Asus M3A AM2+ System "Swamp Thing" (56k Warning)

[kenc51]

Any benchmark results?

[Methious]

Hey Ken got 3dmark2006 downloading now, on Sat Internet 3 + hours, will post benches probably tommorro. Core 2 is doing better, I just wanted to get the fastest/last of line X2 and play with it for a while. Figuring I can make it 6-9 months prices drop some. So far though I'm pretty happy with it, aside from lack of overclocking overhead. After I get done with stock benches I'm going to lower HT, lower memory divider, lower multiplier, up FSB and see what I can get, replaced some fans and seeing 31C on idle, 45C on torture so I have a little room.

As for the Bios question, all I really miss is the OC profile feature. Has better voltage control, higher voltage settings, and set up pretty good, Only error was a memory timing error, read ram as 5-5-5-18 caused a jbod in Sandra, found it right away set it to 5-5-5-12 and it was all good. I'm doing some Bios Shots tommorro next day (woulda been sooner but I Ran Company of Heros for a while today). 138 FPS in FRAPS and built in performance test all settings maxed @ 1280 X 1024 with Anti Aliasing turned on.

[Methious]

Here's the 3Dmarks06 results. These are un-tweaked results, with virus scanner/Anti-Spyware running and no attempt to close excess background programs or services. I did that because it's a more real life environment. Not many of us run a bare operating system except for benching. Bios shots will be coming soon, as will Super Pi. Other than that if anyone wants any other benches PM me and I'll be glad to run them.

3Dmarks06


Main Results


Over All Comparison


Still No # 1 In Similar Hardware Class

[DMB2000uk]

With (seemingly) everyone getting a 8800GT and submitting swish benchies, i'm seeing green far too much

Dan

[Methious]

I was really hesitant about getting an 8800, it's really hard for me to spring that much for a video card, but now that I've seen it run Company of Hero's and Half Life 2 Orange Box I'm glad I did. As far as benches go I only use them for comparison making purchases. In this case I had like 14 people looking for a budget board and no reviews of M3A out there. Which I bought cause I didn't want to spend mega bucks on a mobo before I go to Intel this year.

I'd much rather be playing a game or surfing than benching. The people here were so nice and helpful when I was looking for parts this is my way of giving back. I figure the only way to revive AMD is to switch to Intel then they'll come out with something really fantastic, it's the way my hardware luck runs.

In "Company of Hero's" I was running the performance test, the explosions looked real, you could see vapor trails from bullets, and perceive depth in the terrain. Needless to say I was blown away. Unfortunately I had to do major upgrades to be able to run that class, power supply/cpu and pcie 2.0 motherboard to get full advantage. It's no wonder games like Crysis are seeing lack luster sales with the cost of hardware to run them.

[jpierce55]

I wonder what it is with the Black Editions, mine shows as a Mobile Sempron on 3d Mark 06. How is your overclocking ability with the new board?

[Methious]

Well the 6400 has like no overhead for over clocking but I clocked it stable to 3.52 in like 5 minutes using AI overclock. Just set the AI overclock to manual, increase the FSB to the freq you want and the board adjusts appropriately. I can't say how it'll work for a larger over clock on that cpu. I did stick in a X2 4200 that runs at 2.2, did the same thing, bumped it up to FSB 240 Multiplier 11, gave me 2.64 ghz, had to bump the vcore one notch and drop hyper transport to 4 and it ran stable on orthos for an hour. I started with AI over clock, ran a little funky, so I manually bumped vcore and dropped hyper transport ran good after that.

[jpierce55]

3.5 on a 6400 with air cooling is rare, it sounds like a good oc board. I know it will be my next board! BTW I just picked up a Phenom 9600 for $215 shipped, had no plans to buy one, but to hard to resist. I don't know that it will work on my current KA3 MvP board.

[Methious]

It wasn't just air cooling, I turned the case into a wind tunnel for the test, monitored it the whole time (boring), had case side open, Air Conditioning routed into the casing using a dryer duct, and a can of computer duster air by my right hand just in case. Couldn't see buying an $80 cooler with out knowing if I needed it. I do need one, probably Thermalrite 120 ultra, with a Vantac Stealth 120mm fan. My better half has pretty much killed my hopes for water cooling under threat of, well if you got a better half you probably know what threat they use.

Shame I got nixed on the idea, I wanted to try refrigerated (small mini fridge, 4 soda can fridge) water cooling, by adding a secondary single radiator to the loop inside the mini fridge. That way I could just turn it on when I wanted it.

[Zarni]

Hey Ken got 3dmark2006 downloading now, on Sat Internet 3 + hours, will post benches probably tommorro. Core 2 is doing better, I just wanted to get the fastest/last of line X2 and play with it for a while. Figuring I can make it 6-9 months prices drop some. So far though I'm pretty happy with it, aside from lack of overclocking overhead. After I get done with stock benches I'm going to lower HT, lower memory divider, lower multiplier, up FSB and see what I can get, replaced some fans and seeing 31C on idle, 45C on torture so I have a little room.

Have you tried to see how high a fsb it will run??
My TF560 is slowly dieing and I am looking to get one of these.

But I need at least a 310 fsb. My cpu has a 10 multi and it was good to 3100+

Any info would be greatly Appreciated !!

[Methious]

Sorry posting delayed by family shared colds.

FSB 200 - 600 @ 1 MHZ increments max multiplier 16

Seems to OC well, voltages stay stable, seeing fluctuation's down in the .001 range with a good power supply.

[kenc51]

Sorry posting delayed by family shared colds.

FSB 200 - 600 @ 1 MHZ increments max multiplier 16

Seems to OC well, voltages stay stable, seeing fluctuation's down in the .001 range with a good power supply.

Methious, Have you tried to lower the CPU multi to 6x and then seeing how high the board will go, even with stock voltages?
CPU temps won't matter due to the low multi.

[Methious]

Hey Ken, I dropped multiplier to 10x and pushed FSB to 360, got 3.6 stable 15 minutes then temps started to creep (55C), ordered a ThermalRight 120 Ultra and A Vantec Stealth 120MM today. Should solve Temp and noise problems. Had it up to 3.52 with 16x stable same thing temp creep. The IceTank cooler does fine until you put full load on. I'm waiting until the cooler comes in before I push it (for my sanity's sake). I hit 55C and the vein in my forehead starts to throb, before this CPU the highest under load I've ever had was 40C so 55 makes me real uncomfortable. My coolest machine is a sempron backup machine, under full load 28C with the same IceTank.

First time I ever had to get out a tape measure to see if a CPU cooler would fit, that thing is honkin big! Soon as I get it installed I'll pump it up. I must say though the AI overclock on this board seems much better than the old Asus M2N-E, most of the time just use it, then knock the vcore and vdimm up a notch and it runs. (As for long term stable I'll see after the new cooler gets here)

If anybody does get this board get the newest drivers from asus before install, especially for a Vista install, I didn't experience it but a few have had problems with the included drivers and Vista. (I'd more likely blame Vista, and the technical expertise of those installing it than the board)

[jpierce55]

Thanks for the heads up on the drivers. I ordered my board last night, hope it gets here before next weekend (holiday shipping, hard to say). I guess we will see how a Phenom 9600 on a Scythe Infinity does with this board In total $300 for the board and quad, its not bad. Now I have to get rid of my 5000 be and mobo.

Scary thing last night was I tried to install an S1 cooler on my 3870. One screw will not come out, I slipped and knocked off a capacitor It was to small for a soldering iron, so I got some vinyl adhesive and used it to hold the cap in place, then I used a needle and put liquid silver on the contacts. It is functioning normal Needless to say I am not changing the cooler now!

[Methious]

I have a ThermalTake Volcano universal (in a box in my spare parts room cause it's loud) that has the screw spring arrangement they like to use on the AMD rigs. Seemed like every time I had to remove it it'd fly off to one side causing the screw driver to slip. I never actually damaged any thing but it did wonders for the heart rate. That and to get the screws to engage had to use significant down pressure, seems like they would just switch the spring screw arrangement to a small hex head bolt to avoid screw drivering the mother board senseless. Like almost every thing else I find myself full circle, the ThermalRight 120 Ultra has the same screw/spring arrangement and you have to remove the motherboard to install the back plate. Seems like the more performance a part is the bigger the pain it is.

It might be a match made in computer heaven, I ordered the cooler and fan from different web sites (had a large enough credit to get the fan free) and with in 4 hours got UPS and Fedex shipment tracking numbers.

[jpierce55]

Did you check to see how cool the northbridge is running? Looks like it has a nice h.s on it, I might just leave the Zalman hs on the old mobo.

[Methious]

Only by touch and it was cool to the touch at the base of the heat sink so I haven't checked. The heat sink is attached by the wire clip arrangement and would probably be hard to change out. If it weren't I'd strap on a heat sink with heat pipes I have from a few other boards I replaced for people. Next time I get on it I'll check and see if there's a temp for it on any of the software I have.

[jpierce55]

Cool to the touch means it should be cool enough, besides I have a fan blowing in ~ the area the n.b. should be sitting. You have given a pretty good review, next weekend (I hope) I will tell you how it does with a Phenom. You have what is rated the number one AMD cooler (scroll down):http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm

[Methious]

I have the AquaMark scores coming later today. Yea I saw that review, since the Ultra 120 ranked high for both Intel and AMD I went ahead and got it. I might be going to Intel for the first time in many a year. The Core 2 Duo's are just rockin the over clocks, so I have been planning ahead for that. Right now though the x2 6400 is looking pretty good for my uses, I'm getting Crysis this week and if the rig runs that good I'll hold off for a while. I have to track down drivers again later I got a funky driver some where, probably Beta geforce drivers. When your Phenom comes in I'd run with non-beta drivers for a while, I'm getting odd intermittent blacked out buttons on monitoring software.

[Methious]

Here are some slightly tweaked scores. Not much else I can do with it until the new CPU cooler comes in Thursday (Can't Wait!)

Woke up for a midnight snack, ended up tweaking and benching. This round I updated XP with every update available, OC the video to 650 Core, 925 Memory Bus, No CPU Over Clock. Virus and Anti Spyware running.

AquaMark Scores (Un-Tweaked)


Slightly Tweaked 3DMark


Slightly Tweaked 3DMark


Food Coma Benching Exhaustion Must Sleep!