Okay after doing some more stability testing I decided to try out multicore testing again (did it on stock 1.30v a while back) but to see what we can do to save power and still keep speed.
For those on a board that doesn't quite fit the 125w chip bill then you just may be able to still get the efficiency of the Phenom lineup and not have to really compromise by buying a 'lesser' model (they're all excellent but you know what I mean). You can still possibly buy the highest available and just change the 'architecture' so to speak and make it fit your board for the time being until you get another one. Of course that is ONLY if you have the option to downcore in your bios.
Also for those that just don't really need the 4 cores at this time but have one anyway you could also save yourself some heat, power, AND still upgrade at the sametime w/out having to buy one of the older X2 models and get something more efficient and 'future proof' at the sametime.
Anyway I decided to get a preview of the Kuma and Toliman line of processors early last night and what do you know...when you do downcore they actually have the names already on the chip as recognized by Everest Ultimate. Crazy huh?
If you are looking for a Dual-core Kuma in a Phenom style flavor then just power down 2 cores in the bios and there you go with one side effect...UBER POWER EFFICIENCY!!!!!! I ran stability testing last night on the Kuma (Phenom X2) setup last night at a ridiculously low 1.21v and it ran like a champ. I even decided to up the craziness and use the newest version of Prime for even further stress. Well 2 hours later it was still chugging along just fine. 3Ghz Dual Core on an INSANE 1.21v and more efficient than any other AMD Dual Core chip out there at 3Ghz and MORE than a match for the X2 6400. I'll run some Everest full benchmarks against the X2 6400 really soon (just built a system for my friend with that, plus Everest already has the stock numbers for one anyway) to see how they stack up. Using my Diamond 3870 (918/2646Mhz) and the Kuma setup I scored 11,294 in 3dmark06. Of course if I was using the old 8800GT I had the score would have been nearly 12,000 which is very good. You can play Crysis just peachy with this as I had no problems all day nor night (I was up all night testing last night). Temps on the Kuma X2 setup are sick at 40C under 100% load and only 32-34C at idle. Room temps were the same as earlier (~22-23C) and CPU Tweak was enabled as well as AutoXpress which generally causes about 5-7C higher temperatures when enabled (the CPU Tweak I mean, AutoXpress didn't really seem to have an big effect on cpu temps).
Now then onto the Tri-core Toliman setup, I haven't run this through Prime just yet but it passes Everest on 1.232-.25v which is just as good. If you've never used Everest Ultimate you should, awesome logging abilities and info, and sweet lord can you stress a system hardcore. Anyway just like with the Kuma X2 setup you get all the sweet memory performance of the Agena X4 setup due to the architecture being the same. As for multitasking you'll more than likely NEVER notice the difference between X3 and X4 (and in many instances even X2 to X4). Temps ranged approximately 36C idle at 1.25v (what I'm on right now), and under 100% approximately 41-42C which is still extremely low. CPU Tweak and AutoXpress are also being used so temps would be far lower still. I also ran 3dmark06 on this setup and scores 12,407 with the same Diamond 3870 (918/2646Mhz).
I'm currently running on the Toliman X3 setup right now to see how it fares over the course of time for now. Since the bios will allow multiple setups (2 saved plus the current setting) you could have all 3 setups if you wished and switch between them with ease. This can save you plenty of power, heat, etc. on your system and is better than CnQ in my opinion because you get the voltage benefits though not quite as much but you still get the speed.
These results compare VERY well to overclocked and stock AMD 64 X2 Dual Core model chips like the 6000+ and 6400+. This is especially true when you think I'm using a less powerful graphics card than I was previously so the scores are noticably lower. I just pulled up AMDGeeks.net and grabbed a few results for comparison sake only.
X2 6400 3.5Ghz 3dmark06 run (water cooled cpu 1.50v w/8800 GTS)
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=5080755
X2 6000 3.2Ghz SuperPi run (air cooled cpu 1.38v)
http://www.amdgeeks.net/overclock/706
I couldn't find any of them stock (it's not that kinda site) but that's still a good comparison as both of them are overclocked and at a higher speed yet neither is siginificantly (if at all) faster than a 3Ghz Kuma/Phenom X2 setup with slower ram. This if course is attributed to the fact that the Northbridge and HT Link can be both faster and the architecture is far more efficient as well. The 3.2Ghz X2 6000 SuperPi run is only as fast as the 3Ghz Kuma/Phenom X2 setup using ram clocked at 960Mhz (vs. 1068Mhz on the X2 6000 setup) which is very impressive.
The 3dmark06 test against a monster 3.5Ghz X2 6400 setup is only 123 marks higher despite a huge clock advantage and a more powerful video card! That is rather amazing if you ask me.
Okay famliy discussion time...
K
Btw, I don't really need to say please keep this a positive conversation as Intel doesn't neccessarily need to be mentioned in here as this isn't one of those conversations. Very strictly an AMD efficiency conversation. Thanks
