The complete OC analysis of the AMD Phenom II X6 1090T on ASUS Crosshair IV Formula

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The CPU market has made its great improvement recently.
All we saw before were 2-Core or 4-Core models on the market, but nowadays, we could find some 6-Core models released after Q2 / 2010.
AMD is the one of the biggest CPU manufacturer in the world, they launched two types of Phenom II X6 CPU at the end of April 2010,
meanwhile, they also issued the next generation of high-end 8-Core series chips which combined north bridge 890FX with south bridge SB850 together,
which made AMD platforms toward the new field.

There are two versions of AMD Phenom II X6 have been launched, one is middle level version of 1055T,
the other is the high-end version of 1090T Black Edition.

The market price of the 1055T is at around $6,300 NTD and the 1090T Black Edition is at around $9,300 NTD in Taiwan,
based on 6-Core CPU that the pricing this time can be regarded as the par route. We can say AMD thirst for the popularization of the market rapidly.
The more noteworthy one is the new Turbo Core technology, which is similar as the function of automatic over-clocking.

For example, the normal frequency of the 1090T Black Edition is at 3.2GHz,
but it can be achieved to 3.6GHz by opening Turbo Core function through BIOS settings.
But the function is limited which only can be actuated by using 3-Core; if higher than 3-Core, the frequency won’t be increased to 3.6GHz.

In the past few years, AMD put out all in one chipset with IGP function quite often and the updates were also very fast.
But for the high-end models, we hope the performance of AMD 890FX can be higher than 790FX which was released 2-3 years ago.

Let’s introduce more basic information about AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition,
the core name is Thuban, 6-Core, 45nm, TDP 125W, supports Turbo Core, frequency is 3.2GHz and 3MB for L2 Cache / 6MB for L3 Cache.

The back stitch of X6 1090T is compatible with AM3, users don’t need to pay extra expense to upgrade the platform,
what we need to do is to update new BIOS for 785G.

For MB segment, Asus Crosshair IV Formula is best partner to collocate AMD together.

The red and black match colors is in

At bottom left of the MB
4 X PCI-E of frequency is 2 X8 for 2 X16, to support CrossFireX
2 X PCI
Realtek 8111D dual network chip, to support Teaming
SupremeFX X-Fi uses VIA sound result chip,
to support 8 sound channel and High Definition Audio/X-FI/EAX Advanced HD 4.0 technology
Power.Reset and also have over-clocking button

At the bottom right of the MB
6X Red SATA, SB850 is offered, SATA3 specification, to support RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 10

At the right top of the MB
4 X DIMM DDR3, to support the 1066/1333/1600 (O.C. ) / 2000 (O.C. ), the supreme DDR3 capacity can be 16GB
24 - PIN power beside it

At the left top of the MB
The installation place of AM3 CPU, adopt 8+2 phases to supply power
Above see by USB the 3.0s NEC chip

IO
7 X USB 2.0
2 X USB 3.0 (blue)
Network hole of 1 X RJ-45
1 X eSATA
1 X S/PDIF Out
1 X 1394a
Clr CMOS presses the button

PSU is the supreme TPQ-1200 from Antec, the matching of red and black is suitable for this kind of high-end AMD platform
This PSU is certificated with 80 Plus silver medal certification for high efficiency and energy-conservation.

 

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PowerCache high electric capacity of compensation, 80mm PWM a pair of ball fans…etc to add its character.

VGA is HD5830 of ATI latest series
After AMD merged ATI, it feels that AMD developed a very well market on VGA in the past two years.
ATI is comparatively fast to lunch new products, and the C/P rates seem also higher to make the two “A” group creating a bigger market for themselves.

By the way, high-end VGA board seems a little bit longer than previous ones. The 5830 on hand is longer than GTX260.
And the “Black/Red” of ATI VGA seem a very good match on AMD MB.

Let’s go outside and take some fresh air and then we are going to do some function tests later on.

Test platform
CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition
MB: ASUS Crosshair IV Formula
DRAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR CMD4GX3M2B1600C7
VGA: ATI Radeon HD 5830 CrossFire
HD: CORSAIR CMFSSD-128GBG2D
POWER: Antec TPQ-1200
Cooler: Thermaltake Frio
OS: Windows7 Ultimate 64bit

Preserve efficiency
CPU 200.7 X 16 =>3210.9MHz
DDR3 1605.4 CL7 7-7-21 1T

Hyper 12 X PI 32M=> 23m 18.745s
CPUMARK 99 =>494
Fritz Chess Benchmark =>23.54/11298

CrystalMark 2004R3 =>212169

CINEBENCH R11.5
CPU =>5.67 pts
CPU(Single Core) =>1.09 pts

PCMark Vantage =>13009

The records of Phenom II X6 1090T seem much higher than Phenom II X4 by the major testing programs.
Especially the efficiency of Phenom II X6 1090T can be higher 50% more than X4.
Phenom II X6 also can save some operation time for users if they require “multi-high-loading” software.

Temperature
The stand-by of the system -27/38

 

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The full speed of OCCT -37/45

The data of temperature, the radiator of quality and inaccuracy of the software must be taken into account,
however, based on AMD 6Cores made under 45nm to produce it that the performance of temperature is outstanding no matter at stand-by or full speed.

3D performance - ATI Radeon HD 5830 CrossFire
Hour pulse of GPU/GDDR5 800/1000

3DMark Vantage
CPU SCORE =>16667
GPU SCORE =>19308

StreetFighter IV Benchmark
1920 X 1200 =>148.58FPS

Biohazard5 Benchmark
1280 X 720 =>90.9 fps

Call of Juarez
1024 X 768 =>Avg 80.7

The performance of ATI Radeon HD 5830 is very close to the high-end VGA level

The power consumption testing
The stand-by of the system -140W

CPU at full speed -206W

There is only 76W different from the power consumption on X6 1090T between full speed and stand-by mode.
And the total power consumption is 140W, AMD is doing very well in consumption this time.

The efficiency of south bridge
Efficiency specification 220/180 MB/s of CORSAIR CMFSSD-128GBG2D SSD

ATTO DISK Benchmark exceeds above 128k, read can be 217 MB/s at most while testing and write can be 190 MB/s
CrystalDiskMark that read can be 230.9 Mb/s, writes can be 175.1 MB/s
FDEBENCH that read can be 230 Mb/s, write can be 177 MB/s

The reading efficiency of the new edition south bridge can reach to 217-230 MB/s.
And there is no big difference with the average writing speed, which is still between the range of 175~190 MB/s by the official report.
The SB850 not only supports SATA 3.0 but also performs very well in SATA transmission. And next time, I will test the RAID0 function,
And hope which will be also better than the previous AMD chipsets.

 

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Exceed the efficiency frequently
CPU 281 X 14.5 =>4073.9MHz
DDR3 1873 CL8 8-8-24 1T

BIOS setting of the picture

Hyper 12 X PI 32M=> 19m 09.894s
CPUMARK 99 =>559
Fritz Chess Benchmark =>29.29/11298

CrystalMark 2004R3 =>252869

CINEBENCH R11.5
CPU =>1.22 pts
CPU(Single Core) =>7.09 pts

PCMark Vantage =>13898

After we over-clocked X6 1090T to 4073MHz frequently, the records from most testing programs are going up 20-30%.
But the strange thing is that there is no big difference from the PCMark Vantage,
Generally speaking, the more cores we have the lower over-clocking range it performs, but it can be stable by using 1.45V,
so it means the over-clocking capability of X6 is not lower than X4,
If we add more voltage on X6 to make it over 1.6V, it might be able to reach to 4.3-4.4GHz.
Due to the stability is not steady, I didn’t do more relative testing on it.

Temperature performance
The stand-by of the system -29/43

OCCT at full speed -48/54

 

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3D efficiency -ATI Radeon HD 5830 CrossFire
Hour pulse of GPU/GDDR5 875/1200

3DMark Vantage
CPU SCORE =>20584
GPU SCORE =>21123

StreetFighter IV Benchmark
1920 X 1200 =>162.81FPS

Biohazard5 Benchmark
1280 X 720 =>109.1 fps

Call of Juarez
1024 X 768 =>Avg 84.5

There’s no much MHz can be adjustable based on the enclosed program of ATI Catalyst,
There are 5~20% of efficiency can be improved under the different 3D software, if you want to advance its performance; you need to find VGA software in addition.

The power consumption testing
The stand-by of the system -155W

CPU at full speed -280W

The different power consumption between stand-by and full speed is 125W or so,
it can be acceptable after the comparison between Power consumption data and efficiency that CPU improved.

DDR3 efficiency
Corsair DOMINATOR-GT CMD4GX3M2B1600C7 will be best match with AMD

DRAM DDR3 1605.4 CL7 7-7-21 1T
Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 13563 MB/s
EVEREST Memory Read - 9361 MB/s

DRAM DDR3 1873 CL8 8-8-24 1T
Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 15101 MB/s
EVEREST Memory Read - 10296 MB/s

 

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DRAM DDR3 2006.6 CL9 9-9-24 1T
Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 13484 MB/s
EVEREST Memory Read - 9726 MB/s

To upgrade to DDR3 1800 is the character of AMD 890FX, the previous AMD chips only can run DDR3 under 1600~1700.
If BIOS can be improved more, it’s possible to reach to DDR3 1900~2000.
AMD has upgraded their supporting on DRAM frequency to a standard level,
but it will be prefect if AMD platform can emphasize more enhanced frequency performance in the future design.

AMD new series of Phenom II X6 bring a very good help to the customers who need multiple operations,
also the temperature and power consumption is less than my expectation under 45nm proceeding technology.
Furthermore, the price of X6 CPU is pretty reasonable to compare with the similar high level products.
If you just intend to upgrade your PC to Phenom II X4,
I think it’s a very good choice to make it directly to Phenom II X6 1055T with only few expense.
For those users who already have AMD3 chipset, most of them are also quite easy to have it supported with Phenom II X6 by using the BIOS update.

Recently AMD put out a series of product lines just like 880G/870/890GX/890FX to support their own new CPU models.
The over-clocking frequency and the data transfer rates are also better are higher with 890FX North bridge chip I tested,
and the SB850 South bridge chip also supports SATA 3.0.
But I think it would be wonderful to make AMD chipsets fully functional if which can also supports USB3.0 by single chip.

Although the performance of AMD CPU is not as well as their competitor’s on the same frequency level,
but the “multi-core” & “pricing” strategy seem workable and helpful to expand their market a lot.
Just liked I mentioned before that it is the new CPU generation in 2010 after INTEL and AMD individually launch their 6-Core CPUs,
and which has started a new generation of competition.
Rely on the pricing advantage, let’s expect that AMD will put out more Phenom II X6 series on the market in the near future.
Users will be able to upgrade their PC to Phenom II X6 with a lower pricing or they can still keep their old MB by using the BIOS update.
We believed it will be a great advantage for both AMD and all users.