AMD Phenom X4 9850 Processor

The new AMD Phenom X4 9850 is a great processor for its segment even though it is still not able to dominate in any fashion over the Intel quad-core options. Just as with the initial 2.3 GHz Phenom B2 launch, AMD still considers the Intel Core 2 Q6600 its primary competition, and I consider the Q9450 to be another potential threat as well. This new CPU is definitely getting AMD closer to its performance goals and any enthusiast or gamer looking for a ~$240 processor is going to have a fantastic experience with the 9850. The added performance and efficiency of the 2000 MHz memory controller and system bus add to the benefits of the 2.50 GHz clock rate producing the best fastest stock speed AMD quad-core CPU to date. Though I feel a bit like a broken record, we again should put a caveat on all of this: if AMD COULD put out a part to compete with Intel in the high-end processor segment they would. The 65nm process that the current generation Phenom is using just won't allow it and the engineers in Sunnyvale still have a lot of work ahead to start giving Intel competition in the high profit-margin area of $400+ processors.