AMD Phenom II X4 945 reviewed

AMD Phenom II X4 945 reviewed: Introduction
The Phenom II X4 945 is based on the 45 nanometer Deneb design. Each of the four cores is running at 3.0 GHz, the L2 cache is 512 KiByte per core big, the L3 cache has an overall capacity of 6 MiByte. Technically the Phenom II X4 945 bears resemblance to the X4 940 BE; the biggest difference is the socket: The 945er is intended for AMD's socket AM3 and DDR3 RAM but also works with the socket AM2+ and DDR2. The older 940 BE on the other hand fits into the socket AM2+ only. More differences: The Hypertransport clock of the 945 is 2,000 MHz instead of 1,800 MHz, but practically this doesn't deliver a big performance benefit. Furthermore the 940 BE has an open multiplier - the Phenom II X4 945 doesn't.


In the table below you can find the most important technical specifications:



AMD Phenom II X4 945 reviewed: Benchmark tests
We tested the Phenom II X4 945 against the 955 BE, the smaller 920 and the Intel competition in form of the Core 2 Quad Q9550. The 945er was working on a 790GX AM3 motherboard with DDR3-1600 memory - this frequency was stable with a single memory kit from OCZ only, but the 945 officially supports DDR3-1333 at max anyway. As you can see in our AM3 review, DDR3 doesn't deliver big advantages and thus the 945 is on about the same level as the 940 BE with DDR2 RAM.

The Phenom II X4 945 positions itself between the cheaper 920 (AM2+) and the 955 BE (AM3). In games it offers - on average - the approximately performance as the Core 2 Quad Q9550 which is a little more expensive. Thus the 945 is a good solution for a low priced gaming system although this also applies for the older 940 BE.

Click to select CPU benchmark

  Ph. II X4 945     Ph. II X4 920     Ph. II X4 955 BE     C2Q Q9550  

AMD Phenom II X4 945 reviewed: Overclcoking, Temperatures, Power consumption
It is not as easy to overclock the 945 as it is to overclock the 940 BE or the 955 BE, since it has a fixed multiplier. So you have to boost it by increasing the reference clock speed. Unfortunatelly we didn't have access to a "real” 945er so we had to simulate it with a 955 BE. In matters of performance there isn't a difference between simulated and real CPU, but we can't make confirmed assumptions in matters of overclocking, temperatures or power consumption - even if the 945 is most likely to be as hot as the 955 BE and thus will require a capable cooling solution.

AMD Phenom II X4 945 reviewed: Conclusion
With the current price the Phenom II X4 945 offers a good price-performance ratio and is cheaper than the similarly fast Q9550. Nevertheless we currently recommend the older Phenom II X4 940 BE: It is cheaper, easier to overclock and AM2+ motherboards are cheaper but not slower than AM3 boards.