Introduction

The end of summer is quickly approaching and as parents and students prepare for the beginning of the school year, others get into the swing of the busy season of work and no play. Many focus their attention of this preparation on upgrading the necessary technologies in their lives and this normally starts with upgrading or replacing home computers for the kids and business computers for improved productivity. With the market full of choices in the computer world, a multitude of different motherboards, processors, and RAM components are being offered, the introduction of new components really becomes the focus of attention. Intel unveiled the Core i7 processors late last year (November 2008), and we saw AMD enter the DDR3 CPU market with the new AM3 CPUs early this year.

Much of the focus lately has been on the Intel Core i7 CPUs, with their cutting edge technology, but AMD is not a company to fall by the way side. The AM3 CPUs have shown their ability to be outstanding chips for the money, offering much in the way of technology that is comparable to that of the Intel offerings, and usually for a significantly less expensive price. The other selling point that AMD has had in their offerings is the unlocked chips of the Black Edition family. These chips, with unlocked multipliers, have allowed for excellent overclocking at a fraction of the cost for an unlocked chip from Intel. With the flagship 955 BE beginning to show its age, AMD has seen the need to answer the call for more and has answered soundly.

The AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE enters the AMD lineup as the new unlocked flagship CPU, with 3.4 GHz of base clock speed. The AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE features much of the same technology of the AM3 chips, but with increased abilities in overclocking and base speeds. AMD has done an excellent job of managing to develop a strong hold on the mainstream CPU market, and their introduction of the 965 BE is definitely a move to further solidify this stance in the mainstream CPU market.