about Phenom II 940...

[Pelu]

sup all... I was wondering if its worthed getting phenom II 940 now... or there is going to be a new model like 960 or something like that soon??? lets say in a month or something???

by the way can anyone tell us how much score the PhII 940 scores in sisoft sandra???

 

[SunnyD]

The next "high end" Phenom II will be the 945, due in April. The only difference is it's the AM3 version of the 940.

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: SunnyD
The next "high end" Phenom II will be the 945, due in April. The only difference is it's the AM3 version of the 940.

Not that I like to put much stock into internet rumors on forthcoming tech...but isn't the 945 also purported to sport a 2.2GHz uncore (IMC/L3$) vs. the 1.8GHz of the 940's as well as a lower TDP of 95W versus the 120W TDP of the 940's?

 

[LoneNinja]

Originally posted by: Idontcare

Originally posted by: SunnyD
The next "high end" Phenom II will be the 945, due in April. The only difference is it's the AM3 version of the 940.

Not that I like to put much stock into internet rumors on forthcoming tech...but isn't the 945 also purported to sport a 2.2GHz uncore (IMC/L3$) vs. the 1.8GHz of the 940's as well as a lower TDP of 95W versus the 120W TDP of the 940's?

I've seen a number of things on this. Every source has shown that the 925 will become a 95W while some sources claim the 945 will become 95W and others claim it'll remain as a 125W chip. I think your right on with the uncore as I've heard a number of rumors saying that will be increased as well.

Some time later this summer AMD is rumored to begin launching higher clocked Phenom II chips but that shouldn't matter to anyone who purchased a 940/945 to overclock since the architecture should still hold its maximum frequency.

 

[Pelu]

so this is all rumors...

can i ask something.. is the new phenom II 940 compatible with a future ddr3 boards...

the new phenom II 940 is AM2+ but why some places named it AM3, and some brands of board say this board is AM3 compatible with this bios update!!!!

confusion on this matter

 

[cusideabelincoln]

No, the current 940 won't work in AM3 motherboards from what I've read.

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: Pelu
can i ask something.. is the new phenom II 940 compatible with a future ddr3 boards...

No the 940 is not, and never will be, compatible with DDR3 boards.

Originally posted by: Pelu
the new phenom II 940 is AM2+ but why some places named it AM3

Those places are lying, but likely due to their own misunderstanding of what the real story is. I doubt (I hope) no vendors are intentionally misrepresenting the capability of the 940's.

Originally posted by: Pelu
and some brands of board say this board is AM3 compatible with this bios update!!!!

Some AM2+ boards will be able to support AM3 cpus but the cpu will operate in AM2+ (DDR2) mode.

What remains to be seen is whether or not when an AM3 cpu is put into an AM2+ socket will the NB/L3$ then be underclocked and also will the TDP then be increased? (i.e. will a 945 really revert to being a 940 for all performance purposes)

 

[Pelu]

ok If i get the 940 and put them in my current AM2+ board with a phenom one there.... it will run fine ok... and if i get a new mobo that is by nature AM3... and their magical stuff in AM3... will it run there too?

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: Pelu
ok If i get the 940 and put them in my current AM2+ board with a phenom one there.... it will run fine ok... and if i get a new mobo that is by nature AM3... and their magical stuff in AM3... will it run there too?

The current 920 and 940 will not run in an AM3 motherboard.

The 945 to be released in April will run in both AM2+ and AM3 motherboards, as well as the 710, 720, 805, 810, 910 and 925 due to be released in the next week or so. Note, the only "BE" model in the list scheduled for February will be the 720.

 

[Pelu]

ic.... so why all the drooling and missinformation calling this processors AM3 when in fact they are AM2+...

by the way what is the real physical diference between the am2+ and the real am3.. not the 940

 

[Pelu]

I am wondering if there is some point in throwing away the 9500 and go 940... or wait until 945 and see if i can fit it later on in a amd3 real mobo if the am3 mobo is ddr3 capable... otherwise the am3 can go to hell!

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: Pelu
ic.... so why all the drooling and missinformation calling this processors AM3 when in fact they are AM2+...

by the way what is the real physical diference between the am2+ and the real am3.. not the 940

What?

What misinformation and which processor are you talking about? The 920 and 940 were never called AM3.

The AM2+ parts - the 920 and 940 specifically - run 1.8GHz HT bus and Northbridge clock, and they do not have AM3 or DDR3 capability.

The AM3 parts run 2.0GHz HT bus and Northbridge clock, support both AM3 and AM2+, and support both DDR2 and DDR3 memory.

Unless AMD isn't telling us something, technically the AM3 Phenom II cores are physically identical to the AM2+ Phenom II cores, and the only physical change is packaging and enabling DDR3 support in the memory controller.

 

[Pelu]

Asus called their M3A line boards AM3 capable... do they mean this 940 and 920.... or they mean the ones yet to come????

hm... so AM3 and AM2+ have the 940 pins.. if they have those pins lol!!!

anyway i was thinking on getting a 940... to get rid of the 9500... and then wait some time... and change again the processor in another 18 months or something... skip some models of processors.. mobos and so on...

i mean... ddr800 and 940 processors are good to go for a while right????

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: SunnyD
What misinformation and which processor are you talking about? The 920 and 940 were never called AM3.

Some vendors are calling them AM3. For example, the Foxconn A7GM-S 2.0, which is a 780G mobo, AM2/AM2+, has been updated, and in the CPU support list, they show the 940 as AM3.
link

And up until recently, NewEgg was listing an updated Gigabyte 780G mobo (with DDR2 slots) as an AM3 mobo, even though the Gigabyte site listed it correctly as an AM2/AM2+ board, just like it's precessor.

(I can't find that board on NewEgg anymore, it looks like they discontinued a lot of the older 780G boards, and only have the two newest boards on the market listed.)

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: Pelu
Asus called their M3A line boards AM3 capable... do they mean this 940 and 920.... or they mean the ones yet to come????

hm... so AM3 and AM2+ have the 940 pins.. if they have those pins lol!!!

anyway i was thinking on getting a 940... to get rid of the 9500... and then wait some time... and change again the processor in another 18 months or something... skip some models of processors.. mobos and so on...

i mean... ddr800 and 940 processors are good to go for a while right????

Well technically AM2+ boards are AM3 capable - they're capable of using AM3 CPU's since the AM3 CPU's will work in an AM2 socket.

The 940 is an AM2+ CPU... it will not work in a socket AM3 motherboard. I see your confusion though. Here's a rule of thumb - look at the motherboard specs. If the motherboard says that it uses DDR3 memory, then you will not be able to use a 920 or 940 on it. If it uses DDR2 memory (barring a couple particular hybrid motherboards), you will be able to use a 920 or 940 on it, as well as all the upcoming models from today onward.

Thus, the key is DDR3 memory support. If you want to avoid confusion all together, just pick up one of the AM3 CPU's (NOT the 920 or 940) and call it a day.

 

[soonerproud]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry

Originally posted by: SunnyD
What misinformation and which processor are you talking about? The 920 and 940 were never called AM3.

Some vendors are calling them AM3. For example, the Foxconn A7GM-S 2.0, which is a 780G mobo, AM2/AM2+, has been updated, and in the CPU support list, they show the 940 as AM3.
link

And up until recently, NewEgg was listing an updated Gigabyte 780G mobo (with DDR2 slots) as an AM3 mobo, even though the Gigabyte site listed it correctly as an AM2/AM2+ board, just like it's precessor.

(I can't find that board on NewEgg anymore, it looks like they discontinued a lot of the older 780G boards, and only have the two newest boards on the market listed.)

They are AM3 processor ready AM2+ boards. You are misunderstanding the specification that places like Newegg are posting. They are not claiming these boards to be AM3, but these boards will run AM3 processors at the slower AM2+ speed.

AM2+ boards are only DDR2 compatible and will accept AM3 processors and run them at the AM2+ specification only.

AM3 boards will only accept AM3 processors and run only DDR3 RAM.

 

[Viditor]

To reiterate and condense...

1. Most AM2+ boards are AM3 chip capable, with limitations. This means that you can replace your 940 chip in your AM2+ motherboard with a new AM3 chip, but the motherboard won't have DDR3 slots so it will be limited in it's performance. There may be other limitations as well...

2. Choosing a 940 isn't a bad choice, but the rumour is that AM3 chips will be out any day now. To back that up, the AM3 motherboards are already shipping...they are only compatabile with AM3 chips.

 

[LoneNinja]

The AM3 processors and socket have 1 less pin than AM2+, that is to prevent AM2/AM2+ processors from being plugged into an AM3 motherboard while allowing AM3 processors to still fit into socket AM2/AM2+

 

[Pelu]

there was an article about this today... really nice one...

http://anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3512

i guess that is the link... anyway, for now i better wait then for the true am3 processor if it will fit in a am2+ mobo.... (no intention of fitting the am2+ one in a am3 mobo later on in my life lol!!!! if i still alive of course lol...

 

[Pelu]

My urge of getting a new processor is going away... i guess i will get the 945 soon lol

 

[BLaber]

Originally posted by: Pelu
My urge of getting a new processor is going away... i guess i will get the 945 soon lol

945 will be better compared to any PHII's processor's released till date because it will be the next stepping RB-C3 , currently all PHII's models released are RB-C2's stepping , in a way similar to what C0-to-D0 stepping is for i7, better overclocks and RAM compatibility hopefully.

 

[rickyman123]

i want to know what is the difference between AMD PII 940 and PII 945?

is that true AMD PII 945 has 2.0Ghz Ht and PII 940 only has 1.8GHz HT?

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: rickyman123
i want to know what is the difference between AMD PII 940 and PII 945?

is that true AMD PII 945 has 2.0Ghz Ht and PII 940 only has 1.8GHz HT?

This is expected to be true when the 945 ships.

All AM3 processors released to date have 2GHz HT. So it stands to reason to expect the trend to continue for future AM3 9xx releases as well.

 

[rickyman123]

so does that mean AMD PII 945 has more head more to overclocked than 940? or not?