A Closer Look Cont'd:

An unlocked multiplier simply means that the multiplier can be increased or lowered depending on the kind of overclock you hope to achieve. If a processor's stock multiplier is 13x and the Front Side Bus is 200MHz, you get a 2600MHz (2.6GHz) processor. Increasing the multiplier to 14x means a frequency boost to 2800MHz (2.8GHz) which isn't a great deal visibly, but it can give the system a performance boost all around. Unlocked multipliers can be an avid overclocker's best friend in the world and often the most coveted processors to buy.

Example of BIOS Multipliers

If you've shopped for a processor, you've probably seen them being sold as Retail and OEM. If you don't already know, an OEM processor is just the processor alone without any documentation, manufacturer warranty, or a CPU cooler. You have to settle for the reseller's own in store warranty if something goes wrong with the processor and order your own CPU cooler. Fortunately, the Black Edition is Retail packaging only.

From Malaysia, to Germany, to the USA

Retail processors carry a 3 Year Warranty that covers you against issues from stock and standard processor use. You also get an approved CPU cooler included in the packaging. The downside is that it's nothing fancy and is designed to basically get the job done. I've often wondered how well Special Edition processors would do if they were bundled with a better, proven aftermarket CPU cooler. A bundle like that would definitely stand out and possibly save a few bucks.

If you're going to buy a processor like this, you definitely want your money's worth. This is why I thank the stars that this processor is Retail. AMD has enough faith in this processor that it gets the red carpet treatment all the way to your PC. Let's get on with the testing.

Installation and Testing:

Installed and Ready

Installation went smoothly and the updated Abit AN9 32X motherboard detected everything about the Black Edition perfectly. CPUZ was used to offer up more system information. For comparison, the AMD 64 X2 5000+ Black Edition was tested against a stock Intel E6600 since it's about the closest processor to measure against. The E6750 doesn't match up well since it has a 1333MHz Front Side Bus where as the X2 5000+ has a 1000MHz Hyper Transport.

CPUZ

Mainboard

Memory SPD

The first question many of you undoubtedly have is whether or not the processor is indeed unlocked. After a little SANDRA burn in test, the processor's 13 Multiplier was adjusted to 16 in the BIOS. At first, I thought the system wasn't going to accept the change, but as I've come to expect from this tried and true Abit AN9 32X, the system booted straight away in to Windows. CPUZ confirmed the 16 Multiplier and that the processor was now operating at 3200MHz, or 3.2GHz from its stock 2.6GHz. This means you can easily and quickly overclock the processor without overclocking the memory or the motherboard's transport speeds. If your memory isn't some elite overclocking RAM, then you can keep it and hopefully use your existing motherboard to draw out the unlocked processor's potential. At least you can order a capable motherboard if you need to rather than both the RAM and motherboard.

Multiplier Adjusted to x16

Manual overclocking faired pretty well and reached 3.3GHz with a little extra tweaking. The Abit AN9 32X may have reached its maximum CPU Bus speed of 260MHz with every voltage option maxed out which I rarely like to do. However, 250MHz was easy as pie and perfectly stable. The memory was operating at a faster frequency while the Hyper Transport (HT) was also increased to about 1250MHz. Due to these frequency increases, the benchmarks were overall better than just increasing the multiplier.

Manual Bus Speed Overclock

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