Introduction

It’s April again and you’re probably helping your wife or mother with the task of spring cleaning. Spring is a time to open your windows and freshen up your home with some clean air and a nice thorough cleaning. Growing up, I hated spring cleaning but I did appreciate that along with spring cleaning came a time to refresh my wardrobe. It was spring/summer shopping time and I got to go and pick out not only new clothes, but at times a new bike and even that Reggie Jackson autographed baseball glove I had been yearning for all winter.

Now that I’m all grown up, I still have spring cleaning to do (some things never change) but instead of shopping for new clothes, I get to go out and buy what I want. This is a tradition that has never stopped and as I got older the only thing that changed was the toys I desired were more expensive. Now my spring shopping is usually for electronics, whether it is a TV or computers, maybe even a new BBQ grill with four burners.

AMD has also thought about refreshing things this Spring and their refresh is the Dragon Platform. Since January, AMD has launched a number of new Phenom II processors, which range from the 940 X4 which is the last of the AM2+ quad cores, to a whole new AM3 platform, which when launched, featured processors which are reverse compatible with the AM2+ socket. The Dragon Platform refresh comes with some new additions, the release of the Phenom II 955 Black Edition, which is an AM3 quad core processor with a clock speed of 3.2 GHz, the new ATI HD 4890 video card and a plethora of new AM3 motherboards which range from $130.00 for a 790GX to $199.00 for a 790FX.

All AM3 motherboards support DDR3 Memory up to 1600 MHz and, depending on the board itself, will either have onboard video which can be used for Hybrid Cross-FireX, or four PCI-e slots to accommodate Cross-FireX. The Phenom II 955 X4 Black Edition processor is also reverse compatible with AM2+ motherboards, just in case your spring cleaning budget won’t allow you to totally refresh.