GA-8I945GMMFY-RH experiences

[jojo4u]

I have built a PC with a GA-8I945GMMFY-RH and a Merom 1.86 GHz. The CPU is superb and stable at lowest possible VID 0.95V (via RMClock). CPU-Z reads 0.93/0.9V idle/load at this setting.
EIST works, but I use only 2 P-States (6x->11x) since the voltage is always the lowest. C-States C2-C4 are not implemented. Some hacking under Linux yielded around 1W DC less under Linux while in C3 state.
The supplied heatsink allows idle operations exept for continous stress testing. Speedfan supports changing one fan header (advanced -> ITxxx -> disable SmartGuardian). Overclocking is not possible.

System specs:
Merom 1.83 GHz
1 GiB MDT RAM 333 MHz
120GB Fujitsu MHV2120BH 5400rpm 2.5" disk
LG DVD burner
300W ATX Enhance PSU (looking forward to PW-200-M)
Silverstone Temjin TJ-08B µATX case

Power consumption from wall:
idle 51W
idle extreme - all possible tweaks: 44W
load prime95 74W
loas TAT 79W

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. One day I might post something under user reviews.

[smilingcrow]

I’m surprised at how much power your system consumed. I built a system with the same motherboard with the spec below and it consumed noticeably less power:

2GB DDR2-667, Samsung 250GB 3.5â€

[b3nbranch]

Nice system!

I'm considering building a system next month along somewhat similar
lines -- same mobo and case, possibly the 2.16 MHz Merom (T7400).
A few questions:

What heatsink did you use?

How much room is there for a heatsink underneath the PSU with this mobo?

Did you need to or choose to place a shim around the CPU to help
protect it from the heatsink, as others have done with the T* series CPUs?

Thanks much!
Ben

[jojo4u]

What heatsink did you use?
How much room is there for a heatsink underneath the PSU with this mobo?
Did you need to or choose to place a shim around the CPU to help
protect it from the heatsink, as others have done with the T* series CPUs?

Heatsink ist the supplied hsf with fan unplugged. With a 120 mm case fan at 1100 rpm and two very slow 80 mm fans in the PSU I get 86° during Prime95 small fft. I have no problem of reaching 100°C since Thermal Monitor 1 protecs it.

I tried a Ninja on it and you need a shim because the die ist too low. Still looking forward to this.

About the room, I measured 26 mm from the end of the hsf to the PSU. The retention frame is 91 mm long (http://www.intel.com/design/pentium4/gu ... 988903.pdf page 45). The Ninja is 110x110 mm so it's safe (http://www.scythe-eu.com/products/cpu/n ... -1100P.php).

Overall I'm quite content. The lacking overclocking is a bit annoying. I haven't tried my ADD2 DVI card yet.

[b3nbranch]

Thank you for the info and links. Very helpful!

Ben