[hardocp] Phenom 9600 Black Edition Overclocking - Overclock.net

linskingdom · 12-20-07

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Introduction

With a little help from our friends overseas, we were able to get our hands on one of the first retail Phenom 9600 Black Edition Processors available. For those of you that are not in the know, the “Black Edition” processors for AMD have unlocked CPU clock multipliers. Our Phenom 9600 runs at a stock clock of 2.3GHz which is 11.5X200MHz. Being "unlocked," we can change that 11.5 to almost any number we want. We heavily petitioned AMD to deliver a Black Edition Phenom CPU to enthusiasts because we think this is the only way to somewhat satiate brand loyal fans, considering the Phenom’s somewhat disappointing performance out of the gate.

When you compare the Phenom to Intel’s Core 2 product line, the parts pull up fairly equal in the mid-2GHz clock range. The Phenom is in no way a bad product, it just so happens that Intel’s Core 2 line simply scales better in terms of clocks and performance. In fact, the Phenom is a very good processor, it just simply is not the "best." There will be many Phenoms finding their way into enthusiast cases simply due to the fact that Phenoms can be found inexpensively, they have tremendously stable infrastructure behind them, and are showing to overclock very well. And AMD is letting us do it easily with the Black Edition Phenom.

Phenom Black Edition

The unlocked Black processors from AMD have something going for them that we do not often see, and that is the unlocked feature is being sold at no extra charge. AMD charges the same amount of money for the 2.3GHz BE Phenom PIB (Processor in a Box) as it does the 2.3GHz Phenom PIB with a locked multiplier. Hopefully we will see solid supply of these parts so that we do not see demand inflate the retail prices.

Overclocking

You might be saying to yourself, “Kyle, we don’t need a friggin’ unlocked processor. We have been getting around that for years.” The fact is that you do this time. We have now had four different Phenom processors through our hands and none will reliably overclock the CPU bus more than 10%. On the current retail 9600 BE that I have been testing with, we found a ceiling of 212MHz before failure, and that was with tweaked vCore and northbridge voltages.

AMD’s Overdrive application is second to none in the world of software overclocking tools. It is easily used inside of Windows to overclock your BE processor. You can control northbridge and CPU voltages easily while also toggling your CPU’s multiplier. It also has a built in stress test that will help you find the processors overclocking limits as well.

As you can see above, we were able to get a very stable 700MHz of overclocking headroom (3GHz) out of our Black Edition Phenom 9600 running for over 14 hours at full load on all four cores. Out of the four Phenom samples that we have used, one would do 2.8GHz, one would do 2.9GHz, and two would clock to 3GHz reliably. Running this retail processor on air cooling, we could achieve a stable 2.8GHz as well and even get it to run at 3GHz, just not under a 100% load across all four cores.

The Bottom Line

The retail AMD Phenom Black Edition processors look to have just as much overclocking appeal as our engineering samples if not more. 3GHz from what will hopefully be a $240 quad-core processor is nothing to sneeze at. For you AMD brand loyalists, or if you are just an enthusiast looking to head down the road less traveled, the Phenom Black Edition is the AMD processor you want. And let's be clear, if you want to experiment with overclocking on the Phenom, the Black Edition is the only Phenom that is likely going to meet your needs.

Link

DerangedPony · 12-20-07

nice, thx for the link

Jpshaff01 · 12-20-07

That sounds better, still has the errata though right?

FilthySanchez08 · 12-20-07

I cant wait for the Black Edition Phenoms with the Fixed errata that causes the instability at higher clockspeeds, I'm willing to bet a good deal of money that the fixed BE Phenoms will be able to hit 3.6 no problem

Metalica732 · 12-20-07

That was pathetic that from 2.3 they could only get to 3.0 on water. Truely pathetic. Also why did they not benchmark it?

Flower · 12-20-07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Metalica732

That was pathetic that from 2.3 they could only get to 3.0 on water. Truely pathetic. Also why did they not benchmark it?

Note that the bus didn't change, they used a higher multi. They don't seem like good oc'ing processors at all.

Cheetos316 · 12-20-07

Nice article but I'm also a bit disappointed that there are no benchies on the 3.0 Phenom....

Guruboy · 12-20-07

I'm pretty sure that right now these teams are focusing on getting an article out about the Phenom line ASAP, not getting a really great in-depth breakdown. Let's be patient.

TnB= Gir · 12-20-07

Hopefully AMD will get back in the game soon....

trueg50 · 12-20-07

Quote:

Originally Posted by FilthySanchez08

I cant wait for the Black Edition Phenoms with the Fixed errata that causes the instability at higher clockspeeds, I'm willing to bet a good deal of money that the fixed BE Phenoms will be able to hit 3.6 no problem

LOL.

I would be willing to bet a good amount of money against your argument.

What you think they can overclock like core 2's just because they are 65nm?

It is tough for a core 2 at that speed to hit 3.6 (hehehe most core 2's that is) and it appears to be tough for an unlocked phenom to hit 3.0, something that is childs play to a core 2, not to mention a core 2 quad.

The Errata causes issues, but it in now way effects that kind of stability at higher clock speeds, and would most certainly not effect overclocking headroom. In fact the fix might just have a counter effect to overclocking headroom and might decrease it.

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[hardocp] Phenom 9600 Black Edition Overclocking

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