Digital Home Thoughts: Phenom II's Overclocking Value

"In light of a new competitive challenge—Intel’s Core i7—AMD is revamping its Spider platform with a new processor and the addition of software able to tie all of the hardware together. As you no doubt already know from reading Bert’s story, this latest effort is called Dragon. But we’re not here to rehash the details of Phenom II. Rather, in light of significant enhancements to the CPU architecture’s overclocking capabilities (and indeed, confirmation from AMD that all of the "magic" that went into its ACC [Advanced Clock Calibration] technology is now baked into Phenom II), we’re eager to compare the value of AMD’s fastest 45 nm chip to Intel’s entry-level Core i7 920—the one most enthusiasts would be likely to eye as an overclocking contender."

Tom's Hardware puts the newly released Phenom II through its paces with attention paid to the overclocking market. The results are hardly surprising with the Phenom II showing remarkable overclocking value. However, when compared against the Core i7, the decision between CPUs gets a bit muddier. The Core i7 represents leading edge technology with powerful performance, topping the Phenom II in overclockability. However, the Core i7 also means a large investment in purchasing new hardware. On the flip side, the Phenom II can be a drop in replacement, working with many existing AM2+ motherboards. Unless you're willing to drop some serious change for a new rig, the Phenom II is a sound upgrade path.