Phenom (processor)

Phenom (pronounced as IPA:/finɒm/, as in the word phenomenon) is the AMD desktop processor line based on the K10 (not "K10h") microarchitecture,[1] or Family 10h Processors, as AMD calls them. Triple-core versions (codenamed Toliman) belong to the Phenom 8000 series and quad cores (codenamed Agena) in the AMD Phenom X4 9000 series. AMD considers the quad core Phenoms to be the first "true" quad core design, as these processors are a monolithic multi-core design (all cores on the same piece of silicon wafer), unlike Intel's Core 2 Quad series which are a multi-chip module (MCM) design. The processors are on the Socket AM2+ platform.[2]

AMD has launched several models of the Phenom processor in 2007/2008

Change of model nomenclatures
The model numbers of the new line of processors were changed from the PR system used in its predecessors, the AMD Athlon 64 processor family. The new model numbering scheme, for later released Athlon X2 processors, is a four digit model number with a different family indicator as the first number.[7] Energy Efficient products end with the letter “e” after the model number (example Phenom 9350e) and some Sempron processors use the LE prefix (example Sempron LE-1200), as follows:

Translation Lookaside Buffer (TLB) Error

Before Phenom's release[citation needed], a flaw was discovered in the translation lookaside buffer that could cause a system lock-up in rare circumstances. Phenom processors up to and including stepping "B2" and "BA" are affected by this bug. BIOS and software workarounds disable the TLB, and typically incur a performance penalty of at least 10%.[9] This penalty was not accounted for in pre-release previews of Phenom, hence the performance of early Phenoms delivered to customers is expected to be less than the preview benchmarks. "B3" stepping Phenom processors were released March 27, 2008 without the TLB bug and with "xx50" model numbers.[10]

An AMD subsidiary has released a patch for the Linux Kernel,[11] which it said has received "minimal functional testing", to overcome this bug by software emulation of accessed- and dirty-bits causing little performance loss.
Phenom II

Phenom II is the updated brand name for AMD's 45nm multicore central processing units. Socket AM2+ version of Phenom II will be released in January 2009 while February will see Socket AM3 versions of the same along with 3 core processors [12].

The Phenom II range of CPUs are the first series of AMD CPUs to eliminate the "cold bug" (A physical phenomenon which causes the processor to cease functioning below a certain temperature. This bug prevents the use of "extreme" cooling methods such as Dry Ice or Liquid Nitrogen). With the elimination of this cold bug, these CPUs are expected to overclock to much higher levels than any other AMD CPU range.[13][14]

In a pre-release demonstration of the Phenom II's overclocking potential, Macci (a record breaking overclocker) used a Phenom II X4 940 and a Gigabyte MA790GP-DS4H with liquid nitrogen cooling to take the processor to a clock speed in excess of 5GHz[15].
Cores

Phenom X4
Agena (65 nm SOI)

* Four AMD K10 cores
* L1 cache: 64 KB + 64 KB[16] (data + instructions) per core
* L2 cache: 512 KB per core, full-speed
* L3 cache: 2 MB shared between all cores
* Memory controller: dual channel DDR2-1066 MHz with unganging option
* MMX, Extended 3DNow!, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4a, AMD64, Cool'n'Quiet, NX bit, AMD-V
* Socket AM2+, HyperTransport with 1600 to 2000 MHz
* Power consumption (TDP): 65, 95, 125 and 140 Watt
* First release
o November 19, 2007 (B2 Stepping)
o March 27, 2008 (B3 Stepping)
* Clock rate: 1800 to 2600 MHz
* Models: Phenom X4 9100e to 9950

Phenom X3
Toliman (65 nm SOI)

* Three AMD K10 cores
* L1 cache: 64 KB + 64 KB (data + instructions) per core
* L2 cache: 512 KB per core, full-speed
* L3 cache: 2 MB shared between all cores
* Memory controller: dual channel DDR2-1066 MHz with unganging option
* MMX, Extended 3DNow!, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4a, AMD64, Cool'n'Quiet, NX bit, AMD-V
* Socket AM2+, HyperTransport with 1600 to 1800 MHz
* Power consumption (TDP): 65 and 95 Watt
* First release
o March 27, 2008 (B2 Stepping)
o April 23, 2008 (B3 Stepping)
* Clock rate: 2100 to 2500 MHz
* Models: Phenom X3 8250e to 8850

Future models
Starting in the second half of 2008, AMD is expected to launch a series of 45 nm processors [17]. As of October 2007, only the codenames are known to the public. They are Deneb FX for Phenom FX, Deneb for quad-core processors, Heka for triple-core Phenom processor and Regor for Athlon X2. These processors are expected to be available in late 2008 to early 2009, with the support of DDR3 memory and are expected to have larger shared L3 cache (6 MBytes) as well as the implementation of Socket AM3 for single-processor systems, Socket F+ for dual-processor Quad FX platform[18].