The New AMD Building Thread

The problem I've run into was with BioStar motherboards, where the computer would randomly reset! The adapter solves the problem! Even in the link you posted, it still recommends the adapter!

Russ

 

I would NEVER trust such a cable to provide power to my CPU.

 

Took a couple minutes of spare time to throw together this mini-build and would like to know if anyone has any comments on it. This build won't be OC or used for anything really demanding, mainly office applications, internet and autoCAD. Point of this build is low cost and longevity; with luck it'll be replacing a 1Ghz PIII.

MB - Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P

-my main concern with this build is the MB. The cooling system is a bit lacking so I'm concerned that on hot days (and possibly in very poorly ventilated case) heat could be a problem. The other problem is the component layout which is pretty poor and in one review was described as “system assembly nightmare”.

CPU - Phenom II X4 955 BE

RAM - CORSAIR DOMINATOR DDR3 1600

 

It's only a nightmare because it's a nightmare to build a PC if you're completely dense. I worry about the power regulators on that board with such a power-hungry CPU.

 

Thanks sam. Power regulation is something I know nothing about, should probably take some time to learn a bit.
Do you (anyone really) know of a board with similar features and quality (and most importantly price range) that would fit this build? Can't seem to find anything I really like without going up in price quite a bit.

TIA

 

Sam,
I have no idea why! I'm holding one in my hand right this moment, and it's well made and is designed to accept power from two different rails. It's no more and no less the same way the 8 pin connector is wired when it comes with a PSU! Have you ever even used one, because I have and they work just fine and do solve the problem! I don't see your point, and I see absolutely no reason not to trust it at all! I see no reason to chuck a perfectly good PSU when the adapter works flawlessly! I've installed at least 10 of them to date, without any problems!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

Sam,
Then you are worrying about nothing then! This is from the specs from the MB manufacturer's product page!

"Advanced 8+2 phase CPU VRM power design for AMD high-TDP 140W CPU support"!

You must be thinking of a different motherboard, as the power regulation is superb on this board!

Russ

 

Well, potentially two different rails, but unlikely unless you have a 4+ rail power supply as the molexes are usually isolated from PCI express and the normal CPU power output. Two sets of pins may well be used but there's only one wire from the PSU feeding all that power most of the time since molexes on a single line are daisy-chained. On top of that I've had countless sturdy-looking adapters like that randomly have a pin fall out due to the generally terrible standard of soldering. That is the last thing you need as it can potentially be a fire hazard. When 99% of boards will work with just 4 pins, I'd sooner just do that. if you're overclocking a CPU that draws more than 80W stock, you should be using a PSU with 8 pins. hey're hardly rare.

I have no concern for the regulators on the 770 board and am well aware it has 140W TDP support, but there's no heatsink there. If the system isn't well cooled that could be problematic.

 

Okay so you were referring to the cooling, that makes more sense. The cooling on that MB leaves much to be desired, but the price doesn't. Oh well, I'll work on this some more later, thanks guys.

 

Sam,
Your words, are they not?

Your last post says,
"I have no concern for the regulators on the 770 board and am well aware it has 140W TDP support, but there's no heatsink there. If the system isn't well cooled that could be problematic".

Many motherboards don't have heatsinks for the VRMs, like many of the Asus P5Q models (that cost more), for example. As far as the system being well cooled or not, that applies to any system! Most CPU coolers blow air right over the VRMs, so I don't see any problem or cause for alarm there!


I find that the LOGISYS AD202 12V Molex to 8pin P8 Adapter is a well made, high quality adapter and it works well. I'm well aware that there are some adapters that are of very poor quality, but this isn't one of them! Highly Recommended to anyone that needs one!

Best regards,
Russ

 

Yes, and what I meant was that they're inadequately cooled. It's not really a case of boards not needing VRM cooling, it's just that cheap ones don't, and with the amount of power that an X4 955 uses, it's a worry. The air that flows down there from a normal CPU cooler is pretty slight, I've felt it. For a 125W CPU, there should really be a heatsink there.

 

Well my 940 works problem-free in my 780G board but I wouldn't run it OCd or for any length of time. It's a mid-low budget board and really more suited to tri-cores. On the other hand my DFI board has a tall VRM heatsink and should be more reliable with high wattage chips. So far problem-free with my OC'd quad.

 

as I would expect in a board with decent high quality regulation.

 

Sam,
I guess it depends on what you mean by cheap? The $125 ASUS P5Q-EM DO doesn't have any, and I wouldn't call that cheap at $50 more than the 770 GigaByte. besides the freezer 7 and Freezer 64 direct decent airflow to the NB and both VRM locations that surround the CPU. Having my present setup with the heatpipe cooler, it's more window dressing if anything at all! Look at some of the Asus P5Q models and you find some have totally worthless heat sinks on them, strictly as window dressing. They look pretty, but won't cool very much because of the lack of fins! What's even funnier is the ASUS P5Q Pro Turbo, which has a heatpipe cooler for half of the VRMs and a finned copper cooler for the rest. They should have used that finned cooler instead of that swoopy looking heatsink on some of the other models, as at least they offer fins to radiate the heat better. If anybody is concerned, spend $10 and buy a package of the Enzotec VRM coolers and stick them on. They worked great on my P35-DS3R!

Russ

 

and this is what...I used when I had that problem also and reached 4.5ghz stable with it also at the time now it's in the storage drawer...i picked it up at my local micro center store For $6 bucks

 

Thanks for your input guys. MUCH appreciated. It appears to be running fine with only 4 pins. I am however going to tell him to watch it like a hawk. Because my Corsair power supply has an 8pin connector. If needs be, I can trade him. The board the Corsair is hooked to, only requires a 4 pin (AM2 Socket). I probably should have just done that in the first place. Aw well. I guess I didn't wanna give up the Corsair, unless I really needed to LOL!

Xp ran VERY slow for the first hour. While I uninstalled old drivers, and reinstalled new drivers. Before I disconnected the old board, I uninstalled the Nvidia drivers, because I feared them causing a BSOD. See, the old board was onboard Nvidia, the new board is HD 3300 ati. In my experience, the two do not mesh well together. Not well at all LOL!

Suffice to say, my Bro's very happy. The Power Led never worked before. Now it does. I think the old board had more than one thing wrong with it. Im afraid that MSI may try and point the finger at me, when I know full well, that it was definitely the board that went awry.

Thanks once again Guys.

Kevin

 

Ha ha!!! Windows 7 has a software Raid capability! I just ran a Striped Volume (Raid 0), using my 2 WD AAKS 500GB drives. I dont think im gonna leave it like this though. While im impressed by how much difference it compares to the VelociRaptor, I dont want a Raid 0 Storage array. I want a Raid 0 "OS" array. I dont save critical data in that fashion LOL! The top results are the VelociRaptor, while the bottom is of the Raid 0 array. Both read and write nearly doubled from what the drives were singly.

Also note that these tests are not very accurate. I found everest to be more accurate, but it wont test the Raid array properly. It does however show the performance differences.

 

EM DO? I've never even heard of that board designation. It looks like the lowest grade microATX board for P45, which would explain why it's cheaply built, but not cheap to buy. Most high-end chipset boards (i.e. P45 instead of P31/P41 or 790G/FX instead of 740,770,780) tend to be really expensive for the same stuff when made microATX, I never really understood that.
As for the half/half split with the VRM coolers on their other board that makes sense as the stage layouts are often split.
Omega: Isn't the difference between 'storage' and 'OS' just the block size? You want big blocks for data, small blocks for OS performance I think.

 

Sam im not sure what you mean. What I mean, is I want a performance gain for the OS, not my storage medium. When it comes to storage, I just want the equipment to not fowl up LOL! And the WD1001Fals also has a bit of speed. As well it should for its size! Ive been considering getting its successor the 2Tb drive! But they're still too expensive.

 

Well exactly, the gain from the OS would really be from response time, which RAID does not improve. RAID improves MB/s for data.