Originally posted by Mr-Movies:

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I agree with you on the modular supplies and that is why I was looking at the Fatal1ty and others I've mentioned.

Thanks again,
Stevo

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Originally posted by theonejrs:

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Originally posted by ddp:

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russ, that coolmax psu you took apart might have been a knockoff made by somebody else like the fake rolex watches.

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ddp,

Really? I never heard of that before. The one I took apart, came from TigerDirect, so I am surprised. I found the 12v and 5v fused together. Looks like the insulation on the 12v melted, and then melted through the 5v line. Like many here I used to buy cheap PSUs, and just like many others, I learned my lesson the hard way, although all it cost me was an ODD. Remember the 1 year replacement warranty at Neweeg? I had 3 days left on the warranty. Newegg replaced it! I've seen many others that weren't so lucky.

Best Regards,
Russ

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Originally posted by sammorris:

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Originally posted by theonejrs:

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Originally posted by ddp:

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russ, that coolmax psu you took apart might have been a knockoff made by somebody else like the fake rolex watches.

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ddp,

Really? I never heard of that before. The one I took apart, came from TigerDirect, so I am surprised. I found the 12v and 5v fused together. Looks like the insulation on the 12v melted, and then melted through the 5v line. Like many here I used to buy cheap PSUs, and just like many others, I learned my lesson the hard way, although all it cost me was an ODD. Remember the 1 year replacement warranty at Neweeg? I had 3 days left on the warranty. Newegg replaced it! I've seen many others that weren't so lucky.

Best Regards,
Russ

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I couldn't see much evidence inside for this, but I'm pretty sure that's what happened to my Qtec. Only explanation I can think of to explain why only stuff that had 5V inputs going to it got toasted.

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Originally posted by theonejrs:

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I may well do a high end 3 way SLI, since Russell is getting more and more into games since he "retired", meaning he was fired for making too much money, and replaced with a minimum wage employee.

What would you consider the best nVidia dual cards, assuming you can use dual cards in SLI? That would be awesome with 3 way SLI, which I just happen to have with the UD5. ~:) See me doing a job of selling myself on the idea? ROFL. This will be for the FX-8320.

I decided to go ahead and keep the FX-8320. I got far too much hassle from M$ with Win7, because of all the new parts. m$ claimed that it was a new computer, and wanted me to purchase a new license, but I stuck to my guns that it was a complete upgrade for the FX-8320. I had to fax them the invoices for all the parts. and I've also forewarned them about the impending upgrade to the 1090t, with XP-Pro which is also everything new but the CPU. I don't see what difference it makes if I do the same thing over a period of 6 months, or do it all at once. I chose all at once, but it's still the same thing, right?

Let me know what you think about higher end dual cards for 2 or 3 way SLI.

Thanks,
Russ

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Originally posted by theonejrs:

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DXR88,

I hate to ask, but how hot does your 965BE run? What case is it in? Type, size and speed of fans and direction of airflow (in/out).


10909t temps at idle, 4GHz



1090t in the 990XA-UD3



I deliberately used different software to show that other programs agree with EasyTune's temps. Looking down the Hardware Monitor Pro list, look at the consistency of the temps. 35C for the GPU core at idle. It was 47C in the 790X-UD4H, with the CPU voltage at 1.424v(MAX). Also note the 36C of the 6 year old Seagate 250, compared to the 2 year old WD-500BE. When I can hear the spindle bearings stating to be audible, I get the data off the drive, now! One time, I lost everything because I wanted to wait 5 days for the weekend LOL!! Data saved, Drive retired!

As far as I'm concerned, the main reason for the low temps, is the new case.

http://www.corsair.com/pc-cases/carbide...tower-case.html

It's flat out the best cooling case I've ever seen. My CPU cooler is a Corsair H60, which is about 35% smaller (25mm vs 38mm) than the dual fan CoolIt system it replaced, and cools with only one single stock pull fan! It's nice to have a reserve like that, where I can add a push fan any time, if needed. All you need is a Phillips screwdriver. Maybe 5 minutes, and you don't have to take out the radiator to do it! I linked you to Corsair, because the Newegg pictures don't do justice to how nice looking this case is, and how functional, especially seeing it with multiple GPU hardware installed, and a 240mm radiator in the "Roof"! I bought 2, on sale for $79 each. It's a mid tower, but a very big one 20.5" deep, 4 5.25 bays, 6 3.5"/2.5" bays

I'll start the 990FXA-UD5/Phenom IIx6 1090t, probably tomorrow night, if I feel as good as I did all day, yesterday and today. My health has improved dramatically in the last month. I had wasted away to 99 Lbs and would barely feed myself. Food just wasn't appealing. Now I eat like a horse! I've gained 16 Lbs so far. I called my Doctor and went to the Hospital earlier today. They look me over, and he says, "something's changed"! I ask what, and he says they don't know. I could have stayed home an saved myself the trip! LOL!! It's now 48H 12M, since I turned my O2 off. I haven't needed it! My skin, which was like sandpaper, because it was dying, one layer at a time, is now reversing itself and feeling soft again. If I feel this good tomorrow, I'm taking my 87 Fiero-GT out for a spin!

Check out that case, it's superb!

Best Regards,
Russ

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Originally posted by DXR88:

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As for the 965BE itself the performance is great, i only wish it had a true DDR3 memory controller my memory is locked to 1666 even though its capable of 2133. as for the heat I'm pretty sure that its do to the Steel nature of the case. I've found no way to effectively dissipate heat from underneath the motherboard yet. been looking around for an aluminum or copper mounting bracket, but my gut instinct tell me that would probably make the heat issue worse. the heat level is acceptable at around 3.8-4.0GHz anything after that is like you've just turned a portable heater on in your computer.

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Originally posted by Blazorthon:

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Originally posted by theonejrs:

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I may well do a high end 3 way SLI, since Russell is getting more and more into games since he "retired", meaning he was fired for making too much money, and replaced with a minimum wage employee.

What would you consider the best nVidia dual cards, assuming you can use dual cards in SLI? That would be awesome with 3 way SLI, which I just happen to have with the UD5. ~:) See me doing a job of selling myself on the idea? ROFL. This will be for the FX-8320.

I decided to go ahead and keep the FX-8320. I got far too much hassle from M$ with Win7, because of all the new parts. m$ claimed that it was a new computer, and wanted me to purchase a new license, but I stuck to my guns that it was a complete upgrade for the FX-8320. I had to fax them the invoices for all the parts. and I've also forewarned them about the impending upgrade to the 1090t, with XP-Pro which is also everything new but the CPU. I don't see what difference it makes if I do the same thing over a period of 6 months, or do it all at once. I chose all at once, but it's still the same thing, right?

Let me know what you think about higher end dual cards for 2 or 3 way SLI.

Thanks,
Russ

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You can only do three-way SLI with three cards that support three-way SLI. You can't do it with a dual-GPU card and a single GPU card. That can be done with Crossfire, but not with SLI.

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Originally posted by Blazorthon:

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Originally posted by DXR88:

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As for the 965BE itself the performance is great, i only wish it had a true DDR3 memory controller my memory is locked to 1666 even though its capable of 2133. as for the heat I'm pretty sure that its do to the Steel nature of the case. I've found no way to effectively dissipate heat from underneath the motherboard yet. been looking around for an aluminum or copper mounting bracket, but my gut instinct tell me that would probably make the heat issue worse. the heat level is acceptable at around 3.8-4.0GHz anything after that is like you've just turned a portable heater on in your computer.

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The Phenom II CPUs have a true DDR3 memory controller and aren't limited to DDR3-1666. The motherboard can limit the memory to that, but the Phenom II CPUs are capable of running up to DDR3-1866 or DDR3-2000 without changing the base clock (IDR which) and are capable of DDR3-2133 with a small change in the base clock. If you're limited to DDR3-1666 and the memory kit itself isn't the problem, them your issue is almost definitely the motherboard. I've built systems with that CPU and DDR3-1866 memory without issues.

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Originally posted by Blazorthon:

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Originally posted by DXR88:

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As for the 965BE itself the performance is great, i only wish it had a true DDR3 memory controller my memory is locked to 1666 even though its capable of 2133. as for the heat I'm pretty sure that its do to the Steel nature of the case. I've found no way to effectively dissipate heat from underneath the motherboard yet. been looking around for an aluminum or copper mounting bracket, but my gut instinct tell me that would probably make the heat issue worse. the heat level is acceptable at around 3.8-4.0GHz anything after that is like you've just turned a portable heater on in your computer.

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The Phenom II CPUs have a true DDR3 memory controller and aren't limited to DDR3-1666. The motherboard can limit the memory to that, but the Phenom II CPUs are capable of running up to DDR3-1866 or DDR3-2000 without changing the base clock (IDR which) and are capable of DDR3-2133 with a small change in the base clock. If you're limited to DDR3-1666 and the memory kit itself isn't the problem, them your issue is almost definitely the motherboard. I've built systems with that CPU and DDR3-1866 memory without issues.

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Originally posted by theonejrs:

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Originally posted by Blazorthon:

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Originally posted by theonejrs:

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I decided to go ahead and keep the FX-8320. I got far too much hassle from M$ with Win7, because of all the new parts. m$ claimed that it was a new computer, and wanted me to purchase a new license, but I stuck to my guns that it was a complete upgrade for the FX-8320. I had to fax them the invoices for all the parts. and I've also forewarned them about the impending upgrade to the 1090t, with XP-Pro which is also everything new but the CPU. I don't see what difference it makes if I do the same thing over a period of 6 months, or do it all at once. I chose all at once, but it's still the same thing, right?

Let me know what you think about higher end dual cards for 2 or 3 way SLI.

Thanks,
Russ

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You can only do three-way SLI with three cards that support three-way SLI. You can't do it with a dual-GPU card and a single GPU card. That can be done with Crossfire, but not with SLI.

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Blazorthon,

Maybe I missed something, but I was under the impression from the talk around AD that to do 3 way SLI, the video cards needed to be SLI ready, all three need to be either single GPU or Dual GPU, and you can't mix Dual GPUs with single GPUs. This isn't correct?

First I plan to start with a 2 way SLI with the two 550GTX-ti cards I have now, and see if the video performance improves, and hopefully allows me to OC higher than 3.7GHz, for my best 3DMark06 scores.

Best Regards,
Russ

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Originally posted by theonejrs:

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Blazorthon,

My 990FXA-UD5 handles DDR3/1866 with a quick change in the memory multiplier. You have to OC for DDR3/2000 cas 8 is the best you can get right now, so I'm using DDR3/1600 Cas 7 for now, until the latency drops on the DDR3/1866 memory. I could live with cas 8, but I'll wait and see if it drops to cas 7 in the near future.

Best Regards,
Russ

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Originally posted by sytyguy about 10 days ago:

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I am using Quick Launch in Win 7 Pro, and no, they are not pinned, although I have a couple of Pgms pinned.. So I am not sure what the problem is?

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Originally posted by Mr. Movies:

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It is true that you can't Pin a folder to the Task Bar or Start Menu but you can add a Folder to the Toolbars on the Task Bar which is what I do to get back Quick Launch by adding this link to the "New toolbar..." selection;

"%AppData%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch"

I then cleanup all of my application shortcuts in Start Menu Programs and copy them to the Quick Launch bar in organized folders which works quite well.

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Originally posted by Blazorthon:

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PS, head on over to the Windows 8 forums and read the sticky thread that I wrote about how to get a start menu and quick launch in Windows 8 if better instructions are wanted. It has more detailed instructions for doing this and they apply to Windows 7 too. Also, these tricks work in the Server versions of Windows equally well.

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Originally posted by Estuansis:

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LOL you guys...

Rather happy today. Got a small promotion at work last night and had a bounce in my step ever since. It's nice to get recognition for your work :)

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Originally posted by Blazorthon:

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Originally posted by theonejrs:

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Blazorthon,

My 990FXA-UD5 handles DDR3/1866 with a quick change in the memory multiplier. You have to OC for DDR3/2000 cas 8 is the best you can get right now, so I'm using DDR3/1600 Cas 7 for now, until the latency drops on the DDR3/1866 memory. I could live with cas 8, but I'll wait and see if it drops to cas 7 in the near future.

Best Regards,
Russ

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Russ, do you mind if I ask why you want such a low CAS? Even at CAS 8, DDR3-1866 should be latency because you can compare timings by dividing the timing by the frequency to get latency (IIRC, the number you get is column address latency measured in seconds when done on the CAS timing). DDR3-1600 CAS 7 has about 2% higher CAS latency than DDR3-1866 CAS 8. Is this not reflected in the performance of something that you do?

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Originally posted by theonejrs:

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Blazorthon,

You have to forgive me here. I'm new to DDR3, but with DDR2 I always used the lowest cas timings I could find in GSkill or Corsair, and always had good memory performance. I've only been using DDR3 for about 6 months, so my experience with it is limited.

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Originally posted by theonejrs:

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I can't understand how the 3Dmark06 scores can drop like that at 4.025GHz. Roughly 5000MB/s difference. By the benchmarks it shouldn't be happening, but it's certainly fast enough. It also runs much smoother at 3.725GHz. If anyone has any ideas, I would be interested in hearing them. And please don't tell me to buy an Intel. LOL!

Best Regards,
Russ

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Originally posted by Blazorthon:

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Originally posted by theonejrs:

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Blazorthon,

You have to forgive me here. I'm new to DDR3, but with DDR2 I always used the lowest cas timings I could find in GSkill or Corsair, and always had good memory performance. I've only been using DDR3 for about 6 months, so my experience with it is limited.

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Russ,

Ahh, that may explain it. With DDR2, a timing difference in CAS of one would probably be enough between frequency notches to make a negative difference in CAS latency. The frequencies generally weren't so high that they'd be able to counteract even a single digit timing difference for the main timings such as CAS, RAS, etc.

Originally posted by theonejrs:

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I can't understand how the 3Dmark06 scores can drop like that at 4.025GHz. Roughly 5000MB/s difference. By the benchmarks it shouldn't be happening, but it's certainly fast enough. It also runs much smoother at 3.725GHz. If anyone has any ideas, I would be interested in hearing them. And please don't tell me to buy an Intel. LOL!

Best Regards,
Russ

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I doubt that the issue is because of you having an AMD CPU. It's probably fixable without changing platforms. Have you tried higher voltage, making sure that heat isn't causing throttling with any of the cores, and checking to see if the core utilization changes between each frequency (It's a long shot, but the increased frequency might have messed with scheduling just enough for things to get scheduled to the second core of each module more than they should, forcing the front-end bottle-neck to show up more than it should)?

You could also try running the program with task manager restrictions to only run on core 0, 3, 5, and 7 in both a 3.725GHz test and a 4.025GHz test, hopefully to ensure that this isn't the issue.

You could also try messing with some other settings such as the CPU/NB frequency and more to see if anything can change this. Even if you don't do that, increasing the northbridge's voltage may also help. Increasing it for CPU overclocks sometimes improves stability with the CPU overclock.

I'll try to think of other possible solutions.

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Originally posted by theonejrs:

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Blazorthon,

Stability is not an issue, it's as solid as a rock. Temps are not an issue either. At 4.025 GHz, at 1.36v, I ran10 passes with IBT, and it flickered to 53C for a second and never went over 52C after that, and it was 110F outside that day, about 80 inside. It's an encoding beast. It never crashes or BSODs, just this thing with 3DMark06.

Here's my temps and voltages

As you can see, nothing there that needs attending to. Looks great to me!

Puzzled,
Russ

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Originally posted by theonejrs:

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Originally posted by Blazorthon:

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Originally posted by theonejrs:

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Blazorthon,

My 990FXA-UD5 handles DDR3/1866 with a quick change in the memory multiplier. You have to OC for DDR3/2000 cas 8 is the best you can get right now, so I'm using DDR3/1600 Cas 7 for now, until the latency drops on the DDR3/1866 memory. I could live with cas 8, but I'll wait and see if it drops to cas 7 in the near future.

Best Regards,
Russ

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Russ, do you mind if I ask why you want such a low CAS? Even at CAS 8, DDR3-1866 should be latency because you can compare timings by dividing the timing by the frequency to get latency (IIRC, the number you get is column address latency measured in seconds when done on the CAS timing). DDR3-1600 CAS 7 has about 2% higher CAS latency than DDR3-1866 CAS 8. Is this not reflected in the performance of something that you do?

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Blazorthon,

You have to forgive me here. I'm new to DDR3, but with DDR2 I always used the lowest cas timings I could find in GSkill or Corsair, and always had good memory performance. I've only been using DDR3 for about 6 months, so my experience with it is limited.

Here's my 3DMark06 at 4.025GHz



And at 3.725GHz



Processor Arithmetic 4.025GHz



And at 3.725GHz



Memory Bandwidth 4.025gHz



And at 3.725GHz




Processor MultiMedia At 4.025GHz



And at 3.725GHz



I can't understand how the 3Dmark06 scores can drop like that at 4.025GHz. Roughly 5000MB/s difference. By the benchmarks it shouldn't be happening, but it's certainly fast enough. It also runs much smoother at 3.725GHz. If anyone has any ideas, I would be interested in hearing them. And please don't tell me to buy an Intel. LOL!

Best Regards,
Russ

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Originally posted by Blazorthon:

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Originally posted by theonejrs:

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Blazorthon,

Stability is not an issue, it's as solid as a rock. Temps are not an issue either. At 4.025 GHz, at 1.36v, I ran10 passes with IBT, and it flickered to 53C for a second and never went over 52C after that, and it was 110F outside that day, about 80 inside. It's an encoding beast. It never crashes or BSODs, just this thing with 3DMark06.

Here's my temps and voltages

As you can see, nothing there that needs attending to. Looks great to me!

Puzzled,
Russ

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Russ, would you mind running an in-game benchmark or two to see if there's a performance difference and if so, if it agrees/disagrees with 3DMark06?

Also, you could try some of the listed solutions that I gave that aren't related to temps/stability (or maybe some that are just in case, computers, as I'm sure you know, can be just plain weird occasionally) and see if anything helps, but I'm pretty puzzled too...

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Originally posted by sammorris:

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As said, I'm not sure 3-way SLI can be done with GTX550 Tis, as usually they only have a single SLI connector.
Also be advised that you start to see further diminishing returns with three GPUs, as it's often not as well supported as two.
Realistically, the next stage up from two cards is two better cards. In the majority of cases you should really be towards the top of the graphics card chain before even considering two (e.g. GTX670 sort of level), else a single card will do the job better.

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