I do not know how to check in advance (maybe someone else will pipe in on that) but I don't think it will make any significant difference which it is in the MSS environment.

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....JBick

EX475, 2 GB, LE-1640
PC1: Vista-->W7 Ultimate/32, (D-Drive RAID-5 Array)
PC2: Lenovo Laptop, Win XP Home SP3
2xLinksys WRT54G v1.1 and 2xNetGear GS105 Gbit switch

Success! The upgrade went flawlessly. Thanks for everyone's help!

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Robert D Goldstein

Just to let you guys know. I installed the CPU and memory upgrade several weeks ago. Everything went fine for a while. Then after about 10 days my server would shut down for no reason. It started to happen more frequently with no apparent reason (no temp issues). Then it shut down every couple of hours. Pulled the CPU out and put back the orginal CPU and it's been running fine 24/7 for more than 2 weeks with the 2 gig memory. Just thought I'd throw in my 2 cents if things start to act strange. I know several others had the same issue and went back to the orginal CPU.

Yeah, I've read about instability issues. I am hanging on to my original processor just in case...

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Robert D Goldstein

Like other posters say "Why would you need to upgrade cpu?"

"Why Not?"

"You probably won't use all of the power of the current CPU"
"Why upgrade a CPU when there would be no noticable improvement?"

"Don't be a wimp" "Why Not?"

" Most of the other guys say that a RAM upgrade is all that is needed."
and " Why would you want to void your warranty"

" There is only 4 months left on warranty anyway! Why not?"

" you have never done this kind of an upgrade." " Why risk damaging your MMS?"

" You will already have the server torn apart & it's only 4 more screws and besides It's only money & you can always make more!" " Come on man why Not?"

" This is suppose to be a green always on machine" " Why spend more on electricity?"

" You own stock in oil companys!" "you voted for GW (H) Bush!"
( Global Warming Halliburton Bush ) "Why not?"

" If you wanted a bigger badder machine it would have been cheaper to build from scratch." " Why waste the money now?"

" Come on man you will spend $39 for RAM but wont spend another $45 on a CPU?" " You waste more money than that at Starbucks!" " Why not?"

" Fine have it you way but don't come crying to me if something goes wrong!"

"Hey!" " Don't HATE the player HATE the game!"

" I want my mommy"

Yeeehaaaa! ordered my ram & CPU today.

Off topic disclaimer: While I did vote for our current president and do support him. If you are offended by my above remark, RELAX! It was only a joke.[/b]

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Chris Bickerstaff
HP MSS DataVault X510
Core 2 Quad Core Q9550s
4GB Mushkin Ram
TR4MB eSata Enclosure
TR4UB USB Enclosure
Netgear WNDR3700
UPS APC 1500 XS LCD

Seriously,

All of the talk about HP having to much thermal paste on the stock CPU got me to thinking.

My unit runs with the stock CPU at 37 degrees with the CPU at 47 degrees constantly.

It is located in a bedroom on the shelf.

Since my temps are warmer than everyone elses I started wondering if it would not be a good idea to clean off and reapply the thermal paste while changing the RAM.

This got me to thinking that if you are going to do all of that. Why not change the CPU with a single core LE 1640?

Even if it does not help it seems to me like it could't hurt either.

Now keep in mind I have no clue about what temp the cpu should be. All I know is that after reading everyone else talking about being in the high 20's to mid 30's, I got a case of low CPU temp envy.

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Chris Bickerstaff
HP MSS DataVault X510
Core 2 Quad Core Q9550s
4GB Mushkin Ram
TR4MB eSata Enclosure
TR4UB USB Enclosure
Netgear WNDR3700
UPS APC 1500 XS LCD

I'm running the stock CPU, my idle CPU temp is 31 'C in a room with an ambient air temp of 23 'C. Your idle CPU temp seems high. You might want to check to see if the CPU is stepping down in speed as it should when it's idle. Under load, the CPU should run at 1800MHz, but when idle (about 10% CPU or less) it should drop down to 1000MHz. You can use CPU-Z to determine what speed the CPU is operating at. I've also found that when my VCCP voltage is 0.992 V, that means my CPU is idle and running at 1000MHz. When my VCCP voltage increases to 1.28 V, that means the CPU is under load and running at 1800MHz. For a while, after messing with my power setttings, I had the automatic speed step-down disabled, so my CPU was running at 1800MHz even when idle. When that was happening my idle CPU temp was in the 41 - 43 'C range. Under load I've seen it go as high at 57 'C.

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MSS | HP EX470 w/ 2GB RAM and 4x 500GB HDD
UPS | APC CS 350 (210 Watts, dedicated to MSS)

How do you check if automatic step down is turned on?

_________________
Chris Bickerstaff
HP MSS DataVault X510
Core 2 Quad Core Q9550s
4GB Mushkin Ram
TR4MB eSata Enclosure
TR4UB USB Enclosure
Netgear WNDR3700
UPS APC 1500 XS LCD

The speed step-down should be enabled by default, but if you've tweaked your Power Option settings at all, it may have been turned off. You can use something like CPU-Z to check what speed your CPU is currently running at:

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

In my case, I am using an add-in to manage my UPS, which by default disabled the built-in Windows power alarms so that the add-in can manage the UPS, but a side effect is that it also disabled the CPU speed step-down functionality. I've found that simply opening the Control Panel GUI for Power Options on my WHS instantly re-enables the CPU Speed step-down. There is nothing to select or configure, simply opening that control panel window allows it to work. I've verified this by having CPU-Z running as I've done it. It continues to work after being closed.

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MSS | HP EX470 w/ 2GB RAM and 4x 500GB HDD
UPS | APC CS 350 (210 Watts, dedicated to MSS)

I also have Grid Junction installed.

I did what you said and the VCCP volts dropped & temp started dropping.

I guess I should uninstall Grid as my HP UPS does not seem to be supported.

Thanks advice!

_________________
Chris Bickerstaff
HP MSS DataVault X510
Core 2 Quad Core Q9550s
4GB Mushkin Ram
TR4MB eSata Enclosure
TR4UB USB Enclosure
Netgear WNDR3700
UPS APC 1500 XS LCD

Just FYI - I've been in contact with the author of Grid Junction about this. He's working very hard on a fix (which is why the 1.2 release hasn't gone public yet) and is taking this very seriously.

For those using Grid Junction, you'll need to open the Power Options Control Panel GUI everytime Grid Junction starts (including after a reboot) to re-enable the CPU speed step-down functionality. In my case, my idle CPU temp dropped by about 10 'C after doing this, from about 41 - 42 'C to about 30 - 31 'C when idle.

Remember that all it takes to re-enable the speed step-down funcationality is simply opening the Power Options control panel, you can then close it immediately without selecting or changing anything.

_________________
MSS | HP EX470 w/ 2GB RAM and 4x 500GB HDD
UPS | APC CS 350 (210 Watts, dedicated to MSS)

I've been running grid junction since June and have not experienced that problem. My CPU has always stepped down and I have not gone to power setting at all. Not sure what's different with my machine.

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HP EX470, 4 GIG, 4200+ EE SFF, WHS V1, Production
HP EX485, 4 GIG, E5800, WHS 2011, Stablebit Drive Pool, Transfer Server, Backup Server
HP EX490, 4 GIG, Q9400S, WHS 2011, Stablebit Drive Pool, Mediaserver
HP EX485, 4 GIG, Q8200S, WHS 2011, ITUNES Server

Interesting indeed. Alexander Kent (the author of Grid Junction) would probably want to hear from you to find out why your system is behaving differently. Since I pointed this out to him, he has confirmed that he is able to reproduce this issue on his test machines and is actively working on a fix.

Have you verified using a tool such as CPU-Z that your CPU really is stepping down to 1000MHz when idle? Maybe as an experiment try restarting the GridJunctionService.exe from services.msc and see if it continues to step down when idle.

***EDIT***

Sorry, just realized that you are running a 4050e dual core CPU that runs at 2.1GHz, I'm not sure how fast those are supposed to run when they step down, but I suspect it isn't 1000MHz like the 3400+ Sempron.

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MSS | HP EX470 w/ 2GB RAM and 4x 500GB HDD
UPS | APC CS 350 (210 Watts, dedicated to MSS)

I ran a 1460 before the 4050e and I was part of the beta test and the machines have always stepped down to 1000 mhz verified by Everest CPUID. And yes the 4050e goes down to 1000mhz.

_________________
HP EX470, 4 GIG, 4200+ EE SFF, WHS V1, Production
HP EX485, 4 GIG, E5800, WHS 2011, Stablebit Drive Pool, Transfer Server, Backup Server
HP EX490, 4 GIG, Q9400S, WHS 2011, Stablebit Drive Pool, Mediaserver
HP EX485, 4 GIG, Q8200S, WHS 2011, ITUNES Server

Now I should qualify because I have not run the public release on a mediasmart. I was running one of the beta releases on an LE-1640 and it was stepping down. I'm running the public release on a dual core intel machine and it steps down to 1200 mhz, but that's a whole different ball game.

_________________
HP EX470, 4 GIG, 4200+ EE SFF, WHS V1, Production
HP EX485, 4 GIG, E5800, WHS 2011, Stablebit Drive Pool, Transfer Server, Backup Server
HP EX490, 4 GIG, Q9400S, WHS 2011, Stablebit Drive Pool, Mediaserver
HP EX485, 4 GIG, Q8200S, WHS 2011, ITUNES Server