New AMD build - *budget* high performance gamer for 19x12

[Rhoxed]

Originally posted by: soccerballtux

Originally posted by: Rhoxed
have you tried using the HTT reference clock to overclock any?

if i remember correctly, alot of these x3's dont like high multi's

as for your voltage, your more then safe, i have been running my 940BE @ 1.52 for ~6 months now with no problems (this is also on a 3 year old MSI K9A2 platinum)
i would say 1.55 is the max you would want to take it on good air and 24/7
(i have a 9850BE running 1.55 for well over a year at 3.35ghz - this is my bedroom HTPC / gamer for my 42" viera)

dont be afraid to put some volts in these chips, they are much less sensitive than the intel counterparts

try 1.5 or higher for the 720BE (for reference i used this chip in a foxconn a79a-s which does not unlock and the chip could not run past 3.8, moving to the gigabyte unlocked 4th core and i am able to OC to 4ghz+ now (though only stable at 3.95 or lower))

http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/8531/capturehiv.png

SS of what im running RIGHT now, as you can see its been on for over 8hrs ran a 3dmark06 test and i ran prime for 4hrs, max temp was 52C

Hey that's nice. I think I will go try playing with fsb myself. Is that 64bit or 32bit?

You would do well to OC the cpu-NB too...

as you can see in the SS the NB is at 2700Mhz so i have taken that into account (max possible is 2900, but on "unsafe" volts)

OS is 32bit, but i can also do the same in x64 (came from x64 about a month ago, seeing if i could get that magical 4ghz stable in x32 but it was of no help)

 

[soccerballtux]

Ha, so it is. I saw "2160" and though "oh dear" without recognizing that was HT, lol...

What's your opinion on safe voltage for cpu-nb? Your opinion on stock? I think stock is 1.2v. Safe? Running mine at 1.4v (+0.2v).

 

[Rhoxed]

i *believe* stock is somewhere between 1.1 and 1.2, 1.4 is about as high as i go on a regular basis, i have tried up to 1.5 to test max OC's with no problems

i can only get to about 2300mhz on stock and only takes 1.35 for 2700mhz 1.4 for 2800-2900, i have ran it at 3100mhz at 1.5V but temps were ridiculous and it was no where near stable.

on the other hand, my 940BE can do 2400mhz stock but wont pass 2800mhz at ANY voltage.

 

[soccerballtux]

Probably some of that 32bit vs 64bit stuff going on. I envy your OC. Even at 1.52v I was not stable at 3.7Ghz. I can't go any higher because of temps. I'm satisfied with 3.5. Might try higher with FSB OC'ing but I don't know if my ram will let me.

 

[deputc26]

Apoppin! you done with this or what

 

[richierich1212]

Originally posted by: soccerballtux
Probably some of that 32bit vs 64bit stuff going on. I envy your OC. Even at 1.52v I was not stable at 3.7Ghz. I can't go any higher because of temps. I'm satisfied with 3.5. Might try higher with FSB OC'ing but I don't know if my ram will let me.

Yeah 3.5GHz is still very good. I love my 550 X2 --> X4 @ 3.45GHz w/ 1.26v + NB @ 2.61GHz for everyday usage.

Screenie

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: deputc26
Apoppin! you done with this or what

sorry -not quite; things have not been normal for me as a family member was in the hospital for the past ten days and i am primary care

i am done with 4870-X2 testing on the Athlon II and the two Phenom IIs; i am also done with testing with GTX280 *except* for the 550 X2

i am done with it this weekend [unless there is a serious meltdown] and the intro *will* be up this weekend

the X3 is SO close to the q9550 in many games - even at the slower clock of Phenom II's 3.5 GHz vs. C2Q's 4.0 GHz
- awesome bang for buck!!

 

[apoppin]

i know it has taken forever .. but the link to the review is in my sig

- and there is still a further "tweaking" part of the Value review series which will go further and update to the (very) latest drivers and explore CrossFireX a bit more with CPU scaling

Cliff's conclusions:

Quad is SO unnecessary .. except for a single game i tested; Phenom X3 is great bang-for-buck
- ANY decent dual-core CPU over 2.8 GHz will work fine with a GTX280/GTX275/HD4890 class of card
--- any decent dual over 3.5 GHz will work fine with 4870-X2 and CrossFire

 

[Rhoxed]

great article, something i can compare to, as i have the same MOBO, 720BE, 940BE a pair of 4870's at my disposal, 3 4850's and 3 3870's

It is good to see AMD keeping up with such low cost CPU's compared to a 350$ intel quad in gaming.

as i said already, great article and well worth the wait!

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Rhoxed
great article, something i can compare to, as i have the same MOBO, 720BE, 940BE a pair of 4870's at my disposal, 3 4850's and 3 3870's

It is good to see AMD keeping up with such low cost CPU's compared to a 350$ intel quad in gaming.

as i said already, great article and well worth the wait!

thanks

much of the delay was technical with our CMS; we are dumping WordPress and migrating to a new host [and keeping the old one]

i really consider this "Part 1" of AMD vs. Intel
- i guess my next step is to get core i5 and a PII X4

in September .. i am taking suggestions to improve the series

 

[konakona]

great read, this pretty much answers my lingering question on budget gaming cpu. good to know my expectations indeed were correct (x3 being almost as good as more expensive intel quads)