15 replies to this topic

[Nvyseal]

images/news/amd.jpgAMD has pulled a rabbit out of its hat to increase the performance of its existing Phenom triple-core (8000-series) and quad-core (9000-series) processors. Six “hidden pins” on the processors and chipsets are the secret, which, our sources told us, will enable simple overclocking through the southbridge – and accelerate the current processors on demand.

The name of the game is called “unlocking the multiplier”, which will be played with the SB700 and SB750 southbridge chips. If you are running an upcoming 2.8 GHz Black Edition CPU, a motherboard with the old SB600 model (RD690) will keep the processor cores operating at 2.8 GHz. However, if you have a motherboard with the SB700 chipset, you will receive a free upgrade to 3.0 GHz. And if you get a motherboard with a SB750 chip, your processor will run at 3.2 GHz, which matches the clock speed of the Athlon X2 6400+ - the highest clocked processor AMD ever offerred.

We have seen motherboards with 780G, 790FX and 790GX chipsets in ATX and mATX form factors, which all support this feature. Now it is up to AMD to execute and deliver a compelling user processor.

The actual overclocking is done either through the BIOS, a utility, or simply by pressing a physical button on certain motherboards. The release date of this technology is unknown, but we know that it will be available in time for the 790GX launch.

There you have it: An overclocking feature for AMD CPUs. It just does not get any more better than this. Now we just need to know how this overclocking feature will compare to Intel’s processors, how power consumption and heat dissipation will be affected and what that all means for AMD’s balanced platform marketing pitch.

TG Daily

[hog]

The good old Turbo button!

[banj0]

hog, on Jun 6 2008, 06:53 PM, said:

The good old Turbo button!

Does voltage to the cpu not come into play with this? That article doesn't really explain that part.

shee-it, maybe I'm behind but vcore has a lot to do with stable OC'ing.

[m.oreilly]

well, if ldj and strom show up, i bet they would have some insight (phenom users). i wonder if this is some kinda voltage mod too...

[David_Heavey]

Ace up it's sleeve? Come on. I'm a huge AMD fan but they're screwed. Plain and simple. This won't help them at all.

[WFO]

David_Heavey, on Jun 7 2008, 06:25 PM, said:

Ace up it's sleeve? Come on. I'm a huge AMD fan but they're screwed. Plain and simple. This won't help them at all.

I tend to agree. Too little. Too late. Most of their customers have already gone to the darkside for performance.

Edited by WFO, 08 June 2008 - 02:33 AM.

[m.oreilly]

i can't say i've noticed any difference from switching from opties to xeon penryns. new mobo with newer linux kernel support is a plus, but as for performance, i dunno...

[stormrosson]

Not I WFO , I'm loyal if nothin else. You guys can scoff at my Phenom all u want but I ,with a moderate oc (2.74ghz) tend to better the core 2 duo's and fall just a little short, in some benchies of the Q9850 from Sintel hehehehe but it runs at 3 ghz I think. I still stick with AMD and always will barring some unfortunate incident that shuts em down

[David_Heavey]

stormrosson, on Jun 9 2008, 07:36 PM, said:

I still stick with AMD and always will barring some unfortunate incident that shuts em down

You mean like releasing products that can't match their rivals?

[stormrosson]

No Daveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee .....as in technology/microarchitecture stealing ala intel...low life theiving asswipes they are so errrr my response to your remark is....EAT MY SHORTS Irish boy

Edited by m.oreilly, 23 June 2008 - 04:15 PM.

[VROSA]

Quote

Does voltage to the cpu not come into play with this? That article doesn't really explain that part.

shee-it, maybe I'm behind but vcore has a lot to do with stable OC'ing.

It's just a 14% OC, I've seen many Intel and AMD systems oced up to 30% @ stock vcore

[stormrosson]

m.oreilly, on Jun 7 2008, 09:25 AM, said:

well, if ldj and strom show up, i bet they would have some insight (phenom users). i wonder if this is some kinda voltage mod too...

MO u know me I always oc via the bios....oc'ing the phenom is virtually the same as oc'in an Athlon/opteron 64....the silicon doesn't oc as stable as the opteron 939's did but as always a lot depends on the mobo stability at higher bus speeds, and only a small vcc increase is needed. The black label Phenoms with the **50 numerical model no's have an unlocked multiplier and generally oc to 3 ghz and a tad higher with a 10-15% performance gain simply from the errata fix on die instead of in the bios

[WFO]

m.oreilly, on Jun 8 2008, 06:28 PM, said:

i can't say i've noticed any difference from switching from opties to xeon penryns. new mobo with newer linux kernel support is a plus, but as for performance, i dunno...

Well being the greedy gus you are and wanting a server mobo with no OC options... I'm not surprised. 1 .2 GHZ plus overclocks are quite common on the Q6600s, 9450s and socket 775 Xeons. Actually I doubt you would notice anything in day to day use. If you were folding, video editing or doing massive number crunching I'm sure you would see the difference. No before and after benchies that challenged all 8 cores at the same time???

[godless]

I love the AMD has an ace up its sleeve.. I also love my realization that you must overclock your AMD cpu to have similar performance. Dont worry I wont tell anyone what happens if you overclock the cpu that is already faster.. (see head exploding)

I think that realization is almost as good as when I realized that back in the 939 days, Intel users had to overclock their cpus to get AMD performance, and we all laughed at Intel users...

I'm not laughing at die hard AMD users, my mouth is just watering at all the new Intel processors...

Edited by godless, 30 June 2008 - 03:34 PM.