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Phenom II overclocked to 6GHz
Dry ice and liquid nitrogen cooling used to overclock AMD’s new CPU to 6GHz and beyond
Intel’s Core 2 architecture not only had AMD’s original Phenom over a barrel in terms of bangs per buck; it also had a much higher overclocking ceiling, but it looks as though AMD could have sorted the latter issue with the forthcoming Phenom II ‘Deneb’ CPU. AMD recently demonstrated the overclocking abilities of the new CPU using both dry ice and liquid nitrogen cooling in Texas, with some stunning results.
Unfortunately, it looks as though a lot of the details of the event are being kept under wraps until the CPU is officially launched; no cameras were allowed and no exact clock speeds have been revealed. However, it looks as though some suitably vague reporting has been allowed. PC Perspective reports that ‘the Phenom II reached WELL over 5.x GHz (read: REALLY over)’ when cooled with liquid nitrogen (-196°C) at 1.9V, while Nordic Hardware says that the chip was even able to ‘move north of 6GHz’ at a higher voltage.
As well as this, Nordic Hardware also claims that AMD demonstrated Phenom II CPUs running at 4GHz 1.6V with just air cooling, at a voltage of 1.6V. PC Perspective estimates that the chips will be very scalable when it comes to clock speed, while still retaining a reasonable heat output. The site reckons that a 3.6GHz Phenom II, for example, could have a TDP of 125W.
We’ve yet to see Phenom II for ourselves, but these reports suggest that the Phenom II has the potential for some amazing clock speeds with the right cooling equipment. As a point of comparison, we managed to overclock Intel’s new Core i7 to 4.27GHz using air cooling, while Asus has managed to clock the new chip to 5.4GHz using liquid nitrogen.
Of course, if the performance of the original Phenom chip is anything to go by, the Phenom II may not be able to match the Core i7 in terms of work per clock. However, it may be able to make up for this with a large amount of overclocking headroom and an appropriate Intel-beating price. Either way, it’s good to see that AMD may be becoming competitive again, and we’re looking forward to trying out Phenom II for ourselves.
Reddit | Technorati
THESE NEED TO BE RELEASED NOW TO MAKE ANY IMPACT, by the time they do get released it would be old news and intel would have probs bought out something better
Comment by PB94941 at 4:49pm 23rd December 2008
If it's good, it will be competion for Intel - meaning lower prices for us all. So We'll all win - the AMD & Intel Fan boy's and the rest of us too.
Comment by d4martin at 10:31am 23rd December 2008
They definitely overclock well. We'll know more soon anyway..
Comment by CyberpowerUK at 4:30pm 22nd December 2008
Agree with vulcanproject. It is being cynical, but i find myself uttering "yeah yeah whatever" at the moment. Hope it is true though. If it don't OC very well, it's already boned
Comment by Tim_Cdy at 12:55pm 22nd December 2008
My first comment didn't post, then I refresh the page and double-post by accident =[ Sorry. Anyway, what I said at first (hence me saying 'forgot one thing') was that while it was very impressive... Would it run Crysis?
Comment by Aranthos at 2:52am 21st December 2008
Does this count as 'unleashing the power of Phenom'? On a slightly more serious note though, I'm kinda looking forward to this one as I still have an ancient AM2 rig sitting on my desk. Will be nice to drop in a fast quad-core without having to spend a hundred quid on a new 'board.
Comment by Aranthos at 2:49am 21st December 2008
Does this count as 'unleashing the power of Phenom'? On a slightly more serious note though, I'm kinda looking forward to this one as I still have an ancient AM2 rig sitting on my desk. Will be nice to drop in a fast quad-core without having to spend a hundred quid on a new 'board.
Comment by Aranthos at 2:49am 21st December 2008
you fan boys love to set yourselves up for a fall (or should that be fool). It will not compete on performance with any of intels enthusiast chips, FACT, but if your lucky might give intels last generation of core 2 chips a bit of a run in the value stakes. Shanghai only beats a zeon 5*** in 2 out of 10 tests. Phenom 2 would have been a good chip 2years ago, but now?? Anyone who believes its a return to form for amd has been drinking too much xmas spirit or sat in a dutch coffee shop. So to be scrooge. Ha ha
Comment by tigerm4n at 11:54pm 19th December 2008
It looks like Phenom II is going to be a corker. It seems that AMD's strategy at the moment is let the opposition think they're licked and bam, release technology they don't have an answer to as they have already released the big gun with no where to go. They recently did it to nVidia looks like Intel might get caught napping too. Tom's Hardware recently reported running a 3 GHz Phenom II BE at 4957MHz and it ran stably posting a Super PI 1M for 17,769 seconds on LN2. OK it's not air, but impressive considering it was only a Gigabyte 790GX board, not an enthusiast board like a Foxconn or Asus RoG. Add to this the fact that Phenom II will be compatible with both DDR 2 and 3 and it all looks rather rosier on the red team.
Comment by greyhavens24 at 8:03pm 19th December 2008
Yes, Phenom II 920 will easily do 3.5GHz on a stock (9950) cooler and go as high as your motherboards HT bus will allow on decent air or moderate water cooling.
Comment by Initialised at 10:04pm 15th December 2008
Will AMD get a core system out (chip board and ram) that will get 1600cpc points for under 505 pounds with no overclocking. Cause thats what an i7 will do. 1700-1900 with easy overclocking. A 230 pound processor will get to over 3.2ghz with the reference fan. Can Phenom 2 do that.
Comment by Cool_CR at 10:13pm 7th December 2008
here are some screenshots going to 5920 mhz probably on ln2. screenshots were provided by nordichardware.com http://www.nordichardware.com/image3.php?id=6196 link http://www.nordichardware.com/news,8403.html
Comment by ahong at 11:19am 27th November 2008
here are some screenshots going to 5920 mhz probably on ln2. screenshots were provided by nordichardware.com http://www.nordichardware.com/image3.php?id=6196 link http://www.nordichardware.com/news,8403.html
Comment by ahong at 11:19am 27th November 2008
here are some screenshots going to 5920 mhz probably on ln2. screenshots were provided by nordichardware.com http://www.nordichardware.com/image3.php?id=6196
Comment by ahong at 11:17am 27th November 2008
here are some screenshots going to 5920 mhz probably on ln2. screenshots were provided by nordichardware.com http://www.nordichardware.com/image3.php?id=6196
Comment by ahong at 11:17am 27th November 2008
Well, if AMD's latest graphics cards are anything to go by they might actually bring something out worth considering. AMD might get a reach around on Intel? That would spice things up a bit.
Comment by marcus at 9:25am 27th November 2008
Quite true. AMD have to follow through and produce the goods like they did several years ago when they appeared to pop up and steal Intel's crown. Competition is what we need to keep the prices low but, like you infer, price is not the only thing. There'll be no point slapping in a Deneb into an AM2+ board if it turns out to be a pants performer. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how they perform, in relation to i7, when 3rd party testers get their mitts on them.
Comment by adidan at 9:53pm 24th November 2008
I agree with much of your sentiment but the problem may be whether amd can continue to keep cutting prices to compete. Theres a lot of money been invested into amd recently and a lot of people wanting a return on that investment. Competing with intel on price alone may longer be the order of the day in a 'new dawn' of fiscal responsibility. I hope im wrong, but im being a realist.its hard to see a shift in the current balance of power.
Comment by tigerm4n at 10:16pm 23rd November 2008
yay for completely unverified, undocumented, PR stunt overclocking tests that cant possibly be replicated because no one is even sure it happened, in fact its all probably just a figment of a PR persons imagination. YAWN. look AMD, enough of all the smoke and mirrors that we have suffered the past few years from you where the actual product has turned out to be a wet fart, just drop it and deliver the competitor to intel we have been waiting for
Comment by vulcanproject at 9:06pm 23rd November 2008
I see nothing here answering any of these questions. Just more AMD marketing spin. Let's wait for the FACTS ladies before we start getting wet!
Comment by crazyceo at 2:53pm 23rd November 2008
True, how many people would actually use LN. However, the less "exaggerated" reports that they reach 4GHz on air at least puts them in the realms of competing with Intel. Furthermore, the fact that many AM2+ boards, with an updated BIOS, will be able to take the chips and work with DDR2 may prove a more cost effective upgrade for some than forking out for a new mobo and DDR3 as well. That, if their pricing strategy is right, will at least mean there will be competition again which can only be a good thing for us all
Comment by adidan at 10:22am 23rd November 2008
we had all these exagerated reports before phenom 1 came to market which had the fanboys bouncing with excitement. I expect the phenom 2 to pose no threat to core 2 extreme or core i7 ( any variety). Just as the pentium 4 i saw o'cd to 6ghz with liquid n2 didnt to the athlon 64. Sorry boys
Comment by tigerm4n at 3:45pm 22nd November 2008
we had all these exagerated reports before phenom 1 came to market which had the fanboys bouncing with excitement. I expect the phenom 2 to pose no threat to core 2 extreme or core i7 ( any variety). Just as the pentium 4 i saw o'cd to 6ghz with liquid n2 didnt to the athlon 64. Sorry boys
Comment by tigerm4n at 3:45pm 22nd November 2008
6.3ghz now there is a total that is worth paying some money for. Still it will be down to clock for clock speed thats important. The new 920i is 24% faster than the Q6600 clock for clock and thats a lot as the 9950BE is actual slower than the Q6600 by something like 5%.This will mean that the new chip needs not only a 800mhz base increase but a 30% improvement clock for clock to take on the currant top end i7. (and the 8 core versions might not be that far away AMD stop showing off with the press and get your chips on the market)
Comment by Cool_CR at 1:17pm 22nd November 2008
Core i7 is the winner.... Costs will sharp fall with the release of Phenom II and the couple of months from initial release of any Core Intel series.
Comment by Lightning_Pete at 12:11pm 22nd November 2008
to hay00c2, its the fact the voltage required for DDR3 on i7 systems is a lot lower than that for current Core2Duo processors (i.e the warning intel gives on their new 1366 motherboards. My current RAM needs 1.9v to achieve its rated speed, where as intel warn anything over 1.6v is not recommended with their new i7 boards/chips (sorry if any of that didn't make sense, i'm rather drunk)
Comment by Gurdeep14 at 1:54am 22nd November 2008
i would like to note that in the multicore world of preocessors amd are still one genereation behind intel so results like this are very promising and for amd to pull this out of the hat on the budget they currently have is most impressive
Comment by Bloodburgers at 11:39pm 21st November 2008
i have long thought that raw clock speed ability was amd's biggest downfall. am has usually been more efficient with their processor designs than intel, but core 2 was fairly efficient and had much greater frequency capacities than phenom. with higher clock speeds i really think amd can beat intel with this one.
Comment by yougotkicked at 11:05pm 21st November 2008
A survey of all the info I can find suggests that the intro price for one of the versions might be around £200. Exchange rate variations may affect that but it may fall below that price in six months I guess
Comment by tigertop1 at 9:45pm 21st November 2008
good to see AMD on a come back if it goes as well as it seems to clock they might be on to a winner yay for AMD i was hopeing they had sumat good up there sleave
Comment by damafia at 7:32pm 21st November 2008
While I like Intel chips, the Core2 being a personal favourite, I am thrilled to see AMDs Phenom II be able to be clocked up to a decent degree, and thus force Intel to lower their prices in competition, and so on.
Comment by Rkiver at 6:34pm 21st November 2008
To Gurdeep14 Who said you can't? DDR3 just needs to be in triple channel mode as compared to dual channel now to get the best out of it. It'll still work with just 1 or 2 or 4 or 5 chips.
Comment by hay00c2 at 6:25pm 21st November 2008
I'd love to see the first ever CPU to hit 10GHz. Heh, It'll be a few years 'til that happens :) Although, this year was a great year for computer technology, maybe we'll see double figures in 2010 if the technology develops at a similar rate, and we don't all die.
Comment by epZii at 5:46pm 21st November 2008
Phenom 2 - AM3 board - DDR3 (still not going to be free.) Phenom 2 - AM2+ Board - DDR2 (could really be the end of the core2.) But why miss xmas if they work :(
Comment by Cool_CR at 4:11pm 21st November 2008
I really hope this report is true, AMD may be making a come back as ATI did. I was waiting for the price of i7 Motherboards to come down before buying a new system, but if AMD's new Phenom can reach clock speeds this high, i may be tempted to go back to AMD. The fact i cant use my existing DDR3 on the new i7 boards is a bummer, as i spent quiet a lot on the RAM in my current system, but hopefully i can use my RAM on a new Phenom system :)
Comment by Gurdeep14 at 3:10pm 21st November 2008
AMD is providing a real alternative to Intel and at lesser cost. I have already downloaded the BIOS update to allow my MSI AM2+ board to run Phenom2 No new motherboard needed , no new cooler required and I can add in DDR3 as and when I want. Understand there will be 4 versions of Phenom 2 released over the next few months Seems a pretty smart alternative to Intel at this time when the latters costs associated with Corei7 are so high
Comment by tigertop1 at 3:03pm 21st November 2008
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