Intel vs. AMD

Right now, I'm using the stock cooler. I might invest in something better but these temps aren't too uncomfortable for me. I expected it to run hot being a 5xx Prescott.

I'm gonna see what I can do about the fan placement on my case though. It came with 2 80mms and a 120mm. Right now the 120 is on the back and the 80s are on the side window and on front.

I might put the 120 on front and the two 80s on back then add another 80 on the window side. That should cool it down nicely.

EDIT: That's a damn fine case theone. I might look into it but my Silent Storm and Centurion are very nice for me right now.

 

Estuansis,

That explains it. My P4 with the stock cooler ran about 60+ under load at 3.0GHz (stock)! I won't even use them on a customer build. My standard order most times is an OEM and an Arctic. Wait until these are on sale. Usually around $16 to $18, and sometimes free shipping!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835186134

Excellent CPU Cooler!

Question! Does your case have a side window? Did it come with a fan or did you remove a duct to install one. I had to cut my duct to fit but the reward was a couple of degrees C cooler and 1 less fan. a The fan was disturbing the air from the CPU fan. Works much better with the duct. I cut it with a fine blade coping saw. Had to lop about 3/4" off of it, but it does cool better with just the 120MM in the back and an 80mm in the front.

Happy Computering,
theone

 

You covered manufactured PCs vs custom built, but Ace_2, like most people, wants a decent PC he can buy. ZipZoomFly, Newegg, TigerDirect, and other vendors do a good business, but so do the manufacturers like Dell, Gateway, HP and others. Many of them use less expensive parts available wholesale that we can get from vendors. But at $999 some of the stock systems would be hard to beat. You have to remember you're getting all the necessary parts along with monitors, mouse, keyboards and OS with software bundles.

I've been admiring some of the systems like Sammorriss' and Estuansis' and I've got a feeling that when you add all those parts together along with the software and peripherals, you're looking at systems well in excess of $1000. Except a few economy builds, most of the PCs I build are well over $1000, and they're nothing I'd say overly expensive. AMD and Intel platforms with CPUs around $300-$400 along with performance RAM with quality mobos easily end up over the century mark.

I did a recent build list with nothing extraordinary for a E6600 system. It used good parts, but nothing I'd consider high end. It came to about $1500. What I put in makes it more preferrable to people that like customs though.

Most PCs have dust problems if they're in dusty environments. The thermaltakes and Cooler Masters I like get dust inside if there's dust outside. The only way to stop it is with filters and then you get into air flow restriction if you don't stay on top of cleaning the intake(s). I hate seeing PCs in for repair when there's a smoker in a dusty environment. It's about as bad as sludge in a crankcase, stock or custom doesn't matter. LOL Anyway, dust is going to get both stock and custom. I've done customs with front USB ports and they gather dust just as well as those old Dells.

I don't understand your dislike of the Zalman FHS. Just about every review I've seen has them near the top for air cooled systems. I used one on my last build with good results. I've also opened cases where there was dust. The Zalmans cleaned out with compressed air just as well as most other coolers I've been around. Unless there's something that makes the dust stick (like cigarette smoke), it should easily move on with compressed air. There's other good coolers, including your arctic. Thermaltake makes a good one as well.

Comparing manufactured PCs to customs the custom will usually win, if built properly from a good parts list. They're not always cheaper and at stock settings the custom isn't always better. There you get into parts selection. As for overclocking, many people either don't want to, can't, or don't have a board that will allow it. Manufactured PCs are intentionally locked so they can't be fried by an inexperienced user messing around with BIOS settings. Due to that, they can't be turned up to compare to a custom PC. The old apples to oranges story all over again. So, not many stock PCs are going to compare with your builder friend's custom PCs because they can't be tweaked.

PC World and other mags do reviews and make suggestions for best buy in PCs. I suggest buyers review those as well as our suggestions here on the forum. Most stock PCs are made from the same or similar components. Many are bought with no future thought of expansion. I've had PCs in the past that have needed no more than two RAM slots. So far I've not needed over 2GBs on anything I've built. That may change soon with Vista and the new hardware. A buyer should by all means compare what's in the machines as much as possible, but mag reviews and forum posts cover that as well. In the end it's up to the buyer to lay down the money, stock or custom. But the buyer should keep in mind when reading forum fodder that customs will usually outperform stock and not expect stock to compare unless more dollars are spent for upgrades.

Edited: Only because the quote function didn't work right. LOL

 

PacMan777 , is there any advantage of the new Zalman 9700 over the 9500 ? which i have

 

Not to the extent I'd buy a 9700 to replace a 9500. I'd only do that if I had another use for the 9500. On a recent build I did with an AMD (with some moderate overclocking), I was getting temps around 53C. Max for the processor was 59C. The 9700 dropped the temp on down below 50C (normally about 48C under load for most things). So, if going with a new Zalman, I'd go with the 9700 over a 9500. Just be sure to shop around for the best prices.

 

Pacman777, thanks my 9500 is running this Opteron 185 that is OC(ed) at about 36c at idle to around 40c to 42c under load

heres my specs.

Antec Nine Hundred Mid-Tower Gaming Case/Thermaltake 750-Watt PS/ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe MB Socket 939/ Seagate160GB Barracuda/ Westeren Digital Raptor 150 GB Sata/NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GX2,1 GB of GDDR3 Memory / CORSAIR XMS 2GB DDR SDRAM (PC 3500)/AMD Opteron 185 Dual Core CPU OC(ed) to 2.87GHz/Zalman CNPS-9500 LED Cooler/2-Plextor PX-716A Drives/Lite-On SHW-160P6S/View Sonic-VX2235wm 22" Widescreen 1680x1050 res.5ms Respone Time

the 9700 is 59.99 at newegg

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835118019

 

I forgot to mention, the 9700 comes with a new thermal compound that brushes on. It's better than the old stuff they used before and it goes on easier than Arctic Silver. I don't know about long term, but for now it seems to work as well as Arctic Silver. Call me a creature of habit, but I still feel safer with the Arctic Silver though.

 

yeah the Arctic Silver is proven

 

I've only seen that beat by a dollar or 2.
http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php?masterid=28387737&search=Zalman+9700

When you say full load, what are you testing with and are you putting the BIOS in Manual and turning the Cool 'n Quiet off? I've used AMD processors with the A8N32-SLI board and the temps you have are exceptional for one loaded. The passive cooling of that board runs slightly warmer than some others.

 

Another thing I forgot to ask. Is that temp you mentioned for the CPU or the chipset?

 

yes its the CPU temp

my mobo temp is about 28c to 30c

well not full load iam talking thats the temp when gaming or encoding a dvd etc.

 

PacMan777,

Very true! Not with the one Ace_2 posted though! It comes with software, mouse and keyboard, but no monitor.

The parts I'm getting total $744, including tax and shipping. Add $96 for a 6600 instead of the 6400 and that would leave about $160 for a case, PS, keyboard and mouse which is do-able for $999! I may wind up doing just that for myself as I just got yet another build so I'll have some extra money to play with. The console would be fairly high quality with lots of future potential as the MB, memory, Drives and CPU are all good quality parts. For myself I won't need a case, PS, keyboard, mouse or Monitor so I may well take that route. You are right about the $1500 if I had to supply a monitor. Would probably run $1350 to $1400 or so depending. I would get another Sceptre Widescreen for sure!

BTW I'm not down on the Zalman, it's just the Arctic works better for me in the cases I've used. I've tested both extensively in the 3 different computers we have here and the Arctic runs about 6C cooler. I imagine in a case with very high airflow like the Xclio, the Zalman would be better I use the Arctics for all my builds now with no problems. Can't beat the price either! I can usually buy 2 Freezer 7s or 64s for less than 1 9500!

Happy computering,
theone

 

Russ veiwsonic has a couple sweet new widescreens out check out the
X Series


5ms respone time on the 22"


http://viewsonic.com/products/desktopdisplays/lcddisplays/

 

MichaelP1,

Nah! I'll stick with the Sceptre! Better contrast ratio with the same response time. Plus they are close by if I ever do have a problem. They also cost less and I've been more than happy with mine with 0 problems and it does get used a lot!

BTW, I of the opinion that folding seems to be the best torture test you can give a PC. I'm running 95% CPU usage and my CPU temp is 46C in a 27C room. Not bad for a Presler! Says a lot about the design of the Cooler Master Cavalier case as well as it runs about 4C cooler now. I think I'll be using them for all my builds. I think my next one will be a black one for me. Either that or the Xclio Rocket job! I saw a Cavalier in black the other day and it's really nice looking with the brush finish aluminum front. Drive door is slick too and it takes about 20 sec to reverse it! Reasonably priced at $69 as well.

For all the touting of OCCT as a good stress test, it's only single threaded. Folding is better. The only errors I get are time errors because I don't run it 24/7. Considering that, I'm gonna hit 8000+ points by morning as I'll leave it on tonight!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

In all fairness, the 9500 is an excellent cooler, and I don't think Russ is saying otherwise, but in his opinion (and mine) the Freezer seems a better idea, and it doesn't surprise me, based on the stats and some benchmarks that it'd be near the top if not as good as the Zalman. With regard to premade PCs, there are sites that let you custom make a PC (I think Ibuypower is one of them) using a selection of parts you choose, then put it together for a fee. Some places charge you a fortune, but if you do what I did, you eventually find somewhere that aska a very minimal assembly fee. Granted the components cost slightly more than a big wholesaler but you get a reasonable deal. My system was £1200+a £50 assembly fee when I had it built. The components would have cost me £1140 at ebuyer, which is kinda like the UK equivalent of newegg.

S3a, upon our recommendation Russ, has got himself a Sceptre X20g Naga. Unsurprisingly he loves it. Another happy consumer. Unfortunately Sceptre and Westinghouse are the two brands you can't get in the UK...

 

Sammorris,

I had the Zalman in my old 3.0/800 Prescott for quite a while and it did a good job. My only real complaint with it was it's a major pain in the a$$ to install or remove! Almost impossible to install with the MB mounted. I decided to build the D-940 and switched the 9500 to it. I was doing a build and had a freezer 7 (customer request) so I decided to try it in mine and was very surprised by the 5C to 6C lower temps. I did a lot of testing between the Arctic and the Zalman and posted temps and as you remember I caught a lot of skepticisum for all the work. I honestly think the 9500 would work better in a larger case. At $16.99 with free shipping I usually buy 2 Freezers and keep them in stock. They work excellent in the CM Cavalier case!

If you remember rightly I saw a demo of the Naga III over a year ago and the's what started my love affair with Sceptre. I asked about what others thought on the thread and got a lot of opinions both ways. Most didn't like the 60K refresh rate at 1680x1050. It's never been a problem with games or anything and the picture clarity is outstanding. Lots of arguments about stretching the display too. I'll never go back to a 4:3!

I'm going to e-mail you something to check out on your widescreen, so look for it! Just be warned, don't put it on a CRT whatever you do!

Happy Computering,
theone

 

Russ all the LCDs are 60K refresh rate , i don't think theres anyway around this

 

I don't recall seeing an LCD that did more than 60Hz at top resolution, neither do I recall seeing any LCD where that was a problem... I get 60Hz at 2560x1600 on my 3007 and that looks absolutely fine, bar when you get low fps in games of course!

 

MichaelP1 & Sam.

I knew that! That's why I though that particular complaint was funny! ROFL!! That's all right! Some folks would critisise water for being "wet"! LOL!!

Sam,
Way back in the day Westinghouse used to have a slogan, "You can be sure if it's Westinghouse"! Us techs who worked on them changed that to, "If it's a Westinghouse, you can be sure..."! They were junk! Cheap Junk at that!

Happy computering,
theone

 

Really? They're the only company I've seen advertising full size PC monitors...