Overlocking by 13.04% - 2.60 GHz

Our Phenom 9600 Black Edition review sample uses a stock core voltage of 1.250 V. We were able to increase the CPU’s frequency from 2.30 GHz to 2.60 GHz without having to raise the voltage. Overclocked by 13.04%, our Phenom 9600 Black Edition was completely stable.

At its default frequency of 2.30 GHz, the Phenom 9600 uses a memory divider of 7, resulting in a memory frequency of DDR2-766. Overclocking the CPU to 2.60 GHz does not yet allow s to use the next smallest divider so that the memory speed drops to DDR2-742. An internals protection mechanism incorporated into the CPU prevents the memory from running at more than DDR2-800.

Of course you are still able to reach a higher memory clock speed by overclocking the FSB / Hypertransport bus. However, since the Black Edition processors come with an unlocked multiplier, this method does not make much sense. The Phenom’s memory controller also supports SLI functionality for memory if the RAM offers it. This feature is exclusive to the more expensive modules, though.

Phenom Memory Dividers

CPU Frequency	Divider 5	Divider 6	Divider 7
2600 MHz	DDR2-1040	DDR2-866	DDR2-742
2300 MHz	DDR2-920	DDR2-766	DDR2-657

Since the CPU limits the memory speed to a maximum frequency of DDR2-800, the memory speed defaults to DDR2-766 at 2.3 GHz and DDR2-742 at 2.6 GHz.

The memory runs 12 MHz (24 MHz DDR) slower as a result of the Phenom 9600 BE being overclocked to 2.60 GHz.

Phenom 9600 Black Edition @ 2.60 GHz

CPU Frequency	2.60 GHz (+ 13.04%)
Multiplier	x13
internal FSB/HTT	200 MHz / 1800 MHz
Core Voltage	default (1.250 V)
Memory Divider	2600:7
Memory Frequency	DDR2-742 (371 MHz)
Memory Latency	CL 4.0-4-4-12

• 9 – Overlocking by 13.04% - 2.60 GHz
  

  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
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