Ok, I'm lazy but...

I always get the best info here.

I've got a Phenom 9500 machine here for a couple days. A mate bought it as a
'gaming machine' but with no anti-virus installed it only took a few weeks
to become unusable. I've built and set up all his machine's previously so
he's bought it to me to get me to partition the HDD (they'd left it as one
500GB partition, hadn't even taken the jumper off the Seagate Bara 7,200.11
that limits the drive to 1.5GB/sec), reinstall windows and set it up as best
I can.

I don't want to have to learn all about ANDs latest CPUs and monitoring
software, overclocking methods etc. I've only just got my head around
Intel's Core CPUs. However, he'd like a CPU core temp monitoring utility
installed, sitting in the systray if possible. It's got the stock cooler on
the CPU and it looks just like my old Barton cooler.

It's got a relatively budget Asus mobo in it, an M3A and man, the
'northbridge' gets really hot just idling. Too hot to hold a finger on. The
heatsink is only 30mm x 30mm so I don't have a suitable fan for it (except
my neat little aluminium-bodied 5V Panasonic fan that I saved out of an old
laptop. However, I'd prefer to keep that for if *I* ever need a little,
reliable fan).

So can anyone advise on an accurate temp monitoring utility for AMD's
Phenoms?

TIA,
--
Shaun.

Somewhere on teh intarweb "Phil Weldon" typed:
> '~misfit~' wrote:
>> I've got a Phenom 9500 machine here for a couple days. A mate bought
>> it as a 'gaming machine' but with no anti-virus installed it only
>> took a few weeks to become unusable. I've built and set up all his
>> machine's previously so he's bought it to me to get me to partition
>> the HDD (they'd left it as one 500GB partition, hadn't even taken
>> the jumper off the Seagate Bara 7,200.11 that limits the drive to
>> 1.5GB/sec), reinstall windows and set it up as best I can.
>>
>> I don't want to have to learn all about ANDs latest CPUs and
>> monitoring software, overclocking methods etc. I've only just got my
>> head around Intel's Core CPUs. However, he'd like a CPU core temp
>> monitoring utility installed, sitting in the systray if possible.
>> It's got the stock cooler on the CPU and it looks just like my old
>> Barton cooler. It's got a relatively budget Asus mobo in it, an M3A and
>> man, the
>> 'northbridge' gets really hot just idling. Too hot to hold a finger
>> on. The heatsink is only 30mm x 30mm so I don't have a suitable fan
>> for it (except my neat little aluminium-bodied 5V Panasonic fan that
>> I saved out of an old laptop. However, I'd prefer to keep that for
>> if *I* ever need a little, reliable fan).
>>
>> So can anyone advise on an accurate temp monitoring utility for AMD's
>> Phenoms?
> _____
>
> Well, you could just throw up your hands and walk away B^)

Yeah, I could. However, he's promised me a few bucks to 'sort' it for him.
As an invalid on a benefit I can't turn down a few bucks. :-(

> After all,
> evidently your 'mate' didn't ask your advice before purchase and
> operation.

I know, I gave him **** about that, considering I built all his machines
since the first Pentium days and they've always run just fine. He said it
was an impulse buy. He was walking past a shop and saw the deal and decided
that he'd replace the last system I built for him, a Barton/nForce2 rig.
(He's selling his Barton rig to his sister at 'family rates' and is going to
give me what he gets for it to set this machine up for him).

> And who's to say, given your mate's recent track record,
> that the system will continue to perform no matter WHAT you do (and
> guess who will now be in the line of fire for blame?)

In his defence (I don't know why I'm defending him. LOL) in the past I've
set up every machine he's used with AVG, Adaware and Spybot *before* he got
them. He claims that he didn't realise the importance of AV etc. until now.
He's just taken it for granted that, when he gets a machine, it'll be fine
to plug in and use. Heh, I mean, if he knew more then I wouldn't get a few
bucks every now and then when he needs me to upgrade/rebuild/ or in this
case re-install for him.

They say that it's the young 'uns who know all about computers and us old
farts are luddites. However, I've known this guy since the week he was born
over 24 years ago. I also flatted and was in business with his (solo) father
when he was an adolescent and have always been a friend to him. If not, if
it was someone else, I'd tell them to take their machine and go whistle....

I already berated him for not getting an Intel machine and bringing
unfamiliar tech to me. I explained that it's not like the old days when all
systems were more similar, variations on a theme. Now there are a lot more
differences between Intel and AMD and the knowledge required for fine-tuning
isn't so portable. He wants me to consider overclocking it for him (with a
suitably upgraded cooler). I have declined (for now at least).

> As to an answer to your temperature monitor question, I can't even
> find what I consider a good temperature monitoring applet for my Core
> 2 Duo on an EVGA 680i motherboard B^(

Hmmm, OK. CoreTemp not play well with nVidia chipsets? I have a P5K-E and a
C2D and have CoreTemp start with Windows, minimised to the systray.

Thanks for your reply Phil. Hopefully someone can help me, I don't have a
lot of time to put into this. Unfortunately I just got a new HDD (Seagate
Bara 7,200.11, 500GB, 32MB cache) to replace a 320GB and have been in the
process of moving all my HDDs 'down the chain', upgrading each of my
machines. However, the new drive is giving me bluescreens and I'm getting an
ominous report from SpeedFan's S.M.A.R.T. monitor (cut'n pasted below).
Neither SpinRite6 or the latest Seatools can find any HDDs through the ICH9R
so I'm waiting on the retailer to send me a replacement, so I can try doing
a clone job (with Acronis) and then send them the 'old' one back.

Cheers, S.M.A.R.T. report follows:

+++++++++++++++++++++++

NOTE : your hard disk has 1 pending sectors. Those are sectors that couldn't
be properly read and that the hard disk logic is waiting for a write
operation to try to remap to a spare sector (if available). According to the
Reallocated Sector Count attribute, your hard disk seems to have available
spare sectors. A simple disk surface scan won't be enough to force the remap
operation. You need a read/write surface scan to remap the sector. The best
option should be a tool that knows about what should be read from that
sector so that it has some option to apply the best fix to the missing data.

NOTE : your hard disk has 1 offline uncorrectable sectors. Those are sectors
that an offline scanning found as unreadable. Offline scanning is a process
that can be automatically started by the hard disk logic when a long enough
idle period is detected or that can be forced by some tool. Those unreadable
sectors are identified and the hard disk logic is waiting for a write
command that will overwrite them to try to remap them to spare sectors (if
available). According to the Reallocated Sector Count attribute, your hard
disk seems to have available spare sectors. A simple disk surface scan won't
be enough to force the remap operation. You need a read/write surface scan
to remap the sector. The best option should be a tool that knows about what
should be read from that sector so that it has some option to apply the best
fix to the missing data.

+++++++++++++++++++++++
--
Shaun.

> "~misfit~" <> wrote in message
> news:4804b2a6$...
>> I always get the best info here.
>>
>> I've got a Phenom 9500 machine here for a couple days. A mate bought
>> it as a 'gaming machine' but with no anti-virus installed it only
>> took a few weeks to become unusable. I've built and set up all his
>> machine's previously so he's bought it to me to get me to partition
>> the HDD (they'd left it as one 500GB partition, hadn't even taken
>> the jumper off the Seagate Bara 7,200.11 that limits the drive to
>> 1.5GB/sec), reinstall windows and set it up as best I can.
>>
>> I don't want to have to learn all about ANDs latest CPUs and
>> monitoring software, overclocking methods etc. I've only just got my
>> head around Intel's Core CPUs. However, he'd like a CPU core temp
>> monitoring utility installed, sitting in the systray if possible.
>> It's got the stock cooler on the CPU and it looks just like my old
>> Barton cooler. It's got a relatively budget Asus mobo in it, an M3A and
>> man, the
>> 'northbridge' gets really hot just idling. Too hot to hold a finger
>> on. The heatsink is only 30mm x 30mm so I don't have a suitable fan
>> for it (except my neat little aluminium-bodied 5V Panasonic fan that
>> I saved out of an old laptop. However, I'd prefer to keep that for
>> if *I* ever need a little, reliable fan).
>>
>> So can anyone advise on an accurate temp monitoring utility for AMD's
>> Phenoms?
>>
>> TIA,
>> --
>> Shaun.

On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 01:50:29 +1200, "~misfit~"
<> wrote:

>I always get the best info here.
>
>I've got a Phenom 9500 machine here for a couple days. A mate bought it as a
>'gaming machine' but with no anti-virus installed it only took a few weeks
>to become unusable. I've built and set up all his machine's previously so
>he's bought it to me to get me to partition the HDD (they'd left it as one
>500GB partition, hadn't even taken the jumper off the Seagate Bara 7,200.11
>that limits the drive to 1.5GB/sec), reinstall windows and set it up as best
>I can.
>
>I don't want to have to learn all about ANDs latest CPUs and monitoring
>software, overclocking methods etc. I've only just got my head around
>Intel's Core CPUs. However, he'd like a CPU core temp monitoring utility
>installed, sitting in the systray if possible. It's got the stock cooler on
>the CPU and it looks just like my old Barton cooler.
>
>It's got a relatively budget Asus mobo in it, an M3A and man, the
>'northbridge' gets really hot just idling. Too hot to hold a finger on. The
>heatsink is only 30mm x 30mm so I don't have a suitable fan for it (except
>my neat little aluminium-bodied 5V Panasonic fan that I saved out of an old
>laptop. However, I'd prefer to keep that for if *I* ever need a little,
>reliable fan).
>
>So can anyone advise on an accurate temp monitoring utility for AMD's
>Phenoms?
>
>TIA,



http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php

Somewhere on teh intarweb "number3" typed:
> On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 01:50:29 +1200, "~misfit~"
> <> wrote:
>
>> I always get the best info here.
>>
>> I've got a Phenom 9500 machine here for a couple days. A mate bought
>> it as a 'gaming machine' but with no anti-virus installed it only
>> took a few weeks to become unusable. I've built and set up all his
>> machine's previously so he's bought it to me to get me to partition
>> the HDD (they'd left it as one 500GB partition, hadn't even taken
>> the jumper off the Seagate Bara 7,200.11 that limits the drive to
>> 1.5GB/sec), reinstall windows and set it up as best I can.
>>
>> I don't want to have to learn all about ANDs latest CPUs and
>> monitoring software, overclocking methods etc. I've only just got my
>> head around Intel's Core CPUs. However, he'd like a CPU core temp
>> monitoring utility installed, sitting in the systray if possible.
>> It's got the stock cooler on the CPU and it looks just like my old
>> Barton cooler.
>>
>> It's got a relatively budget Asus mobo in it, an M3A and man, the
>> 'northbridge' gets really hot just idling. Too hot to hold a finger
>> on. The heatsink is only 30mm x 30mm so I don't have a suitable fan
>> for it (except my neat little aluminium-bodied 5V Panasonic fan that
>> I saved out of an old laptop. However, I'd prefer to keep that for
>> if *I* ever need a little, reliable fan).
>>
>> So can anyone advise on an accurate temp monitoring utility for AMD's
>> Phenoms?
>>
>> TIA,
>
> http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php

Thanks, I've downloaded it and will try it out later. :-)
--
Shaun.

>> http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php

And maybe Speedfan.
--
---
Ed Light

Better World News TV Channel:
http://realnews.com

Bring the Troops Home:
http://bringthemhomenow.org
http://antiwar.com

Send spam to the FTC at

Thanks, robots.

Somewhere on teh intarweb "Ed Light" typed:
>>> http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php
>
> And maybe Speedfan.

Thanks. I've got Speedfan on it but it doesn't pick up the CPU cores. Just
the three mobo monitored temps (NB, SB and case?), the GPU and the HDD.

I can't find one that will minimise to the tray and show core temp like
CoreTemp does on Intels. :-(
--
Shaun.

On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:23:35 GMT, number3 wrote:

>>So can anyone advise on an accurate temp monitoring utility for AMD's
>>Phenoms?

>http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php

Doesn't ASUS PCProbe come on the the support CD that came with the
motherboard? You should be able download it from the ASUS web site if
not.

--
Regards - Rodney Pont
The from address exists but is mostly dumped,
please send any emails to the address below
e-mail ngpsm4 (at) infohitsystems (dot) ltd (dot) uk

Somewhere on teh intarweb "Rodney Pont" typed:
> On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:23:35 GMT, number3 wrote:
>
>>> So can anyone advise on an accurate temp monitoring utility for
>>> AMD's Phenoms?
>
>> http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php
>
> Doesn't ASUS PCProbe come on the the support CD that came with the
> motherboard? You should be able download it from the ASUS web site if
> not.

Actually I thought of that but didn't try it. I will. I have a P5KE-WiFi/AP
running a C2D and a P5PE-VM also running a C2D and Asus Probe(/II) is crap.
It reports board temps and some figure for CPU that changes wildy with each
new BIOS and doesn't seem to relate to the actual CPU temp so I didn't try
it earlier. Perhaps it'll do better on that baord. I have the mobo CD...

Cheers,
--
Shaun.

On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:27:26 +1200, ~misfit~ wrote:

>Actually I thought of that but didn't try it. I will. I have a P5KE-WiFi/AP
>running a C2D and a P5PE-VM also running a C2D and Asus Probe(/II) is crap.
>It reports board temps and some figure for CPU that changes wildy with each
>new BIOS and doesn't seem to relate to the actual CPU temp so I didn't try
>it earlier. Perhaps it'll do better on that baord. I have the mobo CD...

Asus have version 1.04.23 on their web site. I don't know if that's
later than the one on the CD, it's the 2007/09/05 update.

--
Regards - Rodney Pont
The from address exists but is mostly dumped,
please send any emails to the address below
e-mail ngpsm4 (at) infohitsystems (dot) ltd (dot) uk

Somewhere on teh intarweb "Rodney Pont" typed:
> On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:27:26 +1200, ~misfit~ wrote:
>
>> Actually I thought of that but didn't try it. I will. I have a
>> P5KE-WiFi/AP running a C2D and a P5PE-VM also running a C2D and Asus
>> Probe(/II) is crap. It reports board temps and some figure for CPU
>> that changes wildy with each new BIOS and doesn't seem to relate to
>> the actual CPU temp so I didn't try it earlier. Perhaps it'll do
>> better on that baord. I have the mobo CD...
>
> Asus have version 1.04.23 on their web site. I don't know if that's
> later than the one on the CD, it's the 2007/09/05 update.

Cool, thanks for that. I haven't got around to it yet, I might try the new
version if the CD one is crap.
--
Shaun.