Bought myself a pressie

[D-Dan]

I checked my rent account the other day, and found I was £200 in credit (didn't know until just now, but it was closer to £300). Now I have some essential expenditure to incur from it (things I've been putting off), but thought I could treat myself to £100 or so.

So after checking stock in outlets within easy travelling distance (Aria, Scan, Micro Direct) I popped along to MD and bought a shiny new Athlon 64 X2 6400

After a quick stop at Tesco, got home, stripped the PC down removed the HS/Fan assembly and cleaned the base, removed the old X2 4200 - and  - I couldn't find my thermal paste.

After a half hour hunt emptying every cupboard, I finally located the damn stuff (odd - I thought I had Artic Silver, but it turns out I have Coolermaster stuff).

Dropped the new chip in, gunked it up and refitted the fan, and a quick test boot - yippee - it worked.

So after another half hour of re-assembling everything (and re-installing drivers because I forgot which USB device got plugged in which slot - Doh! I usually mark them), my system is up and running.

First test - a Cinema 4D render, took 30% less time than this morning. And contrary to everything I've read, the new chip is running cooler than the old (the 4200 maxed out at a whopping 67C doing the render - the 6400 maxed out at 53C).

I'm one happy bunny

Shame the budget couldn't extend to a MB and Phenom, but hey ho.

Steve

[Rik]

Sounds like a result, Steve.

[MoHux]

Sounds like a result, Steve.

Will be ...... if his wife/partner used that jar for her face-pack or whatever!! 

[john]

Will be ...... if his wife/partner used that jar for her face-pack or whatever!! 

He'll just have to tell her that she looks really cool 

[D-Dan]

Hey - no-one else has to know about this personal pressie - OK 

[Sebby]

Excellent stuff, Dan. I know that BIOS updates can be risky, but if you have a fairly old board, there may be an update to make the processor fully compatible - it could be running slower than it's able to.

Also, make sure you install the the new AMD drivers and XP hotfix to get the most out of this processor. I used this page when I built my PC; I found it extremely useful.

[D-Dan]

Thanks Sebby.

My MB is only 12 months old, and fully patched with the latest BIOS. The X2 6400 is fully supported by the BIOS. I had to re-install the latest processor drivers from AMD after dropping it in anyway (which surprised me since they are the same drivers as the X2 4200 which it replaced, but hey ho).

But - I forgot the Hotfix when I re-installed Windows a couple of weeks ago. Thanks for the reminder

Steve

[Sebby]

NP, glad it's all working nicely.

[D-Dan]

Wow after day one I'm super impressed, after reading all the horror stories of how this chip generates a LOT of heat, with nothing but HS/Fan cooling, I'm idling at 19C. That's less than the ambient room temperature (which if my new thermostat is correct, is around 20C).

Maybe I just got lucky this time with the application of thermal paste, but the X2 4200 idled at around 28C. I've seen this drop as low as 18C, so that's a full 10 degrees lower, with the identical cooling system.

[Captain K]

Wish I had the bottle to do that sort of thing.  I suppose if I read up on everything I could have a crack, but last time I tried it ended unhappily.  Thought I'd upgrade my old Athlon XP1900 to an XP2400 - great - MB spec said it was compatible, but I forgot that the Athlon came in a couple of flavours and I bought the Barton core by mistake.  Ended up having to d/l a custom BIOS from some geek in the US, the FSB speed needed to be reset every reboot, and the thing was always on the edge of overheating.  Ended up spending more on case fans than on the processor!  Worse, there was constant grief from she-who-thinks-she-must-be-obeyed about the PC not working when she had an important email to send. 

Anyways, now I just let the whole machine get old, and then by a brand spanking new one.  I enjoy that bit though! 

[Sebby]

Wow after day one I'm super impressed, after reading all the horror stories of how this chip generates a LOT of heat, with nothing but HS/Fan cooling, I'm idling at 19C. That's less than the ambient room temperature (which if my new thermostat is correct, is around 20C).

Maybe I just got lucky this time with the application of thermal paste, but the X2 4200 idled at around 28C. I've seen this drop as low as 18C, so that's a full 10 degrees lower, with the identical cooling system.

My experience is the same; mine idles at about 10°C.

What core is the 6400? Mine's a Brisbane.

[Niall]

It makes you wonder what these people are doing with their horror stories doesn't it? I've read horror stories with every CPU I've bought. I just ignore them now, unless the stories are the norm, rather than the exception!

I'm going to be upgrading when I get my bonus. Although, whether it'll be a lens or a CPU I still don't know

[D-Dan]

This is a Windsor Core. Of course, AMD Cool & Quiet helps a lot, dropping the core speed to 1Ghz when I'm not doing anything but browsing the web or generally just pottering, and ramping up to the full 3.2 Ghz when it needs to.

You can knock AMD all you like, but they got some things right that Intel didn't

[Niall]

I swear by AMD. Okay now Intel is the top dog again, but their prices are taking the proverbial. For the money you can't beat AMD.

[D-Dan]

Oh - as an aside - I'm trying freecycle for an AM2 MB. If I get one - I'll have an XP 2400+ with MB going begging. I'll offer first refusal here.

The MB is an Asus A7N8X-X - which has been solid as a rock here - as long as legacy connectors are all you need (No SATA, firewire etc).

If I manage to drop in an AM2 MB and the old X2 4200 into PC2 - first come first served for the price of postage

If not - I'm sure someone reading Micro Mart will take it (or maybe I'll blag a few more parts and Freecycle a working machine).

Steve

[D-Dan]

I swear by AMD. Okay now Intel is the top dog again, but their prices are taking the proverbial. For the money you can't beat AMD.

I have to say - every review I've read, and real life comparisons, this processor is still on a par with what Intel offer at 50% more cost. I'm not a fanboy, but AMD have never let me down. I've seen Intel processors literally explode in the past.

Ermm - to all you Intel users - I don't mean to scare you

[Sebby]

I completely agree with you, Dan. Intel might have caught up a lot, and perhaps their performance is a bit better, but I'm still sticking by AMD.

[Niall]

The top end CPUs are much better by Intel at the moment. That being said, AMD just re-released the Phenom and renamed it to Phenom x4 quad core. Apparently it's getting good benchmarks in the new tests so far, so it may be as good as the Intel and at a fraction of the cost.

[mrapoc]

Intel Nehalem is out soon  8)

nuff sed

[Rik]

That sounds like some sort of Jihadic war cry, Sam.

[D-Dan]

It sounds like I started a Intel V AMD thread here - but for the record - I didn't. I simply bought a drop in replacement processor that has given me a general 30% faster machine without rebuilding my rig, and without having to reinstall my system.

Intel are very good ATM (better than AMD - but also more expensive - not just processor - but associated costs such as MB).

Having said that - unless you are prepared to spend what I consider obscene amounts of money - I just bought the cheapest power upgrade for a machine that does some heavy duty 3D work that money can buy. (Oh - the 3d work is purely hobby - but when I can render a scene in a few minutes that took more than a day when I started 25 years ago - then I have to be happy)

[Malc]

My last PC had a AMD and this one has intel.

I just go for whats the best value for money and performance at the time.