[windwithme]

Every year I always spend some time to write an article
about mainstream PC platform recommendation for choosing the high C/P value mainstream products.
Users can pay less get more performance products.
AMD stuck in 65nm for couple year and not much progress.
It caused two main weaknesses for Phenom X4 CPU, high power consumption and over heat.
That�fs why I didn�ft write too many reviews with AMD platform.

Since 2009, AMD launched 45nm CPU and still keep in parity.
After then, AMD announced a series X2/X3/X4 CPU, and also can enable cores and L3 cache.
It makes AMD ramp up the market share in 2nd half 2009. Of course, the parity motherboard is also the key factor.
Especially the economy crisis in 2009, the users lower their cost in many consumer products.

AMD CPU highest C/P one is Athlon II X3 425/435, the price is around 66~75 USD.
This CPU may enable quad cores by MB south bridge.
However, please be aware that it�fs not 100%.
If it�fs unstable, please back to the tri-core to operate.
Another model is Athlon II X4 620/630, the price is around 93~107 USD.
The main difference with Phenom II X4 is no L3 cache.
It also has opportunity to enable it to be complete Phenom II X4.
This time I use Phenom II X2 545 for quad core test. You cannot find this model in the market already.

Besides, I use Micro-ATX MB which is AMD main segment in few years.
AMD uses their leading UMA performance and lower price to compete with the other chipset provides.
This article introduces three 785G MB to enable Phenom/Athlon II being X4 and OC performance.

First model is DFI LANPARTY BI 785G-M35
The market price is about 108USD.


Lower Left Corner
1 X PCI-E X16
1 X PCI-E X1
2 X PCI
LAN chip is JMicron JMC250
Audio chip is Realtek ALC885 and use tantalum chip capacitor for better audio quality


Lower Right Corner
6 X black SATAII by SB710. SATA2 and support RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 0+1
1 X IDE


Upper Right Corner
4 X DIMM DDR3 support 800/1066/1333/1600(O.C.)
The maximum DDR3 capacity is 16GB. DDR3 1600 no need to OC CPU.
Next by is 24-PIN power connector


Upper Left Corner
AM3 CPU Socket, 4+1 PWM
Next to heat sink is hynix 128MB DDR3 SidePort Memory



Second is GIGABYTE GA-MA785GPMT-UD2H
The market price is about 99 USD.


Lower Left Corner
1 X PCI-E X16
1 X PCI-E X1
2 X PCI
LAN chip is Realtek 8111C
Audio chip is Realtek ALC889A supports 7.1 channel and Dolby Home Theater technology


Lower Right Corner
5 X light blue SATAII by SB710. SATA2 and support RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 10 and RAID JBOD�B
1 X IDE


Upper Right Corner
4 X DIMM DDR3 support 800/1066/1333/1600/1800(OC). The maximum capacity is 16GB DDR3.
Next by are Dual BOIS and 24-PIN power connector


Upper Left Corner
AM3 CPU Socket, 4+1 PWM
It also has 128MB DDR3 SidePort Memory

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Third one is BIOSTAR TA785G3 HD
The price is around 80USD, the cheapest in these 3 models. It�fs also the only one without solid capacitor design.


Lower Left Corner
1 X PCI-E X16
1 X PCI-E X1
2 X PCI
LAN chip is Realtek RTL8111DL
Audio chip is Realtek ALC888 supports HD Audio 8+2 channels.


Lower Right Corner
6 X yellow SATAII by SB710.SATA2 and support RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 10
1 X IDE
Power�AReset buttons and debug LED


Upper Right Corner
4 X DIMM DDR3 support 800/1066/1333/1600(OC). The maximum capacity is 16GB DDR3.
Next by is 24-PIN power connector


Upper Left Corner
AM3 CPU Socket, 4+1 PWM
Next to heat sink is SAMSUNG 128MB DDR3 SidePort Memory


IO comparison from up to down are GIGABYTE-DFI-BIOSTAR
You can see GIGABYTE has eSATA and 1394
DFI has complete S/PDIF fiber and coaxial output


Three 785G models all have different advantages.
No matter they are good components, better spec or lower price.
User can choose by budget, brand, after service and personal like.
In picking MB, there is no better or worse at all.


BIOS will be more focus in OC setup.
The below setups are 785G running at 300MHz below.

GIGABYTE GA-MA785GPMT-UD2H BIOS screen


It also supports enable core 3 only option.
If your CPU cannot be stable in quad core, you can back to try 3 cores as well.


Built-in HD4200 default clock Core/Memory is 500/1066


DFI LANPARTY BI 785G-M35 BIOS screen

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Built-in HD4200 default clock Core/Memory is 700/1333


DFI also provides enable core 3 only option


BIOSTAR TA785G3 HD BIOS screen




User can decide your own core leveling


Built-in HD4200 default clock Core/Memory is 500/1333


All three brands 785G can run stable at 300Mhz
The main BIOS option is setting HT Link Frequency/CPU NB Clock Ratio to X7 or 1.4GHz
Due to the high competition in MB market and OC market ramp up, even Micro-ATX also provide more OC options.
You can see three models BIOS options are rich for user to do fine tune.


Configuration
CPU: AMD Phenom II X2 545
MB: BISOATR/DFI/GIGABYTE 785G
DRAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR CMD8GX3M4A1600C8
VGA: ATI Radeon HD 4200
HD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB
POWER: CORSAIR CX400W
Cooler: Thermaltake S18
OS: Windows7 Ultimate 64bit


Enable cores and OC will generate more heat, so you need to pay more for a powerful cooler.
I pick the lower price one, Thermaltake S18, around 16 USD.


The disadvantage of S18 is installing in AMD platform, the heat pipe position is not good.
It may interfere with the DDR3 with heat sink.

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DDR3 is CORSAIR DOMINATOR CMD8GX3M4A1600C8
Due to the interference with Cooler, the test configuration changes to 2GBX2
The spec is DDR3 1600 CL8 8-8-24 1T 1.65V


2GBX2 version is all black and 2GBX4 version is partial blue.
Two versions are different.2GBX2 price is around 130USD.


Using GIGABYTE GA-MA785GPMT-UD2H to test DDR3 performance
DDR3 1600 CL8 8-8-20 1T 1.600V
Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 8981 MB/s
EVEREST Memory Read - 13735 MB/s


DDR3 1600 CL7 7-7-21 1T 1.750V
Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 9415 MB/s
EVEREST Memory Read - 13760 MB/s


You can see DDR3 bandwidth are some different in CL8 and CL7
Besides, AMD CPU built-in memory controller hasn’t improved for years, which are why DRAM bandwidth is still far behind Intel platform.
If you use 790FX chipset, DDR3 bandwidth will be higher 500~1000 MB/s. 790FX can set this memory set in CL6.
More high-end AMD chipset also improves more DDR3 bandwidth.

GIGABYTE GA-MA785GPMT-UD2H Performance
CPU 300 X 12.5 => 3750MHz
DDR3 1600 CL8 8-8-20 1T
VGA 500/1066

Nuclearus Multi Core => 16620
Fritz Chess Benchmark => 18.99/9115


CrystalMark 2004R3 => 191161


CINEBENCH R10
1 CPU=> 4224
x CPU=> 15236


PCMark Vantage => 6833


3DMARK2006 => 1774


OC 750/1600 => 2406

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DFI LANPARTY BI 785G-M35 Performance
CPU 300 X 12.5 => 3750MHz
DDR3 1600 CL8 8-8-20 1T
VGA 700/1333

Nuclearus Multi Core => 16779
Fritz Chess Benchmark => 19.01/9124


CrystalMark 2004R3 => 195212


CINEBENCH R10
1 CPU=> 4206
x CPU=> 14571


PCMark Vantage => 7170


3DMARK2006 => 2351


OC 750/1600 => 2482



BIOSTAR TA785G3 HD Performance
CPU 300 X 12.5 => 3750MHz
DDR3 1600 CL8 8-8-20 1T
VGA 500/1333

Nuclearus Multi Core => 16537
Fritz Chess Benchmark => 19.09/9161


CrystalMark 2004R3 => 185839


CINEBENCH R10
1 CPU=> 4235
x CPU=> 15733


PCMark Vantage => 7172

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3DMARK2006 => 1700


OC 750/1600 => 2478


CrystalMark 2004R3 and PCMark Vantage scores have big difference.
The main reason is these 3 models HD 4200 default clock are different.
The other benchmark scores are similar.
We can treat the small drop as allowable error.

Built-in VGA HD 4200 performance, because DFI default clock is 700MHz, it causes 3D performance is higher.
But the DRAM BIOS is only 1333.
GIGABYTE has VGA DRAM option to 1600.
It also enhance the 3D performance.
BIOSTAR can OC core to 820MHz. It’s the highest one in these 3 models.
Even though, I think they all use same 785G chipset and also some drop in different chipset lot.
So you can treat they are same level in performance.

Using DFI LANPARTY BI 785G-M35 to test power consumption
AMD Phenom II X2 545 3000Mhz
System Standby - 73W


CPU Full Speed - 102W


AMD Phenom II X4 B45 3750Mhz
System Standby - 75W


CPU Full Speed - 153W


AMD platform power consumption in X2 and X4 are same as standby condition.
After enable X4 CPU and pull clock to 3.75GHz full speed, it is 51W more than X2.
Using quad core CPU will be more power consumption.
However, it’s still acceptable.



The CPU OC ability is almost same for these 3 models.
BIOS options are very rich to let users can tune up the performance.
Besides enable X4, they all provide enable X3 option.
It makes X2 CPU tunes up easily.
These three 785G has their own advantages.
GIAGBYTE has full features, DFI has better heat design and BIOSTAR non-solid capacitor design makes it be cheaper.
Also they all have different lack points, so I think it’s unfair to pick up any one be the best choice.

For choosing AMD CPU, I think the best C/P is Athlon II X4 620.
X4 620 can enable L3 cache to increase the performance.
Athlon II X3 425 is cheaper and also has L3 cache. However, if you are unlucky,
the 4th core cannot be enabled, 425 L3 performance is lower than 620 with quad core.
Not all Athlon II X2/X3/X4 CPU can guarantee to be able to enable L3 or X4.
So when you buy AMD CPU, I suggest you can choose X4 620.

Of course there are more brands in the market for you to choose.
This article bases on my personal configuration to make the OC and Performance reference guide.

You can choose your own best one by budget, requirement and brands.

The test above is just for the users who have same budget or requirement as me to refer.

Finally, wish all of you can build up your highest C/P and best matched quad core PC in 2010.

Windwithme wish you all the best in 2010. Thanks.




This is my latest toy.
12/17 2009, Sony launched the very popular game FF13 and PS3 combo limited edition.
Recalling my memory, I haven’t been playing game for long time.
My PS2 is under dust over 4 years.
Only this AMD OC guide takes me 4 weeks to face some unstable and tuning performance.
I always reinstall OS, fine tune BIOS and repeat run the benchmark software.
This article really takes time to get it done.
I wish I could have time to play games in 2010. I think it should be good for leisure time.