Final thoughts and rating
It's been a while since we've had our hands on an AMD CPU that has left us genuinely impressed, but we're pleased to say that the Phenom II X6 1090T has done exactly that.
Having seemingly nowhere to go, and nowhere to hide, AMD has taken what may have been the only available route; increasing the die size of an existing chip in order to cram in an additional core or two. It's far from an inspiring method, but it has admittedly had the desired effect.
Arriving as the company's fastest-ever desktop processor, the £240 Phenom II X6 1090T becomes an attractive choice for many an enthusiast. For the more modest user, the multiplier locked alternative - the £160 Phenom II X6 1055T - offers excellent value for money.
Ensuring that the hexa-core chips aren't only useful in heavily multi-threaded applications, the introduction of AMD's Turbo CORE technology ensures solid single-core performance. The 3.2GHz Phenom II X6 1090T, for example, is able to offer superior single-thread performance in certain scenarios when compared to the 3.4GHz Phenom II X4 965.
The mere thought of a well-clocked hexa-core processor with Turbo functionality being made available for less than £250 would have seemed little more than a hopeful dream just months ago. The fact that AMD has made that dream a reality with the Phenom II X6 line, in a backward-compatible socket no less, is certainly worthy of acclaim.
Intel remains king with its Core i7 980X, but AMD's sudden hexa-core challenge has certainly spiced things up in the mid-to-high-end space.
The Good
Fastest desktop processor AMD has ever produced
Brings hexa-core computing to the mainstream
AM3 socket continues to offer an upgrade path
Decent overclocking headroom
Turbo CORE ensures single-thread performance
The Bad
Remains a distant second to Intel in terms of raw performance
HEXUS Rating
AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition
HEXUS Awards
AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition
HEXUS Where2Buy
The AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition processor can be ordered from the following retailers:
|
|
As always, UK-based HEXUS.community discussion forum members will benefit from the SCAN2HEXUS Free Shipping initiative, which will save you a further few pounds plus also top-notch, priority customer service and technical support backed up by the SCANcare@HEXUS forum. |
| £238.64 | |
| £243.52 | |
HEXUS Right2Reply
At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.
