AMD Phenom II Quad Core Overclocked to 6.3Ghz

November 24, 2008 by John Messina AMD 2009 Desktop Platforms

Picture courtesy of AMD

(PhysOrg.com) -- AMD has been showing off their soon to be released 45nm "Deneb" desktop chips which have been overclocked to 6.3Ghz. Unless you can get your hands on some liquid nitrogen, don´t expect to overclock this chip to 6.3Ghz. The Phenom II parts were also able to hit 4GHz with air cooling and 5GHz with dry ice cooling.

AMD stated that the extra level of headroom towards dramatic overclocking capacities on the Phenom II is due to a combination of architectural improvements over the original Phenoms first released late in 2007. In comparison to Intel´s top Core i7 processor listed as a 3.2 GHz part has been overclocked to 4.5 GHz on air cooling alone and some claim to have taken it to 5.7GHz using liquid nitrogen.

AMD states that their design works flawlessly from -200C to +100C. Of course the average person is not going to have access to these kinds of cooling methods but the demo does demonstrate that the new Phenom II processors are scalable when it comes to clock speeds and quite stable at high frequencies. The Phenom II X4 scales much better than the original Phenom X4 processors, which is obvious as they showed overclocking on several different systems with numerous processors.

AMD´s Taylor said the Phenom II demos conducted Thursday were done on what the chip maker is calling its "Dragon" platform which is a quad-core Phenom II processor. The Dragon platform will consist of a Phenom II processor, a Radeon HD 4000 series graphics card and an AMD 790GX chipset powered motherboard. With this platform AMD thinks they can take on Intel in the mainstream market, which they think is critical in this day where the economy is uncertain.

The Phenom II chip is due out sometime in the first quarter of 2009 and will be listed to run at 3.0 GHz off the shelf.

© 2008 PhysOrg.com


print this article email this article download pdf blog this article bookmark this article     Stumble it Digg this share on Facebook retweet share on Reddit add to delicious
Rate this story - 4 /5 (69 votes)

Rank Filter

Move the slider to adjust rank threshold, so that you can hide some of the comments.


Display comments: newest first

  • shyataroo - Nov 21, 2008
    • Rank: 2.7 / 5 (3)
    why dont you see people overclocking ram or Bus speed?
  • Flakk - Nov 21, 2008
    • Rank: not rated yet
    Good call. Any hardware people out there?
  • NeptuneAD - Nov 21, 2008
    • Rank: 4.8 / 5 (6)
    Unfortunately advances in CPU design are not mirrored by advances in motherboard design.

    Ram or Bus speeds aren't the issue, its the entire transport design, all devices should have fast access to control circuits, instead of a single multiple core CPU, perhaps each area should have its own independent CPU which is connected directly to the main CPU.

    What ever happens, one thing is for sure, something needs to be done to get computers out of this rut and into the 64bit era which has been waiting far too long.
  • Sirussinder - Nov 22, 2008
    • Rank: 5 / 5 (2)
    128 bit would be nice if things got rolling....and yes,,microsoft should only start releasing 64 OS only...
  • denijane - Nov 25, 2008
    • Rank: not rated yet
    NeptuneAD-could you explain what you mean about the 64bit era? Because my computer claims it is 64bit, and my Linux is 64 bit and I cannot install 32bit Linux on it. So..it looks 64 bit to me!

    Back on the Phenom- I don't get what's the point of presenting something so cool and then saying "oh, wait, you cannot reach those without liquid nitrogen". Well, thank you, that's soooo useful.

    We're barely managing to keep our Department's computer cluster cooled and it's only 96 CPUs. If AMD is planning to sell that new gorgeous processor to universities, I suggest it develop a coolant system that can be bought and serviced. Sure, it could be ok to cool with nitrogen your super computer if you are a Defence department for the US army, but it's not so ok, when you are a small theoretical department in a university without good financing.
  • thatguy - Jan 17, 2009
    • Rank: not rated yet
    NeptuneAD is right, the true bottlenecks in our computers are in the interconnects between hardware. We have 3.0GB/sec SATA-2, but can your motherboard do anything with 3GB/sec? Nope. Can your hard disk even pull or write data that fast? Nope. Do you think even the fastest $400 motherboard will know what to do with a quad-core running at 6GHz? You would use less than 10% CPU power at most, i bet.

    It's all about buzz words, selling people what they dont need, and driving the demand. Bleeding edge motherboards and controllers can not be invented/designed fast enough, and this CPU race to be the best between intel and amd has left everything else in the dust. Software has some catching up to do, big time.

    DeniJane, how many programs do you run in 64-bit? Look again... 90% of what you do on your 64-bit machine runs on an emulated x86 platform. Yes, we have a long ways to go before we see the true potential of 64-bit computing.

November 24, 2008 all stories

Comments: 6

4 /5 (69 votes)
  • Stumble this up

  • Digg this

  • share this

  • hide
  • Related Stories

  • AMD's Phenom II Takes On Intel's Core 2 Processors
    created Feb 09, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0
  • AMD Launches World's Fastest Motherboard GPU: AMD 790GX
    created Aug 06, 2008 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0
  • AMD Delivers Three New AMD Phenom X3 8000 Series Processors
    created Apr 24, 2008 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0
  • AMD Launches World's First x86 Triple-Core Processors
    created Mar 27, 2008 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0
  • AMD Introduces Cutting-Edge PC Platform
    created Nov 19, 2007 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0



  • hide
  • Relevant PhysicsForums posts

  • CFP: ISNN2010 (June 6-10, 2010; Shanghai, China)
    created 8 hours ago
  • Secret Knock Detecting Lock
    created 17 hours ago
  • Gas engine running on Veggie oil - need help
    created 17 hours ago
  • Egg drop contest
    created 21 hours ago
  • More from Physics Forums - General Engineering

Other News

Nokia said some of the chargers could cause an electrical shock and would be replaced for free

Nokia recalls millions of dangerous chargers

Electronics / Consumer & Gadgets

created 8 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Nokia, the world's biggest mobile phone maker, issued on Monday a global recall for 14 million faulty chargers made by a subcontractor this year.


Samsung launches a new vacuuming robot

Samsung launches a new vacuuming robot

Electronics / Consumer & Gadgets

created Nov 06, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (7) | comments 8

(PhysOrg.com) -- Samsung Electronics has launched its latest autonomous robot vacuum cleaner, the Tango, which is capable of vacuuming hardwood floors, carpets, and even beds without human assistance.


new iphone

Touchscreen smartphones being snatched up in US

Electronics / Consumer & Gadgets

created Nov 03, 2009 | popularity 2.7 / 5 (3) | comments 3

US smartphone buyers can't wait to get their hands on touchscreen devices, according to figures released Tuesday by industry tracker comScore.


Robot fish could monitor water quality

Robot fish could monitor water quality

Electronics / Robotics

created Nov 02, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 2

Nature inspires technology for an engineer and an ecologist teamed up at Michigan State University. They're developing robots that use advanced materials to swim like fish to probe underwater environments.


Posters promote Apple iPhones at a store in Beijing

iPhone disappoints in China launch: analysts

Electronics / Consumer & Gadgets

created Nov 08, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

The official launch of Apple's iPhone in China has been disappointing at best for mobile operator China Unicom, with the grey market still booming and competitors offering worthy alternatives, experts say.