• AMD Phenom II X3 720 BE [Review]

    AMD Phenom II X3 720 BE [Review]

    Roydon Cerejo, Mar 16, 2009 1800 hrs IST

    AMD's new tri-core leaves Intel dumbstruck as it blasts through our tests

    High performance, unlocked multiplier, attractive pricing, easily overclockable, value for money, AM3 ready

    High power consumption on idle/load

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The Phenom II 940 Black Edition was a breath of fresh air from AMD, as we all know their previous efforts haven't been that successful. Besides its great performance, it's still an expensive processor with a price tag of 14K, which may be a turnoff for many.







Not everyone needs a quad-core and if you're one of those, then how about a tri-core? Today we have the new "hot out of the oven" Phenom II X3 720 processor that is also a Black Edition, which means more overclocking headroom than regular processors. This Phenom X3 runs at a speed of 2.8GHz and features the same 6MB of L3 cache as the 9xx series quad cores.
One major change is the transition to the new AM3 platform. Yes, this tri-core contains both DDR2 and DDR3 memory controllers, so you can use it with existing AM2+ motherboards, as well as the upcoming AM3 motherboards that support only DDR3 memory.


 


If we compare clock-for-clock then we have Intel's E8400 on the opposing front sporting the same clock speed of 3.0GHz. But if we are going to compare the price then it's the E8200 that competes with the Phenom II X3 BE. Well, we only have the E8400 for comparison, so depending on how the Phenom II performs we can safely answer both questions; the first one being Is it better than its direct competitor, the E8400? and second, Does it offer more value at that price point against the competition? I guess only time will tell, so let's quickly take a look at some pictures of the flagship tri-core and then the benchmarks.




The Phenom II X3 720 Up close 


 






To know more about the new Phenom II processors and the AM3 platform, be sure to check out our first review of the Phenom II X4 940. 


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Discussion Board
(11) Comments
Fernando Alonso
,Barcelona, ESPANA, on May 01, 2009 02:45 AM
Your benchmarks are FALSE!! Total Fake TT either that or you dont know how to benchmark!! Check out the review of Phenom II X3 720 on AnanadTech. This thing mops the floor with Intel Q8200...what are you comparing it for E8200??? This thing MURDERS dual core offerings from Intel. It is gunning for the Quad Core 8xx series. All Tri Cores off AMD are. Games DO NOT NEED 4 CORES. REPEAT. All Games are optimized for DUAL CORES. IT will be forever. The only thing with 4 core you will see is some added phsysics thats about it. That too is now taken care off by graphic cards. For GAMERS/Enthusiatas. This is the way to go. Intel FANBOYS will buy their crap they did so...even during the P4/Pentium D days. AMD is BACK. And I MAGIC ALONSO is also back in ESPANA I will win the ESPANOL TELEFONIC GRAND PRIX. RENAULT + AMD + my next team of 2010 FERRARI. I AM THE BEST BANG FOR BUCK LIKE AMD. BEST IN F1 BEST EVERYWHERE GOOO AMD POWER. GRACIAS.
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Grim
,Bangalore, on Apr 01, 2009 12:40 AM
Again a very comprehensive and fully satisfying review Roydon, and this is exactly what i expect of u guys. Keep up the good work and i hope to see many more such awesome reviews. Oh and one more thing - AMD Rocks!!!
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Anish Das
,Kolkata, on Mar 17, 2009 08:25 AM
It's not a fair competition between E8400 and X3 720BE. U have overclocked AMD one to 3.4GHZ. What about overclocking E8400. It can easily reach out to 4GHz. At 4GHz intel will win the competition hands down. What about still AMD can only compete with Intel's older core 2 and core2 quad processors rather than even trying for Core i7.
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Ikrana
,Pune, on Mar 17, 2009 09:17 AM
Fanboy much? They're reviewing the 720BE that's why the 720BE is overclocked. And the 720BE pretty much reams the E8400 even at stock speeds. Rather than weeping about how AMD can't keep up with core i7, why not accept the fact that you'd be paying hugely inflated amounts of money for your Intel processor if it weren't for AMD. AMD has been having a rough time and this is a true return to competition. No one really cares about who has the fastes procassor out there. The market for the core i7 is quite small. @ the 8k price point, the phenom X3 will find many more buyers. Further, if you're lucky, you might even turn this X3 into an X4. Now tell me, a 2.8ghz tri/quad for less money than a 3.0ghz dual? AMD, thank you very much.
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Anish Das
,Kolkata, on Mar 19, 2009 08:39 PM
Well i think you have pretty much missed the benchmark scores displayed here for both E8400 and AMD 720BE. You are right AMD is stepping into right direction. I also agree that x3 720BE is a very good processor. Now tell me one thing, putting aside those price wars which is the best processor in the market today? Sorry mate, even if u deny you know it's intel Core i7. Now u are telling X3 720BE wins hands down to intel E8400 even at stock speeds. U are wrong mate. Look at the benchmark scores again and u will know ur answer. I am not stating this as an intel fanboy (my last two processors were from AMD). I just wanted to make a point that AMD have to really uplift there processor performance to match the performance of its competitor. For now intel rocks. Sorry AMD !!!!!
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pawan
,ferozepur, on Mar 22, 2009 05:07 PM
e8400 emulates as 4 processors moreover it is 3 GHz therefore it evens out to a great extent. Price wise also it is way too costly.
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Savin
,Cochin, on Mar 18, 2009 10:34 AM
I bought a phenom x3 720 FROM ITNET in cochin kerala . The performance is good..i loaded windows 7 beta and it really rocks..
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Viju
,Mumbai, on Mar 18, 2009 12:03 AM
Good , but AMD should display processor & motherboard wise comparison ,so that would be better for AMD customers, like me.
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PSU
,Cabbie, on Mar 17, 2009 01:55 AM
Case: ATX Cabinet with Corsair TX650 (PSU) Monitor: Philips 109E5 Monitor (19", Max Resolution 1920x1440 pixels) Operating System: Windows Vista Ultimate Power Supply : CoolerMaster 1000W try and catch something here ;-)
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ajay
,gurgaon, on Mar 17, 2009 03:38 PM
hahahaha.... nice one... same thing was noticed ;)
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Ankur
,Delhi, on Mar 17, 2009 11:03 AM
Is it available anywhere in Delhi??
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