Phenom 2 X4 965

INTRODUCTION

Out of the box processors have been stuck at 3.2 - 3.33 GHz for quite a number of years now. Clock for clock they have been getting better but the top end speed has been 3.2 - 3.3 GHz. AMD pulled one out of the hat and fielded the Phenom 2 X4 965 with a native frequency of 3.4GHz. To achieve this record breaking frequency they had raise the TDP on the Phenom 2 X4 965 to 140w and bump the voltage to 1.4, previously the Phenom 2 X4 955 which ran at 3.2GHz was the flagship chip and it ran at 1.35v with a TDP of 125w. The Phenom 2 X4 965 promises blazing speed, an unlocked multiplier for easy overclocking,  and with a little maturity on the CPU family we're hoping a little more overclocking headroom.

You can see the HDZ965FBK in the CPU designation number and it's telling you that it's a Phenom 2 965 Black Edition. Please excuse any little Thermal Compound we might have missed we were a little excited about the CPU and fired it up as soon as it came through the door forgetting to snap any pictures of the CPU. That prompted us to go ahead and run all the tests then pull the CPU and get the beauty shots. Don't worry though the Phenom 2 X4 965 is safely tucked back into it's socket and setting on the test bench waiting for us.