New C2D system - a few queries :-)

[Germanicus75]

Hi Guys,

So I went mad with the cash and got the following system:

- Intel C2D 6600
- Asus P5B-deluxe
- OCZ 2GB DDR2-800 CL4 4-4-15 (OCZ2P8002GK)
- Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro

I've just installed the 0804 BIOS (American Megatrends Inc.). All is running well so far :-)

I do have a few queries though about the new system I hope you can advise on:

- I believe this ASUS board has the Intel P965 chipset. I've looked on Intel's website, but I'm not clear. How/where do I get the latest drivers for my chipset? I can't see them on the ASUS website either.

- What's the max. recommended temp in celcius for this CPU?

- Core 1 is always showing about 2-3 degrees hotter than Core 0. Is that normal?

- I got a week 29 chip (L629B359, pack date 10/03/06) - does this week have any particular reputation for clocking?

- Core affinity. I've heard some ppl talking about setting apps to use one or both cores. But I can't see any way in XP Home SP2 to do this. Can you set apps to run on one core or the other?

- Previous CPU was a single-core Athlon64 3800+ at 2.4 Ghz. Each core of my C2D runs at 2.4 Ghz as well. Does this mean I can assume just *one* core of the dual core chip will perform equivalent to my old Athlon CPU?

- My RAM is advertised as CL4 4-4-15 stock. But the BIOS and Cpu-Z program are both rating it CL5-5-5-15. Anyone know why?

- I can't see any way of changing the command rate of this RAM from 2T > 1T. Is this not relevant for DDR2 RAM?

Thanks alot guys for your input on these :-)

Cheers! G91

[MasterAdnin]

I'm not a computer expert so I don't know much of what your asking, but in order to set a core to a certain app, you have to go to task manager and then go to the process tab, then find the application and then right click on it, then go to set affinity. Simple enough.

Salaam,
Adnan

[krazykarl]

Unless they have patched it recently, it was my understanding that XP home does not support multithreading, and thus negates your 2nd cores effectiveness entirely. Now I have not read anything recently on the subject, but when I did do my initial research it applied to dual processor systems, I dont exactly know if windows treats the 2nd core as a separate cpu or not. As such, it would explain why you cant set the core affinity, as I know you can do this on XP pro which i know for sure is multithreaded.

[Freddie]

- Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro

Good choice, I have that HSF, it was a pain to fit but runs as if it wasn't turned on.

- I believe this ASUS board has the Intel P965 chipset. I've looked on Intel's website, but I'm not clear. How/where do I get the latest drivers for my chipset? I can't see them on the ASUS website either.

Look at the box the motherboard came in, it should tell the exact model number. Go to the Asus webiste, look for support/updates and put in your model number.

- What's the max. recommended temp in celcius for this CPU?

Anything up to 70c, if it goes higher then that I would suggest you take out your HSF and replace it (i.e refit it/mount it)

- Core 1 is always showing about 2-3 degrees hotter than Core 0. Is that normal?

Yes, not that it matter anyway.

- I got a week 29 chip (L629B359, pack date 10/03/06) - does this week have any particular reputation for clocking?

Look at this table Core 2 table of best matching parts

- Core affinity. I've heard some ppl talking about setting apps to use one or both cores. But I can't see any way in XP Home SP2 to do this. Can you set apps to run on one core or the other?

- Previous CPU was a single-core Athlon64 3800+ at 2.4 Ghz. Each core of my C2D runs at 2.4 Ghz as well. Does this mean I can assume just *one* core of the dual core chip will perform equivalent to my old Athlon CPU?

Check to make sure XP is picking up both cores. To do this do the old three figure salute (Ctrl+Alt+Del) go to process and pick any task and right click. Then click on go to set affinity. The rest should be obvious to you.

- My RAM is advertised as CL4 4-4-15 stock. But the BIOS and Cpu-Z program are both rating it CL5-5-5-15. Anyone know why?

CPUZ makes all kind of errors reading hardware. The best thing for you to do is go into the motherboard BIOS (press del key on start up) and have a look in there. If its not at the advertised speed change it, then save the changes, if you find the system isn't stable send the memory back.

- I can't see any way of changing the command rate of this RAM from 2T > 1T. Is this not relevant for DDR2 RAM?

I'm to sure what you mean by this. All I will say is that sharp memory timings on Core 2 systems aren't as important as they are for AMD based systems.

I hate posts like this, all the god damm formating I have to do. So when I see posts like this I'm like................

[Germanicus75]

Hi guys,

Many thanks for your replies, especially Freddie for your large detail :-)

Good choice, I have that HSF, it was a pain to fit but runs as if it wasn't turned on.

It seems to run great, and I had no trouble at all fitting it in. Was the easiest HSF I ever installed.

Look at the box the motherboard came in, it should tell the exact model number. Go to the Asus webiste, look for support/updates and put in your model number.

Thanks. I've since found out that the only chipset updates to be had are an update to som inf files from the Intel website.

Anything up to 70c, if it goes higher then that I would suggest you take out your HSF and replace it (i.e refit it/mount it)

Great. So far, hottest I've seen is around 56 at full load on both cores.

Check to make sure XP is picking up both cores. To do this do the old three figure salute (Ctrl+Alt+Del) go to process and pick any task and right click. Then click on go to set affinity. The rest should be obvious to you.

Thanks, that's what I was looking for. A natural new question arises from this: Should I set apps (e.g. M2TW) to use just Core 0 (the slightly cooler one not running the background OS processes) and will this give me better performance than setting affinity to use *both* cores (as one is already used by Windows inm the background)? Do you know how the CPU allocates/divides the workload if you set affinity to use both cores?

CPUZ makes all kind of errors reading hardware. The best thing for you to do is go into the motherboard BIOS (press del key on start up) and have a look in there. If its not at the advertised speed change it, then save the changes, if you find the system isn't stable send the memory back.

Done that, seems to work OK :-)

[COLOR=Green][FONT=Comic Sans MS][CENTER]I'm to sure what you mean by this. All I will say is that sharp memory timings on Core 2 systems aren't as important as they are for AMD based systems.

In my old AMD system, I could set the command rate to 1T and it gave the RAM a massive performance boost. I've since found out elsewhere that Intel systems don't have this feature.

Thanks alot!

Cheers, G91

[Incinerate_IV]

- Core affinity. I've heard some ppl talking about setting apps to use one or both cores. But I can't see any way in XP Home SP2 to do this. Can you set apps to run on one core or the other?

From what I heard, XP Home don't support dual core.

- My RAM is advertised as CL4 4-4-15 stock. But the BIOS and Cpu-Z program are both rating it CL5-5-5-15. Anyone know why?

Some ram will default to 5-5-5-15 for motherboard compatibility reasons, you have to manually set it to 4-4-4-15.

[AlfonsoVIII]

From what I heard, XP Home don't support dual core.


Some ram will default to 5-5-5-15 for motherboard compatibility reasons, you have to manually set it to 4-4-4-15.

I have OCZ RAM 2x 1GB and it set it to 5-5-5-15 so I had to manaully set it to 4-5-4-15, like advertised.

[Freddie]

From what I heard, XP Home don't support dual core.

No. Home edition doesn't support dual processors, it will support hyperthreading and dual core though.

[Germanicus75]

No. Home edition doesn't support dual processors, it will support hyperthreading and dual core though.

Freddie, am I right in thinking that very few apps - including most games - support hyperthreading, hence the second core is largely redundant at the moment?

Thanks.