Hardware Canucks: Benchmarkers Guide to the Phenom II

With the onslaught of seemingly endless hardware releases at the conclusion of 08 and beginning of 09, we at Hardware Canucks thought you could use a break from a mile long list of stuffy specifications, features, and benchmark results comparing the Phenom II to other processors. Instead of the typical results pages that go on and on, for the launch of the AMD Phenom II, we will take a bit more un-conventional route to presenting some information about the Phenom II performance. Recent developments in the overclocking and benchmarking world have once again vaulted AMD into the limelight with their Phenom II launch slated for today. News from AMD at recent tech demos has shown that the dreaded cold bug was all but gone allowing operation at liquid nitrogen temperatures of -196C, and possibly beyond. It was this information that we decided to present the Hardware Canucks: Benchmarkers Guide to the Phenom II.

Today we are strictly going to focus on overclocking the AMD Phenom II with three very different mediums. The first of which will be with traditional ambient air cooling utilizing an industry standard heat sink. This cooling medium will provide fully stable 24/7 results as well as the absolute maximum we can squeeze out of the system without getting too crazy with the volts. With these results we will see what the Phenom II will be capable of in pretty much anyone's hands. The next two cooling methods will only be for those that are into benchmarking and willing to go sub-zero or, sub-ambient with temperatures.

The next traditional step in cooling is with water but we will skip over this option and jump straight to a Canadian winter by means of a custom single stage phase change cooler. The phase change we use will not a lot different than that of an Astetek VapoChill or Mach II GT unit that can be bought retail. This setup provides temperatures as cold as -50C but will warm up substantially under load. From there we will take things as cold as the processor can handle with full on liquid nitrogen cooling. As mentioned, this method of cooling provides us with the ability to bring temps down to -196C if the processor/motherboard can handle it.

This should be quite a bit of fun for both us and everyone reading so sit back, buckle up, and enjoy the Hardware Canucks: Benchmarkers Guide to the Phenom II.