AMD's 45nm Phenom II (codenamed Deneb) has the dubious honor of being what may be the most immediately anticipated processor, ever. Even before AMD had finished shoveling its original Phenom out the door, the company was talking up 45nm Shanghai (Deneb's server-oriented flavor), its possibilities, and its development. Just over a year later, we have our answer. The consumer-oriented Phenom II X4 940 and X4 920 (2.8GHz) are far stronger products than their 65nm brethren could ever hope to be.

I'm working on our own Phenom review—a little thing called CES got in the way—but my own early results and overclocking adventures back up what others, including Tech Report, have already described. Not only does the 3GHz Phenom II 940 outperform the original Phenom in every way, it manages to do so while drawing significantly less power. According to TR, the Phenom II X4 940 (3GHz) draws 218.9W under maximum load compared to the Phenom X4 9950's 248.1W. That works out to a 12 percent load power reduction, a 15 percent clock speed boost, and a CPU architecture that tends to outperform Barcelona on a clock-for-clock basis.

I can already hear the Intel fans grumbling, so let's take a moment and put Phenom II in context. As much of an improvement over Phenom as it is, Phenom II does not establish itself as a Nehalem-competitor. This won't come as a surprise to anyone who has actually followed AMD's own guidance on the subject, but if you've been holding out for a miracle, you can let your breath out. Intel's Core i7 is still king of this particular hill, and it's going to maintain that position for an indefinite period of time.

What Phenom II does do, however, is put AMD back in a competitive position with its mainstream Yorkfield counterparts. The significance of this should not be understated. Intel may be throwing all its marketing muscle behind Core i7, but Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad-derived designs still account for most of the CPU giant's revenue. Nehalem offers top-tier performance at the moment, but that performance comes with a significant price tag for anyone who currently owns a Conroe or Wolfdale-based system. Phenom II launched today as an AM2+ part and will migrate to the AM3 platform once it becomes available.

Ironically, Phenom II may prove particularly popular with certain AMD customers who bought 780G boards. Last year, a number of users who opted for the excellent 780G platform were unhappily surprised to discover that their motherboards could not support the high wattage requirements of the fastest Phenom processors. The 95W TDP 2.8GHz Phenom II X4 920 should be within the capabilities of such boards, however, and might require a simple BIOS update. Given the option of a 2.2GHz Phenom or a 2.8GHz Phenom II, I know which one I'd pick.

Neither a strong launch nor an improved competitive position means that all is henceforth smooth sailing for AMD. Intel still has the upper hand: Q4 semiconductor sales are shaping up to be disastrous in general, with no relief expected in the first few quarters of 2009. For all intents and purposes, AMD is still on life support, but at least now the company has a fighting chance.