It has been a fairly long time since I have been on and had fun benching an AMD setup.
So looking at the huge interest amongst techies in present generation Phenom II processors, I guess spending some time with a Phenom II setup was inevitable.
So I have a 965 BE and I am feeling nice - thank you very much AMD.
Now I need a good platform to unleash all that latent potential.
In comes the Gigabyte MA790FXT-UD5P, muchos gracias Gigabyte.
(BTW, This is not a review. This is just a summary of my experiences with this platform)
[BREAK=Processor Details]
Sounds impressive.
But techies/geeks/nerds, technology enthusiasts in short, are a hard bunch to please. They have to have a hands-on experience before they form an opinion or pass a judgement.
[BREAK=Motherboard Details]
Moving on to the motherboard.
Those who have owned and maybe lived their Gigabyte motherboards, especially the top-of-the-line models, will know that these things mean serious business right out of the box.
The board is the same, top quality stuff that I have been witnessing since the past few years.
Gigabyte MA790FXT-UD5P main features :
AMD 790FX + SB750 Chipset
GIGABYTE - Product - Motherboard - Overview - GA-MA790FXT-UD5P (rev. 1.0)
[BREAK=Images]
Motherboard:
AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE
Intel Core 2 Duo E8600
Gigabyte MA790FXT-UD5P
Gigabyte EP45T-Extreme
Kingston Hyper-X 2GB PC14400
OCZ Platinum 2GB PC16000
Palit HD4870 1GB dual sonic
Seagate 7200.10 250GB
Silverstone DA-1000
Coolers:
OEM socket 939 Opteron 165 cpu cooler used for 965
Intel stock cooler used for E8600
Microsoft Windows XP and Vista were used to conduct the tests.
Note 2: Tests will be conducted at stock cpu speeds and higher than stock cpu speed too.
[BREAK=Cinebench Performance]
MAXON CINEBENCH runs several tests on your computer to measure the performance of the main processor and the graphics card under real-world circumstances.
CPU @ Stock:
CPU @ 3800:
[BREAK=Max Overclock with air-cooling]
The following results were obtained with a Thermalright Ultra120 Extreme cpu cooler, coupled with an Antec 120mm 78cfm 2000rpm fan.
To extract a little more, something we all crave for, the gpu was overclocked to higher than stock speeds
Anything higher than this on CPU and it will not allow to complete the benchmark run.
[BREAK=Personal Take]
Phenom II X4 965: As indicated by the huge excitement generated around the Phenom II line-up of processors, the X4 965 Black Edition being the premium flag bearer it surely does not disappoint. The processor is fast enough for most daily computing needs at stock speed and has a fair enough overclocking headroom. Thanks to the unlocked multipliers which make it a breeze to run it at higher than stock speed. There is a marked improvement in performance over the previous generations. Considering the combined prices of a retail 965 processor and a top notch motherboard (to extract the maximum), the AMD platform still falls behind in overall performance compared to an Intel Core i7 system selling at an almost similar price point. Last but not the least, AMD is slowly but steadily trying to reach the performance levels set by the new generation Intel processors.
Now MA790FXT-UD5P:
What's become the norm for Gigabyte motherboards continues with the 790FXT. The board reeks quality from every slot to SMD. The new heatpipe cooling system has a distinctly neat look and finish and the board has all the features typical of boards boasting the Ultra Durable 3 technology. Not once did the board even seemingly falter when put through it's paces. Anyone going the AM3 way should definitely consider the Gigabyte MA790FXT-UD5P before finalising their shopping list.
This boards gets my vote as one of the best boards out there for the AM3 platform.
Finally, a sneak peek at what's to come up soon...
Update (28-09-2009) : http://www.techenclave.com/overcloc...hill-amd-phenom-ii-x4-147713.html#post1265958
So looking at the huge interest amongst techies in present generation Phenom II processors, I guess spending some time with a Phenom II setup was inevitable.
So I have a 965 BE and I am feeling nice - thank you very much AMD.
Now I need a good platform to unleash all that latent potential.
In comes the Gigabyte MA790FXT-UD5P, muchos gracias Gigabyte.
(BTW, This is not a review. This is just a summary of my experiences with this platform)
[BREAK=Processor Details]
X4 965 DetailsAMD said:
Sounds impressive.
But techies/geeks/nerds, technology enthusiasts in short, are a hard bunch to please. They have to have a hands-on experience before they form an opinion or pass a judgement.
[BREAK=Motherboard Details]
Moving on to the motherboard.
Those who have owned and maybe lived their Gigabyte motherboards, especially the top-of-the-line models, will know that these things mean serious business right out of the box.
The board is the same, top quality stuff that I have been witnessing since the past few years.
Gigabyte MA790FXT-UD5P main features :
AMD 790FX + SB750 Chipset
- Ultra Durable 3 Technology with 2oz copper cooled quality, ferrite core choke, Japanese solid capacitors for lower working temperature, improved energy efficiency and enhanced stability for overclocking.
- Revolution energy saving design with Easy Energy Saver technology
- Supports socket AM3 45nm AMD Phenom II series processors
- Advanced 8+2 power phase design for- more than enough supply for AMD high-TDP 140W cpu, plus extreme DDR3 overclocking ability and 45nm CPU highly efficiency support
- Dual Channel DDR3 1666+ for remarkable system performance
- 2 PCI-E 2.0 x16 interface with ATI CrossFireX support for ultimate graphics performance
- 2 Gigabit Ethernet LAN with Teaming functionality
- Power/reset/Clr CMOS onboard button for power users
- Blu-ray playback supported by high quality 106dB SNR ALC889A HD audio
- Supports Dolby Home Theater audio to enjoy a rich surround sound experience
- Patented DualBIOS with dual hardware BIOS protection
- 10 SATA 3GB/s ports and RAID.
GIGABYTE - Product - Motherboard - Overview - GA-MA790FXT-UD5P (rev. 1.0)
[BREAK=Images]
Motherboard:
[BREAK=BIOS]
As usual Gigabyte BIOS gives you full control of the chip and board.
[BREAK=Testing Setup]
Test setup : AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE
Intel Core 2 Duo E8600
Gigabyte MA790FXT-UD5P
Gigabyte EP45T-Extreme
Kingston Hyper-X 2GB PC14400
OCZ Platinum 2GB PC16000
Palit HD4870 1GB dual sonic
Seagate 7200.10 250GB
Silverstone DA-1000
Coolers:
OEM socket 939 Opteron 165 cpu cooler used for 965
Intel stock cooler used for E8600
Microsoft Windows XP and Vista were used to conduct the tests.
Note 1: I am adding an Intel setup for comparision. Components used are solely chosen on the basis of what was available conveniently.
Note 2: Tests will be conducted at stock cpu speeds and higher than stock cpu speed too.
[BREAK=Super Pi]
"Super Pi" does not need an introduction. One of the most popular benchmarks for testing CPU performance.
[BREAK=PCMark05 Performance]
Another popular PC benchmark, PCmark05 analyses the performance of your pc and determines its strengths and weaknesses.
[BREAK=3Dmark Performance]
A 3DMark score is an overall measure of your system’s 3D gaming capabilities, based on comprehensive real-time 3D graphics and processor tests.
3Dmark06 tests your system's DirectX 9 performance.
3Dmark Vantage tests your system's DirectX 10 performance.
[BREAK=Gaming Performance: Crysis]
One of the most awaited and visually stunning games of the present times. Crysis brings most gaming rigs down to their knees.
As you can see, the graphics card is the bottleneck here.
[BREAK=Gaming Performance: Far Cry 2]
[BREAK=Gaming Performance: Far Cry 2]
A hit or miss with gamers, Far Cry 2 still stands as one of the decent games to test the gaming performance of one's system.
[BREAK=Cinebench Performance]
MAXON CINEBENCH runs several tests on your computer to measure the performance of the main processor and the graphics card under real-world circumstances.
CPU @ Stock:
CPU @ 3800:
[BREAK=Max Overclock with air-cooling]
The following results were obtained with a Thermalright Ultra120 Extreme cpu cooler, coupled with an Antec 120mm 78cfm 2000rpm fan.
To extract a little more, something we all crave for, the gpu was overclocked to higher than stock speeds
Anything higher than this on CPU and it will not allow to complete the benchmark run.
[BREAK=Personal Take]
Phenom II X4 965: As indicated by the huge excitement generated around the Phenom II line-up of processors, the X4 965 Black Edition being the premium flag bearer it surely does not disappoint. The processor is fast enough for most daily computing needs at stock speed and has a fair enough overclocking headroom. Thanks to the unlocked multipliers which make it a breeze to run it at higher than stock speed. There is a marked improvement in performance over the previous generations. Considering the combined prices of a retail 965 processor and a top notch motherboard (to extract the maximum), the AMD platform still falls behind in overall performance compared to an Intel Core i7 system selling at an almost similar price point. Last but not the least, AMD is slowly but steadily trying to reach the performance levels set by the new generation Intel processors.
Now MA790FXT-UD5P:
What's become the norm for Gigabyte motherboards continues with the 790FXT. The board reeks quality from every slot to SMD. The new heatpipe cooling system has a distinctly neat look and finish and the board has all the features typical of boards boasting the Ultra Durable 3 technology. Not once did the board even seemingly falter when put through it's paces. Anyone going the AM3 way should definitely consider the Gigabyte MA790FXT-UD5P before finalising their shopping list.
This boards gets my vote as one of the best boards out there for the AM3 platform.
Finally, a sneak peek at what's to come up soon...
Update (28-09-2009) : http://www.techenclave.com/overcloc...hill-amd-phenom-ii-x4-147713.html#post1265958
