The Official PC building thread - 4th Edition

Steal of the week!

Phenom IIx4 965BE 3.4GHz

$89.99 w/promo code EMCYTZT2108


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...12-Index-_-ProcessorsDesktops-_-19103727-L07B

Russ

 

I certainly like mine quite a bit! In my opinion, it's getting a bit long in the tooth. For me anyhow

 

Aye that's a good price

Will be patient for my 1090T for the time being. The one time I'm thankful for technology stagnation Only wish they had made more of them as they are, for the most part, much more powerful than Bulldozer.(for my uses anyway)

Granted OCing puts Bulldozer on a fairly level playing field as they clock like mad, but then a large amount of Thuban cores can do 4GHz+ as well

Would be interested in a Piledriver but that would require a new motherboard. Currently no AM3+ support

 

Quite frankly, I may be interested in a new motherboard. Perhaps the Northbridge will run cooler on the next one! :S

 

Bulldozer has to clock about 20% higher than Phenom II to match it in integer performance per core. Like you said, it clocks like mad. Phenom II usually clocks a little over 4GHz, but Bulldozer can easily clock a little over 5GHz with the same core count cooler. I'd say that they can be pretty even, but Phenom II might be able to go a bit higher. There's no way for BD to beat Phenom II in Windows 7 without the core configuration mod that I've mentioned as far as I'm aware. In Windows 8, with the thread scheduling improvements, the playing field might be a little less level between them.

 

Maybe. AMD boards seem to all have poor Northbridge cooling. Have any of you had a board that had a very well-cooled Northbridge?

 

LOL! Come to think of it, no...

The Nvidia northbridges especially, ran rather warm. I had more than two quit. I do have a NB fan, that I may pull from a board I was given Who knows how well that will work though.

 

The lifespan of nvidia chipsets could be measured in weeks. FTR, the heatsink (not chip) temperature of my nf650i in a well cooled case was 72ºC. How hot must the chip underneath have been? 41ºC according to the sensor...

 

My 680i got those temps easily with active cooling. The last good Nvidia chipset IMO was the Nforce 500 series. They learned a lot of lessons from Nforce 4, which was basically the de-facto AMD chipset for 939. They actually improved on it in every way. As of the last few generations though, AMD's and Intel's own chipsets are some of the best ever released.

My Northbridge is A-OK. Removing the Gigabyte logos and stuff from the heatsinks makes a few degrees difference.

The 790X-UD4, the board mine is based on, had a heatpipe. I should probably see about swapping the cooler from the dead board
-------------------------------------------------------------
Can anyone recommend me a new PSU? The ol' 620HX is starting to read low on the +5v. Might explain the stability issues I've had at 3.8GHz. Currently sitting at 4.81 and dipping to 4.73 in games. 4.75 is the limit and this PSU used to sit at 4.95.

I know what to look for but not sure what brands are trustworthy in recent times. Reckon I should just bite the bullet and get a Seasonic? Which model?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151088

Currently looking at these two models. The Seasonic gets a fantastic review at SPCR and is apparently nothing but server-grade quality.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/Seasonic_X650

Might have to wait for work to pick up before I have the extra cash. Really wasn't expecting a parts replacement.

 

Blazorthon,

I've always had some of the coolest temps on AD, and my case airflow is tailored and designed to keep itself clean. It's been well over a year since I installed the CoolIt R-120 LCS to replace a heatpipe Freezer 64, and besides doing a little dusting around the bottom of the case, it's never been cleaned yet.



As you can see, no temp problems here, NB or otherwise

One of the problems I ran into with liquid cooling is you have little or no air flow around the NB or the VRMs that you normally get with an air cooler. I added a 70mm fan from an aluminum block AMD cooler, that fits in between the plastic tightening knobs and the cover of the pump/heatsink very snugly. It may make a racket on the CPU cooler's aluminum block, but out in the open like it is, in spite of it's 3300 rpm, it's almost dead silent, and moves a lot of air.

It really doesn't matter what brand, either Intel or AMD. The NB has always been a cooling problem, for as long as I can remember. A few years back the trick was to buy an Antec 6 cfm 40mm fan and screw it right to the heatsink. It's the best NB cooler yet. Unfortunately, Antec stopped making them!

This should give you a chuckle though. These are specs for a 40mm fan. I couldn't live in a house with something that noisy. It's louder than my hair dryer! LOL!! The pitch alone would drive me right up a wall!


Fan Size
40mm
Bearing Type
2 Ball
RPM
19000 RPM
Air Flow
23.4 CFM
Noise Level
59.9 dBA

Best Regards,
Russ

 

59.9dba on a tiny fan... I don't think that me neighbors would let me keep that even if I could get myself to use something like that.

 

LOL! I'd never use something like that. Well... Perhaps. But I'd have to have my PC in a closet, or sound proofed area

Cable management would be... interesting.

 

If you want to know what those fans are used for, it's this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvX-p5MlQGY&feature=player_detailpage#t=61s

These I believe, however, are only about the 12,000rpm versions.

On the PSU note, the Seasonic X units are about as good as they get these days. Pricey, but no compromise.

 

Don't think that I've posted this before.



Blast from the past (sort of).

 

Ha a Pentium MMX. My first computer ever XD

 

LOL! I had one of those for a time. A compaq somebody gave me. Then I stepped up to my 1.4Ghz athlon system. And a PC nut was born Although I've been fascinated since I first seen a Mac in the fifth grade. We had a Commodore 64 around that time

 

Pentium MMX 200MHz, 66MHz buss. I had one of those, when I moved west in 96. $400 for that turkey. Today it would get trounced by any single core at way less than half the price. A Phenom IIx4 965BE 125w quad core runs rings around it, for about $90.

Best Regards,
Russ

 

My first PC too! I'm not sure what I took it out of - I think it was a Viglen (?!?!?)

 

Wouldn't it get trounced by an ARM CPU or an Atom?