ASrock Conroe945G-DVI

[sincewednesday]

TopazBar, I'm running the Core2Duo E6300. Since I was trying to put together a quiet system, I wasn't thinking about any OC'ing. But Temperature Monitor reports the cores at around 20C! I don't think my MacBook's CoreDuo is that cool when it's off.

 

What program can access the motherboard's temperature sensor?

[TopazBar]

TopazBar, I'm running the Core2Duo E6300. Since I was trying to put together a quiet system, I wasn't thinking about any OC'ing. But Temperature Monitor reports the cores at around 20C! I don't think my MacBook's CoreDuo is that cool when it's off.

 

What program can access the motherboard's temperature sensor?

Very nice temp. Mine is at high 40's during normal usage (fan is at low speed - very enjoyable).

I've searched and tried different programs, but I can't find anything that reads CPU or mobo temp (I think this is because all current temp monitoring programs are written for REAL macs). I'm thinking of developing one for our ASRock mobo.

 

The SMBIOS structure is available in AppleSMBIOS driver. I need to get to that info and parse for fan/temp chip info (winbond xxxxx in our case). Then, read its registers to get the temp info. I'm coming up to speed on AppleSMBIOS interface (looking at nvram.c for example).

 

If anyone can help me speed up that will be good.

[molsar]

hi.

im reading this topic, and have some questions.

 

anyone used DVI asrock add on card to plug only one monitor to DVI slot?

is it working as primary? or system must have two connected (d-sub and dvi at once)?

 

 

im ordering an apple cinema 20" and want single monitor to work via DVI on asrock conroe945G mobo.

 

 

sorry for my english

mol.

[Infamous]

DVI card works perfectly for primary monitor.

 

Sony 23", 1920x1200.

[TopazBar]

DVI card works perfectly for primary monitor.

 

Sony 23", 1920x1200.

Infamous, you have a damn nice Sony monitor.

 

Yep, confirmed here, too. Hanns-G, 19", 1440x900.

 

Once in a while, during boot, Hanns-G looses sync signal from DVI card (color are wrong), and the monitor has to be turned off and on to recover. Cheap monitor, you get what you paid for.

[aberracus]

Theres a Program called Temperature monitor i think it only read CORE DUO 2 temp and Hard Dsik temp, (it does in my system) y posted it in the Genius Bar so go ahead and test it and post your results please!

[Infamous]

It doesnt work on this board.

 

Don't think this is correct....

 

[Tecnoworld]

grom the BIOS I can only assign up to 8MB of system memory to the graphics card...how comes you can set more than that? thanks

[Infamous]

grom the BIOS I can only assign up to 8MB of system memory to the graphics card...how comes you can set more than that? thanks

 

Yes and the next option allows you to set more paramaters, which you seem to ignore. And I can't figure out why

[Tecnoworld]

Infamous : which option are you referring to? sorry for being dumb, but I can't see any other choice, next...

[Infamous]

There are 2 more options right under the setting you're refering to:

 

 

In my previous post I've written I'm using Fixed 128MB.

 

DVMT Mode: FIXED

DVMT/Fixed Memory: 128MB

 

 

But keeping the default settings assigns variable video memory size (up to 192MB when needed), so you dont even need to touch these. You would not even run OS X with only 8 MB...

[Infamous]

TopazBar: How can i open this processors application?

 

your screenshot:

 

http://img85.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sc...chudtoolwz4.png

[aberracus]

Infamous, you are the Screenshots man!, one pic is more valuable than 1000 words, sometimes at least, and in this case absolutely right.

 

2 things, how are u sure your core duo 2 is working at lower temps? have u tested it running under windows?

 

The other is, the procesors aplications is Chuds (or something like that), from the developer kit, i would love to have it too, if somebody tell us how to install it without runing our working system that would be great!

[Infamous]

aberracus

 

I've checked the temperatures in Windows - at 10 hours full load, they were not even on 60C, at 350FSB ! ... And the screenshot i posted was 266FSB idling. Definately not correct Also, BIOS shows a lot lower temps.

 

One more thing to GMA memory : System Profiler will show 256MB no matter what you set. But you can probably verify your setting in Windows. Please confirm someone as i have no working Windows installation at the moment.

[Ryanux]

i confirm that there must be a problem with the temperature :

 

my e6300 running @ 2250mhz is at 35° idle and 42° at load, 42° us quiet reasonable but it's warm, whereas my katana cu is cold, even when it shows 42°, and when i say cold, it's cold and the fan is running very slowly (5v).

[TopazBar]

Hi Infamous,

It is called CHUDTools. It comes as an option within Xcode package. The Xcode should be in one of your install disc. When you install Xcode with Chudtools, a processor preference pane shows up in your system preference. Click on that and you experiment with different options.

 

Regards to amount of VRAM used by GMA950, I'm not sure if we control it because OSX may not honor BIOS Video parameters...(how can one prove or dissaprove that OSX is honoring the parameters?).

[aberracus]

mm your number are quiet reasonable Ryanux, is well know that you cant determine your processor temp by touching the heatsink, i have similar numbers with my conroe e6400@2.61 ghz 34c idle 42c loaded...

 

And really it looks like a reasonable number, i have tested under windowz and it says 36 idle and 44 under load... and the hd is a little more hot too, i think the diferences are more about how the OS stress the CPU than anything.

 

TopazBar i remeber someone having after dificulties installing CHUDTOOLS or some part of the XCODE from the developer disk or form the one you can download from apple, can you describe exactly how do you installit?

 

Thanks!

[TopazBar]

I put in a 120mm (? the big one) fan inside my case and hooked it up to one of available IDE power connectors. However, it was way too loud (747 airplane taking off, lol), so decided to rewire it to use 5V instead of 12V. I re-installed the fan and reconnect. The fan was much quieter. I liked it. However, my SATA drive did not like it at all. It was not getting enough power and slowly, data was being corrupted. OSX began to crawl and finally it hang.

 

I put the fan on different power line so it won't interfere with SATA disk. Now everything seems to be fine.

Disk Utility could not recover the OSX root partition, but did verify that the partition that had all my data was still intact. So I re-installed OSX (pain), but I was happy that my data was still there.

 

So let this be lesson to you all, don't let the heavy duty fan share power with your disks.

 

TopazBar i remeber someone having after dificulties installing CHUDTOOLS or some part of the XCODE from the developer disk or form the one you can download from apple, can you describe exactly how do you installit?

 

Thanks!

It is piece of cake if u don't have AMD and don't install the wrong version. Otherwise, it is just like any other package.

 

EDIT: the processor application dynamically let you run one or both cores. It is neat.

[Ryanux]

mm your number are quiet reasonable Ryanux, is well know that you cant determine your processor temp by touching the heatsink, i have similar numbers with my conroe e6400@2.61 ghz 34c idle 42c loaded...

 

And really it looks like a reasonable number, i have tested under windowz and it says 36 idle and 44 under load... and the hd is a little more hot too, i think the diferences are more about how the OS stress the CPU than anything.

 

TopazBar i remeber someone having after dificulties installing CHUDTOOLS or some part of the XCODE from the developer disk or form the one you can download from apple, can you describe exactly how do you installit?

 

Thanks!

 

Yes they are reasonable, but not logical :censored2:

 

i have another problem, if you're interested by helping me take a look around : http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?act...t=0#entry193859

 

thanks

[Infamous]

Topaz:

 

It does not matter what System Profiler shows about your GMA, i guess. It's just somehow "hard coded" or slightly "incopmatible". Hence, we are using cracked OS and glue here-glue there kexts and drivers so any system informations are probably not that correct Nothing to worry about since they're working fine.

 

OS X just reads the BIOS like any other OS (cracked one, real one uses EFI and that's whole different story). It can not change what you set in BIOS. When you set 64MB, GMA will 100% surely use 64MB, not less, not more. Some texturing benchmark would prove it but I think it's not that important since you can't really play any new games on this graphics card, and older does not even need 128MB. When someone is bored he can try

 

And thanks for that CPU tool i'll try it.

 

..... You better get a better power supply, one fan should really not hurt anything no matter where it's connected. IMO it should handle like 10 FANs at 12V, and HDDs and high speed graphics card and stuff. Your one has troubles with one fan

[Tecnoworld]

I'm not much into MacOS X yet, so I didn't understand where to find CHUDTools...may you explain better how to install it? thanks

[Infamous]

ftp://ftp.apple.com:21/developer/Tool_Che.../CHUD_4.4.2.dmg

 

then open System Preferences, click Processor, check the option at the bottom, click on the icon in the menubar and there you go...

[TopazBar]

It does not matter what System Profiler shows about your GMA, i guess. It's just somehow "hard coded" or slightly "incopmatible". Hence, we are using cracked OS and glue here-glue there kexts and drivers so any system informations are probably not that correct Nothing to worry about since they're working fine.

I agree.

And thanks for that CPU tool i'll try it.

Anytime. I didn't say it before but I appreciate all your posting about OC. Thanks.

..... You better get a better power supply, one fan should really not hurt anything no matter where it's connected. IMO it should handle like 10 FANs at 12V, and HDDs and high speed graphics card and stuff. Your one has troubles with one fan

True. It is new one too (weak, I quess or very sensitive sata). BTW, it is Samsung sata disk. I got it because reviewers were saying it is very quiet. It is very quiet indeed when idling, but very noisy when active.

[aberracus]

Thanks for the CHUDTools dowloading now.

 

Get a better PSU its an excellent thing to do, buy one from Thermaltake, Ultra, Antec or other mayor brand.

 

Samsung HDs are usually Quieter and work more cooler, but i prefer to use Seagate, i trust them more.

 

cheers, this one is a great topic!

[Inopia]

Hello,

 

I've just ordered the ASRock conroe945G-DVI, along with an E6100 and a gig of memory. I'm a hardcore windows user (grew up on DOS and graphics programming), but I find I need a UNIX like environment for development every once in a while. So I decided to give osx a try, after having tried a couple of linux distributions (and hated them all). Osx86 is also a great way for developers to test their code on the mac platform without having to buy one of those expensive glossy computers.

 

In any case, I've been reading this thread and ofcourse I want to thank everybody for sharing their experiences, it will make my life so much easier when I get around to installing OSX.

 

The only thing I was wondering about is cooling. I've been reading these core duos run a bit hot. Is it possible to passively cool them nontheless? I would be interested into making the whole thing run silent.