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- Joined
- 15 Jun 2012
- Posts
- 185
So the other day I was randomly going through my old hardware and taking inventory of some of my older CPUs. Just a little later that day my main rig, an HP z820, up and died out of nowhere. Low mileage chassis so I'm not really sure what the deal is with that yet. Wont post or power on at all now and I already swapped PSUs to a 1125 watt unit and still its a no go. And cant check for trouble codes either.
In any event, that situation with my main rig gave me incentive to bring back an old favorite, the AMD Phenom II. Specifically, the Zosma based X4 960T that comes from the factory with two hidden cores. Untilimtely, its it a Thuban based Phenom II and when its unlocked in hexacore form is still a force to be reckoned with. Pair with low latency CL7 1600MHz memory and you have quite the little powerhouse rig on your hands. At first blush, it's just as snappy as my 5.0GHz X6 9600KF rig, which has a Samsung 970 PRO nvme SDD drive and 4266MHz DDR4 dual channel memory kit. I would be using that rig in place, but the MSI Z390 ACE that I was using in it lost a PCIe slot. So that's been sent back to MSI for RMA.
In the interim, we will proceed with the AMD 960T restoration using all spare parts from my old computer storage inventory. I found a good, but battered Antec case of about the same vintage in my old parts storage to match the build. I also found a 500W Antec PSU from about the same vintage. I was up until about 3AM last night working on cleaning up the case and fitting new hardware. More details, OC results to follow. One of my goals is sub 45 ns memory latency. Not sure if it's doable with this memory kit but we will give it a shot nevertheless. And because I am running a Hyper 212 I am aiming for a more conservative overclock this time around. These are the core parts I am working with.
Motherboard: Biostar TA970, 140W TDP rated
Supports bios unlocking of hidden cores but not the greatest OC board, but that's okay because this one is going to be conservative in terms of OC
Memory:
CMX4Gx3M1A1600C6
7-8-7-20 1.65v ver 5.11 Dual Channel 1600MHz CL7 kit
Case I am using is the Antec Wired2Fire Diablo MaXcore Gaming Tower
GPU:
MSI Radeon RX 5700 XT 8GB
Rats nest in the case that needed to be dealt with:
Busted up Antec case that will be restored to its former glory
Swapping in the Noctua 120mm fan. Coolermaster CPU fan is relegated to the chassis. Although the Biostar TA970 does not have PWM control (other than for CPU cooler), so it may become a nuisance if it's turning to much RPM.
Also in the picture is a thermaltake 140mm chassis fan that will be mounted in the top of the chassis. The hyper 212 we will be using has been cleaned up and is ready for use and is seen here in the lower left.
Ultra quiet Noctua NF-A12 x 25 CPU cooler fan, PMW - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Looking a little better, cleaned out with compressed air and swapped in the X6 960T processor in place of the pre-existing and very sluggish FX 4350 X4 CPU
This is a badass video card if I don't say so myself
MSI has one of the best cooling solutions out of any RX 5700 XT on the market at this time: Consequently, the video card greatly improves internal case temps.
Even under heaving gaming, the backplate is only "warm" to the touch. Not the case with my old MSI RX 580... you could fry an egg on that backplate!
Wire management 101
The pigtails we will need to power the 5700 XT. The gaming X requires two 8 pin power connectors and has a TDP of 225 watts.
Power connectors and heatsink
The PSU only has provisions for one 6 pin power connector, so I needed two six pin to eight pin adapters to make it work
Sick Noctua fan which is virtually silent
Someone had spliced into the Antec PSU in the past, so we had to get that issue resolved for good with electric tape and shrink wrap
Had to cut a little bit out of the front area of the case to get the massive 5700 XT to fit in this chassis
All set!
Looking more like a high performance machine by the minute:
I was up until about 3 AM working on this. I still have many plans for it so stay tuned. Case is all cleaned up and front cover fixed!
MUCH BETTER!
Biostar's own BIOunlocking utility allows you to unlock hidden cores on a Zosma based chip. It's nice to see the X6 in the upper right, because it usually means the extra cores are going to work. Although that's by no means the end of the torture testing / vetting that will occur.
Almost forgot, we are running a 512GB SK Hynix SSD drive for this build.
It was fun doing something a little different and building a system with only spare parts. Means you usually have to get a little more creative with your tech solutions. Stay tuned for OC results and further upgrades...
In any event, that situation with my main rig gave me incentive to bring back an old favorite, the AMD Phenom II. Specifically, the Zosma based X4 960T that comes from the factory with two hidden cores. Untilimtely, its it a Thuban based Phenom II and when its unlocked in hexacore form is still a force to be reckoned with. Pair with low latency CL7 1600MHz memory and you have quite the little powerhouse rig on your hands. At first blush, it's just as snappy as my 5.0GHz X6 9600KF rig, which has a Samsung 970 PRO nvme SDD drive and 4266MHz DDR4 dual channel memory kit. I would be using that rig in place, but the MSI Z390 ACE that I was using in it lost a PCIe slot. So that's been sent back to MSI for RMA.
In the interim, we will proceed with the AMD 960T restoration using all spare parts from my old computer storage inventory. I found a good, but battered Antec case of about the same vintage in my old parts storage to match the build. I also found a 500W Antec PSU from about the same vintage. I was up until about 3AM last night working on cleaning up the case and fitting new hardware. More details, OC results to follow. One of my goals is sub 45 ns memory latency. Not sure if it's doable with this memory kit but we will give it a shot nevertheless. And because I am running a Hyper 212 I am aiming for a more conservative overclock this time around. These are the core parts I am working with.
Motherboard: Biostar TA970, 140W TDP rated
Supports bios unlocking of hidden cores but not the greatest OC board, but that's okay because this one is going to be conservative in terms of OC
Memory:
CMX4Gx3M1A1600C6
7-8-7-20 1.65v ver 5.11 Dual Channel 1600MHz CL7 kit
Case I am using is the Antec Wired2Fire Diablo MaXcore Gaming Tower
GPU:
MSI Radeon RX 5700 XT 8GB
Rats nest in the case that needed to be dealt with:
Busted up Antec case that will be restored to its former glory
Swapping in the Noctua 120mm fan. Coolermaster CPU fan is relegated to the chassis. Although the Biostar TA970 does not have PWM control (other than for CPU cooler), so it may become a nuisance if it's turning to much RPM.
Also in the picture is a thermaltake 140mm chassis fan that will be mounted in the top of the chassis. The hyper 212 we will be using has been cleaned up and is ready for use and is seen here in the lower left.
Ultra quiet Noctua NF-A12 x 25 CPU cooler fan, PMW - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Looking a little better, cleaned out with compressed air and swapped in the X6 960T processor in place of the pre-existing and very sluggish FX 4350 X4 CPU
This is a badass video card if I don't say so myself
MSI has one of the best cooling solutions out of any RX 5700 XT on the market at this time: Consequently, the video card greatly improves internal case temps.
Even under heaving gaming, the backplate is only "warm" to the touch. Not the case with my old MSI RX 580... you could fry an egg on that backplate!
Wire management 101
The pigtails we will need to power the 5700 XT. The gaming X requires two 8 pin power connectors and has a TDP of 225 watts.
Power connectors and heatsink
The PSU only has provisions for one 6 pin power connector, so I needed two six pin to eight pin adapters to make it work
Sick Noctua fan which is virtually silent
Someone had spliced into the Antec PSU in the past, so we had to get that issue resolved for good with electric tape and shrink wrap
Had to cut a little bit out of the front area of the case to get the massive 5700 XT to fit in this chassis
All set!
Looking more like a high performance machine by the minute:
I was up until about 3 AM working on this. I still have many plans for it so stay tuned. Case is all cleaned up and front cover fixed!
MUCH BETTER!
Biostar's own BIOunlocking utility allows you to unlock hidden cores on a Zosma based chip. It's nice to see the X6 in the upper right, because it usually means the extra cores are going to work. Although that's by no means the end of the torture testing / vetting that will occur.
Almost forgot, we are running a 512GB SK Hynix SSD drive for this build.
It was fun doing something a little different and building a system with only spare parts. Means you usually have to get a little more creative with your tech solutions. Stay tuned for OC results and further upgrades...
