AMD pushes Phenom II, Deneb, above 6GHz at -185°C

http://www.nordichardware.com/news,8389.html

Quote :

Intel’s Core 2 architecture not only had AMD’s original Phenom over a barrel in terms of bangs per buck; it also had a much higher overclocking ceiling, but it looks as though AMD could have sorted the latter issue with the forthcoming Phenom II ‘Deneb’ CPU. AMD recently demonstrated the overclocking abilities of the new CPU using both dry ice and liquid nitrogen cooling in Texas, with some stunning results.

Unfortunately, it looks as though a lot of the details of the event are being kept under wraps until the CPU is officially launched; no cameras were allowed and no exact clock speeds have been revealed. However, it looks as though some suitably vague reporting has been allowed. PC Perspective reports that ‘the Phenom II reached WELL over 5.x GHz (read: REALLY over)’ when cooled with liquid nitrogen (-196°C) at 1.9V, while Nordic Hardware says that the chip was even able to ‘move north of 6GHz’ at a higher voltage.

As well as this, Nordic Hardware also claims that AMD demonstrated Phenom II CPUs running at 4GHz 1.6V with just air cooling, at a voltage of 1.6V. PC Perspective estimates that the chips will be very scalable when it comes to clock speed, while still retaining a reasonable heat output. The site reckons that a 3.6GHz Phenom II, for example, could have a TDP of 125W.

Not bad if you have access to liquid nitrogen i suppose, but it certainly makes for an interesting water cooling experiment.