Friday, December 5th 2008

Phenom II at 6+ GHz: How AMD May Have Done It

A couple of weeks ago, at the AMD Austin Tech Day event, the company stunned the computer enthusiast community, by presenting to the press, the overclocking capabilities of the upcoming Phenom II X4 processor. The enginners managed to boot the machine at CPU speeds in excess of 6 GHz, 6.213 GHz to be precise. A close-up snap of a portion of the CPU-Z window showing the overclock, made its way to AMD's own photostream at Flickr, among other pictures related to the event.

The picture reveals the clock speed at 6213.6 MHz, bus speed at 200 MHz, FSB multiplier at an unreal 31.0x and resulting HyperTransport link speed at 1002.2 MHz. This would mean that they may have dropped down the HT link multiplier (normally 200 x 10.0 for the Phenom II X4 940) to 5x. We already know from previous reports that the vCore was set around 1.90 Volts, and that a copper pot with liquid nitrogen was used to cool the chip. The motherboard used, from the pictures, appears to be Gigabyte GA-MA790GP-DS4H, which is based on the AMD 790GX + SB750 chipset. For more pictures, browse through the photostream. More pictures could be added to the stream once the NDA lifts on December 14.
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88 Comments on Phenom II at 6+ GHz: How AMD May Have Done It

#1
btarunr
Editor & Senior Moderator
Many Thanks to HTC for submitting this.
Posted on Reply
#2
HTC
btarunrMany Thanks to HTC for submitting this.
You're welcome!

Though this high speed doesn't have, yet, a CPU-ID validation, this other one, @ 4.4GHz does:

valid.canardpc.com/records.php

Check the AMD K10 CPU frequency record.
Posted on Reply
#3
szulmizan
yeah.. AMD starting their engine.. :rockout:
enthusiast will love this cpu.. Will wait 4 AM3 cpu..
Posted on Reply
#4
HTC
IMO, the reason no higher then 4.4 GHz has a CPU-Z validation is obvious: they want to keep it under wraps, much like the R770 was before it was launched.

If they managed to get that pic of CPU-Z, they entered windows and, even if it wasn't stable @ that speed, just reducing it to say ... 5.5 GHz should have given it enough stability to do so, no?
Posted on Reply
#5
LiveOrDie
what the big deal on this benches or what, not ever person has watercooling or dry ice lol
Posted on Reply
#6
btarunr
Editor & Senior Moderator
Live OR Diewhat the big deal on this benches or what, not ever person has watercooling or dry ice lol
You can do ~4 GHz with air-cooling.
Posted on Reply
#7
HTC
Live OR Diewhat the big deal on this benches or what, not ever person has watercooling or dry ice lol
It's to put pressure on Intel: they have to be wondering how a 6 GHz CPU from AMD will perform and if AMD is getting ready to do a R770 part 2, so to speak.

Just because it reaches 6 GHz, doesn't mean that it will perform as good as i7 @ 6 GHz: i need to see some benches of that before i draw any conclusions.
Posted on Reply
#8
laszlo
btarunrYou can do ~4 GHz with air-cooling.
and blast c2c...:laugh:
Posted on Reply
#9
sno.lcn
Thanks, this answered at least a few questions I had.

I'm definitely looking forward to freezing one of these :)
Posted on Reply
#10
WarEagleAU
Bird of Prey
Wow awesome, even more so for that mulitplier. I cannot wait for this to drop!
Posted on Reply
#11
cool_recep
Notice that only the frequency part of the CPU-Z is shown... But I am sure AMD is coming tough!
Posted on Reply
#12
LiveOrDie
btarunrYou can do ~4 GHz with air-cooling.
i guess its big for amd because of there run and the past cpu dont oc that well, im glad i got a x58 board mite get a ati video next, i wanna see what come out on top:D
Posted on Reply
#13
REVHEAD
Live OR Diei guess its big for amd because of there run and the past cpu dont oc that well, im glad i got a x58 board mite get a ati video next, i wanna see what come out on top:D
Get some water cooling and rip in:toast:
Posted on Reply
#14
johnnyfiive
Man, I'm so giddy for Deneb. What a BADASS feat!
Posted on Reply
#15
mdm-adph
It's damn amazing to do that with an AMD chip. And all on a board that only costs $140. Kudos, guys.
Posted on Reply
#16
CDdude55
Crazy 4 TPU!!!
This makes me want to go get a AMD mobo, yet i am still happy with my QX6700.

I only game no benchies for me.:)
Posted on Reply
#17
CyberDruid
I just might have to build an AMD rig next year...it's all about OCing for me...I like to punish the silicon.
Posted on Reply
#18
HTC
CyberDruidI just might have to build an AMD rig next year...it's all about OCing for me...I like to punish the silicon.
You sadistic b@st@rd, you ...
Posted on Reply
#19
LiveOrDie
im going to wait and see pictures are just pictures, could be running at 6ghz but could be slower than a i7 at 5Ghz lol
Posted on Reply
#20
MarcusTaz
CDdude55This makes me want to go get a AMD mobo, yet i am still happy with my QX6700.

I only game no benchies for me.:)
If it is just gaming you do, like myself I doubt you will see any performance increases... I say, save your money, but if you have it to burn then go for it. I think we will see real performance boosts when all the software developers start writing their code to take advantage of all the multi cores procs.

This is great news for us? Rock on AMD this should give Intel a run for their money, hopefully force them to cut their prices and not gouge us... Yea for free market!!! :toast:
Posted on Reply
#21
Oohway
Wow, 6Ghz. Very impressive. Now let's see Intel's counterback :D
Posted on Reply
#22
PCpraiser100
Hmmm, I'm getting this mobo once Phenom II gets its awards...

6GHz, wow, looks like Intel won't be too happy if Phenom II gets the performance crown for next year.
Posted on Reply
#23
lemonadesoda
meh

6Ghz. WOW. Impressive.

BUT, TBH, I really dont know what all the fuss is over Liquid Nitrogen cooled, multipler hacked, one-minute-only computing.

I can get an old Ford pickup, stick an aviation rocket engine in the back, and pull a hell of a stunt... for about 10 seconds before the thing disintegrates.

REAL WORLD computing performance is what wins in my books. Anything else is teenage wet fantasy.

And until AMD can get a CPU on air (or water) in a normal case to beat an i7 on air (or water) in a normal case, then Intel remains The King.
Posted on Reply
#24
btarunr
Editor & Senior Moderator
Well, that's the fun with overclocking. It's like drag-racing. You're at that zomg speed only for minutes, enough to run some bench or grab a few screenshots.
Posted on Reply
#25
mdm-adph
Live OR Dieim going to wait and see pictures are just pictures, could be running at 6ghz but could be slower than a i7 at 5Ghz lol
Doesn't stop guys from overclocking old P4's to 8GHz. Sometimes it's just about the fun of getting that high number. :D
Posted on Reply
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