Introducing the New Phenom II 980 BE vs. Core i7-920 – value meets performance again

Test Configuration

Test Configuration – Intel Hardware

• Intel Core i7 920 reference 2.66 GHz, overclocked to 3.7 GHz; Turbo and HyperThreading are off.
• Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P (latest BIOS, PCIe 2.0 specification; CrossFire 16x+16x).
• 6 GB OCZ DDR3 PC 1800 Kingston RAM (3×2 GB, tri-channel at PC 1600 speeds; 2×2 GB supplied by Kingston)
• GeForce GTX 590, 3.0 GB reference design and clocks, supplied by Nvidia
• Onboard Realtek Audio
• 500 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 hard drives
• Thermaltake ToughPower 775 W power supply unit supplied by Thermaltake
• Thermaltake Element G Case supplied by Thermaltake
• Noctua NH-U12P SE2 CPU cooler, supplied by Noctua
• Philips DVD SATA writer
• HP LP3065 2560×1600 thirty inch LCD.  Three ASUS 23-inch 1920×1080 120Hz LCDs supplied by ASUS/Nvidia.

Test Configuration – AMD Hardware

• Phenom II 980 Black Edition X2; reference 3.7GHz and also overclocked to 4.3GHz, supplied by AMD
• Phenom II 955 X4 Black Edition; reference 3.2GHz, overclocked to 3.7 GHz
• ECS A-A890 GXM-A, supplied by ECS (latest BIOS, PCIe 2.0 specification; CrossFire 8x+8x)
• 2×2 GB Kingston DDR3, supplied by Kingston (dual-channel at PC 1600 speeds)
• GeForce GTX 590, 3.0 GB reference design and clocks, supplied by Nvidia
• Onboard Realtek Audio
• 250 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 hard drive
• Thermaltake ToughPower 775 W power supply unit supplied by Thermaltake
• Cooler Master Element G Case supplied by Thermaltake
• ThermalRight UltraExtreme CPU cooler
• Philips DVD SATA writer
• HP LP3065 2560×1600 thirty inch LCD.  3 x ASUS VG236A 23′ 1920×1080 120Hz LCDs supplied by ASUS/Nvidia.

Test Configuration – Software

• NVIDIA GeForce 270.61 WHQL drivers; High Quality
• Windows 7 64-bit; very latest updates
• DirectX November 2010
• All games are patched to their latest versions.
• vsync is forced off in the control panel.
• 4x or 8xAA enabled as noted in games and “forced” in the control panel in UT3; all in-game settings are specified with 16xAF always applied; 16xAF forced in control panel for Crysis.
• All results show average, minimum and maximum frame rates except as noted.
• Highest quality sound (stereo) used in all games.
• Windows 7 64, all DX10 titles were run under DX10 render paths; DX11 titles under DX11 render paths.

The Benchmarks

• Vantage
• F.E.A.R.
• X3:Terran Conflict
• Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
• Wolfenstein
• Unreal Tournament 3
• Batman: Arkham Asylum
• Borderlands
• Call of Duty 4
• Left4Dead
• Grand Theft Auto IV
• Serious Sam, Second Encounter HD (2010)
• Mafia II
• Call of Juarez
• Lost Planet
• Crysis
• Far Cry 2
• Just Cause 2
• World-in-Conflict
• H.A.W.X.
• Resident Evil 5
• BattleForge
• Alien vs. Predator
• Dirt 2
• STALKER, Call of Pripyat
• Metro 2033
• F1 2010
• H.A.W.X. 2
• Lost Planet 2
• Civilization V
• Heaven 2.5