AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Overclocking

Overclocking greatly varies due to what hardware is being used and who is doing the overclocking. Always remember that no two pieces of hardware will perform the same, so our results will differ from what you might be able to get.

With stock BIOS settings, the AMD Phenom II X6 1090T processor runs with a 200MHz bus speed (base clock) and an x16.0 multiplier that is used to reach the final core clock of 3.2GHz when all the cores are at full load.

I was able to lower the HT multiplier and push up the Bus Speed to 250MHz in the BIOS for a rock solid overclock of 4GHz on the AMD Phenom II X6 1090T processor. 

I was able to reach just shy of 4.2GHz by lowering the HT multiplier again and increasing the CPU Voltage to +0.150V. It was benchmark stable, but only on lightly threaded applications. Keep in mind that this was done with air cooling, so as you can see even six-core processors are going to be fun overclocking parts. This is nearly a 1GHz overclock and is a success if you ask me!

AMD Phenom II X6 1090T on CPU-Z

CPU-Z 1.54 shows that the AMD Phenom II X6 1090T processor has 512KB L2 cache per core and 6MB shared L3 cache. This adds up to the entire processor having 9MB of cache (L2+L3) available to it, which is slightly more than the Core i7 quad-core processors as they have 8MB cache. The Intel 980X six-core processor has 12MB cache though, which trumps all desktop processors on the market today.  

The AMD Phenom II X6 1090T processor has an 16x multiplier with a 200MHz reference clock, but features low power states and turbo CORE mode. This means that the core clock frequency and base clock will rise up and down all by itself, depending on the workload. This is a brand new feature to AMD processors!  The screen shot above shows the AMD Phenom II X6 1090T processor at an idle state. You can see the multiplier dropped down to 4x and the core speed or overall clock frequency is just 800 MHz.

When the AMD Phenom II X6 1090T processor was running at full load the multiplier jumped up to 16 and the overall clock frequency is now 3.21GHz, as you can see from the screen shot above. This is what happens when a heavy load is on at least four or more threads. 

When the AMD Phenom II X6 1090T processor is under a light load on just three or fewer cores the multiplier jumps up to 18 for an overall clock frequency of 3.6GHz.  This is how AMD Turbo CORE technology works. It's not as complicated or efficient as Intel's Turbo method, but it works and is certainly better than not having it!

AMD Turbo Core Technology

Other than having six cores one of the most interesting features of the AMD Phenom II X6 processor series is a new technology that will be found on all AMD 'Thuban' based processors called Turbo CORE technology.  For starters Turbo Core sounds like an answer to Intel's Turbo Boost technology that was introduced with the Nehalem processor series. AMD's Turbo CORE is automatically enabled by default and should work on all AMD AM3 capable motherboards after a BIOS update. The BIOS update is needed as obviously the settings for this technology were not available when Socket AM3 motherboards came out.


AMD's Turbo CORE is enabled on a six-core processor when three or more cores are not being heavily used. When Turbo CORE enables three of the processor cores get up to a 500MHz boost in performance, while the three at an idle state drop down to 800MHz. Turbo core mode doesn't disable Cool'n"Quiet, which means the cores can still throttle like normal. When Turbo CORE is enabled the increased voltage goes across all the cores, so no voltage gating is taking place on the remaining cores in an idle state.  If you start using a multi-threaded application that calls for more than three physical processors then Turbo CORE disables and all six cores are run at the processors rated clock frequency.


AMD's Turbo CORE technology is a step in the right direction from what I can tell and should improve consumers computing experience by increasing performance when lightly using your system. The Turbo CORE technology is handled by the CPU and is all done automatically, so there is no extra work that needs to be done be the end user to use this feature on a daily basis.

My take on the new AMD Phenom II X6 1090T

Cache Sizes L1 Cache:

• 128KB (64KB Instruction + 64KB Data) x6(six-core) 
• L2 Cache: 512KB x6(six-core) 
• L3 Cache: 6MB Shared L3

Process Technology: 45-nanometer SOI (silicon-on-insulator) technology
HyperTransport technology links: One 16-bit/16-bit link at up to 4000MT/s full duplex; or up to 16.0GB/s I/O bandwidth
Memory: Integrated memory controller up to 21GB/sec dual channel memory bandwidth
Types of Memory: Support for unregistered DIMMs up to PC2 8500 (DDR2-1066MHz) and PC3 10600 (DDR3-1333MHz)
Die Size: 45nm = 258mm2
Packaging: 938-pin organic micro Pin Grid Array (micro-PGA)


The long awaited AMD Phenom II X6 processors have finally arrived and AMD officially has 6-core desktop processors on the market! AMD released their new flagship desktop processors that feature six processor cores, but that is not all! The have also rolled out a new frequency boosting technology called AMD Turbo CORE that is available on these new 'Thuban' processors, a brand new chipset that goes by the name of 890 FX for high-end motherboards.


The new AMD Phenom II X6 processors, AMD 8-series chipsets, and ATI Radeon HD 5800 series cards make up what is called the 'Leo' platform and is said to be the ultimate AMD platform for power users. Today, my focus will be on the new AMD Phenom II X6 processors as we have the AMD Phenom II X6 1090T processor in-house and have been pounding away on it for the past several days. 


AMD is supposed to be coming out with a number of 6-core processors in the coming months, but they have officially announced the Phenom II X6 1090T (HDT90ZFBK6DGR) and the Phenom II X6 1055T (HDT55TFBK6DGR). 


The AMD 890 FX chipset is basically superior to the AMD 890 GX chipset in the sense that it has been stripped of the integrated graphics (IGP) and has two full x16 PCI Express lanes for better performance for those that have multi-GPU CRossFire graphics configurations. Both the 890GX and 890FX chipsets have the primary PCIe graphics card location as a x16 slot when one video card is used, but when two video cards are used the 890GX chipset reduces the number of lanes down to just eight on the slot.


The AMD Phenom II X6 1090T CPU is AMD’s fastest and most powerful desktop processor ever. It has six real 45nm cores of processing power that operate at 3.2GHz under full load. If the CPU finds itself in a condition where 3 or more cores are idle, the processor can use Turbo CORE technology to boost the active 3 cores to 3.6GHz improving performance on less heavily-threaded workloads. 

New PC

I'm buying new components for a badass PC with the AMD Phenom II 1090T, i'll post more as i decide on parts.

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