Phenom II X4 @ +6 GHz by Team Finland

Update:

Cold bug information:

I have now confirmed from AMD that when running Phenom II X4 with LN2 HyperTransport link has to be in HT 1.0 mode (running 1 GHz) to prevent CPU cold bugging. AMD suggested us using this setting in Chicago event and we had no problems hitting +6 GHz.

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Hi everyone, I got back home from Chicago last night where AMD organized Dragon platform preview event.

First of all huge thanks to AMD (Macci, Simon, Pete and everyone) for inviting Team Finland (Sampsa & SF3D) to the Dragon event. It sure was a nice opportunity to run some first tests with Phenom II X4 and LN2 cooling.

http://plaza.fi/s/f/editor/images/1212dragon1.jpg

Me pouring LN2, no need to fine tune temps :up:

http://plaza.fi/s/f/editor/images/1212dragon2.jpg

Chilly system running full steam

http://plaza.fi/s/f/editor/images/1212dragon3.jpg

Gigabyte's 790GX retail board

http://plaza.fi/s/f/editor/images/1212dragon4.jpg

Kingpin's F1 EE full of LN2, this was so sweet :D

http://plaza.fi/s/f/editor/images/1212dragon5.jpg

Typical Vcore we used

http://plaza.fi/s/f/editor/images/1212dragon6.jpg

Macci playing around with Dragon EVO pot

http://plaza.fi/s/f/editor/images/1212dragon7.jpg

SF3D: "WTF?!"

http://plaza.fi/s/f/editor/images/1212cpuz.jpg

Here is a CPU-Z shot after some minutes of testing ;)

Quick summary:

- All the Phenom II X4 CPUs me and SF3D tested had no cold bug at all
- All the chips we tested could do +6,1 GHz CPU-Z
- We tested with AMD's 790GX reference board and Gigabyte's retail 790GX
- Both mobos worked fine under cold, +6 GHz and +1,95V vcore
- Vcore ~1,95V was optimal for +6 GHz clocks
- 3DMark05 & 06 CPU-tests were ok @ 6 GHz
- We were able to run Crysis @ 6,1 GHz (2 loops CPU-test)
- Max CPU-Z screenshot and validation we got with 4 cores was 6280 MHz (no dirty tricks)
- With air cooling (Cooler Master Z600) highest we got Crysis stable was @ 4,13 GHz (1,58 V)

We tested couple different revisions (ES and newer ones) but lets see how it turns out when retail chips will be launched.

I don't want to make any promises but I encourage everyone to go ahead and test yourself.

These results were definitely not maximum numbers possible to achieve.. and there might be some extremely cool (literally) numbers coming soon :up:

More pics, ss and video coming soon :)

If you have any questions, I'm more than happy to answer (no peformance numbers because of NDA).

What's up with the HT link at only 1007MHz? :)

Wow!! Very very nice. I wish I could have been there :( Thanks for all the info and details on your benches. It will be very handy. To get the 1.95vCore.. was the board vModded? You mentioned reference motherboards, so i am just curious.

Ton

Quote:

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Originally Posted by massman

What's up with the HT link at only 1007MHz? :)

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We were just aiming for high CPU clocks, AMD had used that setting previously so we just left it there. We only had couple of hours to spend so unfortunately we couldn't focus on everything. We have CPUs now back home so we can start tuning for best performance :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sampsa

We were just aiming for high CPU clocks, AMD had used that setting previously so we just left it there. We only had couple of hours to spend so unfortunately we couldn't focus on everything. We have CPUs now back home so we can start tuning for best performance :)

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Nice... Can it take more than 2V?

congrats :up:

very nice but why 790GX?
is the gigabyte 790GX the DS4H? you guys got a very special bios for it?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TiTON

Wow!! Very very nice. I wish I could have been there :( Thanks for all the info and details on your benches. It will be very handy. To get the 1.95vCore.. was the board vModded? You mentioned reference motherboards, so i am just curious.

Ton

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Hi, AMD's reference board had vcore mod but Gigabyte's board was retail without mods. We adjusted vcore straight from BIOS and it was good to go :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tictac

Nice... Can it take more than 2V?

congrats :up:

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Yes it can, but we didn't see better scaling after 1,95V.. maybe more cold will help ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Newblar

very nice but why 790GX?
is the gigabyte 790GX the DS4H? you guys got a very special bios for it?

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Why not? Board worked great :) Yes it was GA-MA790GP-DS4H with BIOS supporting Deneb. This board costs $200 in Finland.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sampsa

Why not? Board worked great :) Yes it was GA-MA790GP-DS4H with BIOS supporting Deneb. This board costs $200 in Finland.

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wouldnt the 790FX do a bit better?
i was just wondering about the board, because i bought the same mobo about a week ago for $135 u.s ^^

Thats pretty amazing. Its really nice to see that amd gets back to challenge intel with cpus. Good overclockability is a good symptom indeed.

It would be great to know some benchmark results, but i suppose thats out of the question so far? :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Newblar

wouldnt the 790FX do a bit better?
i was just wondering about the board, because i bought the same mobo about a week ago for $135 u.s ^^

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Yes 790FX + SB750 is probably the best platform for Phenom II X4 especially Asus M3A79-T Deluxe since it has 6 layer PCB. I have this back home so I'll try it next.

You'll see benchmark results when Phenom II X4 is officially launched.

WOW! Nice, very nice. I want .....

Great job and thanks so much for sharing!

1.58V on 45nm is way too much for 24/7 use, is it not? What were highest clocks with reasonable volts?

It was an awesome event and you guys did a really good job. It was pretty intense watching the 3Dmark run through and not knowing if it was gonna finish.

I'd like to clear something up though, there's been some mixed thoughts on the whole 790GX/FX ordeal. 790FX/SB750 = 65nm and 790GX/SB750 = 55nm or are they both built on the 55nn?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mattskees

I'd like to clear something up though, there's been some mixed thoughts on the whole 790GX/FX ordeal. 790FX/SB750 = 65nm and 790GX/SB750 = 55nm or are they both built on the 55nn?

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AFAIK 790FX = 65 nm and 790GX = 55 nm.

Nice job guys :clap:

In the near future 7ghz is possible with one core :cool:

Did you test for HTT freq. overclocking? Any idea of the NB frequency?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Yukon Trooper

1.58V on 45nm is way too much for 24/7 use, is it not? What were highest clocks with reasonable volts?

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Bump. :D

Define reasonable volts.

24/7 volts.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Yukon Trooper

24/7 volts.

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We were not focusing on 24/7 clocks/voltages, this thread is about Phenom II X4 extreme-overclocking.

If it is fully tune... cpu speed, memory clock and timing... + GPU oc....

Is it it capable blowing any 3D WR? :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sampsa

- 3DMark05 & 06 CPU-tests were ok @ 6 GHz
- We were able to run Crysis @ 6,1 GHz (2 loops CPU-test)
- Max CPU-Z screenshot and validation we got with 4 cores was 6280 MHz (no dirty tricks)

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:shocked:


Unreal guys :up:

When is the NDA end, and we can see the numbers ?

Sampsa, you can't tell us what is score of 3d but can you tell us is deneb can be good as c2q ? :)

Yah. Always the slight possibility someone tried setting highest 24/7 voltage then finding highest clocks, but I guess not this time. Good job, though! Can't wait to see even better results. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tictac

If it is fully tune... cpu speed, memory clock and timing... + GPU oc....

Is it it capable blowing any 3D WR? :D

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Crysis @ 6Ghz & 3-sli 280 would have nice fps! :)

Great job!
I'm wondering if ACC is used on the Gigabyte 790GX-DS4H? Is it enabled through BIOS or AOD? (I'm buying an AMD board soon, this Gigabyte seems great, but I don't use Windows....so, AOD option is gone)

Great Sampsa !! AMD strike back :toast:

impressive results~ :up:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by davidletterboyz

Great job!
I'm wondering if ACC is used on the Gigabyte 790GX-DS4H? Is it enabled through BIOS or AOD? (I'm buying an AMD board soon, this Gigabyte seems great, but I don't use Windows....so, AOD option is gone)

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ACC was used to get first generation Phenoms overclock better. Phenom II X4 is already optimized for overclocking.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sampsa

ACC was used to get first generation Phenoms overclock better. Phenom II X4 is already optimized for overclocking.

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So basically, I've got no benefit from ACC when overclocking Phenom II :confused: Did you try Phenom II on non SB750 boards?

Will you try the Asus Deluxe M3A79 T also? :)

nice work guys! :)

c'mon guys.. all the info is on first post. we didn't test 24/7 speeds, we didn't test non sb750.. read the first

Thanks for answering. Sampsa!:D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nguyenquochuy

So basically, I've got no benefit from ACC when overclocking Phenom II :confused: Did you try Phenom II on non SB750 boards?

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Actually I noticed that, even good batch of Phenom (Agena) doesn't benefit from ACC. ACC benefits more on B2's and multi-locked Phenom. But still, most SB750 o/cers leave it on Auto setting.

Excellent job Sampsa. I will be able to check myself what this baby can do under LN2 during weekend. Though, this no coldbug situation is SO promising. I loved the pic with the pot filled with LN2...:yepp:

Check out a few air results with PhenomII that can be done by anyone. No tweaks, Vista 32 OS, just simple slight o/ced runs.:up:

Did you guys use any measures to counter the cold freezing up the board? Any hassle with caps/chokes not working properly? Did you check the thermal gradient across the board- especially near the CPU area? :)

Nice numbers, thanks for sharing! I hope they translate to results well ;) :D

K

This has just confirmed my excitment about these chip :D Thanks Sampsa et al.
TBH i dont care if this platform performs slightly less than Intel's, its going to be a hell of a lot of fun to play with!

Wow, amazing frequencies guys!!:eek:
2 months without visiting forum and now this news:eek::clap:
Congratz:up:
Can't wait to see some bench:D

Looks very interesting
No coldbug is very sexy :D

ok,
SuperPi?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by K404

Did you guys use any measures to counter the cold freezing up the board? Any hassle with caps/chokes not working properly? Did you check the thermal gradient across the board- especially near the CPU area? :)

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Normal Armaflex insulation around CPU socket and lots of toilet paper did the job :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Nordling

ok,
SuperPi?

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Seriously, read the first post. I don't want to repeat myself over and over again :mad:

pretty impressive results. I`m waiting for new pictures. Thanks guys, great work.

very exciting Sampsa
i look forward to testing these :up:

fun times ahead
intel needs to go back to the drawing board and get rid of CB like AMD :D

who would think that one day you could just fill up the pot and forget about it like that huh? :D Vince will start making deeper pots now hahahah

Looks great!
I LOL:ed that WTF impression on SF3D's face :)
When you dudes are going to test Phenöm 2 under "Murokaskadi"?

Great. I am eager to see benching results the day NDA lifts. :up:

good time's comming back to use :D , thx for the head's up sampsa and SF3D ;).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dinos22

who would think that one day you could just fill up the pot and forget about it like that huh? :D Vince will start making deeper pots now hahahah

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Oh YESSSS!!! Next issue that should be taken care of is... CONDENSATION. Makers must start making insulated motherboards with plastic and armaflex included in the bundle.:ROTF:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dread77

Oh YESSSS!!! Next issue that should be taken care of is... CONDENSATION. Makers must start making insulated motherboards with plastic and armaflex included in the bundle.:ROTF:

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easy man
with that kind of clearance around the socket a blind man can insulate the board now hehehe

seriously also if ppl have never used this kneaded eraser you should
it kicks ass

If this is Wr you most Validate it to mate

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PytonOrm

If this is Wr you most Validate it to mate

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i dont think sampsa is claming anything yet as these are not released yet
simply giving us heads up :up:

:D okey dinos22 =)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dread77

Excellent job Sampsa. I will be able to check myself what this baby can do under LN2 during weekend. Though, this no coldbug situation is SO promising. I loved the pic with the pot filled with LN2...:yepp:

Check out a few air results with PhenomII that can be done by anyone. No tweaks, Vista 32 OS, just simple slight o/ced runs.:up:

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Dread, you MUST doing a WR's PII! :yepp:

Sampsa: you can tell me about max reachable on H2O?

"3DMark05 & 06 CPU-tests were ok @ 6 GHz"

ouch!

yea interested to see some numbers too!

guys, .. like it is already clearly posted in the first post.. it was me & SF3D in Chicago overclocking (Team Finland), not just me. We performed the tests and overclocking together.

AMD employees macci and Pete Hardman worked together with other system. They ran into problems during not-so-serious LN2 competition in the event so we claimed easy victory with 6 GHz Crysis ;) They beat us with air cooling (3,908 GHz vs 3,940 GHz).

Nice numbers Sampsa! =) Looks like you guys had a blast.


Looks like we will soon have more screenshots about Pheonom II > 6 GHz than Nehalem > 5 GHz :)

Competition = good. January should be interesting.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sampsa

guys, .. like it is already clearly posted in the first post.. it was me & SF3D in Chicago overclocking (Team Finland), not just me. We performed the tests and overclocking together.

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you are very tense mate :)
are these CPUs gonna put a spanner in the works with your doctoral thesis exploring CBs.....heh at least you can still study intel chips :D

Awesome clocks guys, can't wait to get my hand on one of those! :up:

great numbers guys.. good to see amd back in the game again. cant wait to see how it performs in different benches :D

That's just lovely ;)

Well, I suppose we know have to wait for the retail chips, so that we finally see what AMD has been up to all this time ... :D

awesome man, that is just sick

thanks alot for posting

looks like you guys had a good event

and as Tim says, these would 4 sure be fun to play with, no matter what

keep pushing it

Great info...thanks Sampsa. Looks like you guys had alot of fun. Cant wait to get my hands on one.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by massman

What's up with the HT link at only 1007MHz? :)

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Can you answer this? :shrug:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by massman

What's up with the HT link at only 1007MHz? :)

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by zif33rs

Can you answer this? :shrug:

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sampsa

We were just aiming for high CPU clocks, AMD had used that setting previously so we just left it there. We only had couple of hours to spend so unfortunately we couldn't focus on everything. We have CPUs now back home so we can start tuning for best performance :)

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^
^
page 1

Great work SF3D and Sampsa. January will definitely very interesting.:up:

nice work !

I think i 'll test it this week end :D

lots of testign this weekend it seems :D

Bleh... *grabs 2nd cup of coffee...*


thanks trunks....overlooked that.:cool:

Very, very nice.

Like everyone else, thanks for the heads up!

I'm definitely looking forward to testing these chips.:)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sampsa

guys, .. like it is already clearly posted in the first post.. it was me & SF3D in Chicago overclocking (Team Finland), not just me. We performed the tests and overclocking together.

AMD employees macci and Pete Hardman worked together with other system. They ran into problems during not-so-serious LN2 competition in the event so we claimed easy victory with 6 GHz Crysis ;) They beat us with air cooling (3,908 GHz vs 3,940 GHz).

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by dinos22

lots of testign this weekend it seems :D

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Dinos, you and Moloko should do us a favor and test for max air 24/7. It seems to me that based on Sampsa's comments, 4Ghz air 24/7 may be out of reach for the average user? :confused:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zucker2k

Dinos, you and Moloko should do us a favor and test for max air 24/7. It seems to me that based on Sampsa's comments, 4Ghz air 24/7 may be out of reach for the average user? :confused:

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We tested 4 chips in 30 mins (had 5 available).. you can do the math how much time was used per chip (heatsink installation, windows vista loading, settings clockspeeds) to reach 3,9 GHz in Crysis ;)

Really impressive clock for AMD :eek:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sampsa

We tested 4 chips in 30 mins (had 5 available).. you can do the math how much time was used per chip (heatsink installation, windows vista loading, settings clockspeeds) to reach 3,9 GHz in Crysis ;)

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Sampsa: you can tell me about max reachable on H2O?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sampsa

We tested 4 chips in 30 mins (had 5 available).. you can do the math how much time was used per chip (heatsink installation, windows vista loading, settings clockspeeds) to reach 3,9 GHz in Crysis ;)

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Okay good, thanks for the info Sampsa. :up:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by G-UNIT91

Sampsa: you can tell me about max reachable on H2O?

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ROFL :D Didn't you read what Sampsa clearly stated ?
Only on air (and that was really quick), and on LN2 ... No further testing, was there wasn't so much time ;)

Have some patience people, we are going to see first 24/7 numbers soon :)

Are there official white papers / specs on the max allowable vcore for the Phenom II? This is related to Yukon's question earlier (which is probably why he's concerned about 1.5V for 4Ghz).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mav451

Are there official white papers / specs on the max allowable vcore for the Phenom II? This is related to Yukon's question earlier (which is probably why he's concerned about 1.5V for 4Ghz).

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there is something
but this will have to wait for NDA to be lifted

Awesome speed! Great to see AMD back on top :up: Thanks for sharing

doesn't look too bad at the moment. :D

finally after some years AMD overclocking seems going to be fun again, no matter how the performance comared with nehalem, its just different.
highclockers can feel like happy atm :) well done guys, well done :up:

Nice results. I want one.


AMD, please get a move on. We are getting tired of waiting... dont make us go get i7 instead :p:


BTW: Someone living near Sampsas place?

We could use a window stalker with a cam. Sneak up and take some pictures while he is playing with 3dm etc. :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Yukon Trooper

1.58V on 45nm is way too much for 24/7 use, is it not? What were highest clocks with reasonable volts?

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I'd be afraid to run that for 24/7 (heck i don't want to exceed 1.5V on my 65nm), but then AMD's 45nm is apparently not nearly so sensitive to higher volts like intel's, from what I gather at least.

Thanks for the info Sampsa:)

It is really nice to see AMD back in the spotlight.:D

Can't wait till results become public:)

nice info guys!
glad to see AMD recovering

gettin' me all giggity giggity goo

First, Sampsa Thanks a lot for posting!! I hope Xtreme-Arnold [Petri] and you had a great time in Chicago with AMD :D:D

Nice to see AMD's chips showing the numbers we all like to see... more important is the kind of scaling every quad core is doing as per your statement. Here I was thinking of going thru few more E86 [current one CB -107*c] for that perfect [in my own way] 3D01 :rolleyes:

Superb times ahead for us clockers even if its off the performance of Intel's latest ones as Tim suggested :up:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by George_o/c

ROFL :D Didn't you read what Sampsa clearly stated ?
Only on air (and that was really quick), and on LN2 ... No further testing, was there wasn't so much time ;)

Have some patience people, we are going to see first 24/7 numbers soon :)

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ok,

:)

Congrads!!!

nice result...:)

btw, are u using gigabtye 790GP DS4H? or other?

Looks good Sampsa, nice to see AMD back in the game. That pic of the F1 filled to the rim is just soo...I dunno wrong :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zucker2k

Dinos, you and Moloko should do us a favor and test for max air 24/7. It seems to me that based on Sampsa's comments, 4Ghz air 24/7 may be out of reach for the average user? :confused:

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Dread77 has told us multiple times that the clocks he keeps posting are 24/7 on air.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by G0ldBr1ck

Dread77 has told us multiple times that the clocks he keeps posting are 24/7 on air.

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Yes, but those screenies are from an AMD retail shop in Greece with all vital information blacked out! Sorry, I'm the skeptic here, remember? ;)

Who will be the first person to build a cascade that goes below -195C? Really curious if getting any colder will help :cool:

Insane. Pure awesome from AMD. I can't wait to build one of these systems now.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zucker2k

Yes, but those screenies are from an AMD retail shop in Greece with all vital information blacked out! Sorry, I'm the skeptic here, remember? ;)

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It's not just a retail shop in Greece. OKTABIT is an exclusive representative in Greece. Retail shops buy from OKTABIT...:up:

Anyway, frequency is somewhere between 3,8 and 3,9. Needed Vcore for mentioned frequency is already known, temps as well.
I have mentioned it several times, I wouldn't compromise my credibility in here for just a CPU.
But from what I see, all rumours have been verified to the last MHz. So there is no point in trying to advertise something that advertises itself.
It's a great CPU, the best AMD CPU up to now, it will compete with Yorkfield CPU's and when AM3 platform is out, then things will be much better.

Very impressive :clap:
I want only the cpu ,i've got mobo .
I can't wait january .

http://plaza.fi/s/f/editor/images/1212dragon7.jpg
Macci: Yes, i see it's sub 7s Spi1m.
SF3D: WTF?

:D

lol :D