Sapphire HD 4870

*

Hardware Specification:

*

Testing: Setup & Overclocking

The card was tested in 2 platforms below for benchmark results.

Results is generated using stock speed & overclocked speed of the card.

Testbed 1:

Testbed 2:

Overclocking:

The max stable speed is 840MHz core / 1100MHz memory. (which is only 10MHz core away from HD4890 stock. Impressive. ^^)

Benchmarks:

1. 3DMark06
2. 3DMark Vantage (Entry, Performance, High)

*

Testing: 3DMark06

*

Testing: 3DMark Vantage

*

Conclusion:

The card is priced around 550+- MYR. Just a bit core speed required to achieve HD 4890 stock speed, but in vain.

Any increment of core speed will yield instability.

In general, Sapphire HD 4870 is still a nice card provided the price and the performance it offers.

Palit GTX260+ Sonic 896MB

*

Hardware Specification:

We tested this graphic card in 2 platforms in latest 3DMark which is 3DMark Vantage.

In Intel platform, we using stock clock speed to run the benchmark w/ HT on & Turbo off.

It is unfair to Intel but we just want to see how much AMD can keep up w/ Intel i7 920.

For AMD platform, we unlocked it to quad. And this processor is overclocked to 3800MHz.

Let us not to waste any time and see “numbers” xD

*

Results:

Isn’t it interesting? A MYR350 AMD processor after unlocked & overclocked can almost be on par w/ stock i7 920.

Here are the estimation price of those hardware. Judge yourself. ^^

*

Conclusion:

This entry was compared only in 3DMark Vantage.

Undeniably, there are a lot of benchmarks out there might favor to Intel or AMD.

INTEL i7 920 Bloomfield paired w/ DFI DK x58 T3EH6

i7 920 is the lowest end processor among the i7 9 series line of products. It features 4 physical cores and a triple channel memory controller.

Apart from that, Intel made HT (HyperThreading) revived which we called it ” SMT ” in i7.

We paired the i7 920 w/ DFI DK x58 T3EH6 in this testing.

Without  wasting any time stating on fact, let us move to the rest of the blog.

*

Hardware Specification:

Processor: Intel i7 920 D0 2.67 GHz

Motherboard: DFI DK x58 T3Eh6 (Bios: DX58D724)

RAM: Kingston Hyperx 1600MHz CL8

Graphic Card: Palit GTX260+ Sonic

PSU: Corsair HX620W

*

Initial Bootup:

Stock setting when 1st boot up. xD

You can see that i7 920 having 4 cores & 8 threads.

*

Overclock Facts:

1. vDimm has to be equal o less than 1.65v.
2. Uncore Speed has to be more o equal to two times ram bandwidth.

*

Overclock Results:

Scenario 1:

CPU clock speed: 4200MHz (210 x 20) w/ SMT off

RAM speed: 2100MHz @ 9-9-9-24- CL1

vCore: 1.30v

vDimm: 1.665v

CPU Multiplier: BCLK x 20

Uncore Multiplier: BCLK x 20

RAM Multiplier: BCLK x 10

We can see that the result broke 21000MB/s for the read test. It is simply amazing. :drool:

Scenario 2:  (24×7 setting)

CPU clock speed: 4200MHz (200 x 20) w/ SMT on & Turbo on

RAM speed: 1600MHz @ 6-7-6-18- CL1

vCore: 1.30v

vDimm: 1.665v

CPU Multiplier: BCLK x 20 (21 while feature Turbo ON)

Uncore Multiplier: BCLK x 18

RAM Multiplier: BCLK x 8

*

Conclusion:

i7 920 D0 can be overclocked to the speed of 4200Mhz easily w/ some efforts.

With the i7 920′s price tag, I would say it is worth w/ the performance that this processor offers to you.

This is extremely a fantastic and affordable processor. :thumbs:

AMD x2 550 B.E (Black Edition) paired w/ Biostar TA790GX A3+

How well will this be on this combination? Worth it or not?

Let see.

–

Hardware Specification:

Processor: AMD x2 550 B.E. (0922 CPMW)

Motherboard: Biostar TA790GX A3+

Ram: Kingston HyperX 1600MHz CL 8

Graphic Card: Palit GTX260+ Sonic

PSU: Corsair HX620W

–

Initial Bootup:

Everything stock when first time booted in Windows 7.

—

Dual Core unlocked to Quad:

1. ACC Enabled w/ -2% all cores
2. Set HT Link = 1600MHz

Yay. Dual successfully unlocked to Quad w/o hassle.

You can see that x2 550 have been changed to x4 B50.

—

Overlock Result:

Prime95 for 2 hours.

1. Set CPU Multi = 19x
2. Set Ram Speed = 1600MHz , Ram Timing = 8-8-8-20-CL1
3. Set vCore = 1.425v, vDimm = 1.65v (Other voltages remain unchanged)

Suicide Run. (SPI 1M stable only)

1. Set CPU Multi = 20.5x
2. Set vCore = 1.525v

—

Conclusion:

A 350MYR processor that can be unlocked & overclocked w/ the correct motherboard easily wins x4 955BE o 965BE out of the market right now.

But still, the unlock success rate is depend on the processor itself. Not every processors can be unlocked and stable at high clock speed. xD

Ask yourself. Worth it or not?