system.