AMD Boasts 4GHz Air Overclocks on "Phenom II", 6GHz on LN2

[Rob Williams]

From our front-page news: With Intel's Core i7 processors now available, and kicking ass through most benchmarks, one has to wonder what's up with AMD. How will they be competing anytime soon? It's true... lately all we've heard from them has been related to their business practises, but there's no need to worry... they definitely look to have some tricks up their sleeves.

Our friends at the Tech Report attended a press briefing this morning where AMD showed off their latest and greatest... 45nm "Phenom II". While benchmark results weren't revealed, raw clock frequencies were, and if you've been waiting for AMD to give people a great reason to consider them again, this might be it.

Stock speeds were not disclosed, but on an air cooling setup, one of their processors clocked to 4.0GHz with 1.55v, which is around what we've been expecting. Make no mistake, that's a lot of voltage, and it's too bad that it has to go so high, but if these CPUs are better-designed to handle such voltages (compared to Intel's offerings), it might be alright. We'll have to wait and see on that one.

While we are used to seeing massive overclocks on Intel's processors when using liquid nitrogen, we've never seen anything major on the AMD side... until now. At this event, the same CPU as mentioned above was clocked to 6.0GHz... something that's sure to excite many of the more hardcore overclockers out there. It took -185°C temperatures to accomplish it, but that's not the point!

This is a very exciting time for AMD, and enthusiasts alike. For a while, Intel has dominated the desktop space, especially where enthusiasts are concerned, but AMD is looking to improve that situation, and fast. "Phenom II" isn't a major architectural upgrade like Core i7 was to Core 2, but by moving to the 45nm node, we'll have lower power consumption and overall improved efficiency, lower temps, and as we can see, far better clocking-abilities. We should be learning more about these CPUs very soon, so stay tuned.

http://techgage.com/images/news/amd_barcelona_core_large_logo.jpg

The slowest system-cooled with a heatsink and fan-managed to reach just under 4GHz with a 1.55V core voltage. With liquid cooling, AMD successfully pushed a 45nm Phenom II in another machine just over the 4GHz mark. That required kicking up the CPU voltage to 1.6V, however. For the other two systems, AMD took out the big guns.

Source: Tech Report (http://techreport.com/discussions.x/15927)

[Relayer]

I've been hoping for the "spider" platform to live up to the hype and produce some real world benefits. Maybe with the phenom II it will?

I'd also be curious about pricing? Are they going to be better priced than Intel?

[Merlin]

AMD AM2 still compatible with the Phenom II ?
I might try a Phenum II if so
That's what I have in this 64 bit machine

[Kougar]

It's a substantial improvement, but it still isn't clock-for-clock comparable to Nehalem. If the desktop prices and clockspeeds are right, it could be a good match against Penryn chips though.

I've heard of some specs/prices, but nothing official yet. The Tech Report has the scoop on Shanghai, the server-side Phenom II parts.

[Rob Williams]

I'll link to the article you're referring to:

http://techreport.com/articles.x/15905

AMD's latest chips do excel in certain tests, but there's no such thing as an all-around performance boost, sadly. I do think they're making great strides with power consumption though.

I'd say judging by Scott's findings, there's still little reason to get excited over Phenom II. As it stands, the chips seem to be close to Core 2 performance, but are not spot-on. Even "close-to" is a good thing, as for most people, gaming performance is what matters, and there should be really no discernible difference between a Phenom II and Core 2, I'm imagining.

Pricing will play a major role here. It's going to be good to see AMD have a more competitive product on the market though, that's for sure.

[Kougar]

Well, Shanghai was the chip Barcelona should have been.. If it had launched back then It'd still be 2.7GHz verses 3.0Ghz, something AMD is competitive with especially due to those FB-DIMMs.

Instead AMD launched a year later so instead of being able to roll out 3GHz Shanghai chips against 3.4GHz Penryns... they are rolling them out just to time to meet 3,2GHz+ Nehalem parts instead.

Nobody get me wrong, I'm very happy to see AMD release something that doesn't come across as anemic against Intel's offerings... but it's not going to give them the edge back, and they are still in fact losing ground.

I did find:

Phenom II X4 945 3.0GHz 8MB Deneb AM3 Apr, 2009
Phenom II X4 940 3.0GHz 8MB Deneb AM2+ 8th, Jan
Phenom II X4 925 2.8GHz 8MB Deneb AM3 Feb, 2009
Phenom II X4 920 2.8GHz 8MB Deneb AM2+ 8th, Jan
Phenom II X4 910 2.6GHz 8MB Deneb AM3 Feb, 2009
Phenom II X4 810 2.6GHz 6MB Deneb AM3 Feb, 2009
Phenom II X4 805 2.5GHz 6MB Deneb AM3 Feb, 2009
Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz 7.5MB Heka AM3 Feb, 2009
Phenom II X3 710 2.6GHz 7.5MB Heka AM3 Feb, 2009
Athlon X4 615 2.7GHz 2MB Propus AM3 Apr, 2009
Athlon X4 605 2.5GHz 2MB Propus AM3 Apr, 2009
Athlon X3 420 2.8GHz 1.5MB Rana AM3 Apr, 2009
Athlon X3 410 2.6GHz 1.5MB Rana AM3 Apr, 2009
Athlon X2 240 2.8GHz 2MB Regor AM3 Jun, 2009
Athlon X2 235 2.7GHz 2Mb Regor AM3 Jun, 2009