my new cpu

I just bought (May 2011) a second-hand cpu on ebay. For 27 euros I'm expecting a better multitasking experience with a dual core. Let's see if it works alright. CPUs are prone to failure, specially if overclocked. So, I'll know after a few weeks!

I'm so glad! The old cpu would just be trashed. So I'm giving money to people in China (who are reselling this), delaying an upgrade, diminishing trash, all for the price of a letter with a few grams going around the world to my mailbox. Probably less pollutant than me driving to the mall. Ebay is really changing the way we buy and what we (don't) buy. I'm getting a kick from the second-hand market. I wonder if the yen will stay cheap for long?

Here's the comparison between my old and my "new" cpu:

• "cpu-world" comparison

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PS - the cpu finally arrived after a fortnight. It's noticeable faster and works fine, but reaches 60 degres or more at 100% use in my nearly silent case (less than 30º idle but OCCT with linpack made it rise to 68º). Probably will have to give up overclocking or increase air circulation on the upper part of the case - by tidying up the cables, mainly. Another weird thing is that, when changing between idle and full speed the core temp goes up and down 15º in a matter of 2 or 3 seconds. I wonder how safe these abrupt temperature changes are in the long run...

PS2 - tidying up the cables reduced the temperature by a few degrees, however the cooler simply can't manage the linpack code and even with the highly undervolted fan (less than 5v) this cooler is still the nosier component of my system. Sure feels like getting another cooler (this one costs 18 euros). On the other hand no cooler would be able to dissipate 89 watts silently (PS6 - wrong: The Scythe Orochi does!!). So what I really need is a way to control the cpu fan depending on the temperature. But my motherboard does not seem inclined to grant me that wish! So I'll have to be careful and change the cpu fan speed manually in certain extreme software. And if the software crashes and heats up the cpu unexpectedly I'll just have to trust the motherboard protective design that shuts the power off in case of cpu overheating. So... in conclusion... I have a really great HTPC system, now even faster, and all in bargain prices, but not feeling sure about cpu temps!!

PS3 - Ok! It's done. Associating Core Temp with Crystal CPU ID allows throttling the CPU if temperatures exceeds a certain threshold, in this case 65º. I had to create a batch file with the following line:

C:\WINDOWS\System32\cmd.exe /c start /high C:\ppApps\CrystalCPUID415x64\CrystalCPUIDx64.exe /CQ

and ensure that the Crystal CPU settings reduced the cpu multiplier and voltage at all usages. Also, in Core Temp the option "execute once" should be off so that the batch file will be executed whenever the temp exceeds the threshold.

PS4 - how ironic, actually, there is quite a simple answer. Just change the power options in Windows 7, selecting "power saver" reduces temperatures enormously!

PS5 - ok! this has become a little nightmare. The temp threshold is always coming up. I'm using more intensive apps than I thought. I tried to get a reasonable cooler (Big Shuriken), but it's quite difficult to find, and I found the Scythe Orochi cooler for almost the same price in a promotion. Since my case has a metal bar just bellow the PSU I'm hopping to increase the support for the heavy cooler (1485g) using the bar so as to avoid any long-term bending of the motherboard. Installing the cooler will demand removing and reinstalling the motherboard. But it may make my pc last for many years, so... let's hope it's worth it.

PS6 - Ok! Solution found. The Orochi was indeed a good choice and it made me think that the Big Shuriken would not provide sufficient cooling. It was easy to attach, no need no remove the motherboard for the AMD socket (whoever said to use thermal paste sparingly "as thin as you can get it" - boy that is wrong! Use it until a strong cover is achieved, makes a 10 degrees difference or more). The Orochi was also easily suspended to the metal bar inside the Sonata case with some old shoelaces. Temps are fine, usually around 50 degrees in full use. No need to use the "power saver" option (although I found that reducing the "max cpu usage" in the details section of the "power saver" option provided a very cool cpu with the previous cooler - the CPU multiplier and voltage never pass the minimum or medium setting depending how high is the percentage selected). Here are two pics of my new cooler!

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My list of hardware:

• • Case: Antec Sonata I

  • PSU: Seasonic S12II-380 (fan exchanged)

  • Motherboard: AsRock 939Dual-SATA2

• CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (overclocked to +25% equivalent to 4800+)

• Graphics: Geforce 210 (fanless)

  • Audio: X-Mystique (not very compatible, especially Dolby Digital Live with Linux - stuck with Windows because of this!!). The audio card is connected by an optical connection to an excellent (and incredibly cheap but impossible to find nowadays) LG HT503TH. Provides me endless hours of musical ecstasy! :)

  • Cooler: Scythe Orochi (was Arctic Cooler Freezer 64)

  • Fans: 3x Noiseblocker 120mm (including one in the PSU)

  • Fan controller (chinese)

Except from the graphics card, all the rest is pretty old. What is more curious is that the lowest score in Windows 7 is given precisely by the graphics card. Which shows well that Moore's Law is more than compensated by petty ambition. Today we see quite underperforming products being sold by the millions while the technological advanced products cost quite preposterous amounts. In this environment it looks savvy to have something that should have been quite outstripped by now but is still outperforming current products. And these were relatively cheap products (except for this new cooler, the case and the PSU), 6 or 7 years ago!

• • About AMD cpus