AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on May 2, 2011 10:42 PM ESTGaming Performance
In testing Left 4 Dead we use a custom recorded timedemo. We run on a GeForce GTX 280 at 1680 x 1050 with all quality options set to high. No AA/AF enabled.
Far Cry 2 ships with several built in benchmarks. For this test we use the Playback (Action) demo at 1680 x 1050 in DX9 mode on a GTX 280. The game is set to medium defaults with performance options set to high.
Crysis Warhead also ships with a number of built in benchmarks. Running on a GTX 280 at 1680 x 1050 we run the ambush timedemo with mainstream quality settings. Physics is set to enthusiast however to further stress the CPU.
Our Dragon Age: Origins benchmark begins with a shift to the Radeon HD 5870. From this point on these games are run under our Bench refresh testbed under Windows 7 x64. Our benchmark here is the same thing we ran in our integrated graphics tests - a quick FRAPS walkthrough inside a castle. The game is run at 1680 x 1050 at high quality and texture options.
We're running Dawn of War II's internal benchmark at high quality defaults. Our GPU of choice is a Radeon HD 5870 running at 1680 x 1050.
Our World of Warcraft benchmark is a manual FRAPS runthrough of a lightly populated server with no other player controlled characters around. The frame rates here are higher than you'd see in a real world scenario, but the relative comparison between CPUs is accurate.
We run on a Radeon HD 5870 at 1680 x 1050. We're using WoW's high quality defaults but with weather intensity turned down all the way.
For Starcraft II we're using our heavy CPU test. This is a playback of a 3v3 match where all players gather in the middle of the map for one large, unit-heavy battle. While GPU plays a role here, we're mostly CPU bound. The Radeon HD 5870 is running at 1024 x 768 at medium quality settings to make this an even more pure CPU benchmark.
This is Civ V's built in Late GameView benchmark, the newest addition to our gaming test suite. The benchmark outputs three scores: a full render score, a no-shadow render score and a no-render score. We present the first and the last, acting as a GPU and CPU benchmark respectively.
We're running at 1680 x 1050 with all quality settings set to high. For this test we're using a brand new testbed with 8GB of memory and a GeForce GTX 580.
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silverblue - Wednesday, May 4, 2011 - link
I've undervolted my 710. Makes virtually no difference to performance or stability and seemed like a good idea at the time. More people should do it.Shadowmaster625 - Tuesday, May 3, 2011 - link
This is ridiculous. BD is one month from launch, and llano has been shiiping for weeks. Yet you guys dont have a single benchmark of either. Or maybe you do and are just too spineless to post them. It is sad that we had better sources of information 10 years ago. Now there is nothing because everyone seems to care too much about NDAs. Who cares about NDAs? If you know someone who has the hardware you should post their review asap, and not worry about NDAs. What good does it do to release a review the same exact day as two dozen other sites? If you want more eggs sometimes you have to sacrifice a few chickens.AssBall - Tuesday, May 3, 2011 - link
Who cares about NDAs??? Did you really just ask that?How about reviewers that enjoy getting engineering samples, new products to review, and support from the manufacturer's for free? How about any reputable, respectable, reviewer? How about anyone who frowns upon breaking a contract?
And your chicken analogy is full of fail.
heymrdj - Tuesday, May 3, 2011 - link
I asked myself the same thing, did he really just ask that? Someone never took ethics courses, or has any ethics for that matter. Just because you want to drool like a baby over specs is no excuse to ask these reputable authors to break NDA. On the day of release feel more than free to go view any hardware site you wish.Shadowmaster625 - Tuesday, May 3, 2011 - link
Yeah well you must be a spineless chicken too. There are plenty of ways to get chips. All those engineering samples out there, and no one can get their hands on one? Yeah right. If all NDAs were broken there would be no NDAs. Your brain is full of fail if you cannot understand that. Just a bunch of spineless cowards.Makaveli - Tuesday, May 3, 2011 - link
If its so easy to get one why don't you and post one on your own review site oo wait a min......haplo602 - Tuesday, May 3, 2011 - link
are you a total idiot ? it's called competitive advantage. if they would break the NDA, no engineering sample for them for the next round. if everybody breaks the NDA, no launch day reviews. that simple.Shadowmaster625 - Wednesday, May 4, 2011 - link
The engineering samples would go to different people, but chances are one of them would hook up with someone who has the reputation for having some freakin cojones. Especially if money was involved. There IS money to be made in this way, and its not illegal. Again, it just takes cajones.AssBall - Thursday, May 5, 2011 - link
You go find a web review site with "cajones" then, since you are so fond of them, and please leave the rest of us in peace while we wait for the non-half-ass Anandtech review after the NDA lifts.Makaveli - Tuesday, May 3, 2011 - link
LMAO when you understand what an NDA is and why you shouldn't break it or alteast turn 18 then come back and post.Its obvious Common sense and logic ain't strong in your family.