It’s been in the news for the majority of this year and lots of speculation was going around about it and how it would perform, especially when compared to the Intel i5 2500k and i7 2600k and of course the existing flagship AMD Phenom II X6 1100t. We were one of the first to report on any speculated rumours and benchmarks as it came out and even saw it first hand at Gamescom, Cologne in Germany running Dirt 3 inside a glass cabinet.

AMD kept everything very close to their chest throughout but ended up doing as they usually do and merged their product range together. When we look at the AM3+ socket, it’s fantastic as it allows you to buy a motherboard based on the platform and then upgrade the processor at a later date. You get to use the same memory, and it works out being a relatively cheap upgrade, whereas Intel expect you to buy a new board, processor and sometimes even the memory depending on if you’re moving from the likes of X58 (triple channel) to Z68 (dual channel). It can all end up very messy and can sometimes even impact sales in a dramatic way.



Link: eTeknix.com