by Ilya Gavrichenkov
01/22/2008 | 04:19 PM
The launch of new quad-core AMD Phenom processors unfortunately didn’t cause any significant changes in the processor market. Frankly speaking, new AMD CPUs turned out quite a disappointment for the fans of this company’s solutions. According to multiple benchmarks including our own test session discussed in the article called Phenom CPU: Christmas Gift from AMD, Phenom processors cannot compete against quad-core Intel Core 2 Quad processors and lose dramatically to them in terms of performance in nominal mode and during overclocking, as well as in terms of heat dissipation rates. Unfortunately, AMD hasn’t yet taken advantage of the only way to make Phenom an attractive choice for economical users by reducing the price of these processors according to their performance level. We believe that these processors are a little overpriced at this time, which can actually be explained by their high production cost. For example, it could be coming from the monolithic design of the AMD processors unlike Intel’s more reasonable dual-die design.
<%BANNER[article]%>In addition to the not very attractive features, AMD’s rep was also shaken by the news about the so-called TLB error. And although this matter hardly affects desktop platform users at all, the performance drop resulting from fixing this problem turned out yet another factor spoiling AMD newcomer’s image.
In other words, AMD has very few chances left to win the computer enthusiasts’ hearts. Nevertheless, they gave it a try by launching Phenom 9600 Black Edition – a top processor in their quad-core CPU line-up designed specifically for overclockers. Unlike other representatives of this processor family, this CPU features an unlocked clock frequency multiplier, which eliminates all problems and limitations during overclocking in almost any hardware configuration. However, will this be enough to get overclockers back to AMD fan camp? Today we will try to answer this question in the article devoted specifically to Phenom 9600 Black Edition CPU.
We decided to combine our discussion and tests of the new AMD processor with another look at Spider Platform that was proclaimed to be the best hardware environment for Phenom. Since this platform boasts fully fledged support of new Socket AM2+, the mainboards built on AMD 790FX (and its simpler modifications such as AMD 790X and AMD770) will become the ideal solution for Phenom based overclocker systems. And it was real easy for us to choose the mainboard for our today’s needs. For the past few years DFI Company is considered to be one of the best manufacturers of mainboards for computer enthusiasts using AMD platforms. By the time AMD launched their Phenom 9600 Black Edition CPU, DFI prepared a new promising product based on AMD 790FX chipset – DFI LANParty UT 790FX-M2R.
So, our today’s article is actually not just a CPU review, but an overclocker investigation of the new platform features. We will talk about the new processor, the mainboard and then will overclock this system in order to shape up the main guidelines for successful overclocking of the new AMD CPUs.
By now AMD has already launched two modifications of their quad-core processors based on the so-called Stars micro-architecture and targeted for desktop systems. They are Phenom 9500 and 9600 designed to work at 2.2GHz and 2.3GHz respectively. In addition to these two processors the company also offered a third one – Phenom 9600 Black Edition. This processor has the same frequency and other characteristics as the regular Phenom 9600, but is targeted for computer enthusiasts and hence features an unlocked clock frequency multiplier that may come in very handy during overclocking experiments. Note that the price of the new AMD Phenom 9600 Black Edition is the same as that of the regular Phenom 9600.
As for the formal specifications of the new processor, they are as follows:
AMD Phenom 9600 Black Edition | |
Marking | HD960ZWCJ4BGD |
Clock frequency | 2.3 GHz |
Packaging | Socket AM2+ |
L2 cache | 4 x 512 KB |
L3 cache | 2 MB |
Memory controller | Dual-channel 128-bit |
Supported memory types | DDR2-533/667/800/1066 SDRAM |
North Bridge frequency | 1.8 GHz |
HyperTransport frequency | 1.8 GHz (HyperTransport 3.0) |
Core stepping | B2 |
Production process | 65 nm, SOI |
Transistors | 450 mln |
Die size | 285 sq.mm |
Typical heat dissipation | 95 W |
Maximum temperature | 70ºC |
Vcore | 1.1 - 1.25 V |
AMD64 | Yes |
SIMD instructions | MMX(+), 3DNow!(+), SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4A |
Cool'n'Quiet | Yes |
Please check out the following articles for more theoretical and architectural details on AMD Phenom processors:
Note that AMD Phenom 9600 Black Edition is based on the same B2 core stepping as the previous processors from this family. It means that Black Edition is also not free from the notorious “TLB bug” that should be eliminated on the hardware level in B3 core stepping scheduled to arrive in the end of this quarter.
Here I have to point out a few things regarding the specification of the Phenom CPU in question. Namely, I would like to remind you that new AMD processors and Phenom 9600 Black Edition support two memory controller operational modes called Ganged and Unganged. In the first case, the CPU communicates with the memory along 128-bit memory bus, just like Athlon 64, and in the second case – in the new mode – it can work with two independent 64-bit channels that may be very helpful in multi-threaded environments.
We would also like to add that Phenom processors are backward compatible with the usual Socket AM2 mainboards, however, in this case they lose DDR2-1066 SDRAM and HyperTransport 3.0 support as well as the option to independently manage core voltages and frequencies.
We would also like to draw your attention to the fact that Phenom processor has slightly lowered frequency of HyperTransport 3.0 and embedded North Bridge (and L3 cache). It equals 1.8GHz. All further Phenom processor models will have these units working at higher frequency of 2.0GHz, which is very likely to ensure some performance improvement. By the way, the first Phenom engineering samples that we tested in our earlier reviews featured 2GHz North Bridge and HyperTransport 3.0 bus.
Phenom 9600 Black Edition processor looks quite commonly. It looks just like the regular Phenom 9600. Only the letter “Z” in the sixth position of the processor marking indicates that it features unlocked clock frequency multiplier (the regular processors have “0” there).
There is an opinion that AMD specifically selects the most overclockable semiconductor dies for their Black Edition CPUs, but it is hardly true. The current overclocking statistics indicates that the average frequencies obtained during maximum overclocking of AMD’s quad-core processors do not depend on the fact whether these CPUs belong to overclocking series or not.
CPU-Z diagnostic utility reports the following about Phenom 9600 Black Edition processor:
Note that there is no way to determine from the screenshot above whether this CPU belongs to the Black Edition series or not.
We get the same picture from AMD’s own OverDrive diagnostic tool.
At the same time, please, take a look at a round green “Turbo” indicator button in the upper right corner of the information window. It reports the TLB patch status and allows enabling it from the system OS. No outlining on the button indicates that the patch has been activated, yellow or red outlining signal that the correction of this bug has been deactivated. Moreover, when the outlining is red, additional performance boosting algorithms based on disabling some of the power-saving functions kick in.
Now let’s discuss another important component of our today’s test platform - DFI LANParty UT 790FX-M2R mainboard. DFI’s impeccable reputation as the leading manufacturer of solutions for overclocking fans and computer enthusiasts makes us believe that this mainboard could be one of the best choices for Socket AM2+ platform. That is why picked it for our today’s article and test session.
First of all, let’s take a look at the formal specifications of this product:
DFI LanPatry UT 790FX-M2R | |
CPUs | Socket AM2 and Socket AM2+ processors: |
Chipset | AMD 790FX + AMD SB600 |
HyperTransport bus | HyperTransport 3.0, up to 2.6GHz |
Clock generator | 200-700MHz ( with 1MHz increment) |
Overclocking friendly | Independently adjustable PCI Express bus; |
Memory | 4 DIMM slots for |
PCI Express slots | 3 x PCI Express x16 |
PCI expansion slots | 3 |
USB 2.0 ports | 10 (6 – on rear panel) |
IEEE1394 ports | 2 (1 – on rear panel, by VIA VT6307 controller) |
ATA-100/133 | 2 ATA-133 channels (in the chipset) |
Serial ATA | 4 Serial ATA-300 channels |
ATA RAID support | RAID 0, 1, 0+1 in the chipset |
Integrated sound | 8-channel Realtek ALC888T HD codec |
Integrated network | Two Gigabit Ethernet controllers |
Additional features | POST-controller |
BIOS | Phoenix-AwardBIOS v6.00PG |
Form-factor | ATX, 305mm x 245mm |
At first glance, it is a pretty typical mainboard for a Spider platform. However, DFI LP UT 790FX-M2R does have a few distinguishing features worth pointing out separately. Namely, this mainboard features only three PCI Express x16 graphics card slots. Although, AMD 790FX allows implementing all four of them for Quad Crossfire configurations. However, for some reason DFI engineers decided that the users should be happy with only three graphics card slots, one of which is always working in full speed 16x mode, while the other two shift to x8 mode if used simultaneously. In fact, it is really hard to say whether this is a serious drawback or not, because true Quad Crossfire systems are not really available in the market these days.
When it comes to new processors support, DFI LP UT 790FX-M2R has no problems at all. The board features Socket AM2+ interface (that is backward compatible with Socket AM2 processors) and supports all innovations introduced in the new AMD Phenom processors: Cool’n’Quiet 2.0, HyperTransport 3.0 and faster DDR2-1066 SDRAM.
AMD SB600 South Bridge used on this board is not a new solution already. That is why DFI had to use a number of additional onboard controllers to ensure that their mainboard features all necessary interfaces: Silicon Image Sil3132 Serial ATA RAID controller, Marvell 88E8053 and Marvell 88E8052 network chips, VIA VT6307 IEEE1394 controller. As a result, there are six USB 2.0 ports on the mainboard rear panel, an IEEE1394 port, two Gigabit network ports, PS/2 connectors for keyboard and mouse.
Besides that, there are a few additional pin-connectors laid out on the mainboard PCB so that you could connect two pairs of additional USB 2.0 ports and one IEEE1394 port.
As for the storage devices connectivity, DFI LANParty UT 790FX-M2R features four Serial ATA ports implemented in the chipset and two additional ports provided by the onboard controller. All six Serial ATA channels support up to 3Gbit/s data transfer rate and allow building RAID arrays. Moreover, AMD SB600 South Bridge also provides a Parallel ATA-133 channel. So, the only thing missing here would be the eSATA interface support.
The sound tract implementation is also worth mentioning separately. DFI engineers usually put it onto a special daughter board, and DFI LANParty UT 790FX-M2R is no exception as well. The mainboard comes with an additional sound card based on an eight-channel Realtek ALC888T codec.
Following their good tradition, they named this audio unit after another well-known conductor and music composer – Leonard Bernstein. The unit features six analogue audio-jacks, a coaxial SPDIF In and Out. Moreover, it also carries onboard pin-connectors for the optical SPDIF Out and an additional daughter card (not included with the board) that allows using standard telephone sets for VoIP.
Another brand name feature of this DFI mainboard is the original processor voltage regulator module that uses digital feedback and has no electrolytic capacitors. This circuitry uses high-frequency MOSFETs and thus can do perfectly well with only small ceramic SMT capacitors. As for the number of phases, this PWM is a seven-phase one: six deal with the processor core and the last one is responsible for powering the integrated AMD Phenom North Bridge.
I would like to point out that the processor voltage regulator circuitry of the DFI LANParty UT 790FX-M2R mainboard uses transistors with high operational temperatures, so proper cooling is necessary for them. That is why the voltage regulator is covered with a massive heatsink connected to the chipset North and South Bridge heatsinks with a heatpipe. Although mainboard makers use solutions like that left and right, DFI found a way to surprise us here. The thing is that besides the cooling system already installed on the board, they also bundle it with an additional Transpiper heatsink. Its smart retention mechanism and the use of heatpipe technology allow you to install this heatsink on either the VRM or on the chipset South Bridge. You may even put it outside the system case!
Moreover, another Transpiper retention allows attaching an 80-mm fan to it. However, don’t think that heat dissipation is a big issue for DFI LANParty UT 790FX-M2R mainboard. All components that heat up during work are cooled down perfectly well even without this additional heatsink. So, you should actually regard Transpiper as a nice bonus accessory that will please many enthusiasts with its non-traditional design and stress original thinking of DFI’s R&D team.
The developers certainly paid special attention to the convenience of the PCB layout. All connectors are very smartly placed, putting together a system with DFI LANParty UT 790FX-M2R mainboard in it should be easy and fast. Nevertheless, there are a few things that we would like to point out. For example, we were pretty upset to find the memory slots extremely close to the processor socket. It should prevent you from using the whole lot of massive cooling systems.
However, we are ready to forgive DFI engineers for this drawback, because we have come across extensive evidence that the manufacturer does care a lot for LANParty UT 790FX-M2R users. The main advantage of DFI LANParty UT 790FX-M2R over other similar solutions is the fully-fledged POST-code indicator, Power and Reset buttons. Moreover, these buttons have one more function: if you press and hold them simultaneously for a few seconds, you will be able to clear CMOS, which is often very useful during overclocking experiments.
DFI LANParty UT 790FX-M2R deserves being called an overclocker mainboard not only for its specifications or peculiarities, but also due to very well-designed BIOS. At first glance it seems pretty common, as it is based on Award micro-code. However, it bears the whole bunch of various settings and options. Everything an overclocker might ever need is singled out in Genue BIOS Setting section.
Here you can right away get access to clock generator frequencies that can be adjusted from 200MHz to 700MHz. The informational fields next to them report the main system voltages. All other critical settings are split into subsections.
Onboard Devices page offers to enabled/disable onboard controllers.
DRAM Configuration page sets the operational parameters for the memory controller.
MCT Memory Timing and ODC Control Mode sections offer extensive options for memory controller configuring.
It is really easy to get lost here, but luckily the board allows not only manual configuring but also automatic one. We have to say that the BIOS allows enabling/disabling the TLB-patch using a special TLB Cache Mode option.
HT Link Control allows managing HyperTransport parameters.
CPU Feature section contains options for Cool’n’Quiet and virtualization technology activation as well as options for setting clock frequency multiplier for the processor and the North Bridge integrated in it.
PWM Setting page deals with voltage settings.
The table below shows available adjustable voltages and supported value ranges:
Parameter | Supported range |
CPU VID Control | 0.44375 - 1.6 V |
CPU VID Special Add | Up to 125% |
CPU NB Voltage Control | 0.44375 - 1.6 V |
CPU NB VID Special Add | Up to 125% |
DRAM Voltage Control | 1.32 – 2.76 V with 0.01 V increment |
SB PLL 1.2V Voltage | 1.2 – 1.5 V with 0.1 V increment |
NB Core Voltage | 1.12 – 1.5 V with 0.04 V increment |
NB PCI-E Voltage | 1.12 – 1.5 V with 0.04 V increment |
NB HT Voltage | 0.98 – 1.5 V with 0.04 V increment |
I am sure that most overclockers will be pleased with the available voltages. The same is true of the supported voltage ranges. For example, thanks to two-step CPU Vcore adjustment you can push it to 2.0V. Other supported ranges are also pretty impressive. No doubt that DFI LANParty UT 790FX-M2R mainboard has been made for overclocking from the very beginning.
Besides Genue BIOS Setting, we should also dwell on the hardware monitoring options.
As we see, you can monitor a lot of parameters. Besides, the board allows setting the rules for rotation speed adjustment of three fans depending on the temperatures of the corresponding units. By the way, you can connect up to six fans to this mainboard.
CMOS Reloaded technology implemented in the BIOS that allows saving settings profiles should make your life even easier.
It also saves the last known configuration when the board booted fine. All these features make experimenting with DFI LANParty UT 790FX-M2R a real piece of cake.
Now that we have described all the features of our today’s platform, it is high time we moved on to the main part of our today’s article. Namely, we are going to discuss our AMD Phenom 9600 Black Edition overclocking experiments performed on DFI LANParty UT 790FX-M2R mainboard. Besides these two irreplaceable components of our today’s testbed, we also used a pair of 1GB Corsair TWIN2X2048-10000C5DF DDR2 SDRAM modules, OCZ GeForce 8800GTX graphics card and Western Digital WD1500AHFD hard disk drive. The CPU was cooled with Zalman CNPS9700 LED air cooler.
Since AMD Phenom 9600 Black Edition processor has an unlocked clock frequency multiplier it would make perfect sense to overclock it using this particular advantage. That is why overclocking CPUs from the Black Edition family hardly ever causes any problems. To get it to run at any frequency above the nominal, all you need to do is change the clock multiplier in the BIOS Setup. You can also increase its core voltage, if you wish.
Without any Vcore adjustments, our AMD Phenom 9600 Black Edition processor worked stably at maximum 2.6GHz obtained with 13x multiplier setting.
In this case, just like in all other experiments, we tested the system stability with 1-hour run of Prime 25.5 utility.
The second batch of experiments was performed with the processor Vcore increased to 1.45V. However, changing only this one parameter didn’t prove as efficient for overclocking results. In fact, by raising only this voltage, we couldn’t get our CPU to surpass the same 2.6GHz frequency achieved before.
As we found out later on, you should also increase the second processor voltage – that of the North Bridge integrated into the CPU – if you want to achieve even better results on AMD Phenom 9600 Black Edition processor. New Socket AM2+ mainboards allow adjusting this voltage setting independently of the main processor Vcore. It is not for nothing that there is the whole dedicated phase responsible for this particular parameter in the processor voltage regulator circuitry. Once we set this parameter at 1.3V, we could increase the CPU frequency to 2.7GHz.
At this speed our processor passed the one-hour Prime stability test, however, later one we discovered that it doesn’t indicate full stability at all. Further performance tests revealed some problems in resource-hungry applications that is why we had to roll back to 2.6GHz speed to make sure that we can pass the full set of benchmarks.
Unfortunately, further voltage increase didn’t improve our overclocking results. Even at 2.6GHz frequency with increased voltages the CPU was heating up a lot. Unfortunately, we cannot share with you the objective thermals, because the temperature readings reported by all diagnostic utilities including AMD OverDrive were too low to be true.
Here we could have ended our discussion on overclocking AMD Phenom 9600 Black Edition processor by raising its clock frequency multiplier, if it hadn’t been for one thing. Unlike their predecessors, Socket AM2+ processors theoretically support much more fractional multipliers. While Socket AM2 processors can only offer multipliers with 0.5x increment, new Phenom CPUs can work with a much broader range of non-integer multipliers.
This way the Phenom multiplier is set not with one but with two parameters called CpuFid and CpuDid in the whitepapers. The resulting multiplier K can be calculated using the following formula:
The BIOS of advanced Socket AM2+ mainboards allows adjusting both these parameters. For example, in case of DFI LANParty UT 790FX-M2R that we used today, these options are available in CPU Feature section.
At the same time, DFI engineers made this formula a little simpler, so that it looks as follows for this particular mainboard:
So, Phenom clock frequency multipliers can theoretically vary with a very tiny increment. This features is also used by Cool’n’Quiet 2.0 technology that can adjust CpuDid parameter when switching to power-saving mode. That is why Phenom processors can sometimes surprise you with their strange multipliers in idle mode.
However, computer enthusiasts have their own plans for this feature of the new AMD processors. In fact, AMD offers them the opportunity to adjust the Phenom 9600 Black Edition processor frequency with very small increment using only frequency multiplier. Although we haven’t yet managed to really use these theoretical assumptions in reality. When we set CpuDid to anything other than 1 on our DFI LANParty UT 790FX-M2R mainboard, the system would hang on boot-up if the CpuFid exceeded 24. In other words, the only fractional clock multipliers obtained with the increment smaller than 0.5x, turned out too small for overclocking needs.
Unfortunately, not everyone can overclock Phenom processors by simply changing their clock frequency multiplier. Besides, Phenom 9600 Black Edition, AMD also ships other quad-core processor models that do not belong to the Black Edition series and hence feature locked clock frequency multiplier. If you own a processor like that, then you have to resort to overclocking method that stood the test of time: increasing the clock generator frequency. That is why we decided to continue our overclocking experiments and try push Phenom 9600 Black Edition to higher speeds by just changing the clock generator frequency. Especially, since it is all pretty clear when it comes to clock multiplier adjustment, however, overclocking by adjusting the clock generator speed may be a little trickier.
Most of questions arise from the fact that Phenom overclocking is generally very much different from Athlon 64 overclocking. The thing is that Phenom uses different algorithm for obtaining the memory frequency and features an integrated North Bridge (with the memory controller and L3 cache) that runs at its own independent frequency. So, in case of Athlon 64 overclocking we had to increase the clock generator frequency watching out for three parameters: processor frequency, memory frequency and HyperTransport frequency. However, during Phenom overclocking we also have to monitor North Bridge frequency.
All four Phenom frequencies depend directly or indirectly on the clock generator speed - HT Reference clock - that is also called CPU Host clock or something like that. Processor cores, HyperTransport bus and built-in North Bridge frequencies are formed as [HT Reference clock] x [clock multiplier], which is unique for each of the three. Memory frequency of Phenom processors is also set using HT Reference clock and appropriate dividers. Note that unlike Athlon 64, the memory frequency in new quad-core processors is not connected with the CPU frequency in any way. As a result, all Phenom processor models support the same DDR2 SDRAM operational modes: 400, 533, 667, 800 or 1066MHz.
Formally it looks as follows:
Contemporary Phenom processors working with DDR2 SDRAM support a set of memory frequency dividers including the following ones: 6:6, 7:6, 10:6, 12:6 and 16:6.
So, our Phenom 9600 processor with 2.3GHz nominal clock frequency and 1.8GHz HyperTransport and North Bridge frequencies was configured as follows when working with DDR2-1066 SDRAM:
Now that we have discussed the theoretical part, let’s try and find out what will happen if the clock generator frequency is increased.
We decided to start our experiments with lowered 10x clock multiplier: in this case the results should look more convincing. Besides, we will have more opportunities to investigate Phenom overclocking techniques by raising HT Reference clock parameter.
So, knowing the peculiarities of our CPU, we have immediately increased its voltage to 1.45V, and the voltage of the integrated North Bridge – to 1.3V. We picked a lower divider for the memory – 12:6. Since we were using high-speed DDR2 SDRAM, we didn’t expect it to cause any problems.
Once this prep work was done, we managed to increase HT Reference clock to 230MHz, i.e. overclock our processor to 2.3GHz. As we know, it is far not the maximum for our CPU but just its nominal clock speed, however, the system wouldn’t boot when we increased the clock generator frequency a little more.
We have already come across problems like that during Athlon 64 overclocking experiments. It is true, once we increase HT Reference clock, the HyperTransport frequency rises unacceptably high, which may cause the system boot-up to fail. In this case the HyperTransport frequency rose to 2070MHz considering the default HyperTransport bus frequency multiplier was 9x. Could it be too high? It is actually really easy to check: DFI LANParty UT 790FX-M2R mainboard BIOS allows lowering the corresponding multiplier. However, as we found out from our experiments, it is not the higher HyperTransport bus frequency, but the lowering of the corresponding multiplier that causes the system to stall.
As a result, we suspected the North Bridge frequency to be the one to blame here, since it also increased to 2070MHz, while its nominal value for our CPU is 1.8GHz. Luckily, “proper” Socket AM2+ mainboards, such as DFI LANParty UT 790FX-M2R, of course, allow adjusting the multiplier for the built-in North Bridge, too. You can change it together with the processor clock frequency multiplier, on the BIOS CPU Feature page.
And it is set with parameters similar to those used for CPU multiplier. These one are called NbFid and NbDid. As a result, the North Bridge multiplier can be derived from the following formula:
Or the simpler formula modified by DFI engineers by removing the power function from the denominator part:
I believe that if you own an old Socket AM2 mainboard you have already realized by this time that you will not be able to fully overclock AMD Phenom processors. As we see, overclocking in this case implies that the North Bridge built into the processor allows to independently adjust its frequency and voltage, and it is one of the peculiar features of Socket AM2+ only. Therefore, the maximum old mainboard owners should hope for is raising the clock generator frequency to 230-240MHz, not more than that.
Returning to our own overclocking experiments, I would like to say that dropping the North Bridge multiplier from 9x to 8x (by lowering the NbFid parameter from 5 to 4) did solve the problem: the system could work stably at HT Reference clock frequency over 230MHz.
Here I would like to point out one more thing we discovered: the HyperTransport frequency multiplier shouldn’t be bigger than North Bridge frequency multiplier. Otherwise, Phenom processor will not work.
Now that we have fished out all the underwater rocks on the way to successful Phenom overclocking, it all becomes a very easy and fast procedure. The main trick here is to increase the clock generator frequency carefully and watch for the HyperTransport and integrated North Bridge frequencies not to get too far beyond 2.0GHz. In fact, you can obtain all the multipliers and coefficients for that in advance using the formulas above. And of course, you shouldn’t forget to increase the main voltages, too.
As a result, we managed to get our system to run stably with Phenom 9600 Black Edition working at 2.69GHz. So, HT Reference clock hit 269MHz with the processor clock frequency multiplier of 10x. It required us to additionally lower the North Bridge and HyperTransport multipliers down to 7x.
In the end, all the frequencies turned out as follows:
It turns out that if you know some of the fine tuning tricks, Phenom overclocking becomes not any harder than Athlon 64 overclocking. However, you definitely need a high-quality Socket AM2+ mainboard. Older mainboards designed for Socket AM2 interface do not have all the features you may need during Phenom overclocking. That is why if your mainboard is a Socket AM2 one, you should probably got for the AMD Phenom Black Edition series. Overclocking with the clock frequency multiplier can be performed easily on any mainboard.
In conclusion to our Phenom 9600 Black Edition study we should discuss performance test results. This quad-core processor selling officially for $251 will be competing in out test session against quad-core Intel CPUs from the same price range. It is first of all Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 priced at $266.
Besides, we also decided to add the results for the upcoming Core 2 Quad Q9300 processor from the Penryn family. It is not selling yet, but it has been already announced and should appear in the market within this quarter already. It should be priced at about the same level as Core 2 Quad Q6600.
And of course, we also included the results of the Phenom 9600 Black Edition processor overclocked to 2.6GHz.
During our investigation of Phenom 9600 Black Edition performance we decided to also check out the negative effect of the TLB-patch. That is why you can see two results for Phenom 9600 CPU on the performance charts: with and without the patch. The overclocked processor was tested only with the disabled TLB-patch, because it doesn't make much sense for desktop systems and the negative effect it has on the performance is noticeable enough.
Here is the detailed description of our test platforms configuration:
AMD platform:
Intel platform:
We decided not to comment on the AMD performance numbers after each chart. The thing is that the results are almost always the same: AMD Phenom 9600 loses dramatically to Intel’s quad-core processors from the same price range. And not only to the upcoming Core 2 Quad Q9300, but also to the Core 2 Quad Q6600 that has been selling for quite some time already. Even at 2.6GHz speed, Phenom 9600 is considerably behind the competitors on Core micro-architecture.
As for the TLB-patch, we prefer not to mention it at all. Enabling it affects the efficiency of processor work with the memory subsystem and hence causes a significant performance drop in applications sensitive to memory performance.
We decided to complete our studies with the quad-core systems power consumption measurements (without the monitor). The system configurations were the same as during our performance tests. Enhanced Intel SpeedStep and Cool’n’Quiet 2.0 power-saving technologies were activated. The processors were loaded with Prime95 25.5 utility.
Idle | 100% Load | |
AMD Phenom 9600 | 205 W | 290 W |
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 | 185 W | 266 W |
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 | 175 W | 234 W |
As we see, AMD processor doesn’t strike us as economical either. Despite its lower performance, it consumes more power, which makes its results really poor from the popular “performance-per-watt” standpoint.
Despite the poor results of the new Phenom 9600 Black Edition processor in the end of our discussion, we didn’t intend to once again point out all the drawbacks of AMD’s quad-core solutions. It is not our fault that Phenom 9600 loses to Core 2 Quad competitors from Intel. It is slower, doesn’t overclock that well, features relatively high power consumption and is not free from the TLB bug that can only be fixed at the expense its performance.
But even despite all that, these CPUs will still find their customers. At least, among those unbreakable AMD fans who do not fear the hard times their favorite company is going through right now. Moreover, buying the youngest Phenom 9500 processor is not such a bad idea, as it is the today’s most affordable quad-core CPU in the market with no real competitors at this time.
We hope our article will help those of you who decide to go for a Phenom processor for your system. We figured out how to overclock these CPUs and saw that not only Black Edition processors can overclock well enough, but also the other representatives of the Phenom family. Although you will need a high-quality Socket AM2+ mainboard, if you intend to overclock quad-core AMD processors by raising their clock generator frequency.
As for the board, we can certainly recommend DFI LANParty UT 790FX-M2R solution. This is an excellent mainboard for computer enthusiasts with all necessary features, stable and predictable performance. In other words, DFI once again proved that their mainboards for AMD platform are still ones of the best out there.