AMD's Phenom II X4 TWKR: We Give It The LN2 Treatment
AMD's Phenom II X4 TWKR: We Give It The LN2 TreatmentTwo AMD Phenom II X4 42 Black Edition TWKR (whew, that's a mouthful) CPUs, side by side. This is a picture that you'll likely not see anywhere else. After all, these are pretty rare chips. The TWKR-edition CPUs are currently the most sought-after and coveted AMD processors in the world, at least if you're a hardcore overclocker. Ever since pictures of the TWKR CPUs were leaked a few weeks back, enthusiasts everywhere have been buzzing about them. What hidden superpower do these chips have? What makes these processors so special? Tom's Hardware, along with Team IRONMODS, will put these two chips to the test to see what really makes them tick. But first, here's a bit of background on these unique offerings.
According to AMD, there are approximately 100 TWKR processors in the world. These chips were created especially for the extreme overclocking community to operate beyond the specification of typical production-level processors. What makes these chips special is the fact that they are considered “high leakage” parts. In this context, high leakage means that the processors "leak" more current than a normal Phenom II CPU and consequently run hotter, which actually turns out to be a positive for the overclocking crowd (even if it means they're more likely to die an early death). They can take on more voltage and generally tend to scale higher when cooled with extreme methods, such as liquid nitrogen or liquid helium.
Will water cooling be enough for this CPU? If so count me in.
My January bought 940 and just bought Asus N4M82 combo runs nicely at 3.9 on air and though I'm not done with it yet I don’t expect it to go much further while being stable. I could actually get a slower 955 if I where to buy right now.
What I would actually have liked to see would have been the soon to be released 965 and see how that does on some good air and water cooling rather than some chip that none of us can get our hands on. Will the 965 be a better overclocker, able to break 4gigs stable more consistently? Very doubtful.
Though this was cool (ha), its just stupidly impractical for those that like extreme overclocking but actually also use their computer. Thanks for the show.
You're absolutely right that these chips are not representative of the Phenom II line up at all. However, AMD designed the whole phenom II line up to be very overclocker friendly and these TWKR parts are "just a handpicked and binned processor" as stated here at Legit Reviews. Clearly if these TWKR processors were engineered this way, they could more easily be reproduced and then sold. Cheers!
This was all done b4 - Dec 08. Vids on utube. w PhII 940. THG is late to the game due to spintel bias. again. (well look it up if you don't know).
Nice lame flames from the dark spintel fanboys here. You guys really have a way with word slurs.
Note also - the "real oclox team" uses "AMD Platform Advantage" re "performance boost" ! (hint) Usually THG mixes in some nvidiot vidcard so as to impair the system. (not to mention the sick ram they often find under the bench).
Overall this is no big deal - just another "keep me hangin on" trick. Phenom II's you can actually buy have already demo'd in excess of 7 GHZ - 2 months ago !! - this is a waste of TWKR !!
Oh, almost forgot - the bit about "real game" benches don't matter - ummm, really - oclox while still performing does not matter? - what if the oclox slows down actual THROUGHPUT. What then? Think maybe you should test that? If you can't afford to run in the oclox kitchen cos it costs too much - then get out of it - it's all been done before anyway.
Sorry - this is so unimpressive - ok - you can vote me down now - cos I know too much. I am not impressed with continuing biased reporting aimed at down-rating AMD (or minimizing accomplishment). (And yes, the EU really did set a fine record re an7i7rus7 - more coming on that? That's news of an ongoing nature). This cold oclox is ancient history.
And some said about 955 can't - my buddy has 955 @ 4.1 on H2O - it was an accident in AOD - his mouse slipped and he hit 4.1 instead of 4.0. Others hit 3.6+ with just the multiplier. Others undervolt (?) (!) and stable, for power savings.
Also you want to look at "OCZ ram for AMD cpu's" (the platinum, of course). But all the PhII's do in excess of 3.5 om air anyway - what's the big deal with these can't perform spintel fanboys - lmao.
ok - thx for the vote down
Been living under a rock eh? What you posted was old, this is new. New TWKR chip that has been released to just a few and NDA expired just today. Look for "TWKR" reviews on other sites as well. It just it just makes some who whish for better feel even worse...
Lets see some of the latest yeilds being tested and if really better IMO think that would do better for AMD than this stunt will.
But don't worry - real world game benches - don't matter.
- sigh goes away shaking his head and rolling eyes wondering when - when will they see thru this joke. As if this were something real. Really. (attract more readers, better stats, more ads) (facts? news? what facts? what news?)
- yeh - I know - spintel is scared of a new FX - and you get paid to discredit anything resembling that.
955 is a rolls royce in disguise
965 is COMING SOON - more to follow. an evolving parade, anytime you want to join in.
you won't like either of them - so don't buy them - you can always get some pseudo wannabe turbo boosty thing from chipzilla, and pay for the power sucking socalled uncore - wtf is an uncore anyway - such propaganda - IT'S PART OF THE LAME CHIP used to HIDE the actual TDP.
But we are off topic now aren't we - and that's what you want fanboy - general disruption. (RIGHT?) (go ahead, insult me - the facts remain - monopoly antitrust)
AMD is so HOT right now - and you are scared of that. Everything is selling out - unavailable - hard to find. That's a problem for your "spin", spinner. Don't waste time trying to convince me otherwise - some of the noobs are your unwary victims - and that's your prey.
reveal you.......
Seriously, who proofreads these articles?
Your rhetoric doesn't change any facts.
You must be a double agent "Fanboy" no idiot would troll off fanboy AMD crap like you are without knowing how stupid it sounds.
FX? Are you kidding? Wow, yeah, big advantage LOL. My new 980a (actually rebaged 780a) and 940 combo run just fine, 3.9 on air and thats under 24/7 load with fans running at a decently quiet 800 rpm (two 38x120mm), can run at 4gigs at 1200 rpm as well.
You really think the 965 are gonna be something? Go ahead and hold your breath, I'll bet they do know better in O/C than a 955 which is no better than my 940. Really, you are just mocking AMD, but thats ok, I just prefer the underdog.