X6 1090T Thuban Build

[sswilson]

Probably not going to be a full worklog (Basically going into my Cosmos S with a bit of work on the WC Loop), but I wanted to show off my new kit, and this seemed the best location to put the pics....


As a bit of background.... a couple of weeks ago my DQ6 + Q6600 stopped playing nice in the sandbox together. Basically, it looks like the bios is toast as it runs fine at stock defaults, but refuses to recognise any OC inputs to bios (just boots to "last known good" settings). With that in mind, and my b-day coming up on the 26'th april, AMD's 28'th April release of their 6 core Thuban seemed like a worthy replacement project.

After much sneering at the obvious paper releases of so-called "in stock" chips prior to the official launch I was one of those who stayed up all night of the 27'th (morning of the 28'th) frantically mashing the F5 button waiting for both CPU and 890FX Mobo stock to show up. This is the result.....

The star of the project.... not sure if there was any kind of mix as far as the stepping goes, but we'll see how far I can push this puppy..... no pic of the box, but it's actually about 1/2 the size (volume) as my X4 955be box's.

Asus ROG Crosshair IV Formula. This was first to arrive, but strangely enough was the hardest item to get my hands on. My last shipping experience with newegg didn't turn out all that well so I decided to stick with NCIX.... unfortunately for some reason, NCIX seemed to have an issue with 890FX stock so I had to pay a few more bucks to snag the Manufacturer's SKU which showed stock.

Since the Apogee GTZ block on my Q6600 didn't come with mounting option for AM2/AM3, and my Apogee GT is already installed on one of my AMD Folding rigs, it was time for a new WC block. The Enzotech Luna was one of the few that currently offers AM3 mounting out of the box, and I've heard good things about it, so it was an easy choice. One thing to notice is the shear depth of the actual contact block.... (I'm also going to check to see if that AM3 mounting rig will work with my GTZ, but I'm not sure the GTZ is deep enough to properly mate with the CPU).

Last but not least.... it's time to retire my DDR2 Mushkin Ascents (well... move them around at least... ;) ). I've always been a sucker for tight timings, especially on my AMD rigs so I finally decided on these GSkill Pi series kits. My initial plan had been for 1 2X2G kit, but I filled up my shopping cart with all of the different kits I wanted to compare, and then when it came time to remove the kits I didn't chose, I didn't notice that I had added the same kit twice so I ended up with 4X2. AMD's typically don't like OCing with all 4 slots filled so I may not end up using them all, but if they don't work out I'll drop them onto the GD70 which will free up a 3 channel OCZ kit.

Here's all of the kit together. Couple of things I came across during this "roughed in" part of the build include the fact that the memory heatsinks are hollow through the top (it certainly keeps the weight down on them, and I'd think that more surface area = better heat dissipation, but we'll see), and the one-sided memory "locks" on the mem slots.... I don't remember the slots on my P5Q Pro being like that.... can anybody confirm if this is an ASUS standard, or is it just on the Crosshair motherboards?

Anywise... that's all I've got for now. Just started my workweek so it'll probably be tuesday night by the time I get a chance to start ripping the old one apart to put the new gear in.

[sswilson]

Glad I opted for a new 890FX board rather than counting on flashing my MSI 790FX-GD70 board for the X6 chips. Looks like MSI just pulled all of their new X6 enabled bios' off of their boards. Must have found a bug.

[gingerbee]

good man know lets get to some clocking ah. enjoy it you earned it working for hwc. he he

[matsta31]

nice stuff. Almost want to get one myself and destroy my no more pc purchase until 2011 decision.

[Pelt]

This is so cool. It's making me antsy for my build starting next week! I usually don't adopt new tech right away but I'm despartely in need of something new so I bit the bullet, now I just have to explain to my wife why the Purolator guy is at the house nearly every day, lol. Must pay credit card bill before next billing period then the ruse will be complete.

I didn't realize until this post that AMD's had a problem OC'ing with all the RAM slots filled (never a problem for me because I couldn't afford to fill them) I'm hoping the new tech isn't limited by this because I want at least 8GB of RAM and I want to OC the crap out of this thing.

[fishingfanatic]

Another thuban build. I think a lottery win might be in order,hahaha. Actually, prices for AMDs setups are pretty sweet.

[gingerbee]

at these prices how can you so no to it hell i can't opps i really don't need another machine time to sell some stuff ha ha.

[_dangtx_]

good choice of cpu, of course

same with cooling. love the sinks on the ram. a above them will suck air right tru them!

so you dont like/trust the locking of the rams? :p

[stoanee]

All I can say is.....happy birthday!!!

Glad I opted for a new 890FX board rather than counting on flashing my MSI 790FX-GD70 board for the X6 chips. Looks like MSI just pulled all of their new X6 enabled bios' off of their boards. Must have found a bug.

I still see a bios update listed on the MSI website for the Thuban on the MSI 790FX-GD70 . Am I missing something?

[fishingfanatic]

Yeah, I think it's time to move my GTX 295 and extra memory sticks.