Guide for Selecting a Power Supply

[RoyalSerpent]

If you plant to LSI or CF, then the 550W Corsair would be the better buy.  Corsair's rebate is slow, but you will eventually get your $.  Make copies of all the forms.

[RoyalSerpent]

@ clodzilla...

Found the code for the Corsair CX400...EMCLRLN23.  $30 after code and rebate for today only.  Really no need for the 550, which is also on sale for $55 with code EMCLRLV34.

[clodzilla319]

 Thanks, But I gotta hash it out with them on this Sigma PSU first... I aint payin' no re-stocking fee on a dis-continued POS that doesnt work correctly,

 this was the e-mail i received from sigma.

"HP only work with their own  power supply, all of  the standard ATX POWER SUPPLY in market won't work with it. "

But,  I'm confident Newegg will come through...especially with the amount of money I'm 'bout to spend there...!

And your mostly right about the "no need" for the 550, But I'd like to see at least 2 Pci-e connectors on it... these frakin video cards, with their 2 plugs on each card....

[RoyalSerpent]

Some may claim that you'll need an expensive PSU to overclock a modern quad core rig.  Let's see.  I use the Earthwatts 380 and the low-powered 7200GS video card so that we could get a closer estimate of the actual CPU load.

Why pay $325 for a top-of-the-line 45nm Intel quad core CPU (non I7), when one can engage a Q8200 with 1/3 on-board cache for $100 (sale @ Micro Center)?  The 2.33GHz Q8200 shares the same platform as the 3.00GHz Q9650.  The major difference is 4M L2 cache vs 12MB L2 cache for the Q9650.  At the end of the day, core speed = KING.

We also want a motherboard that could sustain the Q8200 north of 550MHz FSB (effective 2200MHz FSB).  The Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P or UD3R fits this bill.  $100 isn't dirt cheap, but we've already saved a lot of $ with the purchase of the Q8200.

The CPU core clock should increase by about 50% to achieve real-world gain across the board.  Anything less than 20% = noise for the average user.

Intel provides a 3 yr warranty on this chip if the core voltage is limited to 1.36V and thermal load under 71C.  We're going to set the load voltage at 1.3 for this test and see how far this chip can overclock with Prime95 as the stability test.

After two days of tinkering, I was able to run Prime95 at a core speed of 3.7GHz with actual CPU load voltage of 1.28 and peak thermal load of 60C at 72F ambient.  That's a massive 58% overclock with only a 5% increase in core voltage.  Had to lower the core speed to 3.66GHz when subjected to my 85F ambient torture chamber.

This motherboard is a little picky on RAM.  I have a set of RAM that's stable at 592MHz with my IP35 board, but this board will only allow me to run up to 530MHz.  Will need a few more days to discover the proper timing to unlock this bottleneck.  Based on the core voltage and temperature readings, this Q8200 chip should top out around 3.8-3.9GHz.  That's consistent with the overclocking potential of their more expensive cousins.

The load imposed on the PSU with this Q8200 is very encouraging.  At idle, the systems draws 62W.  When running Prime95 (small test for max current load), the power meter displays a paltry 161W of actual load.  This makes sense because these newer 45nm quads require only a tiny bit of core voltage to hit +3.5GHz.  I could easily add a Radeon HD 4870 1GB video card and still be able to power this 3.7GHz quad rig with an Earthwatts 380 PSU!  What you don't want to do is to buy a cheap motherboard, dial in 1.45 core voltage, and crank up the FSB.

The major challenge in overclocking this low-multiplier chip is BIOS configuration.  There are thousands of possible configurations and you have to get them right to achieve low core voltage and high CPU core speed.

Even at a leasure 3.7GHz, this overclocked quad still manage to complete the Super Pi 1M benchmark in 14.625 sec.  For reference, a stock HP rig with the same 2.33GHz Q8200 processor comes in at 22.7 sec.  There are no nearby big-box quad rigs with Q9650 for comparison testing.  My guess is around 18 sec.

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/366/Super_PI_Mod_v1.5.html

Message Edited by RoyalSerpent on 04-15-2009 12:19 PM

[clodzilla319]

Wow, ^ thats impressive!! 3.7 from a 2.33 cpu.... <my hats off to you>

[RoyalSerpent]

These value quads have incredible overclocking head room because they share the same core platform as their much more expensive Q9XXX brothers.  This 2nd Q8200 rig manages to hit 3.6GHz at default CPU core voltage (1.25VID)!  Peak thermal load under Prime95 (72F ambient) is 52C thanks to the uber-low load voltage of 1.9!  The Intel thermal spec is 71C max for this processor.  1M Super Pi run of 14.568 with RAM setting in TURBO mode.  It's on par with an overclocked Phenom II X4 940 @ 3.6GHz.

This is a 4.0GHz chip.  The bottleneck is the locked 7x multiplier.  Running the FSB at 571MHz (effective 2284MHz FSB) requires a lot of VTT and MCH voltages, which will ultimately shorten the life of the motherboard.  The Q8300 with 7.5x multi would have a better chance of cracking the 3.8GHz barrier.

Recent price drop has made these chip very popular among overclocking enthusiasts.  I still have four un-filled orders. 

Message Edited by RoyalSerpent on 04-19-2009 09:01 AM

[bigtuna690]

so the corsair cmpsu 400w atx 12v v2.2 will work in my pavilion elite m9500z with

-2.5 ghz quad core

-radeon 4970

-4 gigs ram

-1hard drive

-1 optical drive

-mid range sound card

Also, will i need 2 4-pin cpu connectors for quad core?

Message Edited by bigtuna690 on 04-26-2009 07:44 PM

Message Edited by bigtuna690 on 04-26-2009 08:08 PM

[RoyalSerpent]

It will fit your case.  The CPU power connector will split in half to accommodate a 4-pin motherboard.  The ability to drive a quad is a function of the board's design.

[clodzilla319]

>to RoyalSerpent<

what do ya' think of a Q9400..? local Micro Center has them for $179..E8400's for $129, too

finally worked out the Rma with newegg, and am the proud owner of a Corsair Tx 650x PSU,

Coolermaster 335 case, new optical Drive, 500 Gb WD Black, to Pair with the 8Gb of OCZ Ram and the GTS250 GPU...

just awaiting final mobo decisions, and CPU....And oem or retail OS....

evga 750i sli FTW is the current #1 choice...

[RoyalSerpent]

Q9XXX with 8x or higher multi should allow you to overclock the CPU north of 3.4GHz.  Right now, if you're a gamer and want a quad, then the AMD Phenom II X4 9550 is a better deal.  The on-board memory controller is better for gamers, plus this chip has the potential of +3.8GHz overclock.

I still favor the higher core speed of duos.  Higher core speed benefits all tasks.  At this time, the extra two cores are best suited for encoding movies.  Playing games at native 22" resolution is less dependent on the CPU above 3.4GHz core speed.  Put the $ saved toward a better video card.

Currently testing a new rig based on an E8400 with E0 stepping from MC.  The chip is stable at 4.13GHz with stock 1.25V.  Raising the core voltage to Intel's maximum recommended 1.36 yields 4.45GHz.  Will post some pics if the chip holds up in the 85F oven.  I didn't even need to mess around with any other voltage setting on my trusty Abit IP35-E board.  Dial-in the core voltage, set memory divider @ 1:1, and crank up the FSB.  You won't get past 3.0GHz if you use this strategy on a quad.

Serious gamers will probably want DX10.  That would dictate W7 SP1.  In the meantime, There's nothing wrong with XP Pro SP3.

Never future-proof a PC because technology moves very quickly in just six months.  The best performance/value is the E5200 @ +3.4GHz.  This should be good for 1-2 years.  My 2nd choice is the E8400.  We should see price drop below $100 by summer.

http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv182/royalserpent99/E8400a2.jpg

Message Edited by RoyalSerpent on 04-30-2009 09:59 AM