M860tu update: P8400 to x9100 (ES C0), undervolting

Add me to the list of members who have added a x9100 to his/her M860TU.

Haven't tested benchmarks in any games yet, but 3dMark06 scores went from 8999 (p8400) to 9906 (x9100, ES C0). Note however that I also updated 9800GT drivers to nvidia's 185.85 from Dox's 177.92. Personally, I haven't noticed too much of a difference so looking back at it the p8400 is a great little workhorse.

Going from 25w to 44w, obviously temperatures are higher but I managed to undervolt the x9100 down to 1.0750v! (11x multiplier, so downclocked from 11.5x), with all other multiplier settings (6-10x) down to the minimum 1.0500v.

I ran orthos (small FFTs) for 45 minutes at this setting and it seems ok, but I haven't seen any other x9100 go this low. For example, this x9100 user can only go down to 1.2125v at 11x. Not that 1.0750 it is only 0.0250v higher than it's minimum.

Not knowing much about undervolting, do you think I just lucked out with my new chip or maybe I should run a different stress test and/or orthos for a longer time?

 

You got the wrong extreme, return it and get a QX9300

Jokes aside, I'd say the stress test is ok, but you might wanna try a longer one just to be sure, like 2hrs or so. I only did 45mins on mine tho and it is running fine. It'll just crash when you game at 100% cpu if it's slightly too low, so it isn't really dangerous or anything. And yeah I've seen alot of people having the 4 first multipliers at the min voltage, so don't get scared if the first multiplier is close to minimum voltage. But sacrificing the 11.5x multiplier isn't really a good move. Did you try CPUgenie? If not, go take a look at it. Might do a better job for your cpu. (It recognizes half multipliers)

Other than that good job

 

yeah If I had the revised motherboard I probably would have held off for the QX9300 eventually... lol, must be nice knowing you have the possibility of running a quad running in your beast

Even though I am sacrificing the .5 multiplier (133 MHz) with RMClock, I think running it .225V lower is worth it. I think I'll check out CPUgenie later though (didn't know it could recognized half-multipliers) thanks

 

Use CPUgenie, it eliminates the guesswork- There's an auto feature that will automatically find the lowest safe volt for your processor- even the stress testing is automated, set to reboot if the processor can't take it-

 

In this locked platform (no CPU overclocking), the T9800/T9900 would have given you the speed, minus the heat and extra power draw.

 

Yeah, T9900's are also more expensive (this CPU was barely over £100 for me, try beating that price for performance) and as I'm finding, harder to get ahold of, particularly in the UK. Besides, I'm relatively happy with my undervolt on an x9100. I prefer having the 'Extreme' tag listed on my OS without needing the new revision.

Hehehe, nice scores though faideela!

EDIT: And this was taken without the NC2000 plugged in.