Upgrade from XFX GTS 250 to MSI GTX 560

[profJim]

Re: Upgrade from XFX GTS 250 to MSI GTX 560

In the bios, go to Advanced BIOS Features and look at the CPU Multi-Threading setting where:
Enabled = All cpu cores are enabled
Disabled = Only one core is enabled

Page 49 in my rev 1.0 mobo manual shows the bios screen and page 50 has the explanation.

Really, I was only kidding.
I still have trouble believing that an overclocked Q9550 system with 12MB of L2 cache would idle at ~ 100 watts.

[Ken429]

Re: Upgrade from XFX GTS 250 to MSI GTX 560

My MB manual talks about "CPU Multi-Threading" on page 52. However, it ain't in the version of the BIOS I have installed?!! Your are doing it to me again. Task Manager under the Performance Tab shows activity on all four cores so hopefully he knows what is going on!

[profJim]

Re: Upgrade from XFX GTS 250 to MSI GTX 560

You might need to press CTRL+F1 at the main bios screen in order to show all "hidden" bios settings in some bios sub menus.
Don't worry, be happy; your system is firing on all 4 cylinders.

[Ken429]

Re: Upgrade from XFX GTS 250 to MSI GTX 560

I did the CTR+F1 routine - as many times as I've changed BIOS settings in the last year or two since I started playing around with Gigabyte and OC'ing it has become instinctive! Looks like Gigabyte took out the option on this board somewhere along the way. There are a few other guys asking the same question Missing BIOS selections....why? - Gigabyte - Motherboards-Memory.

[Ken429]

Re: Upgrade from XFX GTS 250 to MSI GTX 560

Pro Jim,
Just for the record, I went and bought a Kill-A-Watt device to get a second opinion on the wattage usage by the Q9500, E8500, 2600K and E5800 systems. As it turns out the APC XS 1500 UPS's (3 of them all bought a different times) all report watt usage that is ~50 less than the Kill-Watt device. So you were right again, when you thought my Q9550 was not a efficient as I stated above! Just in case your going to ask, I checked the Kill-A-Watt device using 25, 40, 60, 75, 100 and 150 watt bulbs and it was +/- 1 watt from the stated bulb wattage.

[profJim]

Re: Upgrade from XFX GTS 250 to MSI GTX 560

Very interesting.
Keep in mind that the wattage figures from the UPS or the Zalman ZM-MFC2 fan controller are measuring watts consumed from the wall socket and don't represent the power supply's output in watts. I managed to trip myself up with watts consumed while testing in my MSI N460GTX overclocking thread, where I forgot that my LCD monitor was also connected to my UPS. I think that the Kill-A-Watt meter is supposed to be pretty accurate; they rate it at 0.2% accuracy and user reviews indicate that it appears to be accurate. I don't want to get you coming and going again but... ~ 50 watt difference just doesn't seem right.
I think that I should by a Kill-A-Watt meter to satisfy my anal tendencies.

As I said before, don't worry, be happy!
Easy to say but hard to do when we tend to get hung up in the details.
Thanks for the update.

[Ken429]

Re: Upgrade from XFX GTS 250 to MSI GTX 560

Pro Jim,
I agree, ~50 is a lot. I know the UPS's take ~10 right off the top but it still is not right. I have a comment posted on the APC forum but will probably have to call APC and see if they have someone that knows what is going on.

Not related but... what the heck is going on with the Tweaktown forum seems like sometimes the cursor gets lost while composing a reply and if it takes too long the forum is dropped and I have to start over??

[profJim]

Re: Upgrade from XFX GTS 250 to MSI GTX 560

Not related but... what the heck is going on with the Tweaktown forum seems like sometimes the cursor gets lost while composing a reply and if it takes too long the forum is dropped and I have to start over??

It seems to be related to forum upgrades to improve performance. It's a PITA, but they're making progress.

I used to periodically save my (long winded) posts in a plain text editor so that I wouldn't loose everything if something "burped". The last forum upgrade included an automatic AUTO-SAVE feature when you're creating a post. You should periodically see a momentary yellow "Auto-Saved" message in the lower right corner of the message area when using ADVANCED mode. The auto save might also work when using the Quick Reply mode. As I've typed this post, the Auto-Saved message appears about once per minute while I'm typing.

I recently "lost" a forum post that wasn't complete when the forum went down. As I recall, when I later went to reply to the post, there was a prompt asking if I wanted to restore the auto-saved info. I clicked on YES and the auto save worked like a champ!!