CPU stuck @ 100% unless task manager is open

(sorry in advance for the off-topic rant...) :)

Synthetic benchmarks (i.e., 25,000 points more in 'x') mean little if there are not measurable increases in performance in real world applications....

X79 (and now X99) chipset-based motherboards have a few advantages in a few small memory bandwidth-limited applications, but, their expense seems rarely justified.

As for this claim..."The CPU Queen score on a 2500k in turbo boost at 3.7Ghz is 31,950 points. My old i7 930 scored just over 50,000 points. "

Was your 930 OC'd? Because if not, most know an i7/930 at it's stock 3.06 GHz, hyperthreaded or not, will not defeat an i5/2500K at ...well, anything (real applications) in the 'real world' , short of a few useless synthetic benchmarks that are designed to make 'hyperthreading' seem like a cpus performance should be elevated, as though they actually have 8 cores instead of the true 3.06Ghz quad core that they do have....

Researching "CPU Queen" a bit....

AIDA64 themselves describe it as purely synthetic, awarding a cpu higher scores for having a shorter pipeline...regardless of it's real world performance at, well, anything other than doing well in 'cpu queen'.

Perhaps you can name one more actual application (I will settle for the assorted application benchmarks used at Tomshardware, Anandtech or hardocp) where an i7-930 even matches an i5-2500, much less defeats it? (I won't ask the impossible, you posting an application where the 930 defeats an i5-2500. (excluding, perhaps if an i7/930 were oc'd to 4 Ghz, and the i5/2500 underclocked to 3 Ghz?)

I think our i7 920 scores a bit higher but yeah cpu queen/ passmark etc are synthetic piles of u know what... lol

Anyway I was testing recently an E5405 xeon against a X5450 xeon. E5405 is 2ghz 12mb cache quad, x5450 is 3ghz 12mb cache - 80w e5405 vs 120w x5450.

First noticeable difference is heat from 80w to 120w... 80w loads at 35C, 120w loads at 59C.

In terms of synthetic comparison it seems to half as fast basically.

In terms of fps though the e5405 and x5450 is only about 0.5-1.5fps difference which is cool.

e5405 2ghz is $15
x5450 3ghz is $29

So if u wanna build a rig for someone or a few people for Christmas u can pick up some IPIBL-LB's on ebay for $25 a pop, some E5405's for $10-15 a pop, then say 2gb x 4 for $40, some 460/470/480 around $60 each and some 40A 12v psu's for $22 a pop, rosewill ranger-m $29 shipped. lga775 to 771 socket tab removal and adapter sticker required.

By the way Windows experience index rated the e5405 with 2gb of ddr2-667 with a cpu of 7.4. For $10-15 7.4 is great.

Anyway yay if u want fps gpu is usually king as long as your not bottle necked by the cpu.....

Good talk though I like finding the ideal hardware at the ideal right price for an ideal result.