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Overclocking – AMD OverDrive not yet Mature (Cont’d.)

01:20 - Wednesday 23 January 2008 by Bert Toepelt
Source: Tom's Hardware UK – Keywords: phenom, 9600, black, edition
Categories: Hardware

Table of content:
8 – Overclocking – AMD OverDrive n...
  1. 1 – AMD Phenom 9600 Black Edition
  2. 2 – B2 Stepping – TLB Bug is Still Around
  3. 3 – B2 Stepping – TLB Bug is Still Around (Cont'd)
  4. 4 – Phenom 9600 Black Edition
  5. 5 – Overclocking – AMD’s OverDrive Badly Supported
  6. 6 – Overclocking – Newer Versions from other Sources?
  7. 7 – Overclocking – AMD OverDrive not yet Mature
  8. 8 – Overclocking – AMD OverDrive not yet Mature (Cont’d.)
  9. 9 – Overlocking by 13.04% - 2.60 GHz
  10. 10 – Overclocking – Hitting the Limit at 2.70 GHz
  11. 11 – Overclocking – Hitting the Limit at 2.70 GHz (Cont’d.)
  12. 12 – Only 12.5% more Performance
  13. 13 – Slower than Intel’s Core 2 Quad Q6600
  14. 14 – Power Consumption – 21 Watts when Idle
  15. 15 – Power Consumption – 150 Watts when Overclocked
  16. 16 – Test Setup
  17. 17 – Software Configuration
  18. 18 – Benchmarks and Settings
  19. 19 – 3D-Games - UT2004, Prey
  20. 20 – 3D-Games - Quake 4, Warhammer
  21. 21 – 3D-Games -Supreme Commander, Serious Sam 2
  22. 22 – 3D-Rendering - Cinema 4D, 3D-Studio Max
  23. 23 – Applications - AVG, WinRAR
  24. 24 – Applications - Photoshop, PDF
  25. 25 – Applications - Deep Fritz
  26. 26 – Audio Encoding - iTunes, Lame
  27. 27 – Synthetic - Sandra CPU
  28. 28 – Synthetic - Sandra Memory
  29. 29 – Synthetic - Sandra Multimedia
  30. 30 – Synthetic - PC-Mark
  31. 31 – Synthetic - 3DMark06
  32. 32 – Video Encoding - Xvid, Pinnacle Studio
  33. 33 – Video Encoding - Premiere, Mainconcept
  34. 34 – Video Encoding - HDTV, DivX
  35. 35 – Video Encoding - CloneDVD
  36. 36 – Conclusion – AMD’s Phenom 9600 can’t Beat Intel’s Q6600

Overclocking – AMD OverDrive not yet Mature (Cont’d.)

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We conducted this test on an ASUS M3AA32-MVP Deluxe (rev 1.02G) motherboard using the current 0801 BIOS published on 26.12.2007. The Phenom CPU we used is a final version just like any other you could buy in a store.

When we attempted to raise the multiplier of out Phenom 9600 Black Edition from 11.5x to 12.0x, our computer crashed. If you change the same settings in the BIOS, the system restarted without a hitch, booted Windows Vista and ran without a problem.

The Gigabyte GA-MA790FX-DQ6 board using the current F3 BIOS (1.12.2007) also crashed when we used the OverDrive utility.

The settings from the OverDrive utility are not saved to the BIOS. Thus, if you want to change the settings permanently, you’ll need to note them down with pen and paper and then set them in the BIOS manually. However, since the settings don’t seem to have the same effect across various boards – as we realized with our ASUS board – that calls the general usefulness of the tool into question. You can choose to have the tool start up with Windows, which will ensure that the settings are applied at every launch. Even this is not a 100% guaranteed method, though.

AMD will still have to invest some more time and effort into this tool before it works reliably and provides the desired results. For now, we can’t with a clear conscience recommend using the OverDrive utility to overclock Phenom processors, since its functionality is still rather lacking. Even though we used specially adapted versions provided by the motherboard makers, we still experienced crashes and lockups. In the end, we decided to overclock our systems directly through the BIOS.

Phenom 9600 BlackEdition

That’s not to say that the AMD OverDrive utility does not offer some benefits as well, though. It allows the user to adjust the memory timings from within Windows, to monitor and change voltages and keep an eye on temperatures. Still, even in the newest version (2.09), the tool was supply correct temperature readings.

Phenom 9600 BlackEdition


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Talkback
mi1ez 23/01/2008 03:09
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mi1ez

Oh dear...
This has certainly done them no more favours...

Therlian 23/01/2008 03:31
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Therlian

This is an embarrassment for AMD. It's actually worse that they released the Black Edition of this processor because it shows that even with all the tricks, AMD is currently not even posing as competition for Intel. I don't know what AMD will be able to do to keep going; it seems like no matter what they try they are still way behind Intel.

At least when Intel was beating AMD in performance in the early days of the P2, at least AMD was still a viable option because of their price/performance ratio.

I hope they come up with something though; I don't want Intel to be the only product and raise their prices.

darthpoik 24/01/2008 11:40
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darthpoik

Poor AMD. I liked you a lot but Intel are truly kicking your butts. Hopefully this is just a Rocky feint and they will be back with a vengence soon

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