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AsRock FM2A88X-ITX+ (FM2+ mITX board "Kaveri Ready") Build

36K views 50 replies 14 participants last post by  AJSB 
#1 ·
This 1st post of this thread will be reedited/updated MANY times.

At any given moment texts and / or pics can be added / altered / removed.















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I love the old fashion color schemed I/O Panel backpanel...and in special the black background with chrome strip around it, perfect for my case that is full black with thin chrome vertical strip in the front...notice the 3 antenna connection places no matter WiFi uses only 2 ...3rd is for a card (also) with DVB(-T) ?!?

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See that pair of golden Caps ?
They interfere with chosen cooler but i knew from the start before ordered anything...i will need to shave a bit the cooler.
You can see also the miniPCIex1/mSATA connector....the fact that it works also as mSATA as opposite to Gigabyte MoBo was one major point to buy this mobo...that and the Sub-D VGA connector that i need.

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BIOS version is 1.0...it's official , i'm a "AsRock Guinea Pig"
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Will flash it ASAP...but i wonder if its safe to do so with APU undervolted and underclocked but i don't see why won't be...correct me if i'm wrong.

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Space bellow APU for a backplate is better than in previous AsRock FMx mITX MoBos but i will still need to be creative or not use a backplate at all.

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Brand new A6-5400K to work as a placeholder till Kaveri are on market.
In any case, be it a Trinity, Kaveri or Carrizo (...rumors say that Carrizo will use FM2+ socket ...) APU used in this build can not exceed a max TDP of 65 W.
I also want to use the stock DC/DC converter and brick that is included in the chosen case...this means that i have to underclock and undervolt the A6-5400K or any other 65 W APU unless i buy a PicoPSU 160-XT with a FSP 150 W brick (because i want a safety margin and because i know that APUs have power drain spikes at least with Turbo Mode enabled (i gonna disable it)).
However i want to avoid buy the PicoPSU and FSP brick to lower costs and because i want to run the build with a temperature and power drain as low as possible.

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Unboxed A6-5400K....whatever happens in this build, stock cooler will NOT be used....
BTW, stock cooler is 39 mm tall including stock fan.


This is my "Standard-Issue" case model for all my mini-ITX builds: LC-POWER 1350MI
I like it a lot because it's very small (and yet can accept 1x2.5" HDD/SSD and 1xODD or a single 3.5" slim HDD) , sturdy (SECC 1 mm), have a nice PSU (external) rated for 75W , essential connections on front and some extra connections in rear panel, enough ventilation....and no stupid doors that we all know that will fail sooner or later.



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...but nothing in this world is perfect...this case have only two flaws (IMHO):
1- No Reset switch.
2- HDD and Power LEDs are EXTREMELY bright...careful with your eyes !
...so...

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I salvaged from a mATX case some cables and got a pressure switch and some resistors.
I experimented with different values and depending of light conditions where these cases are used, i recommend 47K , 22K or 10K resistors for the LEDs .
I went with with 22K for this bulid and that's what i usually use.






Notice that rear of the case have places for an antenna and two sub-D connectors.
Because this MoBo already have all possible holes for mounting antennas i gonna use the antenna place in this case for the Reset switch.



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Here it is the copper heatsink..remember i said that it will interfere with a golden Capacitor ?
I just shaved the interference area and will post a pic later showing what i did...pic will be inserted after this text.

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Plastic protection of the TITAN heatsink backplate....i was thinking to reuse it to make plastic washers but i didn't (it would be easy to do with correct tool but i didn't have it and was too late to buy it in a Sunday)...

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The Stock backplate of the TITAN heatsink can't be used in this MoBo...

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...so , i was thinking to punch out the "screw holders" and no matter it can be done...

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...and i did it, as soon as i punched out 1st one it was clear that their hex head is too thin....no way i can use them to hold heatsink using some standard washers...so....

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...I made my own mounting system...
For that i used 3/16 screws (don't use M5 screws because they won't fit properly inside stock heatsink springs...but you can use M4...again , i used 3/16 screws because that was the ones i could find) , these screws have a total length of 38 mm including their head.
The washers are SS M6 washers.
Then i used a vinyl cutter to make some vinyl washers from ORACAL 641 vinyl....i use 8 vinyl washers per each M6 washer.
Notice that production system of the SS washers make them have a side with sharp edge and another with round edge...
Put vinyl washers to the round side....we should avoid sharp edges pressure MoBo.
Notice vinyl washers extend from the edges of SS washers.
Notice also what i made with shrinking tube to the screws.

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Here are Reset switch and the two 40 mm fans ready to install.
Notice that i connected both black wires to a a single one, the two red wires to a single one BUT the i'm only using a single yellow (blue in some 3 pin fans) wire from one of the fans....this is to avoid BIOS problems in measuring fans RPM.

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Everything essential (and some of the non-essential) connected and ready for 1st run and to downclock and undervolt APU....it has to be done with ATX PSU because stock PSU from the case can't handle a A6-5400K with stock settings.
UPDATE:
This was only true with stock 1.0 BIOS version.
Since i updated to 1.20, it can make 1st boot with case stock PSU and no longer needs a more powerful ATX PSU.
I'm now using BIOS 1.40.

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PS/2 Y cable from LINDY.
Now, this didn't worked out as expected...in the begin.
When i booted build 1st time , both ps/2 keyboard and ps/2 mouse were not working, they only worked connected one at time connected directly to ps/2 connector of the MoBo.
After checking with a multimeter , i discovered that this Lindy ps/2 Y cable was incorrectly color coded !
I had to connect mouse to purple connector and keyboard to green connector of this Y cable and then both keyboard and mouse started to work flawlessly !

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No matter the TITAN Heatsink includes thermal paste, i decided to use ARTIC paste...i was to use MX-2 but it didn't arrived on time and i used MX-4 instead.


Almost done...notice the Reset switch installed, the cut in the corner of the copper heatsink because of the gold cap and final position of the WiFi connectors in the WiFi board...

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Better view of above points...notice also how much are nuts are screwed down...again, particular attention to WiFi connectors in the card...why ? because...

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....no matter what the instructions say, there is NO freaking way the connectors fit in the card the way it's shown in the darn instructions !
I figured out that only way they fit is if you fit them pointing to the middle of card like it's shown in the pic with the left cable connector , and then, use your finger to rotate the connector till it stands in final position like it's shown in the pic with the right cable connector.

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LEDs cables with resistors inserted in them...

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All set, rear view...i believe that sooner or later i gonna use the Sub-D places for two USB 2.0 or 3.0 connectors...or for a DVB-T tuner...


Plenty of space between fan and ODD...don't recall exact value but might be around 8 mm minimum.

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Ready do close case...for now....expect more modifications
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BIOS SETTINGS (it never fails a boot , great performance and nice temps) :

APM:
Disabled

Cool 'n' Quiet:
Disabled

HDMI Audio:
Disabled
(i use analog outputs)

WiFi Card:
Disabled
(I have, for now, no use for it)

Ethernet:
Disabled
(I connect to Net via USB 2.0 3.5G Pen so no reason to have Ethernet on)

USB 3.0:
AUTO
(I also don't use it for now but i prefer not to disable it)

CPU:
3200 MHz
1.275 V

iGPU:
608 MHz
1.00 V

RAM (G.Skill ARES 8GB DDR3):
2133 MHz
1.60 V

Some Power Drains (measured between power grid and AC/DC external converter):

Battlefield : Bad Company 2 (Multiplayer using 3.5G USB Pen)
Max: 62 Watts

VLC VOB Play from HDD (Net was still on):
Max: 35 Watts

UPDATE 1

Original HDD was a SEAGATE with 500GB
Now it was replaced with a HDD from Western Digital with 1TB.

UPDATE 2

I wanted to increase performance of this little APU , and i did...
Now i'm running with previous setting modified in these points:

CPU:
3600 MHz
1.275 V

iGPU:
800 MHz
1.00 V

RAM (G.Skill ARES 8GB DDR3):
2133 MHz
1.58 V

Yeah, i undervolted also the RAM
biggrin.gif

...and performance is much better, will test power drains soon and update again...

However, before applying these settings i was concerned with temperatures, in special when we reach our hot Summer (still many months till then but)...

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I started to look to the A6-5400K Stock cooler...

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and the real size of the fan , not counting with the plastic build-in "spacers" is 70x70x15, so...

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...so i cut them...

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...and installed fan with same 2 screws of the 70x70x10mm TITAN fan....it's a bit on the limit to say the least , so we have to be careful to not damage threads in heatsink...notice that this fan is, at most, at same level than heatsink mounting screws or the G.SKILL ARES RAM...

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...and here it is installed !
Still "plenty" of space to the ODD...

Now this fan brings several advantages, for starters is a PWM Fan, it also delivers a slight bigger CFM and a slight bigger static air pressure...it also let's me use BIOS option Performance instead of Standard.

The result of all this is that, no matter CPU and iGPU are running at higher clock rates, the temperatures are lower than ever no matter APU fan actually is rotating slower than with 70x70x10mm fan !

Will be enough to keep temperatures low in very hot Summers ?
I hope so...but if not....i'm already planning my next step
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By "Popular demand".....temperature readings !

After i made the modifications in UPDATE 2 , both cooling, frequencies and RAM voltage (BTW, RAM is working ROCK SOLID !) i made last Sunday some gaming (perfect day to do so taking in account the Storm that was hitting my Country...not a good day to stay out) so a played some games and recorded temps....

About Software...i 1st experiment with several programs and i discovered the following...I tested AIDA64, Open Hardware Monitor, A-Tuning, HWMonitor and another one that right now i don't recall name...will check later...

I discovered that only these 5 are reliable as for readings...

All of them give only two reliable temp sensor readings per program...but as long as you use use 2 of these 5 programs and one of them is ASRock A-Tuning , the combination of all readings is a total of 3 temp sensors.

Only one can read the temperature of the motherboard , as in APU socket area, and that program is ASRock A-Tuning.

ALL of them read APU temperature correctly , some however give it cryptic names like Open Hardware Monitor....i only discovered OHM meaning after comparing with other programs readings at same time
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)

ALL of them, except A-Tuning, give a 3rd reading...it's not clear about what is that temperature reading....Chipset ? VRMs ? (AIDA calls it Motherboard but i'm sure is not the same "Motherboard" sensor than A-Tuning calls for because that one is always cooler than APU) in any case, that usually is the sensor that goes up in temps faster but in the end, it doesn't stands out....

I 1st played BFBC2 for 2 hours , then switched to ET:QW for 43 minutes, then gone back to BFBC2 for 2 hours and 10 minutes....these times are actual non stop gameplay, there wasn't also any break except the strict time to get out of game, record results, reset reading and launch next game.

Notice also that CPU FAN in BIOS is set to Performance mode....this means that even at idle , it's always at 60%...if it was set to Standard mode it would be at 49.7% or even less.

So, here it goes...

BFBC2 1st run:

CPU
Max: 54.5C

NB/VRM/whatever
Max: 54C

HDD
Max: 35C

CPU FAN
Max: 73%

Sys FAN:
Max: 53.7%

ET:QW run:

CPU
Max: 50C

NB/VRM/whatever
Max: 50.5C

HDD
Max: 34C

CPU FAN
Max: 69.8%

Sys FAN:
Max: 49.8%

BFBC2 2st run:

CPU
Max: 55C

NB/VRM/whatever
Max: 55.5C

HDD
Max: 37C

CPU FAN
Max: 74.5%

Sys FAN:
Max: 54.5%

Well, for now, i'm pleased but....will this be enough for our Summers ?
I have some doubts...sure there is margin for temperature rise and fans spin faster...but...

Extreme measures might be needed including new fans solution and...a word is playing in my mind...DELID
devilsmiley.gif


Delid APU is noting new to me...i did it in the past with a A10-5800K....very easy but you have to be careful...i will make a tutorial if it comes to those extreme measures
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#2 ·
Subscribing
 
#5 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by waveaddict View Post

Does that board just come in a cardboard box?No anti-static or sturdy foam packaging?
[The board was/is in a anti-static bag of course but i didn't see reason to make a specific shot of it....

You will notice in a pic some of of thick dark foam also used to protect the board....

Board is of the usual thickness used by AsRock....

Board color is a very dark brown...you only notice the dark brown in the copper tracks because the parts of the board w/o copper it's so dark that is as good as black...i made my best to avoid flash of camera to make the brown look too light (the flash have that effect if we are not careful ) to avoid giving the wrong idea about MoBo color.

ps: Edited Photo gallery...now includes shot of board inside anti-static bag...i actually made the shot and forgot about it
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#10 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by CynicalUnicorn View Post

It does not. Does the mSATA/mPCIe slot only fit half-height cards, or will it fit standard height cards too?
Aaah thanks for info, i was affraid that i had broken the subscriptions
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As for the *miniPCIex1* / mini-SATA card *length* (i'm not sure if you are making some confusion with PCIex1 where *height* might be an issue...in miniPCIex2 the issue can be the *length* of the card and not the height ) , this AsRock MoBo supports Full Length cards in that connector.

OTOH, Gigabyte MoBo is limited to half-length cards and , AFAIK, the only protocols supported are miniPCIex1 and doesn't support mini-SATA (AKA mSATA).

I will take a better pic of the connector where you clearly will see the screw hole to hold full length cards (you actually can see it in the official pics at AsRock site but it's not very clear).
 
#11 ·
Do you happen to have other boards where you can compare power draw of this board? Want tthis for my NAS/HTPC and hope the A88x chipset is low on power consumption
 
#12 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mech0z View Post

Do you happen to have other boards where you can compare power draw of this board? Want tthis for my NAS/HTPC and hope the A88x chipset is low on power consumption
Sorry to only answer now...i have more builds done (using precisely this case model , same model of ODD, same model of HDD , same RAM DIMMS brand and model but E-350 APUs) but don't have nothing to measure power drain...
The only thing i can say is that this machine heats up way LESS than the E-350 (in Gigabyte MoBos with stock 60x60x10 APU fan).

The build is complete
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I took a bunch of pics that i have to upload but might take some days to do so because i'm very busy...forgot to take some pics (camera ru out of enegry and forgot to take shot of me applying TIM (will simulate that pic) )...

Build is running using the shown in previous pics copper cooler with its 70x70x10 fan...cooler is actually thinner than official specs (12.5mm) witch increased a lot the space from its fan to ODD.

Besides the 70x70x10 cooler fan, there are two 40x40x10 fans connected in parallel to SYS_FAN (using only one the two yellow RPM sensors to feedback RPM)....but this MoBo , in case we are using 3pin fans in the 4pin sockets seems to control fan speed by itself...i say this because main fan startes at 2900 rpm and as build heats up , can reach 3500 rpm witch is max rpm for than fan.

The 70 mm fan noise is strangely very acceptable even at 3500 rpm (max rpm for this fan)

The two 40 mm, no matter rated for 5000 rpm +/-10% , start at 5900 rpm and increase rpm till 6500 rpm....i wonder if supplier sold me 6000 rpm fan version inside 5000 rpm fan cases ?!?

They are a bit more noisy in special at cold but its still basically a WOOSH sound and not a hight pitch noise...still, i'm thing to put them in series instead of parallel but i wonder if they can start up with only 6V...

Anyway, even in BIOS temps are very low and in the OS 34C are normal at idle
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In normal use it (playing music, navigating the net, ripping DVD) does not pass from 36.5C
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Gonna install some games and see temperatures playing them...

BTW, i used Arctic MX-4 and applied in a 1/3th long line applied to center of APU in same direction of text engraved in APU .

Really outstanding temps !!!

That's why i'm evaluating possibility to put 40 mm fans in series to lower RPM or replace the two for 40x10 Noctua fans with the L.N.A.s or even a single 40 mm Noctua fan with LNA witch is mandatory if i replace stock DC/DC converter by a PicoPSU 160XT and a FSP 150W brick.

(Ambient temps are 18C here BTW).

Of course that let's not forget i downclocked and undervolted...

BIOS settings:

CPU 1600 MHz @ 1.35V
iGPU 475 MHz @ ...don't recall exactly...will update this post later

RAM: 8GB running at 1600 MHz with 1.6V

APM and Cool'N'Quiet DISABLED

will update here latter with more BIOS details....

The interesting thing is than in OS, even with APM and Cool'N'Quiet DISABLED CPU cores voltage can go down as low as 0.99 V with OS at idle !!!
That was a surprise to me (i'm not used to change voltages) and explain why i can't go bellow 1.35V with confidence...i got some failures to boot at vcore BIOS adjusted to 1.25 V ....even 1.3 V sometimes can go wrong.
BIOS voltage settings seem to be to calibrate the TOP LIMIT....the reason why in BIOS is reading the value we set in previous BIOS setting, is because with these APUs when in the BIOS it's like we are running Prime95 !

Stock 75W brick and converter can handle w/ ease this APU w/ these BIOS settings
I can be ripping DVD, surfing net and playing video all at same time w/o problems or glitches.

BUT like i was expecting, DON'T even dream to switch ON MoBo with stock DC/DC converter and brick in 1st run...you need a desktop ATX PSU for 1st run and to set BIOS and make experiments with with....

This BIOS settings were done outside case and when installed in case and powered up i had nasty surprise that it didn't boot or could even access BIOS...i had to disconnect converter , reset CMOS and connect ATX PSU connectors to MoBo inside case and set BIOS again and finally switch back again connectors to the DC/DC converter ones and since then everything fine.

I dunno why this happened...might be a contact corrupted CMOS but most natural thing is that, IIRC, at that time i was still trying downvolt to 1.25 V or even 1.2 V (read above about vcore voltage)

Of course that a PicoPSU 160XT and FSP 150W brick would avoid all this trouble of dismantle parcially case and connect ATX PSU but increases price and forces me to remove one of the 40mm fans but i might do that in the end because i have the feeling that when reflashing BIOS and/or replacing APU , all my BIOS settings will change anyway...

As for performance , Net, Videos opening docs , etc. all very snappy and smooth even using a slower OS (i'm comparing this build with W7 64bit vs e-350 with W8 64bit), in fact seems slightly faster and Windows Experience Index says so in all 4 main factors (CPU , RAM, GPU 2D, GPU 3D)....RAM is simply dramatic even only at 1600MHz and even comparing with a Kabini A6-5200 witch is not exactly a surprise (A10-5400K uses Dual Channel)..

Even with the iGPU at only 475MHz, it beats not only the E-350 with 1333MHz RAM but also Kabini A6-5200...

But that's WEI...now the final test will be me playing games.

Like they say, " The proof of the pudding is in the eating! "
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#13 ·
PS: I just ordered a meter similar to Kill-a-Watt compatible with our power grid....a thing that i should have done but didn't because never felt the need for one of those things...it should arrive before weekend.

Then i will make measurements at idle in OS, "idle" at BIOS, Net browsing, movie and mp3 playing and playing also some games.

Tonight is for install games and play some to see their performance.
 
#14 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by AJSB View Post

PS: I just ordered a meter similar to Kill-a-Watt compatible with our power grid....a thing that i should have done but didn't because never felt the need for one of those things...it should arrive before weekend.

Then i will make measurements at idle in OS, "idle" at BIOS, Net browsing, movie and mp3 playing and playing also some games.

Tonight is for install games and play some to see their performance.
Nice looking forward to seeing the power consumption compared to E350 build

Could be nice if you can measure how much effect it has to change the Voltage on the CPU
smile.gif
 
#15 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mech0z View Post

Nice looking forward to seeing the power consumption compared to E350 build

Could be nice if you can measure how much effect it has to change the Voltage on the CPU
smile.gif
We will see...the only meter i found here in my country easely was a very cheap one...

One thing is for sure, the external power brick have a rated output of 12V 5.83A witch is not even 70W...
....and even it doesn't have a problem not only powering the A6-5400K @ 1600mhz 1.35V with 8GB DDR3 @ 1600mhz, slim ODD, 500GB 2.5" HDD, mouse, ps2 keyboard, gamepad and also is connected to a external self-powered 3.5" 1TB HDD and plays games,etc. but i also tryed and works flawless same set with A6-5400K at 2200mhz 1.375 V.
I also experimented with APU at 1600mhz 1.35v and RAM at 2133mhz....

However , best was with RAM at 1600mhz and APU at 2200mhz 1.375V.

Yes, small differences in voltage affect clearly temperatures....in last example playing BFBC2, it can reach 49C....still quite good IMHO,but 40mm fans go up to 6750 rpm and main fan to 3500 rpm
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But is not that loud...as a comparison, stock fan alone of a 5800K is waaaasy louder than all these 3 fans in this build together....they are acceptable.

The only reason i still didn't try to push further mhz in APU is temperatures...room temps in my house are around 18ºC and i'm thinking in summer temps of 40ºC :O

Notice that in a E-350 is simply impossible to play BFBC2 even in lowest settings with lowest resolution and specifying Dx9 and with 1333mhz RAM....
With A6-5400K @ 1600mhz 1.35V and RAM @ 1600Mhz and GPU @ 475mhz at 1.15V, it's perfectly possible to play the game no matter its far from a good experience....but game really works.

When i bumped vcore to 1.375 V and started to push mhz to 1800, 1900, 2000, 2100 and finally 2200mhz, we could see clearly the performance increase and it's perfectly possible to play BFBC2 @ 1024x768, low quality settings....frame rate seems quite good except in SP "movie cuts" (forgot right name) where there is occasional stutter...

Taking in account i play with 1280x1024 LCDs or 1024x768 in CRT (i still have some with very good image quality), i really don't need more than this.

If i want more, i will possibly need a PicoPSU 160XT and remove the slim DVD and put inside case instead of it a Noctua 120mm fan screwed to case directly (i will have to cut case side cover and put a external grill) almost above copper heatsink from witch i will remove 70x10mm fan and also the two 40mm...

So, in that situation, all air will be fresh air pulled from outside sideways and air pressure build-up inside case will force hot air out via top vents...
(the lateral case grill will be covered from inside to not allow "hot air contamination"....lower vents also will be possibly blocked)...

So lower case , right on converter and VRMs will receive lots of cold air, so , no hot spots inside case.

It all depends if i really want to drop the ODD, summer temps and performance of this build....and then, there is Kaveri.

All this rant can be a moot point because i might get same performance from a Kaveri @ 1600mhz than the A6-5400K @ 2200mhz

The Kaveri A10-7850K flasgship will be running at 3.7 ghz stock clock...that itself indicates great gains in performance per GHz.
 
#16 ·
Today in the morning i received the meter !

With CPU @ 2200mhz and iGPU @ 490mhz, 1st tests showed usually 24-26w at idle in W7 and playing playing BFBC2 SP campaign , worst case scenario was 61W ! Near limit of the external power brick that is 70W
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(Normal power drain playing BFBC2 was +/- 52-54W...61W was reached when playing a cut scene !)

Still , the LC-Power brick never got hot.

Then i started to downvolt...remember i said that even @ 1600mhz with 1.3 V i was having boot failures that not even allowed me go to BIOS settings ?

Well , i dunno if that was the real reason, the only thing i know is that by hunch , when still at 1600mhz with 1.35V , i decided to increase in the BIOS the Setup Prompt Timeout from 1 second to 10 seconds (actually 1st i changed to 3s , then 5 s and finally i decided for 10s) and since then never had one more boot problem..

The thing is that 1 second was so small that when i was booting machine , i was already pressing DEL like i do with other machines to get in the BIOS, but it seems that if we do that and vcore is bellow a certain value, CPU will be send to LA-LA Land and will stay there till we clear CMOS !

That, or is a tremendous coincidence !

Any way, fact is, i'm running machine at 2200mhz and downvolted to 1.3 V and machine NEVER fails a boot.
If i want to got to BIOS, i have plenty of time and ONLY PRESS DEL AFTER ASROCK LOGO shows up in screen.

No boot fails at all !

Still had not time to play BFBC2 but in W7 power drain at idle is 20-22W @ 2200mhz and idle temperature at idle is 32C
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I gonna tonight continue to try to lower vcore till 1.2V and then will try pull up core freq up to 2700ghz

Let's see if i can reach these limits w/o boot failures and w/o BFBC2 crash or machine lock...

BTW, when i say that iGPU is at 490mhz, that's not exactly true:
I have Catalyst set for maximum performance and it seems that Catalyst overdrives some BIOS settings resulting in iGPU going from, IIRC, 304 mhz to 608 mhz.
 
#17 ·
PS:
When i posted the power drain values i actually forgot that the meter is between the power grid and the AC/DC converter and not after it.

So, those worst case scenario of 61W might be more like 55-56W used by the build
biggrin.gif


That makes these numbers much better...3 more hours to go before i start more tests...
 
#18 ·
Small update:

Still using (and possibly will stay with it) stock AC/DC and DC/DC converters that came with LC-Power 1350mi case and running build with following BIOS main settings...

CPU:
3000 MHz @ 1.275 V

iGPU:
608 MHz @ 1.0875 V

RAM:
2133 MHz @ 1.6 V (Auto)

I will continue messing around with voltages (possibly will also mess with RAM voltage that is still stock).

So far so good, i'm very pleased with temperatures and performance
biggrin.gif


Let's see what i can do today and tomorrow with voltages and frequencies and make final tests as for power drain goes and publish everything still tomorrow.
 
#19 ·
Pictures, Pictures and more Pictures !
Also several texts added, enjoy
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Notice that new pics and texts are spread by 1st post and not only added in the end.

This is not over....expect more
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PS: I know i'm late with power drain values...rest assured that they will be published at most next weekend.
I intend to do lots of performance and power drain tests not only with my current settings:

CPU: 3400mhz @ 1.275v
iGPU: 608mhz @ 1.15v
RAM: 2133mhz @ 1.6v

....but also with settings

1600mhz @ 1.275v
760mhz @ 1.20v
2133mhz @ 1.6v

...also:

1600mhz @ 1.275v
608mhz @ 1.15v
1600mhz @ 1.5v

...and might also try:

1600mhz @ 1.275v
760mhz @ 1.175v
1866mhz @ 1.55v
 
#23 ·
BIOS updated and interesting findings about it !

Yesterday i updated the BIOS from version 1.00 to 1.20 and then to version 1.40....i notice several things:

1) After you flash a new BIOS , board asks to reboot, when doing so the board reboots at least 3 times....in 1st reboot we only see initial ODD and HDD activity and it will not reach even the AsRock logo...in second reboot , it will reach AsRock logo and reboots again....at that moment, if you have HDD set for IDE mode, it will fail and will continue to do so so in that reboot you might as well press DEL and set your BIOS settings and press F!0 to save them...

2) All your BIOS settings were reset and all your saved profiles will be erased in the BIOS update process.

3) Starting with BIOS 1.20, there is a new option in one of the menus to disable WAN (WiFi) Radio if you want to do so.

4) Remember that when i made the build i add to use a ATX PSU to initiate the build and reduce the voltages,etc. because stock PSU of this case couldn't handle the initial peak power at boot of a A6-5400K with BIOS stock settings?...and didn't i told you that BIOS reflash reset everything ?
...and yet, the build managed to boot w/o problems with APU at full power with stock PSU after BIOS reflash and everything connected to build !
So, to make sure, i cleared CMOS and boot build again and machine boots perfectly with APU at full speed even with this PSU !!!
It seems that starting at BIOS 1.20 , the boot process is "smoother" making things easier to the PSU.
A thing i noticed is that APU was at full power but RAM , after clear_CMOS/BIOS_reflash, was @ 1333mhz by default....don't recall if it was so with BIOS 1.00...this might be reason for "softer" start avoiding problems for low power PSUs ?!?

Anyway, build continues to work flawless with everything easy to setup in BIOS and all !
...and no, i didn't had problems setting RAM to 2133mhz
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Still messing around with settings to lower power drain and achieve max performance keeping temps low(er)....
Let's see if tomorrow will finally give power drain values but i have a build to do tomorrow with old/spare parts and a case like the one of this build...it will use a 3.5" HDD
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#24 ·
Some Power Drains (measured between power grid and AC/DC external converter):

Battlefield : Bad Company 2 (Multiplayer using 3.5G USB Pen)
Min: 49 Watts
Max: 62 Watts
Average: 57 Watts

Playing video VOB(s) ripped from DVD (100% Quality, no compression) :
Max 35 Watts
Average 32 Watts

I consider these quite taking in account that BIOPS settings are:
CPU @ 3200MHz @ 1.275 V
GPU @ 608 MHz @ 1.000 V
RAM DDR3 8GB @ 2133 MHz @ 1.60 V

....and of course, it was measured *before* AC/DC converter and not after.
 
#26 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by CynicalUnicorn View Post

Pulling up to only 62W from the wall? Nice! I'm liking APUs more and more every day. What's the efficiency rating on the power brick, if any?
Yes, it's indeed great numbers !
The undervolting was fundamental for this.

I have no clue about the power brick efficiency, i only know what it says in power brick , you can read all data from pic i took from it in 1st post of this thread...i don't think that is very efficient....but it doesn't get hot, so, who knows ?!? The thing i know is that i like a lot this case model and it's PSU...
 
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