As a result, Socket AM2+ processors can’t fit into Socket AM3 motherboards. This new socket type looks an awful lot like the prior Socket AM2+, but it has two fewer pins, for a total of 938. You’ll need a Socket AM3 motherboard in order to use these Phenom II processors with DDR3 memory. The move to a new memory type requires a new pinout configuration, though, and that’s where Socket AM3 comes into the picture. The new chips are still compatible with existing 7-series chipsets from AMD, as well.Ī Socket AM2+ processor (left) next to a Socket AM3 CPU (right) The chips are still manufactured using AMD’s 45nm SOI fab process, and AMD hasn’t even modified its die size or transistor count estimates: they’re still 258 mm² and 758 million, just like previous Phenom IIs. Another happy consequence of the new silicon revision is additional clock speed headroom for the “uncore” (as Intel might call it) portions of the Phenom IIthe memory controller, 元 cache, and HyperTransportwhose clocks run at 2GHz in this wave of new Socket AM3 processors.īeyond that, little has changed in a month. The Phenom II’s memory controller has been modified to add support for DDR3 memory, mainly. Hard to keep up sometimes, innit?įortunately, although the change is no small accomplishment for AMD, it is relatively simple in the grand scheme of things. Yet here we are a month later, and AMD has produced a new revision of the Phenom II capable of working with Socket AM3-style motherboards and DDR3 memory.

It seems like only last month, we were reviewing the first Socket AM2+ versions of the Phenom II processor.

Amd phenom ii x4 passmark