AMD's new Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition is the fastest member of the Phenom II family of quad core CPUs. The previous king of the Phenom II line-up was the X4 810 with a clock speed of 2.6GHz, however the X4 955 BE makes a massive leap to 3.2GHz.

TEMP 

http://www.guru3d.com/article/phenom-ii-x4-965-be-processor-review-test/15

Phenom II is very similar to the original Phenom and also the revised version that fixed the TLB problem. The fabrication process has shrunk from 65nm to 45nm and this reduction in the size of the transistors has freed up enough space to allow an increase in L2 cache from 2MB in Phenom to either 4MB or 6MB in Phenom II.

The other major change has been made to the integrated memory controller. Phenom worked with DDR2-1066 but Phenom II can also use DDR3-1333. AMD has come up with a scheme where Phenom II is supplied in Socket AM2+ form for DDR2 motherboards and also in a new Socket AM3 for DDR3 motherboards.

AMD Phenom™ II Processors
Unbeatable multi-core value with AMD Phenom™ II processors. They deliver The Ultimate Visual Experience™ for high definition entertainment, advanced multitasking performance, and power-saving innovations for smaller, cooler machines that are energy efficient.

Features & Benefits
§ Smoother faster experience, even when running complex software application with native
§ Multi-Core Technology
§ Scaled performance to conserve PC power with HyperTransport® 3.0 Technology
§ Hear your music, not your PC with AMD PowerNow!™ Technology (Cool’n’Quiet™ Technology)
§ Prevent the spread of certain viruses and strengthen your network integrity with Enhanced Virus Protection (EVP)*

AMD Phenom™ II Processors Product Brief

Visual Experience

Live your life in HD. AMD Phenom™ II is for high definition entertainment, gaming, creativity, and beyond. With AMD Phenom™ II processors as the foundation, you'll enjoy a new level of responsiveness and visual intensity. AMD puts high definition computing within everyone’s reach.
Superior technologies for HD video. Enjoy a superior high definition experience for HD videos on you PC. AMD Phenom™ II processor are the powerful engine behind your fidelity, high definition video entertainment experience. Only AMD puts the Ultimate Visual Experience™ for HD video within your reach.
Enjoy entertainment beyond your media library. Get HD content online, offline, wherever you want it, however you want it. Your system can handle whatever you dish out - and serve it up on screen in full, high definition glory.*
Perfect chemistry. Combine AMD Phenom™ II processors and ATI Radeon™ HD graphics to really see the difference. Enjoy smooth video, brilliant videos and immersive games. AMD unleashes visual clarity and responsiveness for what you want to do.

Performance

Do it all. AMD Phenom™ II processors have the power to do it all. Featuring next-generation quad-core design, they crush even the most demanding tasks. So design it, render it, play it, create it, stream it, HD it.* With AMD Phenom™ II processors, if you can imagine it, you can do it.

Energy Efficient

Make a choice you can feel good about. AMD Phenom™ II processors were designed with energy efficiency in mind. Capitalizing on AMD's leadership in energy efficiency, they incorporate all of the latest technology that gives you performance when you need it and save power when you don’t.
Look for ENERGY STAR® with AMD. Thanks to AMD's power-saving innovations, you can count on machines based on AMD Phenom™ II processors for the energy efficiency you want and the performance you need.

*HD monitor required.

  AMD Phenom™ II X4 965 Details

	Phenom II X4 920	Phenom II X4 940	Phenom II X4 955		intel i7-940
CMOS Technology	45 nm	45 nm	45 nm		45 nm
Frequency	4 x 2.8 GHz	4 x 3.0 GHz	4 x 3.2 GHz		4 x 2.93 GHz
L2-Cache	2 MB (4 x 512 KB)	2 MB (4 x 512 KB)	2 MB (4 x 512 KB)		1MB (4 x 256 KB)
L3-Cache	6 MB	6 MB	6 MB		8 MB
Socket	AM2+	AM2+	AM3		LGA 1366
TDP	125W	125W	125W		130W

Motherboard

     MSI 790GX-G65 Motherboard

Sideport Memory

• Equipped 1 Gigabit (128MB) DDR3 1333MHz IGP boost memory to accelerate onboard VGA 3D performance enhanced up to an additional 15%.
• Independent IGP memory can reduce the consumption of system memory  

Hybrid Crossfire

• Supports Onboard VGA with PCI-E graphic card combination
• Easy to install 
• Double the graphic performance to meet your processing needs
• Save the money for two graphic cards and to reach ATI Crossfire function easily  

APS

• APS is Active Phase Switching, that is complete function to Control Power Demand With Switcing Dynamically, it’s for CPU, Memory and Chipset PWM.

      Benefits:
      Saving Power under Variable Loading.
      Power Usage More Efficiency.

140W Support

• Supports AMD high performance 140W CPUs
• Reserve the ability for future CPU upgrade
• To fully release the power of AMD CPUs

Soecial Features:  

MSI Motherboard 790GX-G65

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BIOS

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Testing Setup

	AMD Platform		intel Platform
Processor	AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE		Intel Core 2 Duo E8600
Motherboard	MSI 790GX-G65	VS	Gigabyte EP45T-Extreme
RAM	G.SKILL DDR3 RAM PC10666 (2GB x 2)		OCZ Platinum 2GB PC16000
Cooler	Sunbeamtech Core-Contact Freezer		Stock cooler
Graphics card	Palit HD4870 1GB dual sonic
Hard-Disk	Seagate 7200.10 250GB
SMPS	Cooler Master Extreme Power DUO 600W
OS	MS Windows XP and Vista.

Test units sourced from AMD. Thank you very very much.

PCMark05 Performance

3Dmark Performance

3Dmark Vantage tests your system's DirectX 10 performance. 

Gaming Performance: Crysis

Gaming Performance: Far Cry 2

A hit or miss with gamers, Far Cry 2 still stands as one of the decent games to test the gaming performance of one's system. 

Overclocking with Air-Cooling

The following results were obtained with a Sunbeamtech Core-Contact Freezer CPU Cooler, coupled with an 120mm 78cfm 2000rpm fan. To extract a little more, something we all crave for, the GPU was overclocked to higher than stock speeds.

Conclusion 

Phenom II X4 965

The first models of Phenom II were fairly competitive against Core 2 but this new Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition is so much faster that it can do battle against the mighty Core i7. It loses by a fair margin but still represents very good value for money. 

MSI 790GX-G65   

Backed by great after-sell-service of Tirupati Enterprise and good build quality, the motherboard is really a solid platform. The price is still in the higher side but acceptable when you consider the QoP and QoS.