Presario CQ5600F upgrade questions

[Big_Dave]

MajorSpacecase,

Good show!

You should launch Task Manager and look at the performance graph and resource monitoring and leaving it running for a test. Now starting playing your games and after a peak, quickly switch to Task Manager and look over processor utilization. Over 70% on a single processor would mean that your application is waiting processor resources.

[MajorSpacecase]

Well I'm ready to start phase 2 of my upgrade.

Which is a better choice, the Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition Heka 2.8GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache or the  Phenom II X4 840 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache.

Either way I'd like a recomendation for a 3rd party fan & heatsink. As I'd mentioned in a previous post, there is a 500 GB hard drive on quarter inch standoffs mounted to the front of the case.  I'm worried about heat and don't think a stock fan & heatsink will be enough.

As for the RAM upgrade it will either be Kingston HyperX blu - Memory - 4 GB : 2 x 2 GB - DIMM 240-pin - DDR2 - 800 MHz / PC2-6400 - CL5 - 1.85 V - unbuffered - non-ECC or G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit.

Ken

[MajorSpacecase]

Okay, my parts arrived today and the install went fine.

Went with the Phenom II X4 840 3.2GHz with a Zalman CNPS9500-LED heatsink and 4 GB G Skill PC2-6400.

Windows Experience Score went from 4.3 on the CPU to 7.3 and RAM went from 5.9 to 7.3.

Novabench score went from 281 to 588.

Core temps are averaging in the high 20'sC with a max temp so far in the mid 50'sC.

CPU usage no longer hits 100%.

So all in all, I'm satisified.

Though I may re-upgrade the graphics card next year.

[AOG]

Hi,

Your motherboard Front Side Bus is up to 2000MT/s (2.0 GT/s)

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01701270&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=430...

Your cpu speed is 3.2GHz

so your cpu wont perform at the max speed, according to my basic knowledge, if its apply like on intel 

[FattysGoneWild]

That 840 is not a real Phenom II. AMD is tricking consumers as it has no L3 cache. The main point in owning a Phenom II. The 840 is still a great cpu though. Just misleading. 

[MajorSpacecase]

I can't speak to that, AOG. But every monitoring program I've checked with shows all 4 cores hitting 3.2GHz at one point or another.

And yes, FattysGoneWild, I do know it lacks the L3 cache and thus not a true Phenom II.

It still beats the 170u that it replaced.

[AOG]

---

MajorSpacecase wrote:

I can't speak to that, AOG. But every monitoring program I've checked with shows all 4 cores hitting 3.2GHz at one point or another.

And yes, FattysGoneWild, I do know it lacks the L3 cache and thus not a true Phenom II.

It still beats the 170u that it replaced.

---

if it hits 3.2 them mobo specs is not correct

[MajorSpacecase]

Okay got some figures to go with my concern about temperatures.

Played FarCry2 this afternoon for 1hr 28mn and the min-max temps were:

Motherboard - Min. 25°C  MAX. 45°C
CPU - Min. 51°C  Max. 55°C
All 4 Cores - Min. 28°C  Max. 47°C

MCP - Min. 75°C  Max. 84°C
GPU Diode - Min. 47°C  Max. 58°C

The one I'm having the most worries about is the MCP temp., but comments about the rest is welcome.

[FattysGoneWild]

MajorSpacecase,

Those temps. seem fine to me. MCP though. Not sure what that is? Can you please do me a huge favor. It would be greatly appreciated. Can you take a screenshot using this program showing all the temps, voltages etc? http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html You don't have to install it. Just dl the zip. You might already have it. And then run it as "admin" since that is the only way you can get all the information. 

[MajorSpacecase]

Thanks, hwmonitor dosen't show the MPC temp (which is the SouthBridge by the way).

But here's a screen shot from AIDA64 which does show the MPC temp.

And here's the screeshot from hwMonitor.