Phenom II Overclocking
It has been quite a while coming, but AMD fans can once again put together a screaming overclocking system with Phenom II. There are two apparent CPU candidates for the Phenom II OC system. The obvious choice might appear to be the 940BE, but the new 720BE has many charms at a lower price. Personally we would prefer the upcoming 945BE as the CPU for a monster Phenom II OC system, but that CPU is not currently available though it should appear beginning in April. For those reasons the 720BE is the heart of the Phenom II OC system.
As discussed in many overclocking articles here, there are normally two types of overclockers. First are those who overclock for value, which are those that select cheaper parts rated at lower specs for their ability to overclock to much higher performance levels. Second, there is the overclocker who is trying to reach the highest overclock possible, and who usually chooses the highest priced and higher-performance parts to overclock even further. This last group should likely wait for the 945BE for the flexibility if nothing else.
Generally, parts were selected because they are a good value that becomes an outstanding value when overclocked. Since the newer Phenom II processors, like the 720BE, support either DDR3 or DDR2 there are two Phenom II Overclocking systems - DDR3 and DDR2. They only differ in the motherboard and memory choice.
The choice of the $145 Phenom X3 720BE for the Overclocking System pushes our OC perspective toward the value side of the overclocking equation. That means we have paired the 720 with a new DDR3 $135 motherboard instead of the very best $200 ASUS M4A79 Deluxe. It also means we matched the Full HD monitor with a cheaper video card that can deliver performance as good as you will likely get on a 1920x1080 monitor. It makes little sense to suggest a higher performing video card or CF or SLI graphics system if you can only see the better performance on a 30" monitor that is not part of this system.
Phenom II DDR3 Overclocking PC | ||
Hardware | Component | Price |
Processor | AMD Phenom II X3 720 BE (2.8GHzx3, 3x512KB L2, 6MB L3 Cache) | $145 |
Cooling | Xigmatek Dark Knight-S1283V 120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler - Retail | $40 |
Video | MSI R4850-512M OC Radeon HD 4850 512MB ($30 Rebate) | $125 |
Motherboard | Asus M4A78T-E | $135 |
Memory | OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Model OCZ3RPR16004GK ($40 Rebate) | $65 |
Hard Drive | Samsung SpinPoint F1 HD103UJ 1TB | $100 |
Optical Drive | LG BD/HD DVD / 16x DVD+/- RW GGC-H20L - Retail | $115 |
Audio | On-Board Audio | - |
Case | COOLER MASTER Centurion 534 RC-534-SKN2-GP Black/Silver Aluminum & Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower | $50 |
Power Supply | BFG Tech LS Series LS-550 550W Continuous@40C SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified ($20 Rebate) | $60 |
Base System Total | $835 | |
Display | ASUS VH222H Black 21.5" 5ms HDMI Full HD Widescreen LCD Monitor (1920x1080) | $180 |
Speakers | Logitech X-540 70 Watts 5.1 Speaker System ($20 Rebate) | $59 |
Keyboard | Logitech G11 USB Gaming Keyboard | $59 |
Mouse | Logitech MX518 8-Button/1 Wheel USB 1800dpi Laser Mouse | $40 |
Operating System | Microsoft Vista Home Premium OEM | $99 |
Complete System Price | $1272 |
Phenom II DDR2 Overclocking PC | ||
Hardware | Component | Price |
Processor | AMD Phenom II X3 720 BE (2.8GHzx3, 3x512KB L2, 6MB L3 Cache) | $145 |
Cooling | Xigmatek Dark Knight-S1283V 120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler - Retail | $40 |
Video | MSI R4850-512M OC Radeon HD 4850 512MB ($30 Rebate) | $125 |
Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-MA790GP-UD4H | $139 |
Memory | OCZ Reaper 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2-1150 (PC2 9200) ($15 Rebate) | $66 |
Hard Drive | Samsung Spinpoint F1 HD103UJ 1TB | $100 |
Optical Drive | LG BD/HD DVD / 16x DVD+/- RW GGC-H20L - Retail | $115 |
Audio | On-Board Audio | - |
Case | Cooler Master Centurion 534 RC-534-SKN2-GP Black/Silver Aluminum & Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower | $50 |
Power Supply | BFG Tech LS SERIES LS-550 550W Continuous@40C SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified ($20 Rebate) | $60 |
Base System Total | $840 | |
Display | ASUS VH222H Black 21.5" 5ms HDMI Full HD Widescreen LCD Monitor (1920x1080) | $180 |
Speakers | Logitech X-540 70 Watts 5.1 Speaker System ($20 Rebate) | $59 |
Keyboard | Logitech G11 USB Gaming Keyboard | $59 |
Mouse | Logitech MX518 8-Button/1 Wheel USB 1800dpi Optical Mouse | $40 |
Operating System | Microsoft Vista Home Premium OEM | $99 |
Complete System Price | $1277 |
The last area to discuss is input devices, where we went with gamer value favorites in the Logitech G11 USB gaming keyboard and the MX518 8-button mouse. Both are very well regarded devices that fit well with the capabilities and concept of the Phenom II Overclocking system. If gaming is not your goal you could easily move to the $16 Microsoft OEM keyboard and mouse used in the Entry Phenom II build and get the complete system price down to $1194. If you will use your OC system for graphics and photo editing but not gaming, you can also drop the G11/MX518 and select precision input devices that better fit your needs.
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just4U - Wednesday, March 4, 2009 - link
I can only be jealous of those prices as NewEgg Canada sure as hell doesn't offer remotely similiar deals. Best price I can find on 6Gig kit is thru NCIX. A GSkill PC1333 Cas9 Kit @ $135.00+taxes.The boards though.. no deals there at $289 for the lowest and the cpu's start at $379.00. So for a total of $803 that gets you into the cheapest I7 build (ram mb cpu) you can find. Plus I'd bet it don't get any better in other countries either.
I am actually surprised that we were able to get 6gig kits for that price.. it's only been recently that those prices have come down below $200... so that's a bonus. Tuff for most on Motherboards though as some of the really good ones are upward of $400 here and god only knows what they'd sell that recently reviewed Evga one you guys had in the test labs .. Probably around $600.
Spacecomber - Monday, March 2, 2009 - link
Is Western Digital the only manufacture offering 5 year warranties these days (on their Caviar Black and Raptor drives)?Gary Key - Monday, March 2, 2009 - link
Seagate continues to offers five year warranties on their enterprise SATA drives but have switched to three years on the rest of their SATA lineup now. So yes, WD is the only one offering a five year warranty on a consumer level (Black Series) SATA drive.strikeback03 - Monday, March 2, 2009 - link
Thanks for listing the "base system" price this time, easier to look at from a system replacement standpoint.Regarding the MSI rebates, they are the most picky company I have ever dealt with on rebates, make sure if ordering from Newegg to print the invoice and send that, not the order confirmation you get when you place the order. They might have other dumb restrictions as well.
Can't wait for the SSD review, that is something I might actually buy soon.
poohbear - Monday, March 2, 2009 - link
jebus u guys read my mind by coming up w/ this article!!!! now that everyone is considering phenomII as viable upgrade option w/ the release of those fantasticly priced X3 710/720, this is a very timely article indeed! cheers for this.:)Wesley Fink - Monday, March 2, 2009 - link
You're welcome. We like the new Phenom II CPUs a lot and they provide very good value.mmntech - Monday, March 2, 2009 - link
Yep, good article. The entry level one would be great for an HTPC. Just a small note though. I don't know where you got the $80 price for the ASRock A780GXE, but it's $95 at Newegg.Wesley Fink - Wednesday, March 4, 2009 - link
The ASRock A780GXE has been selling fro $79.99 for the past 3 months. While it was up to $95 when this article published on Monday, it is back to $79.99 today as you can see by clicking the link in the Entry Components table or going to http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8....Goty - Monday, March 2, 2009 - link
I don't have time to check all of them, but there are certainly some issues with the pictures and links in the article. First, the link for the M4A79T-E takes you to a DFI X58 motherboard, and secondly, the picture on the Performance System page for the video card of obviously of a Sapphire video card.Wesley Fink - Monday, March 2, 2009 - link
The link and small image are corrected. Thanks for bringing those to our attention.