Biostar TA790GX 128M OC/VGA/MISC Q&A

[Virtual1101]

Motherboard
http://www.biostar-usa.com/app/en-us/t-series/introduction.php?S_ID=377

I have been using this mobo for a few months now and I must say for my first (real) OC-able mobo it has been more then great to me considering I upgraded from a Abit AN-52 mobo witch blew a capacitor in my case making my PSU blow up. It was a great learning moment in my still young computer building/managing life. So now I use this T-Force mobo from Biostar and I feel confident I know what I am doing more then ever before. I am using a AMD 5200+ Dual Core Processor. This CPU has a stock clock of 2.4 and I have a very stable OC of about 20% to 3.6 Ghz. This is a Dual Core CPU so my 2 gigs of Dual Channel Kingston 1066 Ram will only run at DDR2 800 on this mobo until I upgrade to a AM3 CPU, witch I'm thinking of getting a Phenom 2 Black Edition (Not sure witch model) CPU for my next step in OCing.

So my question would be what type of CPU would be a wise choice to put onto this mobo for a decent OC, not trying to break any records or anything I am just and enthusiast and like to push it to the limit as they say. Also if you have gotten this far into this subject and do NOT know anything of this CPU or MOBO please do not give me advice on stuff to purchase or settings to change unless its a link to a thread about someone who has experience with this setup on this MOBO. Not trying to be rude I just don't want people telling me to do stuff they don't know anything about.

Graphics Card
http://www.zotacusa.com/amp-geforce-8800-gt-512mb-256-bit-gddr3-700mhz-2000mhz-zt-88tes3p-fcp.html

I upgraded to this card about two years ago from XFX Nvidia 7600GS, and the difference was amazing. I remember when the 8800 GT was just the top of the line in terms of gaming performance and quality and even tho it took me about 4 years to finally be able to purchase one I was and am still in love with this card. But as time goes by it seems more and more apparent that it is time to upgrade to handle the newer games being released. I was looking into a very nice XFX ATI 4870 with 800 stream processors and 1 gig mem, with a decent core/mem clock speed but they sold out on newegg before I could even purchase it. My budget is anything under $200 for a video card to handle today's latest games on the highest settings. I have also been looking into VGA cooling and havn't even touched this at all before. So any advise what so ever would be awsome concerning video cards and how to keep the temp down without watercooling. My case is fully cooled with all the wires hidden and tucked away for better airflow, my CPU team sits around 28-30c and my sys temp sits around 27-29c. My GPU however will sit from 49-56c and I am aware the GPU temp is usually high but I am still interested in decreasing this with maybe a better fan on the GPU itself maybe even some heatsinks.

RAM
I am not sure of the model I use or the timings (I never got into timings as it is real easy to mess it up) But I have 2 1 gig sticks of Kingston Dual Channel ram DDR2 800-1066, my mobo on supports 1066 at AM2 + CPU, so right now it is at 800. I would like to know if this is good ram or if I should get some newer ram for better stability when overclocking and better performance for overall gaming. And how much ram would be a decent amount.

That is all I have to say for now, any help answering these questions would be very kind of anyone who chooses to take the time to do so. Thank you for reading this thread and have a good day.

 

[QuietIce]

to OCF!


First off, I have a question about your CPU OC. You state, "This CPU has a stock clock of 2.4 and I have a very stable OC of about 20% to 3.6 GHz." Since 3.6 GHz is a 50% OC over the 2.4 GHz stock speed (it's 33% over the 2.7 GHz stock I think it is) I have to wonder which number is a typo? If you've really got a 3.6 GHz OC on a 5200+ then you've done a great job! Suggestions for increasing the OC would require much more information on how you have your settings including clock, CPU multi, HT Link multi, and RAM information (stock and current). Also, your current CPU load temps would be helpful. Idle temps don't mean much when OC'ing.
Detailed information about your system and how to test components can be found here:
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=555058

If you're looking to upgrade for games only then you need to decide on 2- or 4-core. Currently 2-cores is enough for 90% of the games out there but I have no doubt many more will become more than dual-threaded in the near future. I guess the biggest question you need to ask yourself is "When will I upgrade again?". For dual-core I'd go with the 550. They seem to be clocking very well and their K10 architecture is enough of an advance over the K8 you have that it'll be worth it. If you decide on a quad I'd recommend the 955BE. It should clock very well in the board you have now and if you decide to go AM3 in the future you'll only have to buy the board & RAM to get there.


I would definitely suggest an increase to at least 2x2Gb of RAM, maybe even 2x4Gb of RAM if you use a 64-bit O/S. Kingston is very good RAM and will do you well but 2x1Gb is a little low for most modern games.


I'll make no comments about video since I'm a strategy gamer and my 7900GTX is still working just fine for me. As far as cooling goes I have to ask, "Why do you not want to water cool?"


I'm sure others will follow this but I doubt your pleas for "informed suggestions" will be well heard ...

 

[Virtual1101]

to OCF!


First off, I have a question about your CPU OC. You state, "This CPU has a stock clock of 2.4 and I have a very stable OC of about 20% to 3.6 GHz." Since 3.6 GHz is a 50% OC over the 2.4 GHz stock speed (it's 33% over the 2.7 GHz stock I think it is) I have to wonder which number is a typo? If you've really got a 3.6 GHz OC on a 5200+ then you've done a great job! Suggestions for increasing the OC would require much more information on how you have your settings including clock, CPU multi, HT Link multi, and RAM information (stock and current). Also, your current CPU load temps would be helpful. Idle temps don't mean much when OC'ing.
Detailed information about your system and how to test components can be found here:
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=555058

If you're looking to upgrade for games only then you need to decide on 2- or 4-core. Currently 2-cores is enough for 90% of the games out there but I have no doubt many more will become more than dual-threaded in the near future. I guess the biggest question you need to ask yourself is "When will I upgrade again?". For dual-core I'd go with the 550. They seem to be clocking very well and their K10 architecture is enough of an advance over the K8 you have that it'll be worth it. If you decide on a quad I'd recommend the 955BE. It should clock very well in the board you have now and if you decide to go AM3 in the future you'll only have to buy the board & RAM to get there.


I would definitely suggest an increase to at least 2x2Gb of RAM, maybe even 2x4Gb of RAM if you use a 64-bit O/S. Kingston is very good RAM and will do you well but 2x1Gb is a little low for most modern games.


I'll make no comments about video since I'm a strategy gamer and my 7900GTX is still working just fine for me. As far as cooling goes I have to ask, "Why do you not want to water cool?"


I'm sure others will follow this but I doubt your pleas for "informed suggestions" will be well heard ...

Thanks for the reply it is very helpful, allow me to clear up a few things. I am not aware of what the stock clock speed is anymore I believe it was 2.6Ghz, Yes the final stable OC is at 3.6Ghz when active burning a dvd, running 3d mark, crysis alt tabed, window media player playing music, and maybe even transfering large data at the same time the temp does not go above 31c for the CPU. I run this test myself and try to push the limit. As for me saying it was a 20% OC, thats just what "sandra lite" told me in a benchmark.

As for water cooling I would like to know more about it. From my experience replacing the pumps and fluid was a hastle, but then again there has to be some better equipment out there today to make the job easier. Please tell me more about water cooling I am interested in building a new PC here for a 3 month long project while I mod a new case I have. If you could tell me what supplys I need for water cooling and how to manage it that would be great. Im more of a do it yourself type of guy I would like to get the pieces for water cooling individualy other then some type of noob package that is going to break on me.

 

[QuietIce]

You need to stress your CPU using a program like Prime95 or OCCT to find the load temps.
http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft/
http://www.ocbase.com/perestroika_en/index.php

I like CoreTemp to measure the CPU temp. I know this program doesn't take it's readings from a board, I'm not so sure about others.
http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/


My oldest water cooling (WC) loop is over three years old and still running on the same pump. I've even expanded the loop over time. Apparently the "old" pumps were less reliable or you've had some bad experiences with cheap pumps. I like Swiftech pumps myself. They use Liang as their base then add extra circuitry to quiet things down a little. I also like Swiftech rads (the only off-the-shelf rad I own) for their performance/economy. Since you're a DIY'er you can use a heater core (my preference), which is much cheaper than a rad. I've got several loops using heater cores.

I'll defer a parts list to the WC sub-forum because those guys will also have the most up-to-date info on blocks. I know CPU blocks have come a long way since last year when I bought my last one. GPU blocks have been pretty static, as long as you aren't going full coverage. Again, Swiftech is the leader here because they keep adding card adapters as new video cards are released so you can continue to use the same block, the MCW60 ...
http://www.swiftnets.com/

 

[Raxen18]

If you plan on any serious overclocking with the TA790GX, I suggest you buy a Thermalright HR-09 Type 2 MOSFET cooler. With higher volts more than 1.4v, the area gets very hot and your mosfets may blow.

 

[mxthunder]

Yes, cooling for the mosfets (upper left corner between the CPU and the I/O panel, need cooling on this board. I had a ta790gx that I just sliced up an old socket A heatsink and stuck them on with some arctic silver thermal adhesive. 8800GT is still a good card for most games, but if your budget is under $200, then a 4890 is the card for you, hands down.
I would also suggest the 550BE for a budget user, dual core CPU's still rock most games strong, and that chip overclocks like crazy.

 

[Neuromancer]

I had the AM2+ version of this board (not 128M) and also took a socket A heatsink and attached it with some seiksui thermal tape, I was running a 140W quad core though

 

[Virtual1101]

Can I get a reference picture of the heatsink I should put onto the mosfets, I may have quite a few I can scrape, as for mounting it onto them I would like some suggestions aswell. Thanks for the advice and replys guys keep em coming.

I started working a little project myself for fun today, I took of the casing of my video card and used it as a mounting device and created a structured airflow with two 5500rpm fans 120mm, and 80mm complete with cardboard and electric tape and made a pretty new design to what I am used too. Basicaly the main stock nvidia fan blows into a funnel witch is next to another 80mm fan blowing air in the same direction witch is also following the same airflow thru an added heatsink and on top of that is a 120 mm fan blowing it thru a plastic funnel witch disperses the hot air out of the case threw a back pci panel behind my case, the design is very nice and effective noticed a significant temp drop off my gpu, about 60c at full load before and about 43c at full load now. So the difference is amazing. ill have pics of this design soon its massive takes up all my pci slots including my second pci express slot.

 

[HoTsHoT]

Do you guys have an option in your BIOS called 'SVID Override', and have any idea what it does?

 

[Virtual1101]

Update!

Ok I have done my research and decided to stay with Air cooling, maybe down the road when I get some more supplies I will create my own air system threw out the case by sealing off different sections so I can sort-of create my own climate control. For now have a look at what I accomplished, I created my own GPU cooling out of nothing more then parts from the case itself and a few other items I have. Laugh at the bread ties threwout the case but keep in mind those are temporary because I plan on completly rewiring the case myself. Ill get some zip ties soon to make things look abit neater or more organized. I also made my own speaker wire to connect my surround sound up.

This is my desk/workstation, I know it is abit messy atm

Here is the inside of my case

This is the project I have been working on with my custom made GPU cooler

Here is the outside of my case

I could use some advice as for managing my custom cable work, aswell as any other fan configuration. On a side note with this GPU cooler My GPU temp maxes out at 48c while running crysis on Gamer settings 1280x1024 75mhz Refresh 2x AA, and it idles at 33c when just looking at my desktop with nothing open.

 

[Virtual1101]

Update!

I did some major rewiring, have a look.
BEFORE

AFTER

Let me know what you think.