It has its good points, but AMD's latest silicon effort is simply not the chip you're looking for.
You can’t live without food. Or air. Or energy drinks. And the same is true for your computer: there are simply a few bits it can’t do without. This is one of those bits, and though a computer won’t be able to compute without a processor, this is not one we’d recommend – but we’ll explain why in a minute.
Functionally similar to the Phenom II X6 1090T that we looked at in Issue 114, the 1075T is cheaper and comes clocked slightly lower at 3.0GHz. The core architecture is identical, and features six processing cores based on the AMD K10 ‘Thuban’ design – hence the hexa-core moniker. Each core has access to the same resources as those in the X4 range, with 128KB L1 cache, 512KB L2 cache, and a 6MB L3 cache that can be shared amongst the cores based upon their individual demands for working space.
This is in essence the same as a 1090T, though the most annoying change comes from its positioning as a lower high-end chip – the unlocked multiplier of its older brother does not make an appearance in the 1075T. While we understand the manufacturing process well enough to know that not every chip will be an overclocking whiz, it’s still quite disappointing, becoming even more so when looking at prices: you’ll pay $290 for a locked 3.0GHz hexa-core, but pay $300 for an unlocked 3.2GHz hexa-core. Why you’d skimp on ten bucks at this point is confusing and unintuitive, but we’re here to tell you – don’t!
If you do happen to buy the 1075T, you’ll get the chip with its stock heatsink, and you’ll have to pair it with a decent AM3 motherboard. Like all current desktop AMD chips the Phenom II processors are equipped with pins (938 to be exact) that slide into the corresponding holes of the motherboard socket. They’re fragile, so don’t drop the chip or bump it against anything on the way to the socket. While it’s possible to tweeze the pins back into something resembling straight it’s an un-fun experience – and that’s with only a few pins out of whack!
We threw the chip at the board, where it stuck in the socket, and then slammed a heatsink down on top and got to testing. Though multi-threaded performance appears (as predicted) very nice, single-threaded performance was lacking. This appeared to be down to AMD’s Turbo CORE technology, which is functionally similar to Intel’s Turbo Boost, though not quite as good. The 1090T was unashamed in its self-boosting, but the 1075T seemed reluctant to shift upwards for any length of time. The memory controller is still quite good,but it can’t compete with the Intel offerings – and won’t be able to until the launch of the Bulldozer architecture sometime next year.
Overclocking the 1075T wasn’t as grand as we’d hoped, either, and it topped out at a speed of 4.02GHz. This was achieved with a HT bus speed of 268MHz and a core voltage of 1.42; the 1090T was able to be boosted to 4.28GHz.
Sadly this chip isn’t as impressive as its older brother in performance, overclocking, or value. For those interested in taking the hexa-core route we’d point you either to the much-cheaper 1055T, or the more flexible 1090T – the 1075T just isn’t worth the asking price.
Issue: 137 | June, 2012