New rig, have to share :)

Very nice, i just finished building my first system for the last 10 years or so. It's amazing what you can get for the money building yourself. I used a 2500k over clocked from 3.3ghz all the way to 4.5ghz.

 

Very nice! Looks more like an exercise in cooling than computing.....

Shame about the OS of choice though

I've read about over clocking, but never tried it - My understanding (& please correct as appropriate) is that Intel tests the CPU's and determines, on a chip by chip basis what they should be clocked at - Yields are obviously much higher and hence cheaper for the slower versions.

I'm sure they also build in quite a "safety margin", so moderate O/C should be OK? How crazy can you go before things start getting weird? [A case by case basis?] Do you go crazy and then back it off? Or start slow and gradually increase?

TIA, cheers,
Ian

 

I honestly don't know that much about it, my motherboard and CPU combo are very common so there are plenty of people running the same exact set-up. I believe the general rule is to keep pushing it until it's unstable and then back off to where you get stability and the most power gain.

 

Nothing under Linux to do the same?

Awesome! Thanks for the comments. I've read all kinds of dire warnings about overclocking, but certainly didn't know you had to increase the voltage - IIRC, most of mine run at about 3.2V in the cores - What do you take it to?

Cheers,
Ian

 

Voltage capabilities are really going to be pretty variable... even on a chip by chip basis. Some particular manufacturing lots may be able to handle higher voltages on average compared to another lot, but in general you just have to test your own.


I used to dabble in overclocking back in the Pentium 4 days. I was able to eek out a bit of extra performance from my components, but never had the capabilty (read: funds) to get the proper cooling equipment to get any noticeable improvements.

 

Cooling's a cinch these days. Good chassis + good CPU coolers and the things just don't get hot these days. GPU's can get toasty though.

Also, pics don't really show how GIANT some of these air coolers are. I've got a big one, but the Noctua's in the OP's PC dwarf it. They are HUGE.

 

My GPU hasnt' got a fan and when gaming it goes up to over 85c (which is far too hot). It's a cheap one thought so I don't mind too much.

My cpu (E5800) I've overclocked to 3.7ghz (stock 3.0) on the stock fan. Big case, small motherboard, no other fans. My PSU fan blows relatively cold air over the CPU fan though.

 

So what's the ball park figure on what you paid for your setup minus the windows license? and how loud is it when it's one? (fan noise)

 

Pondering a $1k-ish i7 2600k build right now. I want hackintosh capability to take advantage of both OS as I also need autocad & 3d rendering(PC) and would like the apple OS for the benefit of my photography.

I've never built a box before and am a bit hesitant. It seems the putting together part isn't necessarily the scary part it's the getting everything to play nicely together that takes the time/know how that makes me nervous.

Looks like you've got a very nice rig there... enjoy.

 

I always wondered what noctua's looked like. I personally have a silver arrow. I wish intel would get out of the stone age and upgrade their memory controllers on the i7s. The processor can't handle the speed of my ram without a huge fan. I refuse to use 2600s. No triple channel. Anybody heard any info about the next processors?

Its not a big deal to build your own machine alfa. I use asus boards, usually the RoG boards, patriot extreme ram, corsair power. You should be fine using high quality parts. Good ram is the hardest part.

 

Will start my own thread as to not hijack... sorry OP

 

I'm planning a new build for my htcp server. Right now I'm running a Xeon proc on a supermicro mobo. I thought I was doing something right, but as it turns out I think its best to go back to high end desktop gear. Been looking at the 2600k 7i with the top Asus mono, full ram with SSD PCI for the os and liquid cooling.
I have 14 tb of storage in an esata box and a few drives in the case.

I used to run windows home server, when they removed data pooling drives I switched to win 7.

Anyone with any advice? I don't follow what's new really, I hear the next gen Intel procs are supposed to be pretty good but they will come at a premium.

 

Nice rig

Anyone used to have the Athlon processors that required a 4B pencil to unlock? Ahh the good old days... I don't miss them

 

Yeah, I had an Athlon and did the pencil trick...also don't miss the early days of hot CPU's, crappy chipsets, slow hard drives and ween-arsed video cards.

 

And 7000-lb CRT's.

 

Thanks for the response, I was wondering if it was in the 1k area lol. I may eventually build something, but I never have the time to use it.