AMD Phenom II X4 980 Review

Check out the Phenom II X4 980! This Desktop processor is a key player in AMD's high-end lineup. Unleashed in 2011, it's loaded with 4 cores and 4 threads. It has a base clock speed of 3.7GHz, can turbo up to 3.7GHz, and has a power draw of 125W, ready to elevate your gaming experience. The Phenom II X4 980 is a result of the Deneb 45nm technology and is a part of the celebrated Phenom II X4 series.

AMD just unleashed its K10 architecture, raising the stakes in the high-stakes battle for desktop PC dominance against Intel. This new lineup of chips pushes core counts and raw power to crazy high levels, threatening Intel's reign for the first time in a decade. Buckle up, it's about to get intense!

The Phenom II X4 980 is the more expensive version of the Phenom II X4 975, and it shows with its higher base and boost clock speeds: 3.7 GHz and 3.7 GHz, respectively. That's a nice boost in speed, but the real game changer is the higher power delivery (PPT). This lets the motherboard pump more juice (up to 142W) to the Phenom II X4 980 compared to the Phenom II X4 975's limit of 125W. This extra power allows the Phenom II X4 980 to crank up the boost clocks even more aggressively, on both single and multiple cores. That means the performance gap between these two CPUs might be bigger than what the specs on paper suggest.

Alright, listen up. When it comes to pure gaming performance, Intel still holds the crown. If squeezing out every last frame per second is your top priority, then a Intel CPU might be the better choice. But here's the thing: that advantage shrinks at higher resolutions or if you pair the CPU with a less powerful graphics card. mattersToo

For gamers on a budget who aren't afraid of a little overclocking and have decent cooling, the Phenom II X4 975 is a solid option. You can get pretty much the same performance as the Phenom II X4 980 (especially for gaming) by overclocking it a bit. Plus, it's cheaper! This is why we gave the Phenom II X4 975 an Editor's Choice award.

But beyond gaming, the Core i7-3770T is the future-proof option. The Core i7 platform on B65, B75, C204, C206, H55, H61, H67, H77, P67, Q67, Q77, Z68, Z75, Z77 motherboards supports upcoming Ivy Bridge processors. So, if you buy a good B65, B75, C204, C206, H55, H61, H67, H77, P67, Q67, Q77, Z68, Z75, Z77 board with the Core i7-3770T now, you can easily upgrade to a newer Deneb CPU later on.

Don't let the 4 cores fool you, the AMD Phenom II X4 980 is a surprisingly capable processor! It held its own and felt snappy in our tests. While it fell behind on heavily threaded tasks due to the lower core count, it actually beat some pricier siblings in lightly threaded tasks thanks to its high clock speeds.

The AMD Phenom II X4 980 is a decent performing chip for $353.84. The main competitor at this price point is the Core i7-3770T, a 4-core unlocked processor with integrated graphics, which costs $330.

If you don't care too much about overclocking and max boost speeds, then the AMD Phenom II X4 975 is a good option for $360.41. It also has 4 cores and 4 threads, but with slightly lower clock speeds (3.6GHz base and 3.6GHz boost).

The Phenom II X4 980 boosts up to the advertised 3.7 GHz, and with AMD's software you can push one core even higher to 3.7+0.1 GHz. But don't expect much beyond that without a serious cooler upgrade and manual voltage tweaks.