Am I making a bad upgrade move?

[KeypoX]

I have a c2d e8200 at 3GHZ. I dont do encoding and only run VMs in linux and mac (hackintosh) for windows apps.

I just bought a combo, athlon ii x4 630 and mobo (ddr2) for about $100. I want a quad core but not sure why. Only reason would be to run VM's. Better multitasking... i dunno Mostly i want to see four cores.

Im thinking that the x4 will overclock to at least 3.2 on low volts. And this would give slightly better performance than the wolfdale? I also wanna see how well VM's work with x4. However I will lose my OSX install, and thats sorta a big deal. But I like linux too. Though with school and games windows, right now, is my main OS. Though if sharing 2 core with a VM gives awesome performance would use linux more for work.

Should I keep this combo? Im thinking maybe games and other things will start taking more advantage of multicores and thus give the x4 an edge/bigger edge.

More specifically this combo http://www.frys.com/product/6279140?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

 

[richierich1212]

It's a good combo, not a bad move at all. Try it out, see how you like it. If not you can always sell it for not that much of a loss.

 

[alyarb]

per thread, a 3.2 GHz K10.5 will be very close to wolfdale performance at 3.0 GHz. It is very easy for a pair of VMs to spread into more than that though, and you will definitely see better multitasking and multiprocessing. You can probably do 3.4 GHz with the stock cooler and that motherboard.

wiki.osx86project.whatever the site is, it isn't responding right now so I can't check the HCL. There's a chance you can install snow leopard on your AMD machine, though.

 

[KeypoX]

alright sounds like just what I wanted. Will be here tomorrow.

I read that there is a very slight possibility that i would be able to unlock the A2 to a P2. But its all kinda old info.

I checked the HCL they didnt have any biostar motherboards listed. Havent checked for chipset yet. Maybe it will work. Guess I can try.

 

[Vesku]

To try to unlock an Athlon II or Phenom II you need a motherboard with ACC enabled, requires 710 or 750 south bridge. Here is a link to Biostar's list of motherboards with "BIO-unlocKING" - http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/event/biounlocking/model.php

The odds of getting an Athlon II that unlocks L3 Cache is pretty slim nowadays. My x3 did unlock the fourth core though.

 

[jtisgeek]

Yes :twisted:

P.S no not really extra core will help your system be much more efficient just don;t expect a huge jump in gaming or anything.

 

[nyker96]

I actually did something similar to you beginning of the year went from e7xxx/3,5 to a x4@3,25. turns out, it's slightly slower on games not very noticeable, but is way faster on threaded stuff like x264 encoding and virus scanning, virtual machines etc.

 

[KeypoX]

I actually did something similar to you beginning of the year went from e7xxx/3,5 to a x4@3,25. turns out, it's slightly slower on games not very noticeable, but is way faster on threaded stuff like x264 encoding and virus scanning, virtual machines etc.

So maybe if I increase the ghz from 3 to 3.2 or 3.4 ... I should see an increase in everything. Its the missing L3 that has me worried.

Gaming isnt a huge deal, im not worried about graphics to much and i think im bounded more by my video card anyways. GTX 260.

 

[nyker96]

So maybe if I increase the ghz from 3 to 3.2 or 3.4 ... I should see an increase in everything. Its the missing L3 that has me worried.

Gaming isnt a huge deal, im not worried about graphics to much and i think im bounded more by my video card anyways. GTX 260.

if you game more get the quad one with cache. but if your gtx 260 is like my hd4850, then the difference is minimal, in the newer games that actually uses quads like dragon age origins, you get higher fps. but the biggest boost for me is VMware performance. I run about 5-6 apps at a time and when the virus scanner kicks in, my old dual core would really slow a bit, the x4 is made for this type of multitasking load so it feels more responsive than the e7xxx I had. and it really rocks in x264 encoding jobs for me.

 

[KeypoX]

Well get it in there. NOt liking the biostar bios to much so far.

But did bump up the bus to 240 3.360ghz. Not much stability testing yet. Busy for the next couple days. I like the temps though 27-30C idle.

What program will max out all 4 cores? Orthos only maxed 2. Also what is the ram multiplier called? My ram is running 960mhz, i didnt even think it would boot that high. Lots of testing needed no time till the weekend though.

 

[slayernine]

I wouldn't overclock on a cheap non overclock friendly motherboard. I would be worried about long term stability issues or shortened lifespan.

On the other hand that is a crazy crazy price, I would run it at stock and be happy with my savings. Ah who am I kidding I would overclock it for fun.

 

[KeypoX]

Im actually very happy with this setup. The cpu runs much cooler (though there is only one thermal sensor on this chip...) 27-28ish idle 80F room.

I initially tried a couple overclocks set bus to 220, currently dual orthos stable. And also been trying 240 but having issues. I have been on C2D for so long there is much more to overclocking amds.

Im not sure what is holding back the overclock, but the lack of options in bios is disheartening. Cannot set voltage can only give increases from default/auto which seems to be 1.4V (seems high?) Temps seem low.

Maybe this board cannot go higher. It doesnt seem to like it when i try different dividers for HT and for the memory.

I would like to get it to about 3.4ghz, about 240 fsb. I guess i shouldnt try to overclock the HT? Is there much of a advantage to that?

 

[richierich1212]

You should be able to set the voltage.....are you using onboard video?

 

[perdomot]

I like this combo better as its a better cpu and mobo for $40 less:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.407447

 

[KeypoX]

You should be able to set the voltage.....are you using onboard video?

no using gtx 260. Also no option to disable onboard... only a order of which to use. Which defaults to PCI first.

Yeah should be able too. Maybe i can't find it but i dont think its there.