CPU power draw

[jcamel24]

I'm expecting my new Phenom II x2 545 to arrive today ($55 after promo card) and had a question about how many watts it will draw if I am able to unlock it. Only curious because I've had previous problems with the mobo it will be going into.

Anyone with experience unlocking? Just looking for estimated power draw as an x3 and x4.

I have had previous problems with the mobo I will be using and would like to know how cautious I should be?!

 

[obsidian86]

should be same as an x4 phenom so use those as reference

 

[beanoslim]

Yeah estimate 80w dual / 95w triple / 125w quad, what board do you have?

 

[jcamel24]

Board is a MSI 880GMA-E45.

It could not handle an OC'd 1055t. RMA'ed it twice.

 

[beanoslim]

Seems to have a 95w limit.

What happened when it couldn't handle it?

What psu are you using?

 

[jcamel24]

I checked their website, and it says it supports the exact model # x6 that I have (125W). PSU was a Rosewill 630W Bronze. On a <10%OC, it ran Prime95 for about 1.5 hours and just shut off!

Anyway, that problem was solved after I bought a Gigabyte 880GA-UD3H. This board will OC that processor to 3.71Ghz all day on Prime with stock Vcore.

New setup will be:

MSI 880GMA-E45 AM3 AMD 880G HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813130276

AMD Phenom
II X2 545 Callisto 3.0GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Processor HDX545WFK2DGI - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103817
$75.99 + $20 Promo gift card

Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 996585
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820146740
$44.99 - $5 Promo code - $6.75 Promo code = $33.24

Antec EarthWatts Green EA-380D Green 380W Continuous power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 71033upply
$44.99 - $15 MIR = $29.99

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822152185

I will reuse an old Antec case and IDE DVD drive. I also still have the stock HSF from my 1055t. The HDD and mobo are already paid for, so I figured this is a pretty good price for what I'm getting, no? With the $20 promo card, I can grab a copy of Win7 for $80. Total cost after rebates is $219.21.

I figured since I already had the mobo, might as well build another system!

 

[beanoslim]

Well unless my eyes have gone funny there are no 125w cpu's here.
http://www.msi.com/index.php?func=prodcpu2&prod_no=2061&maincat_no=1

Yeah looks good for the money to me, no graphics card to power then?

 

[jcamel24]

Well, isn't that funny? There were two 125W CPU'S on that list the last time I looked at it! Exact model number and all! Oh well, maybe they had a lot of complaints about it and took it off the supported list.

No graphics card in this one for now, mainly just for homework, internet, youtube, etc.

 

[beanoslim]

Cool, good luck with the unlock.

 

[jcamel24]

Thanks! Just to prove I wasn't hallucinating when I bought the board, look at the Newegg page again. Scroll down on the overview and the 3rd feature shows:

140W AMD AM3 Processor Support
Based on the AMD 880G and SB850 chipset, the MSI 880GMA-E45 supports AMD’s Phenom II processors, as well as Athlon II and Sempron 100 series processors up to 140W in AM3 socket, providing unprecedented computing power to match the performance levels you are looking for.

After a Google search, I found that ALL 125w processors were removed from the support list as of October 30, 2010. Didn't do me any good in September!

 

[jcamel24]

Yeah estimate 80w dual / 95w triple / 125w quad, what board do you have?

Just put it together last night, and it did unlock.

HWMonitor reports 88W as x2, 133W as x3, and 178W as x4!

Is this right? Or is there another program I can try? I shut it down right away seeing as I had so many problems previously with this board.

 

[beanoslim]

Is that idle or under load?

The x2 has a peak rating of 80w so should actually be less when idle, same as the others.

If its overclocked and volted it will also draw more power

 

[jcamel24]

This was not under load (ie Prime95). As soon as my desktop appeared, I opened HWMonitor and these are the Watts it showed. I have not tried OC on this chip yet, so it is at stock 3.0ghz. Voltage was 1.36V every time.

 

[beanoslim]

Try it with the voltage on auto and cool n quiet enabled.

 

[RetiredChief]

Not convinced that HWMonitor is accurate on CPU/core wattages that are displayed. While back I noticed some odd behavior in the readings as they did the opposite of what I thought they should be. Cant't be specific as it was some monthes ago when I was playing around OCing my I5-750. (Added PS I use and Like HWMonitor)

A real good check would be to use a Watt meter (ie Kill-a-watt).
Read the total watts at x2, x3,and x4. Based on your 88->133->178W, I would expect the total watts to go to X -> X+ 51 -> X +103Watts (X being the total watts at X2 and the Only change being going from X2->X3->X4. (Added in a 15% increase due to PSU eff.)

 

[jcamel24]

@beanoslim The voltage has always been set to Auto. Always reads 1.36v.

@retiredchief I think I will try to manually lock/unlock different cores and see if they scale the same or not. I don't have a Watt meter at home, so this is about all I can do for now.

 

[beanoslim]

Yeah I was just thinking it would be less with cool n quiet in action.

So really the cpu isn't the issue its the problems you had with the board?

Have you tried stress testing it yet?

 

[jcamel24]

I have had a lot of issues with this model board. Went through 2 RMA's with it using a 1055t (that was before they removed all 125W CPU's from the supported list. So I figured I would get an x2 and try to unlock it, or OC it, or both.

With that kind of power draw on the unlock, I didn't even bother stress testing it. I don't want to have to RMA it again and spend another $12 to send it back.

I could always try the CPU in my other board (Gigabyte 880GA-UD3H) and see what it does in there, but I have to work all weekend and don't really have the time to try it now. For now I will just try manually unlocking cores and see how much the previously locked cores draw vs. the good ones.

 

[beanoslim]

That psu that you got there is junk

Why do you say that?

 

[beanoslim]

Say no more, I was looking at the Earthwatts and thinking that aint too bad.

 

[beanoslim]

Thats his new one the Rosewill is the old one.

 

[beanoslim]

Just put it together last night, and it did unlock.

HWMonitor reports 88W as x2, 133W as x3, and 178W as x4!

Is this right? Or is there another program I can try? I shut it down right away seeing as I had so many problems previously with this board.

What psu were you using with these results and what psu with the board problems.

 

[jcamel24]

I am using the Antec PSU currently with those results on the x2 545 unlock.

I was using the Rosewill PSU with the MSI board when I had the mobo problems.

Currently I am using the same Rosewill PSU on my new system (check my sig below) with absolutely no problems and currently running a 24/7 OC of 3.7ghz on my 1055t.

Everything I have read says this MSI board is an AM3 board, so don't know where that even came up.

Was just trying to put together a cheap rig based on the MSI board that I was stuck with and don't need to unlock it, but was just curious and wanted to try!

 

[beanoslim]

Yeah the Rosewill aint the best quality, was thinking that may have been causing problems with supply.

Have you stress tested with the Rosewill?

You'll need a psu upgrade if you decide on a high end card.

 

[jcamel24]

Yes I've stress tested with the Rosewill on my setup on my current rig (see below) and have had no problems.