Official GIGABYTE Forum
Questions about GIGABYTE products => Motherboards with AMD processors => Topic started by: soarwitheagles on October 19, 2010, 02:51:40 am
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Hi all!
A couple of months back I found a super deal on an AMD 1055T 125 watt CPU/motherboard combo. Now I see the 95 watt version of the 1055T is hitting the markets strong.
Can someone here tell me the difference between the two [other than 30 watts difference]? What are the pro's and con's of each version [Is one really a lot more energy efficient]?
Is there really all that big of a difference?
I placed a poll on this post to see the various opinions and comments so I can learn more.
Thanks,
Soar
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personally, the 95 watt will work on more motherboards. To me the 125 usually overclocks better. L2 is 256 instead of 512 like the 125 watt l3 appears the same 6 mb. Also doesnt seem to be very many of them in usa yet. I like the 125 watt procesors myself but thats me you asked the difference and thats what i found so far if i find more i will post it.
Absic and dark might have more to add also when they get on it is more aviable over in the UK.
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personally, the 95 watt will work on more motherboards. To me the 125 usually overclocks better. L2 is 256 instead of 512 like the 125 watt l3 appears the same 6 mb. Also doesnt seem to be very many of them in usa yet. I like the 125 watt procesors myself but thats me you asked the difference and thats what i found so far if i find more i will post it.
Absic and dark might have more to add also when they get on it is more aviable over in the UK.
Autotech,
Thanks for the info. I found it very interesting!
Soar
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Hi Soar,
From my understanding of the 95W versions of the Hex core CPU's is, at the moment in Europe, they can only be bought as part of a package or by System Manufacturers as part of a pre-built system and are not available as stand alone processors.
Of course, that doesn't mean that you can't get them and, as you rightly ask, what are the differences and the advantages. Well, the obvious difference is in the power draw, 95 Watts v 125 Watts this in turn will mean less heat is being generated by the CPU allowing this chip to be used in smaller chassis, HTPC's and the like. Apart from that there are no significant differences that I have been able to find. They still use the same 45Nm Thuban design, have the same cache, use the same amount of transistors and they are basically the same as the 125W version but the drop in power has been achieved through better production values.
AMD are still producing lots of the 125W CPU's hence the reason that the 95W version isn't going to be made widely available on this side of the pond, everyone would want one of these in favour of the 125W version and it would not be good for sales! If you can get hold of one then, it would be the better option.
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Hi Soar,
From my understanding of the 95W versions of the Hex core CPU's is, at the moment in Europe, they can only be bought as part of a package or by System Manufacturers as part of a pre-built system and are not available as stand alone processors.
Of course, that doesn't mean that you can't get them and, as you rightly ask, what are the differences and the advantages. Well, the obvious difference is in the power draw, 95 Watts v 125 Watts this in turn will mean less heat is being generated by the CPU allowing this chip to be used in smaller chassis, HTPC's and the like. Apart from that there are no significant differences that I have been able to find. They still use the same 45Nm Thuban design, have the same cache, use the same amount of transistors and they are basically the same as the 125W version but the drop in power has been achieved through better production values.
AMD are still producing lots of the 125W CPU's hence the reason that the 95W version isn't going to be made widely available on this side of the pond, everyone would want one of these in favour of the 125W version and it would not be good for sales! If you can get hold of one then, it would be the better option.
Ok, thanks. Fry's had thousands of the 95 watt version and were selling em' all over the West Coast of California for $149 and they were selling lot hot cakes...very, very fast at that price.
I did not know if it was all that good of a deal and if it was better or worse than the 125 watt version so that is why I was asking. Thanks for answering my question.
Soar
PS Please send me your Yahoo address.
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Thought I would vote, as a non overclocker, I really like anything that uses less power, and creates less heat, although my office is freezing right now so I think I need to buy a GTX480 :)
I am on the 965BE 125w version, which runs as great as any of the 145w version I built a while ago.
As mentioned though, the higher watt versions may be better for overclocking.
Cheers
Bo
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Personally I would go for the lower power version for the same reasons as bofh. I don't tend to do much overclocking and so less power in watts is a bonus as it saves having to dissipate more heat into the atmosphere in my office. ;)
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30 Watts ;D I just had too!
Bill
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I knew someone wouldn't be able to resist! ;D
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30 Watts ;D I just had too!
Bill
Now that's what I call a grown-up answer. I'm sure that Soar will really appreciate that! :D
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30 Watts ;D I just had too!
Bill
LOL! Ok, smarty pants!
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I have been searching all over for an actuall one on sale in america at frys or anywhere else and all i can find are smoke and mirrors and at the end its still the 125 watt they are offering for sale. I dont think anyone in america actually has one for sale yet. Click on the links at frys or anywhere else and see what i mean. Kinda fishy i got my info on the different cache straight from amd site.
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I got my info on the different cache straight from amd site.
Yes, it can be a bit confusing and I have made similar errors in the past. The problem is that sometimes suppliers, along with AMD, give the L3 Cache which is 6Mb whilst the total cache is actually 9Mb if you include the L1 & L2 cache as well.
As I mentioned in my earlier reply, in Europe, these 95 Watt CPU's are supposed to be only available as part of a pre-built system or a bundle and that is the only way I have seen them advertised so far. Of course, they will eventually come onto the open market via other sources but AMD are not intending to sell these as PIB's as they do with their other CPU's.
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I have been searching all over for an actuall one on sale in america at frys or anywhere else and all i can find are smoke and mirrors and at the end its still the 125 watt they are offering for sale. I dont think anyone in america actually has one for sale yet. Click on the links at frys or anywhere else and see what i mean. Kinda fishy i got my info on the different cache straight from amd site.
Autotech, Fry's sold a very large quantity of the 95 watt version of the 1055T on 10.14.10 in their one day sale ad. They sold out fast because:
1. There is such a high demand for them
2. They had dropped the price to $149.99
3. It was the retail version [so it came with the fan/heatsink too]
Tiger Direct is now selling the OEM version [no fan/heatsink] here for $189.99 and they have lots and lots of them:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?afsrc=1&EdpNo=6455299&sku=A79-1155&srkey=A79-1155&SRCCODE=LINKSHARE&cm_mmc_o=-ddCjC1bELltzywCjC-d2CjCdwwp&AffiliateID=lw9MynSeamY-l.2ygaDR0m3r3ccr3b72Uw
Here are the two different numbers so you can differentiate between the 95w or 125w:
HDT55TFB6DGR = 125w
HDT55TWF6DGR = 95w
The only difference in the number is that the 95w has a "WF" whereas the 125 has a "FB" in it!
Soar
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Thought I would vote, as a non overclocker, I really like anything that uses less power, and creates less heat, although my office is freezing right now so I think I need to buy a GTX480 :)
I am on the 965BE 125w version, which runs as great as any of the 145w version I built a while ago.
As mentioned though, the higher watt versions may be better for overclocking.
Cheers
Bo
Thanks for your input Bo! Since it is now nearing winter here, I am glad I have the 125 watt. Perhaps I can purchase the 95w for summer time! ;D :P
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I have been searching all over for an actuall one on sale in america at frys or anywhere else and all i can find are smoke and mirrors and at the end its still the 125 watt they are offering for sale. I dont think anyone in america actually has one for sale yet. Click on the links at frys or anywhere else and see what i mean. Kinda fishy i got my info on the different cache straight from amd site.
Autotech,
I forgot to include the old Fry's ad! Here it is:
Notice the "9MB" strange advertisement on it...I suppose they are using addition?
PS What city are you in there, Autotech?
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Ah, the old advertising trick. This has caught me out. Some suppliers advertise with only the L3 figure of 6MB Cache whilst others advertise the total cache of 9MB. ALL of the X6 Phenom ii's come with a total of 9MB Cache, 3MB of L2 and 6MB of L3.
Hope this clears things up for you.
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Ah, the old advertising trick. This has caught me out. Some suppliers advertise with only the L3 figure of 6MB Cache whilst others advertise the total cache of 9MB. ALL of the X6 Phenom ii's come with a total of 9MB Cache, 3MB of L2 and 6MB of L3.
Hope this clears things up for you.
Hi Absic!
Thanks for the clarity. I was thinking Fry's kept doing typo mistakes in their ads, but now it makes sense why they kept saying 9mb's of cache. Well, I did not purchase any because I felt the price was still too high. Absic, I have been so overwhelmed with personal responsibilities that I have not been able to start the new build yet.
On the brighter side of things, I have read, reread, and reread again your instructions on how to put it all together. Thanks again for your very clear directions.
Ok, I do have more questions...
Do I enable AHCI in the BIOS?
Do I plug the SSD into the normal SATA or the new faster SATA slot?
What's all the hoopla about running the SSD in IDE [I still do not understand that]?
Finally, do I see my Psychologist to help me deal with all the added stress of this new SSD and if so, what medications do you suggest [and please do not say 3 pints of the best ale we can find]. :D
Lastly, will this SSD contribute to the overall joy and satisfaction in my life or will it subtract from it?
Autotech, I made a mistake on the last date Fry's was selling these units...it was the 13th and 14th, not the 12th.
Have a great day everyone!
Soar
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Hi Soar,
I wouldn't dream of suggesting 3 Pints of Ale..... more like 3 pints of Dark Rum!!!! :D
I hate to think of you getting stressed over using the SSD and, in a effort to spare you any further grey hairs, my offer to give it a good home is still open. ::)
In the meantime, my understanding is that it is better to run an SSD in AHCI Mode. As I can't offer first hand experience on this I can't say what is best. Are you planning to install your OS onto the SSD?
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My only concern is that after putting down 3 pints of dark rum I would use the SSD as a Frisbee instead of an OS drive...
The shipping is too expensive for me to donate my one and only SSD to you....so sorry...but I do have an extra BitDefender key if you are interested...let me know...as they are right up there with Kaspersky.
Finally, yes, I do plan on installing the Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit on this SSD as well as three other programs. Office Professional 2010, Microsoft Essentials, and finally, Iolo's System Mechanic Professional. I suppose I must limit this 60GB SSD to these programs if I am to avoid maxing it out.
Thanks again Absic for your time and patience with me, but you did not answer my question about which SATA slot...what's your take on that?
It's me, poor Soar
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Yes I agree with absic. He must be learning a thing or two as I end up agreeing with him more often now ::)
3 pints of rum is the best option ;D
On the Intel boards I wouldn't advise running the SSD on the SATA3 ports but there is a different controller on your AMD chips so I think it would be the way to go.
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Yes I agree with absic. He must be learning a thing or two as I end up agreeing with him more often now ::)
3 pints of rum is the best option ;D
On the Intel boards I wouldn't advise running the SSD on the SATA3 ports but there is a different controller on your AMD chips so I think it would be the way to go.
DM, Nice to hear from you again! How are you and how is life in England?
I am fine here, just been tooooooo busy lately. I am so excited about building this new AMD rig. But first, some good news for you. My Intel rig seems to have snapped out of the BSOD's. I am not even sure why. It has been running stable now for a few weeks, no BSOD's, no crashes, no freeze ups. I did pour one of the pints of dark rum on the motherboard, and, after a loud slurping noise and a large burp, all is well.
In reality, I have no clue as to why the Intel suddenly works fine now. I am just thankful and keep my fingers crossed it will still stay stable. I will use it as my back up computer as I assemble the AMD. Eventually I would like to install a SSD on it too if it will continue to perform well.
Regarding the SATA 3, are you certain I am to hook up the new SSD on that port? Please let me know as I am a total rookie in the realm of SSD.
Thanks,
Soar
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Hi Soar
Glad to hear you are well and keeping busy. All high quality engineering needs a little lubrication to run smoothly, I reckon the pint of dark rum was just what it needed ;)
As for the SSD unless absic knows of any reason on this board why you shouldn't I would run it off the fastest port. I am not sure which board you decided on in the end but if it has SATA3 that isn't run off a Marvell 9128 controller then I would think that is the best idea. I know a lot of the newer AMD chips have an onboard SATA3 option.
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Hi Soar,
If I remember correctly you have the GA-890XA-UD3 (Rev. 1.0) Mobo. If this is right then you have 6 SATA3 ports and 2 GSATA2 ports.
The SATA3 ports are numbered SATA3_0 through SATA3_5 and the two SATA2 ports (usually a different colour) are labelled as GSATA2_6 & GSATA2_7.
Just to make things a little more complicated these ports can be configured differently from within BIOS.
If I were putting your rig together I would also use one of the SATA3 Ports for the SSD. This won't cause a problem for any of your drives, if they are SATA2, as it is backwards compatible. I would recommend setting this to AHCI in BIOS as this is better for your SSD. When it comes to installing your OS you may need to pre-install the drivers for the SB850 controller (pressing F6 during Windows Install) You can do this from a USB stick so you don't need to worry about a floppy drive.
Your DVD/CD writer I would attach to one of the GSATA ports and I would configure these to IDE as sometimes DVD/CD drives can encounter problems in AHCI. If your DVD/CD Writer is an IDE version rather than SATA then it will also work, so don't worry about that.
Hope this helps.
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Hi Soar
Glad to hear you are well and keeping busy. All high quality engineering needs a little lubrication to run smoothly, I reckon the pint of dark rum was just what it needed ;)
As for the SSD unless absic knows of any reason on this board why you shouldn't I would run it off the fastest port. I am not sure which board you decided on in the end but if it has SATA3 that isn't run off a Marvell 9128 controller then I would think that is the best idea. I know a lot of the newer AMD chips have an onboard SATA3 option.
DM,
Thanks for the reply. Ok, I'll give the SATA 3 a try. I hope to put it all together very, very soon. If my work does not permit, then we have the Veterans Day Holiday here on the 11th and I haven been given an extra day [12th] as well, so between the two, I should have enough time to finally put this system together!
Thanks again!
Soar
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Hi Soar,
If I remember correctly you have the GA-890XA-UD3 (Rev. 1.0) Mobo. If this is right then you have 6 SATA3 ports and 2 GSATA2 ports.
The SATA3 ports are numbered SATA3_0 through SATA3_5 and the two SATA2 ports (usually a different colour) are labelled as GSATA2_6 & GSATA2_7.
Just to make things a little more complicated these ports can be configured differently from within BIOS.
If I were putting your rig together I would also use one of the SATA3 Ports for the SSD. This won't cause a problem for any of your drives, if they are SATA2, as it is backwards compatible. I would recommend setting this to AHCI in BIOS as this is better for your SSD. When it comes to installing your OS you may need to pre-install the drivers for the SB850 controller (pressing F6 during Windows Install) You can do this from a USB stick so you don't need to worry about a floppy drive.
Your DVD/CD writer I would attach to one of the GSATA ports and I would configure these to IDE as sometimes DVD/CD drives can encounter problems in AHCI. If your DVD/CD Writer is an IDE version rather than SATA then it will also work, so don't worry about that.
Hope this helps.
Absic,
Ok, I will follow your good advice. Thanks again for helping to guide me through this process. I now have over 7 pages of system/OS/SSD set up instructions to guide me through this marvelous maze of cutting edge technology...I know full well that I could spend weeks upon weeks guessing and mired in system failures/mishaps due to my own ignorance and lack of knowledge.
Things have changed considerably since the Q9550/DDR2 days. Back then it seem as if no matter what I threw together came out shining like the sun with little to no problems at all and with very little instructions as well. Times and seasons and levels of knowledge required to put together a new system today certainly have changed.
I appreciate you and DM for all the help you two have given us here at Giga-forums. Many of us would be terribly lost without you guys!
Thanks again!
Soar
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Hi Soar,
Don't get too bogged down over this. Things aren't as difficult as it may appear and the AMD platform is actually quite forgiving. Hey, even Jannie can put one of these rigs together (and he spends most of his time chasing those Haggis around the glens), so I'm sure you can! ;D And don't forget, if you do run into any problems, we will be more than happy to try and guide you. ;)
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Hi Soar..Yes we have fry's here in Sccotland, but they only sell fish.chips and mushy pea's.... ;D Yes as absic says, my rig is running great. The only problem with the ssd is ( you dont have time to make a coffee before it fires up )it so quick
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Hi Soar,
Don't get too bogged down over this. Things aren't as difficult as it may appear and the AMD platform is actually quite forgiving. Hey, even Jannie can put one of these rigs together (and he spends most of his time chasing those Haggis around the glens), so I'm sure you can! ;D And don't forget, if you do run into any problems, we will be more than happy to try and guide you. ;)
Absic, thanks for your words of encouragement. You help me to believe that everything is gonna be alright with this new build. Thanks also for offering to help me if I run into problems. Hopefully everything will go together well and it will fire right up and do its job.
Until then,
Soar
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Hi Soar..Yes we have fry's here in Sccotland, but they only sell fish.chips and mushy pea's.... ;D Yes as absic says, my rig is running great. The only problem with the ssd is ( you dont have time to make a coffee before it fires up )it so quick
Jannie, Fish and Chips sound delicious...not sure about those mushy peas though....I did hear somewhere that the mushy peas do help people grow much bushier eyebrows...the only problem is, I already have very bushy eyebrows...maybe I should pass on the peas...
Wow, you have an Intel II 80GB! I have heard nothing but good news about the Intel SSD. Did you tweak it much or leave it mostly as is?
Soar
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Hi Soar
Glad that you are finally going to get the chance to build your beast, it must have been killing you all those nice new parts just lying there screaming to be used. I don't think I could have stuck it this long. I am sure that it will fire up first attempt.
Talking about SSDs don't take all the blurb to literally and worry about it. I just defragged mine again as I noticed that the performance had dropped to 88% and although I wasn't worried about the fragmentation because it doesn't really have any bearing on SSDs I did want to get the performance to max. As I say I just ran PerfectDisk Pro defragger again and now the performance is back up to 99.7%. Now a lot of know it alls would die if they heard of someone defragging a SSD but there are things that they don't know as well. ;)
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Hi Soar
Glad that you are finally going to get the chance to build your beast, it must have been killing you all those nice new parts just lying there screaming to be used. I don't think I could have stuck it this long. I am sure that it will fire up first attempt.
Talking about SSDs don't take all the blurb to literally and worry about it. I just defragged mine again as I noticed that the performance had dropped to 88% and although I wasn't worried about the fragmentation because it doesn't really have any bearing on SSDs I did want to get the performance to max. As I say I just ran PerfectDisk Pro defragger again and now the performance is back up to 99.7%. Now a lot of know it alls would die if they heard of someone defragging a SSD but there are things that they don't know as well. ;)
DM, thanks for those positive and uplifting words...and yes, there have been times I wanted to just call in sick and spend the better part of the day ripping one system apart and putting together the new system [I intend to use the CM Storm Sniper Case that houses the Q9550 system that has been my primary system for a couple of years].
You know, it is amazing you mentioned the defrag in your last post. Last night, I began to think about why people say DO NOT defrag your SSD...then I thought about my System Mechanic Professional Software that I really like to use and I began to wonder if it was a bad idea to put in on the SSD. [part of the System Mechanic Professional has a Defragger utility built into it].
DM, have you any more thoughts on defragging/registry cleaning, etc. on an SSD? Are people against defragging because of this theory that it reduces the overall life span of the SSD? What is so wrong with defragging?
Please help me understand this if you can.
Thanks,
Soar
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DM, have you any more thoughts on defragging/registry cleaning, etc. on an SSD? Are people against defragging because of this theory that it reduces the overall life span of the SSD? What is so wrong with defragging?
That's pretty much it in a nutshell. There are a limited number of times that a particular part of a chip can be written to and even though it is a lot it is finite so the general opinion is that you shouldn't do it more than necessary. Also of course fragmentation itself is not an issue with digital storage because they don't rely on a mechanical system to find and read the pieces of information.
Defragghing the registry is totally different and again not so important on an SSD. Use yuour software if you like it and don't be scarred of using the defragger but only do it when it is going to make a difference like if you find the performance degrading. Do not worry about the actual fragmentation of the data.
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DM, have you any more thoughts on defragging/registry cleaning, etc. on an SSD? Are people against defragging because of this theory that it reduces the overall life span of the SSD? What is so wrong with defragging?
That's pretty much it in a nutshell. There are a limited number of times that a particular part of a chip can be written to and even though it is a lot it is finite so the general opinion is that you shouldn't do it more than necessary. Also of course fragmentation itself is not an issue with digital storage because they don't rely on a mechanical system to find and read the pieces of information.
Defragghing the registry is totally different and again not so important on an SSD. Use yuour software if you like it and don't be scarred of using the defragger but only do it when it is going to make a difference like if you find the performance degrading. Do not worry about the actual fragmentation of the data.
Ok, thanks for that good advice. I suppose I will install System Mechanic Professional then. I think I can set it up to defrag and clean up the registry without defragging the SSD each time. I'll play with it first on my present system to see what type of variations it offers.
Have a good one!
Soar