April 30, 2010
Boutique system vendor Maingear is hoping to capitalize on AMD’s low-priced 6-core Phenom II X6 processor line by releasing a pair of modestly priced gaming PCs built around the new platform. It’s called the VYBE Limited Edition and it comes in two baseline configurations.
The first one sells for $999 and comes built around AMD’s Phenom II X6 1055T processor, the lesser of AMD’s two chips. Maingear couples the CPU with AMD’s new 890GX chipset, which boasts support for SATA 6Gb/s and USB 3.0. Other features include a Radeon HD 5670 videocard, 4GB of DDR3-1333 memory, 640GB hard drive, DVD burner, 500W power supply, and Windows 7 Home Premium.
For $300 more, Maingear bumps the processor up to a 1090T (3.2GHz). Other upgrades include a Radeon HD 5830 videocard and 6GB of DDR3-1333 memory, otherwise the specs remain the same.
Both setups are available now direct from Maingear.
Image Credit: Maingear
Tags: 6-core, AMD, CPU, gaming, hardware, Maingear, News Worthy, Phenom, processor, rigs, six-core, vybe, x6
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April 27, 2010
The big news today is that AMD’s new Phenom II X6 processors are now shipping, and if you haven’t done so already, read through Gordon’s assessment of these low-priced parts right here. If you like what you see, you can head over to Newegg afterward and pick one of the chips up, or if you prefer to roll with a pre-built, CyberPower has already begun equipping its gaming rigs with the new 6-core parts.
CyberPower’s Gamer Dragon CrossFire Ultimate and Gamer Ultra CrossFireX Pro are among the higher-end systems that have been upgraded with AMD’s Phenom II X6 chips, but true to AMD’s budget price points, you can jump on the 6-core bandwagon with a mainstream budget. Other 6-core capable rigs in CyberPower’s stable include the entire Gamer Ultra and Gamer Dragon lines, with pricing starting out at just $699. Chew on that for a moment – for less than the cost of Intel’s Core i7 980X, you can piece together an entire 6-core system built around AMD’s Phenom II platform.
CyberPower says all of its rigs can be "easily factory overclocked," including those built around AMD’s 6-core chips. The company is also offering a 5 percent discount up until tomorrow with coupon code INSTANT.
Image Credit: CyberPower
Tags: 6-core, AMD, CPU, cyberpower, hardware, News Worthy, Phenom, phenom ii x6, processor, rigs, six-core
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April 23, 2010
If you’re wanting to jump on the 6-core bandwagon without spending upwards of $1,000, the wait is almost over, folks. Next Tuesday, April 27, AMD is scheduled to release its Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition clocked at 3.2GHz, as well as a handful of other six-core processors.
AMD might have wanted to wait a little longer, but a few retailers outside of the U.S. have already listed the chips for sale, so there wouldn’t be much point in holding out much longer. And the time is ripe to go up against Intel anyway, whose only six-core chip is the ultra-pricey Core i7 980X.
Look for AMD to come out swinging with at least four different six-core CPUs next Tuesday, some of which are expected to debut with a 95W TDP. The slowest of these will come clocked at 2.6GHz.
Anyone planning on picking one of these up next week? How much would you be willing to spend on a six-core processor? Are we at a point where we need six cores of processing power? Hit the jump and sound off!
Image Credit: paineldohardware.com
Tags: 1090t, 6-core, AMD, build a pc, CPU, hardware, News Worthy, Phenom II, processor, six-core, x6
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April 21, 2010
Slowly but surely, the six-core revolution is getting under way. Intel kicked things off with the release of its Core i7 980X, followed by a flurry of six-core chips at the ready from AMD, and within the next few weeks, Intel will release a slightly lower clocked (and lower priced) followup to the 980X.
According to reports, Intel’s Core i7 970 part will likely show up in the third quarter. It will race along at 3.2GHz compared to 3.33GHz for the 980X, and while no pricing info has been released, news and rumor site Fudzilla says it will probably sell for around €799. A straight conversion still puts it at over $1,000 USD, and even though we suspect it will sell for less in the States, that’s still on the high side, especially compared to AMD’s offerings.
In other chip news, Intel has launched its Core i5 680, which ranks as the fastest Clarkdale dual-core chip yet. Built around Intel’s 32nm Westmere architecture, the 680 chip comes clocked at 3.6GHz and features 4MB of L3 cache.
Image Credit: Intel
Tags: 970, build a pc, core i7, CPU, hardware, Intel, News Worthy, processor, six-core
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April 15, 2010
In a couple of weeks, AMD will launch its six-core Phenom II X6 processors and go head-to-head with Intel’s sole six-core part, the Core i7 980X. If early overclocking results are any indication, AMD will be putting up a fight.
An overclocker who goes by the name Luca managed to get his hands on an AMD T1090 Black Edition chip and nearly doubled the clockspeed. The part runs 3.2GHz at stock, but with some liquid nitrogen, an ASRock 890GX Extreme3 motherboard, and just 1GB of Kingston RAM, Luca managed to push the processor all the way to 6.29GHz.
Not for the faint of heart, it looks as though Luca had to the juice the CPU to 1.928V, a significant jump over the stock 1.32V setting. Yikes!
Tags: 6-core, AMD, build a pc, CPU, hardware, News Worthy, overclocking, Phenom, phenom ii x6, processor, six-core, T1090
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April 1, 2010
Intel isn’t the only one getting jiggy with six-core desktop chips, AMD’s planning a six-core party of its own. One motherboard maker who won’t be showing up fashionably late is Asus, who this week announced a full range of mobos ready to support the upcoming Phenom II X6 parts.
"Besides being ready to support six-core processors, the Asus M4 Series gives users of every level the best performance and value with tis Core Unlocker feature," said Joe Hsieh, General Manger of Asus Motherboard Business. "This has received notable recognition from many of the world’s top media organizations for deliver a phenomenal boost in performance."
There are several M4-based boards representing a variety of chipsets ready to support the 6-core parts, all of which will require a BIOS update. If you’re planning to upgrade, be sure to check out which BIOS version you need (see list here) and get to flashing!
Image Credit: Asus
Tags: 6-core, AMD, asus, bios, build a pc, CPU, hardware, m4, Motherboards, News Worthy, Phenom, phenom ii x6, processor, six-core
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March 22, 2010
Digital Storm may have just built the baddest workstation on the block, or at least in the home consumer market. Tapping into Intel’s latest and greatest, Digital Storm’s new DAVINCI workstation crunches workloads with Intel’s Core i7 980X Extreme Edition chip doing much of the heavy lifting.
Helping it go is an Nvidia PNY Quadro FX 1800 graphics card with 768MB of dedicated RAM. Other baseline specs include 12GB of DDR3-1600 RAM, Asus P6X58D Premium motherboard, a 1000W power supply, and Windows 7 Professional.
"The philosophy behind DAVINCI is simple: engineer a workstation that completely maximizes application performance so that creative professionals can accelerate their productivity," commented Rajeev Kuruppu, Digital Storm’s Director of Product Development. "Thanks to NVIDIA’s and Intel’s most powerful components to date, our DAVINCI workstations will be fully optimized for the forthcoming release of Adobe’s Creative Suite 5."
Digital Storm says it subjects each DAVINCI system to a rigorous 72-hour stress test prior to shipping. Should something break anyway, the rigs come backed with a 4-year warranty.
As equipped above, pricing starts at $4,995, which represents the company’s mid-range (Professional) DAVINCI. There’s also a Performance model that starts out at $2,952 (Intel Core i7 930, Quadro FX 580, 750W PSU) and an Enthusiast model that runs $5,778 (dual Intel Xeon E5530 chips, Intel Workstation board, Nvidia Quadro FX 1800 graphics, 1000W PSU).
Image Credit: MSI
Tags: 6-core, 980x, core i7, CPU, davinci, Digital Storm, hardware, hexacore, Intel, IT News, Maximum IT, processor, rigs, six-core, workstation
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March 19, 2010
Right now all the talk is on Intel’s 6-core Gulftown chip, and rightfully so (see here for our in-depth evaluation). But in a little over a month, AMD will dish out its own 6-core desktop lineup dubbed Phenom II X6. AMD hasn’t offered up a lot of details on its upcoming chips, but that’s okay, because some key info may have been inadvertently leaked to the Web.
According to Tech Connect, Gigabyte released a handful of BIOS updates that reveal what clocks AMD’s chips will run at. There will be four chips to begin with, including the Phenom II X6 1035T, 1055T (in both 95W and 125W TDP flavors), and the 1075T. As it’s been leaked to th Web, the 1035T will come clocked at 2.6GHz, while the 1055T will kick things up a notch to 2.8GHz.
On the higher end, the fastest clocked hexacore — the 1075T — will sport a 3.0Ghz clockspeed, which is 333MHz slower (in clockspeed) than Intel’s Core i7 980X Extreme Edition part.
Stay tuned, as these are subject to change, and we still don’t have any pricing info.
Image Credit: AMD
Tags: 6-core, AMD, build a pc, CPU, hardware, hexacore, leaked, News Worthy, phenom ii x6, processor, six-core
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