Maximum PC

What is your 8150 not doing? If you want games to have high FPS, then you need high end video cards in Crossfire or SLI. Most games today are rendered in the GPU and NOT the CPU.

Nasty

still need the cpu to feed the graphics cards. Only in extreme cases will the CPU become the limiting factor on the high end, like running a 4way SLI beast on a hexa-core cpu. But yes, in general, most games are more gpu heavy.

But I think the OP was just saying his dissatisfaction of how the fx quad cores run basically the same as the x4's. Although they run quite a bit cooler with less wattage if I'm not mistaken, a good plus for an HTPC.

I'm trying to figure out if my 8150 is running too hot before I think about overclocking. Using a SilenX direct-contact-heatpipe cooler in my Lian-Li A05NB case. Idle temps (desktop, light activity) are 22C~44C and I've seen load temps as high as 65C reported by the motherboard utility (Gigabyte EasyTune6). Motherboard is reporting a case temp of 55C at load. My board is the Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD5 3.1 revision with the FEd BIOS (fixes the Steam crashes; had to email them for it). I'm thinking that case temp is going to be my biggest issue, because the CPU cools down rather quickly when the load decreases, but case temp lingers above 50C.

Yes, it's fast. I don't have an Intel to compare it to, but it's a good step up from my OCed Phenom II X3 710. I want to try the Win8 preview to see if it runs any better, but Windows 7 flies on it.

That is like 20C too high if you are running at stock speeds. Your case is probably the problem since you stated your case is at 55C! what! looking at the case, its a horrible design since the intake looks so inefficient as hell and the PSU is relocated to the front with little to no airflow to remove that heat. You will need a new case before you think of overclocking your setup.

Yeah, airflow in this case isn't very good. Intake is alright, with the 120mm on the rear, but the exhaust on the front just hits the front cover and doesn't really make it out the side vents. A lot of times, I just pop off the front cover and leave the exhaust uncovered, but it's still really hot. I have an NZXT Tempest sitting unused in the garage, but the A05NB meets my vertical clearance requirement.

I've thought about adding a side fan and a top exhaust, but I'm not sure how well that would work. I'll probably just switch over to the Tempest and see where the temps go for a while.

What's a good target temperature range for this chip?

It's an odd stock design since it takes the intake from rear while the front is the exhaust, counter productive since most of the time, heat will build up at the back of the case due to the smaller enclosure of your desk. And they didn't even bother with adding an air vent at the bottom of the PSU area since a number of power supplies now have a large 120mm fan on top so this does almost nothing to help cool that part. I've seen even smaller SFF cases that had more cooling than your case and it comes at a shock since I've used Lian Li case (my current case is) for a long time and always liked their design.

Try changing the front as the intake and the rear as the outtake and see if that helps any bit (doubt it since that front fan is basically useless). As for temps, with a 23C ambient room temp with a proper case that has airflow, you should be around the 46-50C range.


I'd say, leave your side panel open and put something like a house fan on it to see if the actual problem is the case and not any other heat issue with an improper cpu cooler.

i got the fx4100 because it had good numbers for AES encoding, will build a HTPC instead and write amd off for a while. i encrypt. my movie collection

have a x6 1090 so i will not be hurtin, im just very disappointed in amd.

i havent built an Intel system in a few years, should start in about 6 months, when HDD prices get normal again. really building a major manufacturer centre in a FLOOD zone, how smart is that.

peace

It wasn't just a big manufacturing center, it was over 9000 factories in that one area. And to be fair, it was a big f***in storm. But yeah, we can say the exact same thing with New Orleans... Now that's just stupid city planning... 15 ft under sea level on three sides...

I thnk the Bulldozer may be a bust. A few of us on another site have skipped over it and are kicking around socket 2011 builds. I am waiting for more on the Ivy Bridge. I am not sold on hex core processors at the moment and still think that a good quad core is plenty good enough for most things ( I am running the i7 2600k in this thing ).

lga2011 is only worth it if you are running quad SLI and/or need a powerful single cpu setup for a workstation. The 40 pcie dedicated graphic lanes straight to the cpu are a god send.

bulldozer has been a disappointment, i did get the 4100 but only because i had a mobo, i have been a fan of amd since i first bought a 287 math co-processor for my CAD setup.

to have so much anticipation, then such a letdown, i actually feel hurt

now there is only a single source, but now that corporations are people, its a one whore town, and its not pretty.

i hope amd get their act together

peace