AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Review

1. Introduction2. The AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition3. Testing Methodology and Overclocking4. Pairing up with the Noctua NH D14 Cooler5. SiSoft Sandra6. Cinebench R11.5 64 bit7. AIDA 648. Cyberlink Espresso9. 3D Studio Max 201110. Clock for Clock 4.4ghz: SiSoft Sandra11. Clock for clock 4.4ghz: Cinebench R11.512. Clock for Clock 4.4ghz: Super Pi 1.5 Mod13. Clock for Clock 4.4ghz: PcMark Vantage14. Clock for Clock 4.4ghz: Cyberlink Espresso15. Closing Thoughts16. View All Pages

The purpose of buying a Black Edition is to overclock it within an inch of its life. Thats not AMD's official stance on it mind you, but lets be honest, it is why they leave it unlocked. As I have said before there is a lot of debate online about how to overclock the quad core AMD processor, but the methodology behind it is very straightforward.

They like voltage, but you need to be sensible, rather than silly.

The topic of voltage limitations are always being argued and if you search on Google there will be literally 10 million forum threads with people shouting about what is safe. How far can you push the silicon? Will mine fry?

My own findings will obviously differ to other people, but I have never killed a modern day processor yet by giving it too much voltage, but I tend to stick to a certain limitation. My own views on this are that 1.58 volts on one of these processors is the maximum you should chance, but only if you are using high end air cooling, in the shape of something like the Noctua NH D14. I know I sound like a broken record, but this cooler really is still the cream of the crop. If you are using a lesser cooler then aim much lower.

How far did we manage to push the X4 980 Black Edition?

System validation available over here

I managed to get it to 4.5ghz with 1.62 volts, however from my own experiences with AMD processors this could be rather fatal long term and while it does look great on paper, there is only so far I am willing to go before recommending a little fallback for safety reasons. Die hard overclocking with LN2 will obviously not care and crank it much higher, but for 24/7 use in the heart of your new system build, its not recommended.

Officially, AMD rate the maximum voltage for these processors to 1.4 but this is a very safe rating to ensure failure rate is kept as low as possible. As with all overclocking information, I really don't want to be held responsible for fried hardware if you copy my settings, after all you are pushing it beyond the recommended specifications of the company who make them.

In the end we settled on 4.4ghz with 1.575 volts and temperatures rose to only 53c thanks to the awesome cooling power of the Noctua NH D14.

Our review systems of choice are as follows. As always special thanks to Intel, AMD and all the other companies involved for supplying the hardware.

We have specifically chosen the Intel Core i5 2500K as the main competitor for the X4 980 Black Edition. This processor is retailing for around £160 in the UK right now, making the pricing almost identical. Both are quad core designs, and the 2500k doesn't have Hyperthreading support either, meaning the comparison is as close as possible.

Later in the review, after comparing the processors at the reference clocks, we will overclock the AMD X4 980 Black Edition to 4.4ghz and match this clockspeed with the Core i5 2500k. Obviously, the Core i5 2500k will overclock higher than this (4.8ghz+), but we want to keep it on an even footing for this section of the review.

Main Review system:
Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 980 & 975 Black Edition
Processor: AMD Phenom II X6 1100T & 1055T
Memory: Kingston HyperX 8GB 1600Mhz Kit
Motherboard: MSI 890GXM-G65 (MS-7642)
Graphics Card: Sapphire HD6790
Power Supply: Thermaltake ToughPower Grand 750W
Chassis: Antec Dark Fleet DF-85
Cooler: Noctua NH D14
Drive: Crucial RealSSD 128GB

System validation available over here.

Main Compare System:
Processor: Intel Core i5 2500k (reference clocks and 4.4ghz – verification above)
Memory: Corsair 8GB 1600mhz
Motherboard: ASRock P67 Extreme4
Graphics Card: Sapphire HD6790
Power Supply: ADATA 850W
Chassis: Thermaltake Level 10GT
Cooler: Noctua NH D14
Drive: Intel 40GB SSD

Intel compare System 1:
Processor: Intel Core i5 760
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Tracer 4GB 1600mhz
Motherboard: ASRock P55 Extreme4
Graphics Card: AMD HD6950
Power Supply: Thermaltake ToughPower Grand 750W
Chassis: Antec Dark Fleet DF-85
Cooler: Noctua NH D14
Drive: Kingston 128GB SSD

Intel compare System 3:
Processor: Core i7-2600k
Memory: GSkill Ripjaws 4GB 2133mhz
Power Supply: Antec High Current Pro 850W
Motherboard: ASRock P67 Fatal1ty Pro
Cooler: Noctua NH D14
Thermal Paste: Noctua NT H1
Chassis: Thermaltake Level 10
Graphics: Inno3D GTX570
Drive: Intel X25-M SSD (160GB)
Operating System: Windows 7 64 bit

Software:
Windows 7 64 bit Enterprise Edition SP1 (fully updated)
FRAPS
PC Mark Vantage
SiSoft Sandra
Cinebench R11.5 64 bit
Cyberlink Media Espresso
3D Studio Max 2011
Super Pi Mod 1.5
AIDA Extreme

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