[one]

Freddie,
My CPU uses a stepping that lowers the W used, it has a 100 W max
doesn't all the processors have this?

[Freddy]

I don't know One, I just know that regular quad cores seem to be rated at 95W or so and the "S" ones are rated at 65W.

[lrh9]

I think the new Intel socket standard is known as 1366.

[one]

Thanks Larry,
I had some discussions with some friends on this a while back and if memory serves I thought it was something else but their were some Fatalities around me and I lost connections.

J.

[Data]

lrh9:
You are right, well almost 

Actually there are 2 intel sockets that supersede socket 775

LGA1156 and LGA1366


Freddy:

I think you are being over cautious regarding your power supply, however it’s always good to be cautious so I see where you are coming from.

The main power consumer in a moden PC is now the graphics card, depending on what card you have, but some of them are extremely power hungry.

If you are not overclocking your CPU and you don’t have a monster graphics card then a 450 watt PSU will be fine on a standard power Quad core CPU.   

I’ve just been looking at the prices of the lower power CPU’s and it looks like you could get a better power supply and a standard power CPU for less then a lower power CPU.


One:
Yes all the Intel Q range cpu’s now have stepping or a slowing down feature built in to them, they reduce the multiplier when under low load, reducing the power consumption, actually the quad cores only take maximum power when all 4 cores are running at 100%, in the real world this hardly ever happens, most games cant use all 4 cores, basic computer usage e-mails web browsing ect use hardly any cpu and they tend to stay at lower speed almost all the time in every day usage. 

When I do video conversion in Windows 7 I have seen all 4 cores go-to 100%. So in Win7 it can happen.

[Freddy]

That's some really useful information as always.  My Graphics card is based on the ATI Radeon HD 3850 with 512MB of memory, which is probably no longer considered a beast of a card.

I don't expect to upgrade for a while yet, so I will give this some more thought.  I guess eventually I will be looking at a higher wattage PSU anyway as I gradually upgrade things so like you say it might be better to get the standard CPU rather than the low wattage one.

I don't do over-clocking btw...I'm too afraid I will blow up my PC. 

[lrh9]

I don't overclock either. I never know when I'll have enough money to buy a computer, so I have to make them last as long as I can. I don't like hardware temperatures going over 60 degrees Celsius.

So far, my computer stays cool. I have a CoolerMaster case with a 120mm side intake fan over the GPU, a 120mm rear exhaust fan, and a 120mm exhaust vent over the CPU. CPU temps barely go above 50 degrees Celsius under load, and my GPU will peak at 57-58 degrees Celsius under load.

[Freddy]

I tied to find some place in W7 that might show me the CPU temperature, but haven't found anything.  I think I will probably need the MB utilities from Asus to do that.  I remember when I looked before it was nothing alarming though, still kind of interesting.

Mine has a lot of fans too, possibly too many.  I have a CPU vent too, I wondered what the hell it was when I first saw it.

Otherwise, I am back on my course - reading about Security and Encryption at the moment, protocols, keys, hashes and all that jazz.

[Data]

Its good to monitor those temps and stop them from going over 60c, I too don’t like seeing temps higher than that. saying that I can’t get my graphics card below 70c under heavy load but apparently that’s normal for my card, radeon X1950. 

I use Speedfan to monitor my temps, even hard drive temps, voltages and fans, it’s free, works in Win7 64bit and it works on most motherboards.

It can take a while to fully get your head around, but don’t let that put you off.

http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

Still loving windows 7 here, I just got a usb to gamepad converter, it allows me to run one of my old favorite game pads in Win7, because the OS doesn’t support the older gameport connector type.

Has any one tried Microsoft Security Essentials yet?  I’ve been using it as my anti virus and Im liking it, again its free and takes very little resources to run, I am actually very impressed with it, good by AVG, thanks for the 3 years but you have become bloated and starting to take to many resources.

[Maviarab]

Use the free version of Everest Freddy...tell you al you need to know and easy to understand

[Freddy]

Just tried it...not bad but it got a few things wrong...says I'm on DirectX 9c , when I am on DirectX 11.  Thinks my PSU is a Xeon too for some reason.  Couldn't find anything to show temps - I'm guessing that's in the 'sensor' section but that doesn't work.  Oh well worth a look, I don't have much confidence in it as its pretty old really and probably out of date a lot.

Will try speedfan or just install my MB tools from Asus.

Thanks anyway.

[Maviarab]

Hmmm suprising...I use the full version...thought it was worth it, very pleased with it, guess the free one is very stripped down and not much cop then? pity.

Anyway...moving later....will try and get on when i can...not even sure where my pc going to go yet hehe...so will be leaving it here for time being...hopefully get it moved this next week and set up again

[Data]

One of the advantages with speedfan is that works with other applications.

If you have an ATI graphics card and you use ATI tray tools you can set the temps or voltages to show on screen in games, very handy to monitor those temps under heavy gaming load.


It also works well with some Windows 7 gadgets,
I use it with All CPU Meter +Temps




And it has a nice way off sitting in the system tray




I hope the move goes well Mav

[Freddy]

Thanks - I got that working fine. 

My two cores seem to be settled at around 45 C

I think Everest free version dates to 2005...so it's not surprising it doesn't perform on newer hardware - no worries, it was worth a try.

Good luck with the move Mav 

[one]

Surfing cuz I can't B sleepin'

http://www.webdesigncore.com/2009/11/22/40-mindblowing-examples-of-digital-art-photomanipulation/