[ale] PC specs-AMD chipset

[Ron Frazier]

Congrats.  Sounds like a nice system.  I like Dell.  I never have 
figured out how to read the logs you post for temperature.  One 
alternate way to read disk temperature, if you're using Ubuntu, is to go 
to the disk utility program and pull up the smart data for the drive (if 
supported).  It will tell the temperature.  The command that's run from 
this is palimpsest.  So that program may be available in other systems.  
Also, there is a widget that you can put on one of the Gnome panels (to 
the side or top or bottom) which will read the CPU temperature IF the 
kernel detected your sensors correctly.  It works fine on my Dell 
Laptop.  It doesn't work on the PC I built unless I rebuild a kernel 
module periodically.  Lately, on that machine, I just look at the 
display on the motherboard for CPU temperature.  Either you or someone 
else mentioned conky.  It might have been Scott or Rich.  Anyway, that 
will put a bunch of your system stats on your desktop background.

In your other post, you replied to my note about an alternate cooler.  
Note that the CPU may not overheat until you really push it hard for 
some time and the heat accumulates.  Dell may have fixed this problem.  
The CPU may throttle itself to keep from frying, and just hover around 
the maximum temperature.  Also, on my MB at least, the CPU cooler covers 
up the latch that releases the CPU.  So, there is a problem.  The cooler 
will not want to come off because of the thermal paste, and you cannot 
release the chip from the socket.  I tried to pull the cooler up, it 
tried pull the CPU up, and it eventually came out of the socket with it 
still latched, which was not my intent.  I must have moved the unit 
sideways a few millimeters, because some of the pins were bent.  It took 
me an hour with a jewelers screwdriver and some tweezers to restore just 
a few pins.  They are VERY small, and delicate, and VERY close 
together.  It wouldn't take much to break them.  All that time, I was 
worried that I'd have to buy a new CPU.  I would suggest readers of this 
post avoid that particular exercise.  I still don't know how to 
"properly" get the cooler off the chip.

Make sure you don't void your warranty by tinkering with things in 
there.  Good luck with your new system.

Sincerely,

Ron


On 02/12/2011 04:47 AM, Paul Cartwright wrote:
> On 02/11/2011 10:11 PM, Ron Frazier wrote:
>> I really like Corsair system components, although there are many 
>> other good brands.
>> 4 - 8 GB of memory and a Corsair TX750W power supply would keep you 
>> humming nicely with room to grow.  I THINK advanced video cards can 
>> draw over 150 W.  This can be a big power problem, especially if you 
>> gang them together.
>
> thanks, I settled on a Dell XPS desktop with AMD chip. I have no idea 
> what the motherboard is. This will be my 3rd XPS model. I have a 5 
> year-old laptop & a 6 year old desktop. I got the laptop in Jan. 2006. 
> I thought I got the desktop first, but it might have been later in 
> 2006, I don't remember..
> my current system is showing some age. I am having some video 
> problems, remnants, dots across some screens, and I'm not sure about 
> my main HD, according to the sensors, it should be burning up..:
> Feb 12 03:42:11 paulandcilla smartd[4499]: Device: /dev/sda, SMART 
> Usage Attribute: 194 Temperature_Celsius changed from 118 to 116
> Feb 12 03:42:12 paulandcilla smartd[4499]: Device: /dev/sdb, SMART 
> Usage Attribute: 190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel changed from 59 to 56
> Feb 12 03:42:12 paulandcilla smartd[4499]: Device: /dev/sdb, SMART 
> Usage Attribute: 194 Temperature_Celsius changed from 41 to 44
> Feb 12 03:42:12 paulandcilla smartd[4499]: Device: /dev/sdb, SMART 
> Usage Attribute: 195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered changed from 61 to 63
> Feb 12 03:42:12 paulandcilla smartd[4499]: Device: /dev/sda, SMART 
> Usage Attribute: 7 Seek_Error_Rate changed from 100 to 200
>
>
>
> here is basically what I got:AMD Phenom^^(TM) II X6 1045T (2.7GHz/9MB 
> cache), w/6Gb memory. and 1024 (MB) ATI HD5670 Radeon^TM video card.
> -- 
> Paul Cartwright
>
>
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-- 

(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new messages very quickly.)

Ron Frazier

770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
linuxdude AT c3energy.com

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