Squilliam said: epsilon72 said: Squilliam said: epsilon72 said: Yes, I read about and unlocked the max framerate. I need to look at different variables such as com_machinespec <0,1,2,or 3> to see what they actually do for CPU load. There aren't any physics options in the menu, so if there are any I'll have to read config file tweak guides to get to them. Playing it with 25% more processor speed yesterday did help though. Things were more zippy and smooth, to a degree.   Sorry, I didn't ask this before... but does your linux have a task manager that shows CPU utilization. If you bring it up and its maxed then youd be CPU bound for sure. If it's not then you could do with lowering those graphics settings. I get spikes every now and then where one of the cores will be maxed out (probably to coincide with busy moments in the game. I don't have the game set up to run in windowed mode to observe this in real time). Lowering the graphics might help a little, but the OC'ing has definitely helped some. I think I'll be fine until I decide it's time for an upgrade (which might be soon....that 5000+ BE and its overclocking abilities for the money look mighty tempting...)   So you'll be upgrading to a socket AM2+? You should be able to get 3ghz out of it, but it isn't much of an upgrade really. How high do they go? Oh yea do you have a decent CPU cooler?

I'm thinking about it, since the AM3's will supposedly work with AM2+ boards....The folks writing reviews at newegg say they can get theirs to 3.2 fairly easily (some even without increasing FSB or voltage). $90 for a proc that I can get to 3ghz or slightly more? It may not be close to Core 2 Duos at those clock speeds, but for that price it sounds great. If I decide to go with AMD again, I'd probably get a Phenom or something later on when they are a little more mature, perform better and have a lower price point. I would of course get a decent cooler too.

My other option is to save up even more (2x as much almost), go the Intel route and get an e8400 or something - but then I would be stuck with a soon-to-be-obsolete socket 775.

 

epsilon72 said: I'm thinking about it, since the AM3's will supposedly work with AM2+ boards....The folks writing reviews at newegg say they can get theirs to 3.2 fairly easily (some even without increasing FSB or voltage). $90 for a proc that I can get to 3ghz or slightly more? It may not be close to Core 2 Duos at those clock speeds, but for that price it sounds great. If I decide to go with AMD again, I'd probably get a Phenom or something later on when they are a little more mature, perform better and have a lower price point. I would of course get a decent cooler too. My other option is to save up even more (2x as much almost), go the Intel route and get an e8400 or something - but then I would be stuck with a soon-to-be-obsolete socket 775.

I quoted upwards something to that effect, but it probably will require a bios flash. You should probably think about which chipset you want to use though and your retirement plans for the computer once you're done with it. Getting a motherboard with a 780g or 790g would be quite good, or you could get one without onboard video and save yourself some money. Do you have any motherboards you're looking at?

Sounds like a good deal and if you're not in a hurry you might be able to get a great combo deal on newegg for the parts you want.

Squilliam said: epsilon72 said: I'm thinking about it, since the AM3's will supposedly work with AM2+ boards....The folks writing reviews at newegg say they can get theirs to 3.2 fairly easily (some even without increasing FSB or voltage). $90 for a proc that I can get to 3ghz or slightly more? It may not be close to Core 2 Duos at those clock speeds, but for that price it sounds great. If I decide to go with AMD again, I'd probably get a Phenom or something later on when they are a little more mature, perform better and have a lower price point. I would of course get a decent cooler too. My other option is to save up even more (2x as much almost), go the Intel route and get an e8400 or something - but then I would be stuck with a soon-to-be-obsolete socket 775.   I quoted upwards something to that effect, but it probably will require a bios flash. You should probably think about which chipset you want to use though and your retirement plans for the computer once you're done with it. Getting a motherboard with a 780g or 790g would be quite good, or you could get one without onboard video and save yourself some money. Do you have any motherboards you're looking at? Sounds like a good deal and if you're not in a hurry you might be able to get a great combo deal on newegg for the parts you want.

I'm essentially looking for one that's just reliable and not too expensive. I wouldn't mind flashing bios. I haven't done much research into chipsets yet; I should do that. The mobo that I bookmarked for further review has a 770 chipset. I don't need onboard video.

All of my retirement computers (don't have any yet) will probably just turn into extra Linux boxes.

edit: I'm searching the major vendors for their 790 chipset offerings. I was really confused at first, as I thought it was an nForce chipset. Some really quick googling shows that they use AHCI for their SATA stuff, which is supported under linux.

Hmm. Most of the 780's and 790's have crossfire support, which I don't want to pay extra for. I'd rather get SLI or just a single slot board. Here's a cheaper one though. *D'oh!* It has onboard video. I wonder if that would cause any problems with an nvidia card? edit#2: it probably won't.

epsilon72 said: I'm essentially looking for one that's just reliable and not too expensive. I wouldn't mind flashing bios. I haven't done much research into chipsets yet; I should do that. The mobo that I bookmarked for further review has a 770 chipset. I don't need onboard video. All of my retirement computers (don't have any yet) will probably just turn into extra Linux boxes. edit: I'm searching the major vendors for their 790 chipset offerings. I was really confused at first, as I thought it was an nForce chipset. Some really quick googling shows that they use AHCI for their SATA stuff, which is supported under linux. Hmm. Most of the 780's and 790's have crossfire support, which I don't want to pay extra for. I'd rather get SLI or just a single slot board. Here's a cheaper one though. *D'oh!* It has onboard video. I wonder if that would cause any problems with an nvidia card? edit#2: it probably won't.

The chipsets AFAIK - SB600 is quite old, SB700 and 750 are the newer ones and I think I heard that the sb750 which will be coming with newer 790gx boards are better at overclocking than the earlier models. Also consider that some boards can't take a Phenom 9850, 140tdp. They are specced to take only up to 125 watt phenoms, will that be a problem?

Some important considerations though... If you're using USB file transfer a lot or you don't want file copying/networking to take up too much cpu time then you should look into what south bridge you're being offered. Also I took a look at the SLI options and you're very limited, they are either badly specced boards or very expensive.

Squilliam said: epsilon72 said: I'm essentially looking for one that's just reliable and not too expensive. I wouldn't mind flashing bios. I haven't done much research into chipsets yet; I should do that. The mobo that I bookmarked for further review has a 770 chipset. I don't need onboard video. All of my retirement computers (don't have any yet) will probably just turn into extra Linux boxes. edit: I'm searching the major vendors for their 790 chipset offerings. I was really confused at first, as I thought it was an nForce chipset. Some really quick googling shows that they use AHCI for their SATA stuff, which is supported under linux. Hmm. Most of the 780's and 790's have crossfire support, which I don't want to pay extra for. I'd rather get SLI or just a single slot board. Here's a cheaper one though. *D'oh!* It has onboard video. I wonder if that would cause any problems with an nvidia card? edit#2: it probably won't. The chipsets AFAIK - SB600 is quite old, SB700 and 750 are the newer ones and I think I heard that the sb750 which will be coming with newer 790gx boards are better at overclocking than the earlier models. Also consider that some boards can't take a Phenom 9850, 140tdp. They are specced to take only up to 125 watt phenoms, will that be a problem? Some important considerations though... If you're using USB file transfer a lot or you don't want file copying/networking to take up too much cpu time then you should look into what south bridge you're being offered. Also I took a look at the SLI options and you're very limited, they are either badly specced boards or very expensive.

I thought that Phenom 9850's were 125w? The 9850BE would be a possible upgrade option for me in the future once its price comes down. SLI support looks to be really bad on the current AMD boards; I think I'll just go with a single slot board, probably something like that 780 board with onboard video in the post above.  A side note: Quake Wars still has spikes that max out my CPU at 2.5!  This is one demanding game, CPU wise.

 

epsilon72 said: I thought that Phenom 9850's were 125w? The 9850BE would be a possible upgrade option for me in the future once its price comes down. SLI support looks to be really bad on the current AMD boards; I think I'll just go with a single slot board, probably something like that 780 board with onboard video in the post above.  A side note: Quake Wars still has spikes that max out my CPU at 2.5!  This is one demanding game, CPU wise.

Ok you're right about the wattage but there are some compatibility issues, im not sure which boards were compatible and which ones even that you could overclock on. The initial designs did not call for 125w so there are a few boards that do not reach spec. You can blow up the board if you use the wrong one. Its late, i'll see if I can find a list of boards you can upgrade with at a later time for you, hopefully ones that can overclock anyway if you're interested.

Squilliam said: epsilon72 said: I thought that Phenom 9850's were 125w? The 9850BE would be a possible upgrade option for me in the future once its price comes down. SLI support looks to be really bad on the current AMD boards; I think I'll just go with a single slot board, probably something like that 780 board with onboard video in the post above. A side note: Quake Wars still has spikes that max out my CPU at 2.5! This is one demanding game, CPU wise.   Ok you're right about the wattage but there are some compatibility issues, im not sure which boards were compatible and which ones even that you could overclock on. The initial designs did not call for 125w so there are a few boards that do not reach spec. You can blow up the board if you use the wrong one. Its late, i'll see if I can find a list of boards you can upgrade with at a later time for you, hopefully ones that can overclock anyway if you're interested.

Yeah, that would be really nice, I'd appreciate it.  I remember reading about higher end Phenom compatibility problems as well, but I assumed that with an up-to-date board there would not be any problems. 

Blow up a board?  Sounds fun.

 

epsilon72 said: Squilliam said: epsilon72 said: I thought that Phenom 9850's were 125w? The 9850BE would be a possible upgrade option for me in the future once its price comes down. SLI support looks to be really bad on the current AMD boards; I think I'll just go with a single slot board, probably something like that 780 board with onboard video in the post above. A side note: Quake Wars still has spikes that max out my CPU at 2.5! This is one demanding game, CPU wise.   Ok you're right about the wattage but there are some compatibility issues, im not sure which boards were compatible and which ones even that you could overclock on. The initial designs did not call for 125w so there are a few boards that do not reach spec. You can blow up the board if you use the wrong one. Its late, i'll see if I can find a list of boards you can upgrade with at a later time for you, hopefully ones that can overclock anyway if you're interested. Yeah, that would be really nice, I'd appreciate it.  I remember reading about higher end Phenom compatibility problems as well, but I assumed that with an up-to-date board there would not be any problems.  Blow up a board?  Sounds fun.

 

"The issue is triggered by the fact that AMD's high-end 9750 and 9850 Phenom processors require 125 watts of power, while the mainstream / low-end parts only draw 95 watts. Such high-end processors cannot work on a 780G motherboard, because it can’t deliver the necessary amount of CPU power. "They've taken an enthusiast-class quad-core part and paired it with a mainstream motherboard", Whitman said. "And not all motherboard manufacturers have tweaked their boards to support a 125-watt TDP", he continued. Whitman also said that the best option would be to use the high-end Phenoms on a motherboard equipped with the 790G chipset. " So no 780g if you want to overclock a high end phenom. http://news.softpedia.com/news/AMD-Confirms-Compatibility-Issues-Between-Phenom-X4-and-780G-84472.shtml

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010200022+1070930149+1071033785+1388027176+107191003&name=AMD

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010200022+1070930149+1071033785+1388027176+107191003+1071934372&name=AMD+790X

Those are compatible with phenom 9850 for sure.

Since I seem to have found a hot bed for PC parts knowledge, and I was thinking about making a thread about this anyways. What is the difference between a Pentium D and a Core 2 Duo? I was looking around this can you run it thing and it said I couldn't run a game because it required a core 2 duo. They are both duo core processors, so what is the difference? Also, it said I failed Mass Effect because it requires a 6800 gt and I have just a 6800, what is the difference there that would make my computer fail?

cwbys21 said: Since I seem to have found a hot bed for PC parts knowledge, and I was thinking about making a thread about this anyways. What is the difference between a Pentium D and a Core 2 Duo? I was looking around this can you run it thing and it said I couldn't run a game because it required a core 2 duo. They are both duo core processors, so what is the difference? Also, it said I failed Mass Effect because it requires a 6800 gt and I have just a 6800, what is the difference there that would make my computer fail?

That thing is screwed up. It said I qualified for the recommended requirements of bioshock, but not the minimum. A pentium D has almost the same architecture as a pentium 4. A core 2 duo has a brand new more efficient architecture. This means more of the power of the core 2 duo is used. I will say though that the pentium d is enough for any game on minimum-mid settings. Most games rely on the gpu more anyway. You could also be confusing your pentium d with a pentium dual core( which is the same thing as a core 2 duo with half the cache.) I would try this if you want to see if you could run a game. www.yougamers.com