New Rig: Phenom II B50 X4 @3.7Ghz - Tips on further exploits welcome

[nerrawg]

Just got my new rig set up and broken in, which turned out to be a treat. Bought a Phenom II X2 550BE and paired it with an ASUS 890gx, both from Ebuyer (I'm in the UK) and I have hopefully got them stable running with 4 cores (2 unlocked) at 3.7Ghz. I haven't run a full 24h prime95 yet (that'll be tonight) but it has run PCMARK and Coredamage just fine as well as Linpack. This was my first OC setup so haven't tried for anything to extreme but any tips or advice on what to possibly try next is very welcome. Here are some desktop shots:

3.7 Ghz on 2 cores - pre-test to monitor temps - running at 31.5 C stable with a Tuniq 120 extreme

2 core stats:

3.7 Ghz Quad core B50 stress test

Quad Stats:

Rig:
AMD Phenom II B50 X4 at 3.7Ghz with a Tuniq 120 Extreme
ASUS 890GX MOBO
Corsair DDR3 1333 4GB
CM Stacker 831
Antec Earthwatts 750 Mod PSU
Samsung 1.5 TB HDD
No Gfx yet (maybe after my PhD continuation report arrggh)

Bought it all off of Ebuyer (UK) and no probs there - would recommend

Thanks for taking a look and hope this encourages others to try unlocking their AMDs
(BTW CPU SN:9C54516A00763)

 

[Starges]

What games are you able to play without a GPU??

 

[i4yue]

there are alot of games you can play without a gpu. for an example: starcraft 1, diablo 1 & 2, redalert command and conquer games, solitare, hearts, and many more =D

 

[msound1971]

Hi ,
mine is little faster ..4x 3812 MHz only with cpu multiplier !

Below the cpu-z validation :

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=1184640


Regards from Italy


ID : 1184640
Submitted by MSOUND-DESK | Thu, 13 May 2010 22:07:43 +0200 | Rejected by CPU-Z 1.54
AMD Phenom II X4
Windows XP Professional SP3 (Build 2600)
CPU Arch : 1 CPU - 4 Cores - 4 Threads
CPU PSN : AMD Phenom II X4 B50 Processor
CPU EXT : MMX(+), 3DNow!(+), SSE (1, 2, 3, 4A), x86-64, AMD-V
CPUID : F.4.2 / Extended : 10.4
CPU Cache : L1 : 4 x 64 / 4 x 64 KB - L2 : 4 x 512 KB
CPU Cache : L3 : 6144 KB
Core : Deneb (45 nm) / Stepping : RB-C2
Freq : 3818.24 MHz (200.96 * 19)
MB Brand : Gigabyte
MB Model : GA-MA790X-UD4
NB : AMD 790X rev 00
SB : AMD ID439D rev 00
GPU Type : Radeon HD 4670
GPU Clocks : Core 300 MHz / RAM 1000 MHz
DirectX Version : 10.0
RAM : 2048 MB DDR2 Dual Channel
RAM Speed : 535.9 MHz (3:8) @ 5-7-7-20
Slot 1 : 1024MB (6400)
Slot 1 Manufacturer : G.Skill
Slot 2 : 1024MB (6400)
Slot 2 Manufacturer : G.Skill
cpuz
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cpuz

 

[nerrawg]

Hi guys -
So I've had this rig for almost three years now and like some input/help with ideas on how to upgrade:
Here's the history:

April 2010-December 2011
CPU: AMD Phenom II B50 X4 at 3.7Ghz with a Tuniq 120 Extreme (£55+£35=£90)
GFX: 2 x AMD/ATI (XFX) 4850 512mb in CF (2x£65= £130)
MOBO: ASUS 890GX (£95)
RAM: Corsair DDR3 1333 2x2GB (£40)
Case: CM Stacker 831 (£60)
PSU: Antec Earthwatts 750 Mod PSU (£65)
Single Drive: Samsung 1.5 TB HDD (£45)
OS Win7 Pro 64bit (TOO MUCH£ss)

January 2012 - March 2013
CPU: AMD Phenom II B50 X4 at 3.7Ghz with a Tuniq 120 Extreme
GFX: AMD Sapphire 6870 1 GB (£120)
MOBO: ASUS 890GX
RAM: G. Skill 2x 4GB DDR3 1333MHz (£45)
Case: CM Stacker 831
PSU: Antec Earthwatts 750 Mod PSU
System Drive: Agility SSD 60 GB (£55)
Game Drive: Samsung F3 1 TB HDD (£45 - thank god i bought this before the Thailand incident)
Media Drive: Samsung F2 1.5 TB HDD

Best upgrade by far was the SSD. The AMD 6870 was actually comparable performance wise to the 2x4850 and cost the same!?- but was more stable in newer games. Having separate drives has made the system much smoother.

Upgrade Ideas:

1. Build cheap Linux system for a home server from spare parts (instead of NAS?)
2. Wireless media streaming to TV and HiFi using rasberryPi? What are the best ways to do this? I have a good home Hifi AMP but its old so its wired into my PC at moment - want to stream FLAC to it in the living room.
3. Buy Tv (lol)
4. Eventually upgrade desktop when its worth doing so. My Screen is 24 inch 1920 x1080p so all games play pretty darn well on it.

RANT
Ok, so I have to mention how disappointed I am at in the progress of Desktop technology. When I built this machine 3 years ago it was relatively cheap, however 3 years on and I would still have to pay more than the original price to upgrade each individual part. I realize now that the unlockable AMD Phenom II B55 was a great steal, but what have the been on since!? The only CPUs worth upgrading to are atm the Intel quad core i5's and they start at £150 - 3x the price 3 years on! I can't really justify that and I don't need the performance at the moment. Really hope Haswell will change things and that AMD will get its game together. The Phenom II's were awesome - mines been OV at 1.42 and OC'ed to 3.7 for 3 years 24/7 - but they are 4 years old now.. COME ON AMD! .... anyways rant over

Thanks
Thanks for the reply msound1971, cool build you've got (or had) sorry for the long awaited reply I have been in the lab for the last 2 years, but as I am now writing up (eh-ok, procrastinating) I stumbled along this forgotten post.

Thanks for any help that anyone provides!