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AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition

Matthew Murray
 & Matthew Murray Managing Editor, Hardware

Our team tests, rates, and reviews more than 1,500 products each year to help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology.

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AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition - AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition

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Pros & Cons

The AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition ($117 list) is a quad-core CPU designed for use with AMD's AM3 socket. This 64-bit chip is based on the Deneb processing core, and was developed using AMD's 45nm production process.

It runs at a clock speed of 3.2GHz, and has a total of 2MB of L2 cache (512KB per core) and 6MB L3 cache. Its HyperTransport rate is 4,000MHz, providing up to 16GBps of bandwidth. The chip's Thermal Design Power (TDP) is 125 watts, and it supports AMD's Cool 'n' Quiet and CoolCore technologies for reducing overall CPU power usage.

AMD has designed its Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition with an unlocked multiplier, for added ease of overclocking.

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Final Thoughts

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition - AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition

None

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About Our Expert

Matthew Murray

Matthew Murray

Managing Editor, Hardware

Matthew Murray got his humble start leading a technology-sensitive life in elementary school, where he struggled to satisfy his ravenous hunger for computers, computer games, and writing book reports in Integer BASIC. He earned his B.A. in Dramatic Writing at Western Washington University, where he also minored in Web design and German. He has been building computers for himself and others for more than 20 years, and he spent several years working in IT and helpdesk capacities before escaping into the far more exciting world of journalism. Currently the managing editor of Hardware for PCMag, Matthew has fulfilled a number of other positions at Ziff Davis, including lead analyst of components and DIY on the Hardware team, senior editor on both the Consumer Electronics and Software teams, the managing editor of ExtremeTech.com, and, most recently the managing editor of Digital Editions and the monthly PC Magazine Digital Edition publication. Before joining Ziff Davis, Matthew served as senior editor at Computer Shopper, where he covered desktops, software, components, and system building; as senior editor at Stage Directions, a monthly technical theater trade publication; and as associate editor at TheaterMania.com, where he contributed to and helped edit The TheaterMania Guide to Musical Theater Cast Recordings. Other books he has edited include Jill Duffy's Get Organized: How to Clean Up Your Messy Digital Life for Ziff Davis and Kevin T. Rush's novel The Lance and the Veil. In his copious free time, Matthew is also the chief New York theater critic for TalkinBroadway.com, one of the best-known and most popular websites covering the New York theater scene, and is a member of the Theatre World Awards board for honoring outstanding stage debuts.

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