AMD Phenom II X4 980 Processor Review

Testing:

Here at OverclockersClub, we put our hardware through a rigorous testing program. We use a combination of scientific and video benchmarks designed to push and stress the components which, along with our own extensive experience, gives us a good idea how they will perform in everyday computing. I placed the AMD Phenom II X4 980 processor up against a slew of other AMD and Intel processors so you get a good idea on where they stand among the other choices out there. All the supporting hardware is run at the same speeds, timings, voltages and latencies to ensure that there are no outside variables that will interfere with the scores.
 

 

Testing Setup: AMD AM3

• Processors: Phenom II X4 980, Phenom II X4 975, Phenom II X4 840, Phenom II X6 1100T, Phenom II X6 1075T, Phenom II X4 970, Athlon II X4 645, AMD Phenom II X4 965, Phenom II X6 1090T, AMD Phenom II X6 1100T
• Motherboard: ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3
• Cooling: Noctua NH-U12P SE
• Memory: Mushkin 996744 DDR3 1600MHz 8-8-8-24
• Video Card: XFX HD 5870
• Power Supply: Mushkin 800W Modular Power Supply
• Hard Drive: 1 x Seagate 1TB SATA
• Optical Drive: LG Supermulti DVD-R/W
• OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

 

Testing Setup: Intel Core i5/i7 Socket 1155

• Processors: Intel Core i5 2500K, Core i7 2600K
• Motherboard: Intel DP67BG
• Memory: Mushkin 996805 Redline PC312800 6-8-6-24 1600MHz 4GB
• Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD5870
• Power Supply: Mushkin 1000W Joule Modular power supply
• Hard Drive: 1 x Seagate 1TB SATA
• Optical Drive: Lite-On Blu-Ray
• OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

 

Testing Setup: Intel Core i5/i7 Socket 1156

• Processors: Intel Core i5 750, Core i7 870, Core I7 875, Core i5 655
• Motherboard: Asus Maximus III Formula
• Memory: Kingston HyperX KHX1600C*D3K2/4GX 2x2Gb 7-7-7-20 1333MHz
• Video Card : XFX HD 5870
• Power Supply: Mushkin 800W Modular Power Supply
• Hard Drive: 1 x Seagate 1TB SATA
• Optical Drive: Lite-On 8x DVD+/-RW
• OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

 

Testing Setup: Intel Core i7 Socket 1366

• Processors: Intel Core i7 965, Intel Core i7 920, Intel Core i7 980x
• Motherboard: MSI X58 Eclipse
• Memory: Mushkin HP3-12800 3x2GB 7-7-7-20 1600MHz
• Video Card: XFX HD 5870
• Power Supply: Mushkin 800W Modular Power supply
• Hard Drive: 1 x Seagate 1TB SATA
• Optical Drive: ASUS DVD-RW
• OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

 

Testing Setup: Intel Core i5 Clarksdale Socket 1156

• Processor: Intel Core i5 661
• Motherboard: Intel DH55TC (Tom Cove)
• Memory: Kingston HyperX KHX1600C*D3K2/4GX 2x2Gb 9-9-9-24 1333MHz
• Video Card : XFX HD 5870
• Power Supply: Mushkin 800W Modular Power Supply
• Hard Drive: 1 x Seagate 1TB SATA
• Optical Drive: Lite-On 8x DVD+/-RW
• OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

 

Comparison CPUs:

• Intel Core i5 2500K
• Intel Core i7 2600K
• Intel Core i5 750
• Intel Core i7 870
• Intel Core I7 875
• Intel Core i5 655
• AMD Phenom II X4 975
  
• AMD Phenom II X4 840
  
• AMD Phenom II X6 1100T
  
• AMD Phenom II X6 1075T
• AMD Phenom II X4 970
• Athlon II X4 645
• AMD Phenom II X4 965
• AMD Phenom II X6 1090T
• Intel Core i7 920
• Intel Core i7 965
• Intel Core i7 980X
• Intel Core i5 750
• Intel Core i7 870
• Intel Core i5 661

 

Overclocking:

Overclocked settings:

• Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 980 @ 4360MHz 212 x 20.5

With this being a "Black Edition" processor, overclocking can be done two ways. One, you can use only either the reference clock or multiplier, or you can adjust a combination of the two for the best overclock available. I prefer to use the combination of the two with the multiplier being adjusted first. I started off pushing up the multiplier 1x at a time while adjusting voltage until I was no longer able to benchmark stable. Once the limit was reached I backed off a half multiplier until I was again stable. Then I started increasing the reference clock paying attention to the other components affected by the increase. For the Phenom II X4 980 I was able to reach a top speed of 4.36GHz which came out to have a multiplier of 20.5x and a reference clock speed of 212MHz at 1.5v.

 

 

Maximum Clock Speeds:

Each CPU has been tested for stability at the clock speeds listed when in an overclocked state. These clock speeds will represent the overclocked scores in the testing.

 

 

Benchmarks:

• Scientific & Data:

1. Apophysis
2. WinRAR
3. Office 2007 Excel Number Crunch
4. POV Ray 3.7
5. Bibble 5
6. Sandra XII
7. ScienceMark 2.02
8. Cinebench 10 & 11.5
9. HD Tune 3.50

• Video:

1. Far Cry 2
2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
3. Batman: Arkham Asylum
4. 3DMark Vantage