AMD rana x3 unlocked to Phenom II x4 B40

[darkace256]

Hello Everyone Out There

Ok, so tonight I was bored and wanted to squeeze more power out of my rig:


MSI 870A-G54 MainBoard naf said...shoulda went with ASUS M4N98TD EVO for SLI (didn't realize at time that it was AMD chipset...and they wonder how I got my A+ and net+ certifications...)
CPU: Questionable hehe (4x at 3Ghz)
OCZ DDR3 RAM "AMD black Addition" 8-8-8-24
MSI Nvidia Geforce GT240 Overclocked:
Core: 550- 670
Shader: 1340- 1700
Memory: 1700- 1850
(This little beast can play almost all new game at 1920x1080 on high/medium settings, no AA or vsync)
Cooler Master 600W PSU
NZXT Hades case(Phantom hit the shelve one week after I bought this )
Asus VH232H LCD
Asus DVD drive
RAT 7 gaming mouse (this thing rocks )

By the way this was my first build...geared towards budget (minus the $80 mouse )

Ok on to my Problem:

I recently unlocked the fourth core to my processor which cpuid is calling is an AMD Phenom II x4 B40. Now I'm stress testing for any issues and the temp is setting around 60-61 while running "prime95" (thats with my side panel off didnt want to chance anything )

Also I did notice that programs like core temp and hw monitor isn't registering any core temps now, were before It would idle around 30C and on load around 45C. Now the BIOS says 40C on startup and my case sensor says 60ish on load. But I guess that is expected with another core running.

So my question is, Is this a normal operation temp (with stock heat seek,fan assembly) and what would be a good "air" cooling solution? I currently have my eye on the "Hyper 212+" by coolermaster and one of the Zalmen "Orb style" cooler.


EDIT:

And I did run windows benchmark tool real quick and got these results:

6.8----7.3---CPU
7.2----7.3---RAM
6.9----6.9---Graphics
6.9----6.9---Gaming
5.9----5.9---HDD(HDD rating is kinda bias because to get higher than 5.9 you need a SSD)
Before-after

and I know that the windows benchmark sucks but it was a fast solution to see if there was a preference boost.

 

[ansonjoy007]

keep it under 55c on load it would be helpfull in the longer run.if you plan o.c it furthur get a good heatsink fan. the cm hyper 212+ is good .if not the case fans and stock hsf are ok. i have my x3 440 unlocked all on stock at 50c on load. the core temps get f***ed up on unlock . cpu temp is all you can rely on.

 

[darkace256]

so grab a Hyper 212

Ok that is what I was think to

for only 25ish on newegg and the reviewers say it preforms as good if not better as some higher end cooling systems, It looks like the most bang for your buck.


Oh and no errors on "prime95" and its been running for 5 or more hours and now the temps are climbing to 63ish on cpu..

 

[1965ohio]

Unless your CPU temps are always 60+ ... then the stock cooler is still fine. AMDs run hotter than Intel right now... just like in the Pentium 4 days Intel ran much hotter than AMD.

Keep C1E and other power management enabled and your CPU should throttle itself down when it isn't being heavily used. And spikes in heavy use will not hurt you to spike to 63 on occasions. But if your idle temps are over 40 and your normal load temps are over 55 always... then get that cooler.

Most of the AMD stock coolers are pretty good. Much better than the Intel stock coolers. My Intel q8300 cooler was a joke... idle it was 34, but prime95 would send it over 70 in about 2 minutes. If your chip is 40-60 most of the time... that is what AMD 4 cores run on their stock fans too. My x4 965 is overclocked to 3.8Ghz and is in that range all the time, but never continuously higher than 50 for more than 2 minutes here and there.

 

[dalauder]

If you're thinking of a cooler--get that cooler if you can afford it. It's a good cooler and will serve you well for years to come.

Also, make sure you have a warning and shutdown temp set in your bios--this will prevent any serious CPU damage.

Intels actually can run hotter now than AMDs--considering a Nehalem i7 is "safe" up to 100C. I'd never let one get that hot and the general idea is under 80C on load, but the point still remains that you want to keep Phenom II's 20C lower than that.

Usually the CPU temp that registers separately from the cores is like 10C lower. I believe that's what shows up after you unlock (I unlocked a Phenom II x2 to a B60). So double check how those temps compare by re-locking your core. And make sure you're really keeping it cool enough.

Also, an Athlon II x3 can handle most games nowadays and definitely a GT 240. In terms of noticeable performance, you'll get more through your max OC (without unlocking) than careful and limited OC'ing with an unlocked core and disabled temp monitoring. You should be able to push that near 4.0GHz (especially with a Hyper 212+) with the three cores--and that will be a lot more useful than 3.3GHz with four for most applications.

You're much more limited by your graphics than your CPU.

Btw, this guy wanted to trade his SLI board (MSI NF750-G55) for a crossfire board: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/101083-8-nf750-mobo

 

[geekapproved]

MSI 870A-G54 MainBoard naf said...shoulda went with ASUS M4N98TD EVO for SLI (didn't realize at time that it was AMD chipset...and they would how I got my A+ and net+ certifications...)

That's great you got your certifications. I would suggest you get certified in English so that you can write a sentence that makes sense.

I wonder how you can have such certifications never having even built a pc, and not even know what chipset you bought. That's pretty amazing.







I don't really see how you can make a Athlon II a Phenom II. The Athlon II still has 1/4 the L1 cache and 1/3 the L2 cache. Does it unlock the cache too?

 

[PudgyChicken]

I'd also recommend looking at a Corsair Hydro solution. My H50 (in push-pull) keeps my i7 980X (@4.2GHz) at around 12-13C idle and 35ish at full load. People are always saying that big air cooling is better, but this baby really shines.

FYI: The fans I'm using for push-pull are 2x Apevia blue LED 120mm fans. 9 bucks each, but cheaper when you buy in quantity (I bought three) (link)

 

[geekapproved]

12c?? Really? That's 20c cooler than my air conditioned home. How is that possible, do you keep your home at 50f??

 

[darkace256]

opps... I fixed a lot of my typo but the obvious I didn't catch

I meant to say "wonder" not "would"


So I stress tested around 20ish hours and the temps ranged from 59-64 on full load under "prime95" no errors reported either.

It idles about 38C...bit to hot for my liking so I'm gonna get a aftermarket "Air" cooler. Any suggestions?

 

[darkace256]

I don't really see how you can make a Athlon II a Phenom II. The Athlon II still has 1/4 the L1 cache and 1/3 the L2 cache. Does it unlock the cache too

This is true, when AMD makes there processors along with Intel, if the processor doesn't meet certain standards(or quality control) such as my Athlon II rana 440 x3 was suppose to be a Phenom II but it did meet the standards when developed. So they essentially locked the forth core and sold it as an Athlon II. And no it doesn't unlock the cache because its not a "true" phenom as I stated above it did not meet the "quality control"

 

[geekapproved]

Yes I understand that they sell quads that don't make the cut as duals and tri's. lol

I was just stating that it's really not a unlocked to a phenom because it still doesn't have the cache.

 

[darkace256]

dual channel DDR3 running at 8-8-8-24