AMD Phenom II X6 1090T 6-Core Processor Review

Way back in November of 2007, AMD unveiled all of the components of the "Spider" platform, which consisted of a Phenom processor, 700-series chipset-based motherboard, and Radeon HD 3800 series graphics. A little over a year later, in January of 2009, AMD completed a refresh of their total platform and dubbed it "Dragon". Similarly, the Dragon platform consisted of an all-AMD processor, chipset, and GPU combo, but this time the Phenom II, a revamped 700-series chipset with a new southbridge, and Radeon HD 4800 series graphics were at the heart of the platform. Do you see a pattern forming, here?

If you recalled AMD's platform roll-out plans for the last few years, the new "Leo" platform we'll be showing you in this article may not come as a total surprise. After all, we have already shown you the 890GX chipset, the first in the 800-series. And we've almost lost count of how many Radeon HD 5000-series graphics cards we've featured on these pages. Today, AMD completes the platform picture with the release of a new series of six-core processors, aptly named the Phenom II X6. We should also point out a new enthusiast-class chipset is arriving alongside the Phenom II X6, the 890FX.

We hinted at the Phenom II X6's arrival in our coverage of the AMD 890GX chipset a few weeks back. And if you're familiar with AMD's chipset naming convention, figuring out what makes the 890FX tick shouldn't be too difficult--whereas the 890GX features integrated graphics, the 890FX does not. But there are a few more wrinkles to the story we'll explain on the pages ahead. For now, check out the features and specifications of the new 3.2GHz Phenom II X6 1090T and 2.8GHz 1055T processors arriving today, and then move on for the rest of the scoop...

AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Processor

AMD Phenom II X6 Processors Specifications & Features

The new Phenom II X6 is the final piece of the Leo platform. As we've already mentioned, however, some of the components of the Leo platform are not new. In fact, most of its core components have already been available for quite some time now. As such, we have already covered them in-depth here on HotHardware in previous articles, so we won't do the same again here. We will, however, recommend that you take a look at a few recent articles to get familiar with the underlying technology and components that comprise AMD's Leo platform.

• AMD ATI Radeon HD 5870: Unquestionably Number One
• AMD 890GX SB850 Chipset Debut: Phenom II X6 Ready
• AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Processor
• Enter The Dragon: AMD Phenom II X4 940
• AMD Phenom II X4 810 and X3 720 BE Processors
• AMD 790GX Chipset Platform Launch
• AMD 780G Chipset and Athlon X2 4850e Preview
• AMD Phenom X4 9350e and 9950 BE Debut

All of the various Radeon HD 5000 series, 890-series chipset, Phenom, Phenom II, and Athlon related articles listed above cover the gamut of features that are avaialble with the AMD Leo platform--with the exception of the new Phenom II X6 1090T featured here, of course.