Athlon 64

[dedejean]

It has been ages, and its time to create a new gaming rig. I am situated in the Philippines, and summer temp here is reaching 38-42C. Here's my problem, i am not updated with processors, but before, the reason i go with P3 is because of heat problems with athlon base systems.

Now, i am reconsidering athlon 64, seeing its performance benefits over its Pentium counterpart. any issues in southeast asian regions with athlon base systems? i am going to buy a new system, and it will be up and running 24/7 with current room temp 28-35C.

 

[Yanagi]

Any winchester/Venice should be just fine. You might want to buy an aftermarket coolr. The Zalman 7700-ALCU is the one I'm currently using and it has worked fine for me. Load temps @ 38C @2.4 GHz

 

[Lonyo]

Modern AMD64 processors are a LOT cooler than current P4 processors.
One other option (depending on what you do and how much money you have) is to look at getting a mobile CPU (Pentium M) and mouting it on a desktop board.
They run very cool, so if you have the money, and they are available to you, that may be another option. The do have some issues though as they are quite poor at tasks like video encoding, but they are good for general use and gaming.

Modern Athlon64's also have Cool n Quiet which means they lower clock speed (meaning they also produce less heat) when they are not being fully loaded, so that will keep them cooler as well.

 

[dedejean]

Originally posted by: Yanagi
Any winchester/Venice should be just fine. You might want to buy an aftermarket coolr. The Zalman 7700-ALCU is the one I'm currently using and it has worked fine for me. Load temps @ 38C @2.4 GHz

thank you for that assurance. if my athlon burns out, ill come looking for you! hehe thanks!

am not familiar with Zalman, no such brands here. any alternatives like ttake, cool master, arctic?

 

[pulsedrive]

From all that I have read, I would reccomend the Thermalright xp90 or xp120 for ambient temps like that.

 

[Jeff7181]

I would almost be tempted to forget air cooling completely and get water cooling. Some of us are seeing idle temps in the low 30's... which is a good 10 degrees C above room temps. If your room temp is going to be up to 35, your idle temps will be in the mid 40's. Load temps no less than 50... probably over 60.

Maybe one of those 15 watt Dothans would be a good solution for you?

 

[sangyup81]

Just don't let the sunlight hit your computer and it shouldn't be that bad.

The best choices are either the Zalman or the XP-90 or XP-90C

 

[theMan]

i think you should either get an a64, with a thermalright xp-90, or xp-120 depending on your motherboard, or get a pentium-m. those things are really good, and really cool too.

 

[Sentential]

To be honest so long as you provide your CPU with an adequate cooler you should be fine. I have a 640 in my sister's rig. Eventho its case temp is a roasty 37C* (south FL) its CPU temp on load doesnt break 50.

 

[dedejean]

uhmm.. i am not really into modifying cooling system. i prefer the stock ones. how do the stock HS/fan do under 35C room temp? will the stock HS/fan do well in tropical countries like Philippines? i mean with a little overclocking and 24/7 turned on system??

 

[Viditor]

Forget about the aftermarket cooling. It won't be necessary at all. Just get the Venice chip, and there won't be any problem.
I have a Venice core 3200 running 24/7, and at full load it doesn't EVER get past 32C...
If you plan on overclocking, then that's different of course. All of the guys here are overclockers, which is why they are suggesting after-market coolers...

I should add that the CPU core temp is lower than my mobo temp quite often...

 

[dedejean]

@Viditor
where are you located? im in the philippines and it reaches 42C here in summer. currently 30C. the venice is the S939 right? i got that already. i got athlon64 3000+ S939.. is that the venice core?

 

[SrGuapo]

Originally posted by: dedejean
@Viditor
where are you located? im in the philippines and it reaches 42C here in summer. currently 30C. the venice is the S939 right? i got that already. i got athlon64 3000+ S939.. is that the venice core?

There are two types, winchester and venice. Venice are the newer ones. They seem to be slightly cooler than the winchesters. Check the markings on the CPU.

 

[fatty4ksu]

My Newcatle runs at 58 load.

Ouch.

 

[Viditor]

I'm in Sydney, and it gets that hot here as well...
There are different cores for the 3000+, you will need to specify the one you want from the place you buy it at. The newest ones are the Venice cores, and you have to check

 

[dedejean]

so how do i now its a venice core or a winchester? wats the diff ?

 

[Lithan]

Venice is the coolest running desktop chip produced these days.

Venice is known as "E revision"

 

[Viditor]

Originally posted by: dedejean
so how do i now its a venice core or a winchester? wats the diff ?

The difference is found in the revision of the core, i.e. which stepping it is.
The following page shows you the CPUID value for the different cores on page 8:
Revision Guide for AMD Processors PDF

The difference functionally between the cores is that the Venice core uses ~half the power of the previous cores...

 

[dedejean]

i tried understanding the link (pdf). dont know what its saying though. i just bought a athlon64 3000+ S939, so it could be a vanice or a winchester core??? with the former using half the power of the latter?

 

[Viditor]

Originally posted by: dedejean
i tried understanding the link (pdf). dont know what its saying though. i just bought a athlon64 3000+ S939, so it could be a vanice or a winchester core??? with the former using half the power of the latter?

Yes.
If your system is up and running, download CPU-Z and run it...
(click on the "1.29" link to download)
This will tell you what processor you have.

 

[Furen]

nah, both winchester and venice use about the same power.

Venice is newer and, thus, has certain improvements that winchester lacks.

These are:

Improved memory controller (the biggest improvement, in my opinion. It leads to both higher performance--I'd say about 2% average--and better memory compatibility--doesnt make much difference unless you use four dimms or have mismatched dimms)
SSE3 (not used much so not much gain here)
Dual Stress Layer manufacturing (which allows them to clock higher, in theory)

 

[Viditor]

Originally posted by: Furen
nah, both winchester and venice use about the same power.

Venice is newer and, thus, has certain improvements that winchester lacks.

These are:

Improved memory controller (the biggest improvement, in my opinion. It leads to both higher performance--I'd say about 2% average--and better memory compatibility--doesnt make much difference unless you use four dimms or have mismatched dimms)
SSE3 (not used much so not much gain here)
Dual Stress Layer manufacturing (which allows them to clock higher, in theory)

They don't actually...if you look at the power consumption tests over at Lost Circuits, you will see a large difference.
While the differnce between Winchester and Venice is smaller by far, note that the 2.4 GHz Venice runs less power than the 2.2 GHz Winchester.
And the 2.4 GHz Venice runs at less than half the power of the 2.4 GHz Newcastles...

You're right about the differences in power being quite small between Winchester and Venice, though it is quite measurable...