graysky

Edited on 08-Jun-2008: Guide is now version 1.7

Sounds like you were met with great success! Glad to read it.

Yeah dude, look again at the first post (crysis).

Got bored yesterday, so I ran checked out the power consumption of my X3360 system for crap and giggles with my kill-a-watt. Powered Hardware Details: Intel X3360 (C1 stepping) @ 8.5x400=3.40 GHz 266/667 MHz Strap CPU Vcc=1.12500 NB Core=1.370 CPU VTT=1.310 DFI LT P35-TR2 (no modifications) eVGA 8800 GTSG92 512 meg (770/1,923/2,000 MHz : Core/Shader/Memory) Corsair Dominator DDR2-1066 (TWIN2X4096-8500C5DF) 2x 2Gb @ 5-5-5-15 (performance level 6) @ 1,000 MHz (4:5) @ 2.100V Corsair HX620 2x HDs (seagates, one a 10th generation and the other an 11th) 1x DVDROM 4x120 mm Tricool fans (came with the p182 case) all on low 1x120 mm S-Flex SFF21F (1600 RPM) on the HS 1x40 mm silent fan on the NB That's it... no other hardware (speakers, monitor, etc.) was in the loop. Kill-a-Watt Readings Idle in BIOS screens - 158 W Idle in BIOS screens with both HDD's unplugged - 144 W Idle (with speedstep active in XP x64) - 137 W Load (prime95 v25.6 small FFT) - 213 W Load (prime95 v25.6 large FFT) - 216 W Load (prime95 v25.6 blend) - 210 W Playing Crysis - 237-241 W x264 encode - 197 W Standby - 0 W No real point to this post beyond just trivial information! It is interesting to me that the large FFTs consistently read 3-4 watts higher than the small ones did which is inline with the software's description of the large FFTs as generating the max heat/power consumption. Here is the similar analysis of my older Q6600-based system, but there are too many changes (MB, settings, video board, memory, etc.) for a "which processor is more power efficient" comparison. What is little bit crazy is that both systems draw the same while idle, and even @ 3.4 GHz, and faster memory, the X3360-based system uses less wattage on p95.

I edited the first post switching the highest 400 MHz FSB run from 5:6 to 4:5 (960 MHz vs. 1,000 MHz) and included some info about subtimings to make things more clear.

About 7 months ago I posted data comparing two memory dividers (1:1 and 3:5 @ 333 MHz) on my then Q6600/P965 based system and concluded that for the 67 % increase in memory bandwidth, the marginal gains in actual performance weren't worth the extra voltage/heat. Since then I've upgraded my hardware to an X3360/P35 setup and wanted to revisit this issue. Again, two dividers were looked at: one pair running 8.5x333=2.83 GHz, and another running @ 8.5x400=3.40 GHz: 333 MHz FSB: 1:1 a.k.a. PC2-5300 (667 MHz) 5:8 a.k.a. PC2-8500 (1,067 MHz) 400 MHz FSB: 1:1 a.k.a. PC2-6400 (800 MHz) 4:5 a.k.a. PC2-8000 (1,000 MHz) I figured there would be a much greater difference in the 333 FSB case since the memory bandwidth increased by 60 % vs. 25 % in the 400 MHz FSB case. All other BIOS settings were held constant with the exception of the divider (and the strap) and the given FSB. Subtimings were set to auto and as such could vary as managed by the board which I found out, was required since manually settings some of the subtimings lead to either an incomplete POST, or an unstable system. The benchmarks were broken down into three categories: 1) "Real-World" Applications 2) 3D Games 3) Synthetic Benchmarks The following "real-world" apps were chosen: x264, winrar, and the trial version of Photohop CS3. All were run on a freshly installed version of Windows XP Pro x64 SP2 w/ all relevant hotfixes. The 3D games were just Doom3 (an older game) and Crysis (a newer game). Finally, I threw in some synthetic benchmarks consisting of the Winrar self test, Super Pi-mod, and Everest's synthetic memory benchmark. Here is an explanation of the specifics: Trial of Photoshop CS3

Sorry dude, is there a question in there? You 10x multiplier isn't locked... if it's a q6700, it's 10x max, but you can dial it down to 6x if you want.

Version 1.6.1 is up. Totally re-wrote the section on memory which now includes a discussion on both DDR2/DDR3 and formulas you can use to calculate max supported FSB of a given module based on it's DDRX-Y and PCX-Y designations. Also re-ordered the first part of the guide.

Well, guys I wrote up this procedure I used to minimize my vcores on my new x3360/P35-based system, and I thought I'd share it with folks. It's a systematic method anyone can use to arrive at a minimized set of vcores for a given multiplier and FSB value. The examples I present in this post are using my X3360/P35-based system. The data aren

OK, just got finished upgrading the guide to version 1.6!

Can you provide us with some addition info? What multiplier and FSB? What are your vcores set to and what is your memory set to? What kind of memory do you have?

I dunno about the P5N-SLI, but I would think it'd be fine. There is a short list of of recommended hardware types in the first few paragraphs of the guide. Once you get it put together you'll just have to try and see how far you can push it.

Certainly.

Version is now 1.5.2 (updates in first post)