upgrading my budget built amd machine

[dave c]

so i just sold about 500$ worth of unused speed parts i had from my twin turbo camaro build , id like to get some more out of my amd machine but need help picking out some parts for it

basically as of now it sits like this

asrock 880gm-le
fx 8320
4 gb ddr 3 667mhz
sata drives
hd 4320 and nvidia gt430 gpus

i know off the bat the low end budget mobo has to go , got any recomendations ?
im also thinking a nice water cooling system( having some issues keeping it cool enough for my taste with the air cooling) , dbl the ram and a nice gpu recommendations ?

need to budget in a decent psu as well as ive almost got the current one maxed

id prefer not to spend all the money so id rathe rupgrade the things that need it the most first for now

[DrPop]

Hi Dave, I'm shocked that thing hasn't burnt up yet powering that FX 8320. Don't ask how I know the lower end AMD chipsets can catch on fire with heavy crunching 24/7. ;)

My first reply was way too rambling, so let me start over: what are your electric rates like? :)

[dave c]

Hi Dave, I'm shocked that thing hasn't burnt up yet powering that FX 8320. Don't ask how I know the lower end AMD chipsets can catch on fire with heavy crunching 24/7. ;)

My first reply was way too rambling, so let me start over: what are your electric rates like? :)
low/free

the heat this board puts off is unreal , ive installed extra fans blwoing ont he board to keep it cool , i also have the voltages turned down on the cpu and board. i think amd was way off on there voltage requirements for the cpu

i can run 4.0ghz reliably with only 1.250 cpu voltage instead of the stock 1.3250 or whatever it is

[dave c]

what do u guys think about this mobo

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128514

[DrPop]

That is a better chipset, and much better build quality on that board. I think it comes down to whether or not you want to stay with powering an AMD and the heat that comes with it. You might consider simply saving for an i7 of your choice. I know that's not a sexy answer, but in the long run it's probably the best. If you really do want to keep powering a bulldozer 24/7 then yes, a motherboard with the 990FX chipset and GOOD heatsinks is a must for crunching! :)

[dave c]

That is a better chipset, and much better build quality on that board. I think it comes down to whether or not you want to stay with powering an AMD and the heat that comes with it. You might consider simply saving for an i7 of your choice. I know that's not a sexy answer, but in the long run it's probably the best. If you really do want to keep powering a bulldozer 24/7 then yes, a motherboard with the 990FX chipset and GOOD heatsinks is a must for crunching! :)

i just bought this no way am i changing it lol , besdies not an intel fan , was even thinking about grabbing an fx9xxx down the road,

what would u recomend for a self contained cpu water cooler?, though im thinking a custom water cooling solution would be a much better choice


edit ive been quite happy with the 8320 so far minus the cooling and stability issues ive had/have

[DrPop]

That new Swiftech 220 will be the bomb when it comes out. If you need it really soon and have the room, the Nepton 280L can't be beat because the radiator is huge. In the slightly smaller 240mm radiator class, you've got lots of options, (I would say throw out a $ amount and we can talk specific models) and those options really come down to your favorite water block and/or how much fan noise you're willing to put up with. :D

[dave c]

That new Swiftech 220 will be the bomb when it comes out. If you need it really soon and have the room, the Nepton 280L can't be beat because the radiator is huge. In the slightly smaller 240mm radiator class, you've got lots of options, (I would say throw out a $ amount and we can talk specific models) and those options really come down to your favorite water block and/or how much fan noise you're willing to put up with. :D


500$ budget that i would spend , trying not to spend all of it if i dont have to , deefinat upgrades have to be psu , mobo , and cooler, my mian priority is getting it running good and stable , gpu's can wait

[dave c]

fan noise / and wate rbkock do not matter , i just need something that will work and keep this thing cool at a 24/7 100% load with clock speeds in the 4.6-4.8ghz range

i.e functionality over things like noise

[Al]

fan noise / and wate rbkock do not matter , i just need something that will work and keep this thing cool at a 24/7 100% load with clock speeds in the 4.6-4.8ghz range

i.e functionality over things like noise
The Noctua NH-d14 worked very well on my FX-8150 @ 4.5ghz. It's also very quiet. Anything over 4.5 and you should really go to water. Not sure how the 8350 ocs by comparison to the 8150, but I hit a stability hole at anything over 4.6ghz, which might have been heat or the limit of the cpu. Running that high an oc you'll need to watch other mb components as they'll run hot too. EmSti could speak more to that as I think he added some directional cooling fans to blow on the mosfet.

[dave c]

The Noctua NH-d14 worked very well on my FX-8150 @ 4.5ghz. It's also very quiet. Anything over 4.5 and you should really go to water. Not sure how the 8350 ocs by comparison to the 8150, but I hit a stability hole at anything over 4.6ghz, which might have been heat or the limit of the cpu. Running that high an oc you'll need to watch other mb components as they'll run hot too. EmSti could speak more to that as I think he added some directional cooling fans to blow on the mosfet.

yeah i want water cooling surprisingly the stock cooler has done really well to 4.5/4.6 if i only use 6 out of the 8 cores , i do have a fan blowing down on the power section of the board and that helped with the stability issues i was having but im still going to get the 990 board to replace the low end 880board i have now , long term upgrade involes switching to one of the new fx 9xxx so want to go over kill on the cooler now since that is a 220w tdp cpu andthis one is only 125w tdp

[dave c]

well i know what case i want now

http://www.xoxide.com/sunbeam-9bay-acrylic-uv.html
http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/yhst-39083765508394_2271_1065477508
http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/yhst-39083765508394_2271_1066113244


edit dammit there out of stock on both the clear and uv versions , anyone know were else to get one?

[dave c]

of course it looks like they arent avaialable at all

[aux9o]

that is a nice looking case!

[dave c]

that is a nice looking case!

ive been looking all day to see if i can find one instock anywere and i cant, closest i can find is a logisys case for 20 bucks less but i dont think i like it that much
http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/yhst-39083765508394_2271_1073629797
http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/yhst-39083765508394_2271_92715351
http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/yhst-39083765508394_2268_99715282

[dave c]

well since i cant really purchase anything for upgrades i decided to see what i can do to improve what i have. looking around at some spare stuff i had i decided i needed to cool the power supply section of the board and the mb itself
so i took one of my 80mm fans and trimmed out the hole behind the cpu section of the board and mounted the fan there , so now it blows on the underside of the mb below the cpu and out around the edges.
i also took one of the 120mm fans i had goten and mounted it in the case blowing onto the power section of the board , initial tests allowed me to get the system stable at 4.7ghz which is the highest ive been able to run wide open and be stable, ive also noticed a big decrease in heat on the board , and dropped 2/3*c out of the cpu.

unfortunatly my 500w psu is maxed showing only 11.6V on the 12v side , and raises when back off on the overclocking, so i guess thats going to be the absolute limit i can hit until i can again spend some money to upgrade a few things.
if im lucky the 500w psu will run 2 of the bfls and then i can use one of the cx750's i bought for the bfls for the amd machine

[Fire$torm]

Good ideas. And welcome to the "Modders Club" :D

[dave c]

Good ideas. And welcome to the "Modders Club" :D


thanks i think even when i can eventually get a new case im still going to put a fan under the mb , that single mod made a huge difference in heaton the board

[dave c]

well i ended up trading out some laptop parts for a new psu for the amd box , got bored toight so i shut it down to swap it out and add a few more drives, fan controller, and clean up the wiring
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j39/lethalrides2k3/10240002_zps3bbfa410.jpg
my cooling solution for the gt430
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j39/lethalrides2k3/10410002_zps280875b8.jpg
mounted up the 120mm fan inside the case blowing down on the power section of the board , eventually when i feel like diging out the plasma cutter ill cut 2 holes inthe side pannel to mount the fans to that, but for now i run it without the cover in place so it works really well
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j39/lethalrides2k3/10280001_zps6e3c9b4e.jpg
side shot
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j39/lethalrides2k3/10280002_zps02b265f0.jpg
gt430 with fan
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j39/lethalrides2k3/10420003_zps65d0201a.jpg
fan controller is mounted up in a optical bay , i uninstalled the zip drive out of the bay and used the adapter to mount the fan controller , the fan controller is only controlling the 120mm fan , and the 80mm on the gt430 right now once i get the case cut for the 2 side 120's it will control both those fans , a top mounted 120mm , and the cpu fan as i dont think ill need the fan on the video card one i get those 2 120's mounted in the side panel

im hoping the bigger psu will let me get some more stability when i go for higher clock speeds eventually

[dave c]

i think i fried something , computer boots up , but i have no video output on either the onboard hd4250 , or the gt430 , if i let it boot fully up i can connect with team viewer , guess its time to pull it back apart and unplugg all the additional hardrives , and usb ports i added and see if it fixes it, if it does ill add each thing back one a time

[dave c]

unfortunatly the fx has crunched its last wu
http://www.patrina.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/cartoon-computer-with-a-fever-1024x784.jpg
it will no longer fully boot and no graphics output , i have no idea what happened it was humming along perfectly before i pulled it down for the psu swap and to add some more storage.
no signs of the board being burnt , no heat marks on the top or bottom of the cpu
esd maybe when i swapped the psu ?

so either the cpu died or the board died i have no way to tell
and i cant afford to buy new board or cpu to try to figure out which one it is :(

any ideas?
and yes i swapped the original psu back in with no change

[Mumps]

Possibly missed the extra 4-pin (or 8-pin) to the Mobo?

[dave c]

Possibly missed the extra 4-pin (or 8-pin) to the Mobo?
nope everything was plugged in , it would turn on and spin up the fans but nothing else

[dave c]

if i pull the cpu out of the board and power it up should it still turn on the onboard gfx and load into the bios?
its about the only thing i havent tried

[dave c]

pulled everything off the mobo, including cmos battery , let it sit pluged battery back in hooked it up to psu, and finally got it to beep at me like a mad man, threw some ram and the cpu back in it and it finally post's
time to put it all back together and set it at stock clocks and see if it holds up

[dave c]

well im happy its back up and crunching , running slightly hot for only using 4 cores for cpu crunching + 2 one for bu and one for gpu , but i figure it will cool down as i had to clean the cpu and heatsink and reapply the as5, ill give it a few days and if it dont die again ill let the 2 free cores go at it with some cpu work

[dave c]

computer shut down over night , havent even tried rebooting it yet as i have a feeling its done. ill give it a shot later tonight i gueess