Overclocking Performance
On top of the core unlocking, the Phenom II X2 555 (3.2GHz) carries some additional overclocking potential untapped. Using the Gigabyte 870A-UD3 and Asrock 880GMH/USB3 motherboards we were limited to 3.80GHz for our maximum stable overclock. The MSI 870A-G54 on the other hand reached a stable overclock of 3.90GHz which was impressive.
Using the x264 HD Benchmark 3.0 as reference gave the budget AM3 motherboards a clear advantage over the Phenom II X6 1090T and Core i5 750 configurations.