AMD Phenom II 965 Processor Review

ajmatson - August 12, 2009
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Testing:

To test the power and speed of the new Phenom II X4 965 processor, I will put it through a series of benchmarks that test the scientific and video processing capabilities. To give you a nice comparison to other top end processors being used currently, I included the AMD Phenom II X4 955 and the Intel Core i7 920 and 965 processor scores so we get a clear idea of where the Phenom II X4 965 sits. All hardware used was set to its native operating speeds, timings, and voltages to keep any variables from interfering with the scores. Because of time constraints and hardware availability, the video testing phase will have some of the newer chips included, however not all of them will be shown.

Testing Setup AMD AM3 CPU's:

Processor(s): AMD Phenom II X4 965, AMD Phenom II X4 955
Motherboard: Gigabyte MA790FXT-UD5P
Memory: Corsair XMS3 DHX DDR3 2 x 2GB 1600MHz @ 1600MHz 7-7-7-20
Video Card : NVIDIA GTX 260 (216)
Power Supply: Mushkin 800w Modular Power Supply
Hard Drive: 1 x Seagate 7200.11 750GB SATA w/32MB Cache
Optical Drive: Lite-On 8x DVD+/-RW
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate Edition

Testing Setup I7 CPU's:

Processor: Intel Core i7 920, Intel Core i7 965
Motherboard: MSI X58 Eclipse
Memory: Mushkin HP3-12800 3x2GB 7-7-7-20 1600MHz
Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 260 (216)
Power Supply: Mushkin 800watt Modular Power supply
Hard Drive: 1 x Seagate 1TB SATA
Optical Drive: LG DVD-RW
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate Edition

Comparison CPUs:

Overclocking:

Overclocked settings:

Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 965 @ 3.913GHz (211x18.5) 1.50v
System Memory: Corsair XMS3 DHX @ 1689MHz (7-7-7-20)

When it came to the multiplier, anything over 18.5x and the computer would not boot at all. Even pushing the voltage on the CPU, NB and the HT just as I did with the Phenom II X4 955, I could not get any more out of it without getting too hot and blue screening. When it came to pushing the reference clock, I hit the wall at 211MHz. Just as with the multiplier any more would make the system unstable. During the overclocking I really had to watch the temps because they sat in the low 60C range; the maximum specified temperature for the Phenom II X4 965 is 65C, which made me nervous. It did remain stable so the final settings I ran for the overclock were 3.913GHz at 1.5v and memory speeds of 1689MHz at 7-7-7-20 timings.