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AMD Phenom II X3 720
When the first triple cores came out we confirmed that they were in fact quads with a faulty core that was just disabled. Gifted with the same amount of cache as their four-core brethren, this gave them a slight advantage core-for-core in cache heavy tests. The original Phenom X3s were okay, and gave a budget upgrade path to AMD enthusiasts, but ultimately suffered from the same flaws as the original Phenom X4s did: terrible performance.
Thankfully with the launch of the new Phenom II range we can put that terrible past behind us. AMD has decided to stick to their plan of selling triple cores and this time round has released two models. The AMD Phenom II X3 720 runs at a comfortable 2.8GHz while the Phenom II X3 710 runs at 2.6GHz. Each processor has the full 6MB L3 cache that appears on the Phenom II X4 9 series and is built on the same 45nm Silicon On Insulator process.
As with all the AM3 processors they are compatible with AM2/AM2+ motherboards, although in some cases a BIOS update might be required. The Phenom II X3 720 is technically a Black Edition because it features an unlocked multiplier while the X3 710 is equipped with a locked multiplier.
The new architecture, as previously discussed in both the Phenom II X4 940 and Phenom II X4 810 reviews, is excellent. It is not cache dependent, overclocks well and is neither extremely hot nor power hungry. The latter two comments cannot be said about the Core i7 processors. While the new 45nm architecture is not cache dependent, it evidently does benefit from extra cache. These scores were double checked and the tests run twice to make sure no irregularities were present. Unfortunately the lack of a DDR3 compatible AM3 board meant that we had to use the Asus M4A79 Deluxe.
The benchmarks show clearly the impact of the missing core. While the X4 810 is slower in clock speed by 200MHz, the extra core gives it a clear advantage at stock speeds. The X3 720 was overclocked to a stable 3.5GHz which was easily achievable by increasing the multiplier and giving it 1.5V instead of the stock 1.35V. This boost in clock speed yielded exciting results. X.264 video encoding was just six frames shy of the X4 940's stock speeds, while the Super Pi 1M result is better than any of the quad cores at stock speed. Not that bad for a chip that is only $200.
A rather exciting bit of news is that some folks have been able to force their Phenom II X3 processors to utilize the disabled core. The crystal ball points to two possible reasons for this. Firstly the cores are indeed bad and AMD just configured the processor to ignore the faulty core and never bothered to disconnect it from the rest of the chip. The other scenario is AMD wanted to fill this particular price gap with its new architecture quickly and lacking a significant number of faulty quad cores opted to 'handicap' processors by disabling the fourth core.
The first scenario is more likely but in today's competitive market anything is possible. To 'unlock' the fourth core on a triple core processor, the motherboard must support the Advanced Clock Calibration feature. The original experiment took place with a Biostar TA790GX 128M motherboard. In this case the processor used was a Phenom 11 X3 710 clocked at 3.l2GHz with a Vcore of 1.37V (other sources have achieved the same result with different settings).
We attempted to achieve the same but found that unfortunately the review sample was not able to. Reports claim that chips manufactured during week 51 of 2008 (batch 0851) and week 4 of 2009 (batch 0904) can be soft-modded; the chip reviewed was from batch 0849. It would seem that the soft-mod is also only possible with boards utilizing a particular BIOS version and AMD has asked those manufacturers to fix the 'bug' immediately. We leave judgment to you.
Moving on, the new triple cores are excellent value for money. AMD's 45nm architecture is a work of pure genius especially once overclocked. At $200 the Phenom II X3 720 is ideal for those on a budget and the possibility of gaining a fourth core with only the slightest bit of overclocking, is enough to make this chip the best option to weather the credit crunch.
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