Tech Reaction

Well the time of the duallie in the HTPC is ending and the time of the Tri/Quads is ushered in and we have the HEPC (Home Entertainment Personal Computer).

Below are some of these offerings:

AMD Phenom II X3 705e Heka 2.5GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 65W Triple-Core Processor

AMD Phenom II X4 905e Deneb 2.5GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 65W Quad-Core Processor

Intel Core2 Q8200S Yorkfield 2.33GHz 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Quad-Core Processor

Intel Core2 Q9400S Yorkfield 2.66GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Quad-Core Processor

Intel Core2 Q9550S Yorkfield 2.83GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Quad-Core Processor

All of these processors will be more than capable of all of the things you wish you could have had in the HTPC, but could never get, UNTIL NOW. I have chosen the middle of the road here with the 905e and have tested it to its limits within the specified voltage range specified by AMD: V-range of 0.825-1.25V (and a tad more) and max temp of 70*. Why not hit the gas? That is what the 940BE and up are for (940 costs about $20 less). I did consider looking for max but decided to make this a directed study of a class of CPU (in it’s own realm) that is unappreciated for its abilities by most and loved by a select few for them.

First the HSF that is included is adequate (~50* 100% load crunching and folding @ 2.5) with good case venting, but make no mistake it is a lightweight. I did a weight comparison and was amazed that this HSF did as well as it did. The included HSF weighs in at just 6 oz whereas the HSF included with the 65w 5200+ weighed in at 8 1/8 oz (bare block’s no fan or mount). I used neither of these for this as the Tt Black Widow V1 seemed more appropriate.

This is to give an idea of the physical size of the included HSF

There is no need to go into comparative benchmarks here as that is not the premise of this review. So what can it actually do?

Below is a list of specs for various AMD quad processors to use as a refrence.

Specs on test system:

OS: XP Pro

CPU: AMD 905e

GFX: PNY 9800GT EE (requires slot power only)

RAM: Kingston and generic 667 and Gskill 800

CPU Cooler: Tt Black Widow V1

PSU: Antec 380w

And the games begin:

CPUZ validation 3.1

1.25v

1.25v

That was my maxx at 1.25v

I went a tad over too see about the heat and was very happy with what I saw:

CPUZ validation 3.4

I took the v up a notch 1.3

3400 idle temps 1.3 v

3400 100% load 1.3 v

All of my testing is done while folding and crunching both CPU and GPU. The CPU does not like WCGBIONIC crunching above 3.1 but will fold up to 3.4 and maintain reasonable temps doing so. I could not reach 3.5 at this voltage and to be honest any higher and this CPU is a waste of money.

So that is what this CPU can do paired with a decent video subsystem is play games, fold, crunch, edit video, encode/transcode video and audio HMMMM???? sounds like the HTPC has graduated to the HEPC and if done correctly it can be cool, quiet and energy efficient to boot.

The voltage is not read correctly by AOD correct set voltages are listed and the droop is .018-.02.