Features & Specifications
Specifications for the Phenom II X4 965 BE CPU are as follows:

• Core Frequency: 3.4GHz
• Launch Price: $245
• L1 Cache: 64K of L1 instruction and 64K of L1 data cache per core
• L2 Cache: 512KB per core
• L3 Cache: 6MB shared
• Total L2 and L3 cache: 8MB
• Memory Controller: Integrates 128-bit
• Memory controller Speed: 2GHz
• HyperTransport 3.0 Specification: One 16-bit/16-bit link @ up to 4.0GHz full duplex (2.0GHz x2)
• Total Processor-to-System Bandwidth: Up to 37.3GB/s total bandwidth [Up to 21.3 GB/s memory bandwidth (DDR3-1333) + 16.0GB/s (HT3)]; Up to 33.1GB/s total bandwidth [Up to 17.1 GB/s memory bandwidth (DDR2-1066) + 16.0GB/s (HT3)]
• Packaging: Socket AM3 938-pin organic micro pin grid array (micro-PGA)
• Fab location: GLOBALFOUNDARIES Fab 1 module 1 in Dresden, Germany (formerly AMD Fab 36)
• Process Technology: 45-nanometer DSL SOI (silicon-on-insulator) technology
• Approximate Die Size: 258 mm2
• Approximate Transistor count: ~ 758 million
• Max Temp: 65o Celsius
• Nominal Voltage: 0.825-1.425V
• Max TDP: 140 Watts

Test Machine
The test machine I am using to review the Phenom II X4 965 BE uses the following components:

• CPU: Phenom II X4 965 BE
• Mainboard: Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P
• Memory: 4GB RAM
• HDD: 1TB
• Graphics: XFX ATI HD 4770

Benchmarks
I'll jump right into the benchmarks now for the Phenom II X4 965 BE CPU. I will be testing the CPU with several benchmarks including Cinebench 9.5 and 10, Sandra 2009, 3DMark Vantage and 3DMark06. The first tests up are the Cinebench tests.

Cinebench
Cinebench is a little test program that utilizes all four cores of the Phenom II X4 965 BE CPU and gives us an easy to compare number for performance. The Phenom II X4 965 BE scored 1757 CB-CPU on Cinebench 9.5 and 11049 CB-CPU on Cinebench 10. To compare, the Phenom II X4 955 BE that was previously the top of the line scored 1622 on Cinebench 9.5 and 10638 on Cinebench 10. We can see that the new Phenom II X4 965 BE has much better performance in this benchmark.

3DMark Vantage
The next test up for the Phenom II X4 965 BE is 3Dmark Vantage. This benchmark is more closely associated with video card testing, but the test suite does have CPU specific tests we can look at as well. The Phenom II X4 965 BE scored 1489.28 Plans/s on CPU test 1 and 17.87 Steps/s on CPU test 2. Again to compare we will look at the scored the 955 BE put down back in April. The 955 BE scored 1406.38 on CPU test 1 and 17.01 Steps/s on CPU test 2. Again the 965 BE outperformed the old part it is replacing handily.

3DMark06
The next test up is 3DMark06. We will be looking again at the CPU score in the benchmark. The CPU score for the Phenom II X4 965 BE was 4828 compared to the 4463 that the 955 BE scored. The total 3Dmark06 score for the machine was 12492.

Sandra 2009
The final benchmark we will be looking at for the Phenom II X4 965 BE is Sandra 2009. I ran the full suite of CPU benchmarks on the 965 and the results are below, as you will see the Phenom II X4 965 BE performs very well considering its price point.

Processor Arithmetic
Benchmark Results
Aggregate Arithmetic Performance: 45.36GOPS
Dhrystone ALU: 46GIPS
Whetstone iSSE3: 44.74GFLOPS
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.

Performance vs. Speed
Aggregate Arithmetic Performance: 13.28MOPS/MHz
Dhrystone ALU: 13.46MIPS/MHz
Whetstone iSSE3: 13.10MFLOPS/MHz
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.

Performance vs. Power
Processor(s) Power: 210.94W
Aggregate Arithmetic Performance: 215.03MOPS/W
Dhrystone ALU: 217.99MIPS/W
Whetstone iSSE3: 212.08MFLOPS/W
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.

Processor Multimedia
Benchmark Results
Aggregate Multi-Media Performance: 95.8MPixel/s
Multi-Media Int x8 aSSE2 : 133.3MPixel/s
Multi-Media Float x4 iSSE2: 58.32MPixel/s
Multi-Media Double x2 iSSE2: 31.83MPixel/s
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.

Performance vs. Speed
Aggregate Multi-Media Performance: 28.05kPixels/s/MHz
Multi-Media Int x8 aSSE2: 39.02kPixels/s/MHz
Multi-Media Float x4 iSSE2: 17.07kPixels/s/MHz
Multi-Media Double x2 iSSE2: 9.32kPixels/s/MHz
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.

Performance vs. Power
Processor(s) Power: 210.94W
Aggregate Multi-Media Performance: 454.20kPixels/s/W
Multi-Media Int x8 aSSE2: 631.93kPixels/s/W
Multi-Media Float x4 iSSE2: 276.47kPixels/s/W
Multi-Media Double x2 iSSE2: 150.89kPixels/s/W
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.

Multicore Efficiency
Benchmark Results
Inter-Core Bandwidth: 4.67GB/s
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.
Inter-Core Latency: 76ns
Results Interpretation: Lower index values are better.

Performance vs. Speed
Inter-Core Bandwidth: 1.40MB/s/MHz
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.
Inter-Core Latency: 0.02ns/MHz
Results Interpretation: Lower index values are better.
Performance vs. Power
Processor(s) Power: 210.94W
Inter-Core Bandwidth: 22.65MB/s/W
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.
Inter-Core Latency: 0.36ns/W
Results Interpretation: Lower index values are better.

Capacity vs Power
Total Cache Size: 17.53kB/W
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.

Detailed Benchmark Results
Processor Affinity: CPU0-CPU1 CPU2-CPU3
2x8kB Blocks Bandwidth: 3.55GB/s
4x8kB Blocks Bandwidth: 3.63GB/s
2x32kB Blocks Bandwidth: 3.68GB/s
4x32kB Blocks Bandwidth: 3.71GB/s
16x8kB Blocks Bandwidth: 3.61GB/s
2x128kB Blocks Bandwidth: 3.68GB/s
4x128kB Blocks Bandwidth: 3.68GB/s
16x32kB Blocks Bandwidth: 3.67GB/s
64x8kB Blocks Bandwidth: 3.6GB/s
16x128kB Blocks Bandwidth: 13.14GB/s
64x32kB Blocks Bandwidth: 14.39GB/s
64x128kB Blocks Bandwidth: 5GB/s

Cryptography
Benchmark Results
Cryptographic Bandwidth: 483MB/s
AES256 CPU Cryptographic Bandwidth: 380MB/s
SHA256 CPU Hashing Bandwidth: 587MB/s
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.

Performance vs. Speed
Cryptographic Bandwidth: 0.14MB/s/MHz
AES256 CPU Cryptographic Bandwidth: 0.11MB/s/MHz
SHA256 CPU Hashing Bandwidth: 0.17MB/s/MHz
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.

Performance vs. Power
Processor(s) Power: 210.94W
Cryptographic Bandwidth: 2.29MB/s/W
AES256 CPU Cryptographic Bandwidth: 1.80MB/s/W
SHA256 CPU Hashing Bandwidth: 2.78MB/s/W
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.

Detailed Benchmark Results
4MB Blocks AES256 Encryption: 406MB/s
4MB Blocks AES256 Decryption: 352MB/s
4MB Blocks SHA256 Hashing: 587MB/s