Merry Christmas in March????

[docnascar]

The SPD speed of your RAM is 1600 which is why that's what the auto setting finds. It can be overclocked to 1866 if your MB supports Intel XMP.

I got it to boot with 1866mhz! I had to set the ddr freq to "1866", set timing mode to "link" mode, and set the timing value for (tcl=9, trcd=10, trp=9, tras=28 cmd=2)

Thanks for the tip! It made me look for XMP and since I could not find any profiles like that, I tried to set it manually and it worked.

In auto it comes up with 1600 and 11 11 11 28.

[kjpetrie]

Glad it works. Let's hope it's reliable!

Considering I thought 1866 was the size, we're just muddling through!

[jberkpc]

I agree with those, who say try SSD. I love the old hard drives. I'm kinda sad to see them go. On my last build, I was given an 120GB SSD and thought what I'm I going to do with a drive that small. I'm old enough and actually still have some working ST225's from seagate. That is 20MB total per drive. Those were the days. Anyway I tried the SSD. Because of it's size, I used it all for Windoz 7 and also installed my muti boot loader System Commander on it. My Linux distro's are on my 1TB WD VelociRaptor and I have another WD 1TB black for data. The VelociRaptor is scary fast but much slower and nosier than the SSD. Try an SSD and you will love it. The cost will continue to go down and the capacity will continue to go up.

[cirehawk]

I'm considering doing the same thing (upgrading my system) even though my current one is still running good after 3 years.  I've actually been considering it for a year now but I've been waiting for the 64-bit official release.  Since it appears to be getting closer, I'm starting to look at parts.  I definitely plan to get a SSD for the OS, and 16gig of RAM.  I currently have a Phenom II processor, but I assume the FX series is better?  Any suggestion on the processor would be appreciated.  I'm not a gamer, so that's not a consideration.  And so as not to hijack the thread, I too would recommend you get a SSD.

[µT6]

"I currently have a Phenom II processor, but I assume the FX series is better?  Any suggestion on the processor would be appreciated."

the FX processor is meant to be overclocked, in fact, the FX line exist for this sole purpose, so you will need a mainboard supporting this feature, also ram for that purpose and of course a psu that can provide extra volts and watts for the extra load

if you are not planning on doing that or you are more concerned about system stability, this feature won't offer you anything and you will end up not using it, so perhaps invest the money on other parts could be more beneficial i think

[jberkpc]

I see a lot of people on the forum using AMD processors. My son uses one of the 8 core versions for his mail server and is happy with it. I was so happy in the 2 year period when the Athalon XP's were blowing away the P-4's. Alas it didn't last long and as much as I hat monopolies, I went back to Intel and now have a 2011 i7 3820 because AMD dropped out of the CPU enthusiast market.
However AMD's prices are great and the next time I build a machine for  my daughters or grandchildren, I think , I'll try one. I definitely couldn't afford my system but my son who is doing well as a Linux Sys Admin , lets me research, pick and build and he buys. I knew there was a reward in there somewhere for letting him use my PC's while he compiled and learned Linux.

[µT6]

amd had really hard times thanks to intel way to do business(as in the enormous bully it is)

their cpus began to loose ground but even in their current state, i still choose amd over intel because in most cases the advantage intel has over amd is 20 or 30% on apps i never use

amd still is simpler to deploy, puts less problems with psus(especially the cheap ones) and parts remain cheaper and simpler to maintain

if the future brings arm cpus for desktop pcs, amd seems to be working on a solution for that, something that intel didn't even bothered to try and possibly will hurt them in the future

"Intel is unbeatable in the laptop space today, but the combination of the popularity of tablets and the laws of physics at 19nm scale and below makes you wonder where they will be in five to 10 years' time."

http://www.zdnet.com/intel-arm-tablets-and-desktop-where-is-processing-going-next-7000009224/

i only bought a intel cpu because i didn't had a choice back then, i had to buy a netbook and the only option was a atom that time, but if i had a option, this thing would be a amd

[deck99]

AMD made a move into the APU.. processor- graphics chip..  Using the ATI tech with there power management are out performing Intel.   You can get an 2.9 ghz quad processor with HD 6880 graphics for 85 dollars.   And the reviews are very good.... 

But AMD fans know they should have kept on producing the phenom...  that processor was a monster... half the price of matching Intel with the performance very close..   

Good luck...  if you can not get cpufreq to work,  install powersave...  it works...