AMD Plays Catchup With Phenom II's

Wow, faint praise indeed by UK-based Custom PC magazine on the new 45-nm AMD Phenom II microprocessors.  AMD has has a touch year on the performance sidelines, as first Core 2 Duo quads from Intel and then the Core i7 "Nehalem" quads crushed AMD's best in performance and price-performance.  The new 45 nm process allows AMD to shrink the chip, improve thermals, and get much improved overclockability from the Phenom IIs.

But Custom PC says the new Phenom II's performance and price-performance put it marginally ahead of the two-year old Intel Q6600, an aging 65 nm chip that's being phased out. Yet the Q6600 is phenomenally overclockable (pun intended), and under $200 to boot.  Bottom line: Intel's Q6600 is still the price-performer over the new AMD Phenom II's, while Intel Core 2 Duo and Cote i7 leave AMD in the dust.  Fusion or not, it's gonna be a tough year for AMD.