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.
Now I need a good platform to unleash all that latent potential.
In comes the Gigabyte MA790FXT-UD5P, muchos gracias Gigabyte.
So I have a Phenom II X4 965 BE and I am feeling nice - thank you very much AMD.
AMD Phenom™ II Processors
Unbeatable multi-core value with AMD Phenom™ II processors. They deliver The Ultimate Visual Experience™ for high definition entertainment, advanced multitasking performance, and power-saving innovations for smaller, cooler machines that are energy efficient.
Features & Benefits
§ Smoother faster experience, even when running complex software application with native
§ Multi-Core Technology
§ Scaled performance to conserve PC power with HyperTransport® 3.0 Technology
§ Hear your music, not your PC with AMD PowerNow!™ Technology (Cool’n’Quiet™ Technology)
§ Prevent the spread of certain viruses and strengthen your network integrity with Enhanced Virus Protection (EVP)*
AMD Phenom™ II Processors Product Brief
Visual Experience
Live your life in HD. AMD Phenom™ II is for high definition entertainment, gaming, creativity, and beyond. With AMD Phenom™ II processors as the foundation, you'll enjoy a new level of responsiveness and visual intensity. AMD puts high definition computing within everyone’s reach.
Superior technologies for HD video. Enjoy a superior high definition experience for HD videos on you PC. AMD Phenom™ II processor are the powerful engine behind your fidelity, high definition video entertainment experience. Only AMD puts the Ultimate Visual Experience™ for HD video within your reach.
Enjoy entertainment beyond your media library. Get HD content online, offline, wherever you want it, however you want it. Your system can handle whatever you dish out - and serve it up on screen in full, high definition glory.*
Perfect chemistry. Combine AMD Phenom™ II processors and ATI Radeon™ HD graphics to really see the difference. Enjoy smooth video, brilliant videos and immersive games. AMD unleashes visual clarity and responsiveness for what you want to do.
Performance
Do it all. AMD Phenom™ II processors have the power to do it all. Featuring next-generation quad-core design, they crush even the most demanding tasks. So design it, render it, play it, create it, stream it, HD it.* With AMD Phenom™ II processors, if you can imagine it, you can do it.
Energy Efficient
Make a choice you can feel good about. AMD Phenom™ II processors were designed with energy efficiency in mind. Capitalizing on AMD's leadership in energy efficiency, they incorporate all of the latest technology that gives you performance when you need it and save power when you don’t.
Look for ENERGY STAR® with AMD. Thanks to AMD's power-saving innovations, you can count on machines based on AMD Phenom™ II processors for the energy efficiency you want and the performance you need.
*HD monitor required.
Phenom II X4 920
Phenom II X4 940 Phenom II X4 955 Phenom II X4 965
intel i7-940 CMOS Technology 45 nm 45 nm 45 nm 45 nm 45 nm Frequency 4 x 2.8 GHz 4 x 3.0 GHz 4 x 3.2 GHz 4 x 3.4 GHz 4 x 2.93 GHz L2-Cache
2 MB (4 x 512 KB) 2 MB (4 x 512 KB) 2 MB (4 x 512 KB) 2 MB (4 x 512 KB) 1MB (4 x 256 KB) L3-Cache 6 MB 6 MB 6 MB 6 MB 8 MB Socket AM2+ AM2+ AM3 AM3 LGA 1366 TDP 125W 125W 125W 140W 130W
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 judgment.
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 - Motherboard - GA-MA790FXT-UD5P
BIOS
Testing Setup
AMD Platform
intel Platform
Processor AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 Motherboard Gigabyte MA790FXT-UD5P VS Gigabyte EP45T-Extreme RAM Kingston Hyper-X 2GB PC14400 OCZ Platinum 2GB PC16000 Graphics card Palit HD4870 1GB dual sonic Hard-Disk Seagate 7200.10 250GB SMPS Silverstone DA 1000W OS MS Windows XP and Vista.
PCMark05 Performance
3Dmark Performance
3Dmark06 tests your system's DirectX 9 performance.
3Dmark Vantage tests your system's DirectX 10 performance.
Gaming Performance: Crysis
As you can see, the graphics card is the bottleneck here.
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.
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 speed:
CPU @ 3800 speed:
Overclocking 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.
Finally, a sneak peek at what's to come up soon -
Conclusion
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.
Gigabyte 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.
