Just ordered for new Phenom II X3 720 Build

[CptMorgans]

Just ordered for new Phenom II X3 720 Build ** With Pics & Benchmark results **

Hi All,

Been a while since I used this website regularly, mainly because I've been in the land of laptops for the last few years (work & travel). Anyway fed up with laptop performance in games. I think the trigger may have been getting empire total war last week, virtually unplayable on my dell xps1530.

So I put together the following after 1 week of reading articles and reviews. I know there will be so many varying opinions on other hardware but the following suits me very nicely. I'll post again with some phots and how the build goes. Looking forward to using Windows 7 as well.

Some thoughts on the hardware I had were;

1. Very impressed by the AMD Overdrive function on the 790FX chipset, and the good results seen with the X3 720BE.

2. Having used the Samsung T220 before I was very impressed. Also I didnt want to go above 1680x1050.

3. The resolution drove the decision to get just the Ati 4850 rather than the 4870. If I need extra power in the future I'll just crossfire it.

4. I suppose the thing I swayed over the most was DDR2/DDR3 mobo. I've always went with ASUS in the past so that was easy. In the end I thought, I'll probably be upgrading to something else in a years time anyway so bugger it.

 

[siumatfung]

can u run that CPU with DDR2??? it says DDR 3 support?

 

[death_looms]

Should be able to, it's back compatable with AM2+ mobos which are DDR2 only. I've just ordered one with DDR2, so I obviously think it'll work

 

[alien.46.uk]

Nice Build ...

Could have possibly saved a bit downgrading your PSU a bit, something a little less powerful as it wont be needed and maybe put the money into DDR3.

would have cost you very little extra and would have just made it that little bit more future proof, plus the 720 will benifit and increases can/will be gained going DDR3 route.

Also had you saved a bit on the screen a 4870 could be sat there ... Although not overly required, would just make sure everything can be played top whack.

Look forward to the build log.

 

[hp7909]

can u run that CPU with DDR2??? it says DDR 3 support?

That's what AMD have pulled off this time, i.e. there's a DDR2 & DDR3 memory controller built into the new Phenom II making them backwards compatible. But older X2 or Phenom processors won't work on a AM3 mobo

Spec looks good CptMorgans. Now waiting for build pics

 

[CptMorgans]

Okay, small update with many pictures to follow.

All items arrived today, thumbs up to the new delivery company.

In amongst getting the kids to bathed and into bed I've managed to get it together and conduct a power on test. All seems good at the moment but thats it for tonight, busy family day tomoz. Anyway, I'm going to tidy up the internal cabling now, take some more pics and tomorrow I'll post the full build with thoughts on the components.

Cheers all.

 

[icey_haj]

Okay, small update with many pictures to follow.

All items arrived today, thumbs up to the new delivery company.

In amongst getting the kids to bathed and into bed I've managed to get it together and conduct a power on test. All seems good at the moment but thats it for tonight, busy family day tomoz. Anyway, I'm going to tidy up the internal cabling now, take some more pics and tomorrow I'll post the full build with thoughts on the components.

Cheers all.

Looking forward to it.

 

[CptMorgans]

Okay as promised.

1. The goodies arrive, great just seeing it layed out ready to go.



2. Antec 300 case laid bare. Really impressed with this case having owned a P160 in the past. Not as fancy but for the price you just dont get any better. Solid feeling, not too big and excellant cooling. I have stuck with just the standard 2 fans both on low settings. Very quiet and as I'll show later keeps the case very cool.



3. Samsung 22" T220 Monitor. In the flesh this monitor looks stunning, equally impressed with the image quality also. Thankfully in the recent PC Pro Magazine roundup it came second, phew!



4. Sunbeam core-contact freezer. I really was unsure of what cooler to get at first and certainly didnt want to spend more than £30. Well I have been seriously impressed by this cooler. Installed in minutes, I didnt use the included fan controller using the mobo bios controller instead. Set to optimal (approx 1400rpm) my CPU is 20 C Idle / and 28 C Load using prime95. This is all at standard clocks, I ran Prime95 overnight just to bed everything in. Also remember the chassis fans are both at low speed also.



5. Okay, CPU, Cooler and memory installed into Mobo without issue. Again very impressed with the M4A79 Deluxe Mobo as a package. Just very well laid out and came with everything but the kitchen sink!



6. Next few phots are just the build coming together. No issues here either. Just the usual fun trying to route cables and hide them.











Before I completed the case fully I did do a power test just into the bios to make sure everything worked. I also download the latest BIOS (1102) and used EZ Flash to update it prior to installing OS. As it stands I've dual booted with XP and Windows 7.

I've managed to do some basic benchmarking and system tweaking so far. With the system at stock I scored 12,500 on 3dMark06. CPU Temp Idle 20 C / Load 28 C, GPU Idle 39 C / Load 51 C.

I also did a quick OC raising the Multiplier to 17x achieving an increase from 2.8Ghz to 3.4Ghz. A quick 30mins on Prime95 showed it was solid but thats all time permitted for me.

Plan now is to finish installing software then set about system tweaking big time. Keen to see what this processor can do especially given the low temps I seem to be getting.

Sorry for keeping this short and sweet, kids are keeping me busy as usual

 

[Kennysevenfold]

can u run that CPU with DDR2??? it says DDR 3 support?

DDR3 "SUPPORT" backward compatable

 

[JTrickle]

3. Samsung 22" T220 Monitor. In the flesh this monitor looks stunning, equally impressed with the image quality also. Thankfully in the recent PC Pro Magazine roundup it came second, phew!

Been slightly disappointed with mine, as it doesnt have a consistant backlight spread. Not too bad at its current price, though.

 

[icey_haj]

That looks tasty Cpt, how much did all of that set you back?

 

[sketch145]

contemplating a move to a Phenom II 720 myself, your overclocking results have been most useful.

 

[sketch145]

what were temps like overclocked by the way?

 

[CptMorgans]

Been slightly disappointed with mine, as it doesnt have a consistant backlight spread. Not too bad at its current price, though.

Yeah, I do have some backlight issues but nothing that concerns me really.

That looks tasty Cpt, how much did all of that set you back?

Including some other bits 840 of your british pounds. Really cant express how much I'm happy with it. Been using the most excellant guide over at TomsHardware on overclocking Phenom II. Just been manually setting my RAM and playing around some more.

what were temps like overclocked by the way?

Going to spend tomorrow OCing and will post back with settings and temps.

Might try and squeeze some DOW II or Empire Total War in at some point

 

[CptMorgans]

Small Update, as usual time has not been on my side

Memory Benchmarks ( Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 PC2-8500C5).

All test carried out using Everest Cache & Memory Suite.

@800Mhz 5-5-5-18-23 1.8v
Read = 6917MB/s
Write = 6692MB/s
Copy = 8638MB/s
Latency = 60.7ns

@1066Mhz 5-5-5-15-22 2.1v (EPP)
Read = 8151MB/s
Write = 6698MB/s
Copy = 10053MB/s
Latency = 52.4ns

I repeated the above test several time to obtain average readings. I also ran Prime95 Blend test for 1 hour on each just to test stability.

Sticking with the Memory @1066 I then ran 3dMark06, all other settings at stock just to get a starting point.

3dMark06 score 12,227.

Using Prime95 (small fft) for 1 hour I also got some baseline temps @ 2.8Gzh Standard.
Mobo Idle 26 C / Load 27 C
CPU Idle 20 C / Load 27 C
GPU Idle 39 C / Load 50 C (after using 3dmark06)

So thats me set now for some CPU OCing first using the multiplier only. I also plan on dropping the multiplier and seeing what I can push the bus speed up to. Hopefully to get a balance between the two. Then lastly I'll look at the northbridge frequency, this I believe should net some good gains.

 

[deshepherd]

To add another data point ... I've just upgraded to 720X3 - with a Biostar TA790GX + the same 4GB Corsair RAM

I'm using the stock cooler and with no added voltage (apart from 2.1V on mem to get the 5-5-5-15-22 1066 timings) seem to be stable at 3.3GHz ... 3.4GHz wasn't. As for temps its ~47C with Prime.

Did some higher speed tests with increased CPU voltage but wasn't stable ... but I'd pushed up NB speed and probably hadn't validated that was fully stable so need to go back and try one item at a time again

 

[CptMorgans]

Good effort, 3.3ghz on stock cooler, a nice big free upgrade!

So I've just started out nice and easy. Set the multiplier to 17x resulting in 3.4Ghz, stock volts. Ran Prime95 Small FFT's for 30mins and ran 3Dmark06 with no issues.



Also Ran OCCT for 1 hour, perfectly stable.



Seriously loving this cooler though. CPU Idle 21 C / Load 29 C. Thats compared to Idle 19 C / Load 27 C at stock. The things running silent as well with the CPU cooler only at 1400rpm, love it. More to come

 

[deshepherd]

As for temps its ~47C with Prime.

Actually that was temp with case open ... just shut the case up and repeated the test and as a result I now get 53C at 3.3GHz. Note this is stock cooler + "normal case" - ie has couple of 8cm fans to promote air flow through case.