AMD Phenom II X6 1100T Black Edition Processor Review

👤by James Clewer Comments 📅07-12-10
Setup, clocking and temps


Test setup

Motherboard: Asus Crosshair IV Extreme
RAM: 4gb OCZ 1333MHz PC3-10666 C9 DDR3
HDD: 160gb WD 7200rpm SATA HDD
Optical drive: LG Bluray/HDDVD Multidrive
CPU cooler: Coolermaster Hyper TX3
PSU: Nexus RX-8500 850w
CASE: Dimastech Bench/Test Table Easy V2.5


Overclocking

As well as the instant 500MHz advantage over the 1055T's stock speed of 2.8GHz the Phenom II 1100T Black Edition has a fully unlocked multiplier which should allow extra flexibility for proper overclocking success.

With the multiplier upped you get added processor speed without the need to increase the FSB at all - this means that the motherboard should be less stressed at higher clocks further aiding successful clocking.

Initially I used CPU-Z to check the stock and Turbo Core speeds. As you can see that's the expected 3.3GHz with all cores used and 3.7GHz with three or fewer cores in use.


Stock.



Turbo Core in action.


I immediately upped the multiplier to 18x which returned a 3.6GHz core speed. Voltage was increased slightly as was Load Line Calibration (LLC) to guarantee stability although with extra tweaking I'm sure you'd be able to manage that kind of speed at close to stock voltage.

Since I wanted to push this chip beyond the 1055T's maximum overclock of 3.86GHz I continued to push on. With another increase in voltage, LLC and that multiplier upped to 20x we had 4GHz.


4GHz.


I tried to push further with various combinations of a 21x multi and stock 200MHz FSB and variations of lower multi and higher FSB with ever increasing voltages. I was able to get a stable enough run to run SuperPi but not to fully bench any of the other highly threaded programs and benchmarks.


4.2GHz but not 100% stable.


Almost certainly with improved cooling, extra voltage and more time to tweak it would stabilise I just didn't want to push it too much under a TX3 heatsink. Some users are returning 4.4GHz clocks with the 1100T but those are at high voltages around 1.6v which are beyond what I'd be prepared to push through this chip on anything other than watercooling or very very high end air.

All in all I was impressed at how easily it reached 4GHz - that Black Edition unlocked multiplier is certainly a useful tool!

Temperature

Temperatures at stock were very good and remained so even under hard clocking. Unlike the previously tested 1055T which got so hot I shut OCCT down as it rose up towards 80c.


Temps.


The Phenom II 1100T Black Edition just didn't seem to get hot like the 1055T which is very impressive - especially with that 140MHz additional clock and the potential for even more.



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