I need some opinions

[Seero]

OKay, I have a Q6600 that is mildly OCed (3G), and my wife have a stock 920. While her PC is still running strong, smoking games she likes to play, mine is showing its age. Something needs to be done.

I am thinking of OC more on my Q6600 until it dies so I can have a legitimate reason for an upgrade. However, I know sandy bridge is coming out and it have on-die video which I don't like because I like discrete video cards. So here are my questions:

If I were to go crazy on OC, what kind of voltage/speed shall I aim at so the thing,680i is the mobo and Q6600 is the CPU, will probably die in 4-6 months? (My last attempt on this killed the PSU instead of the CPU...)

I thought Intel will release a Sandy Bridge CPU that doesn't have integrated graphics, when will it be released?

Does the integrated graphic from Sandy Bridge do anything if I have a decent discrete video card?

Shall I simply go with I7-930?

Thank you in advance.

 

[Idontcare]

680i for overclocking the Q6600 is a PITA because 680i has so many FSB holes and in general just isn't very robust when dealing with kentsfield quads on higher FSB's (>333MHz).

That said, assuming you have a great chipset and stable mobo and you were willing to lap your CPU's IHS and HSF and buy a great HSF (TRU120 or Tuniq Tower or better) you'd be looking at ~1.33V (1.26V after Vdroop under load) to get to 3.3GHz with peak temps in the 50-60C range.

If you want 3.6GHz then you are looking at 1.4-1.5V and temps in the 70C range under the same really good aircooling.

It'll still run like that for years though, you have to work pretty darn hard at it to kill those 65nm Kentsfield chips. (I had 6 of them, managed to kill one under phase from condensation/corrosion)

 

[Seero]

680i for overclocking the Q6600 is a PITA because 680i has so many FSB holes and in general just isn't very robust when dealing with kentsfield quads on higher FSB's (>333MHz).

That said, assuming you have a great chipset and stable mobo and you were willing to lap your CPU's IHS and HSF and buy a great HSF (TRU120 or Tuniq Tower or better) you'd be looking at ~1.33V (1.26V after Vdroop under load) to get to 3.3GHz with peak temps in the 50-60C range.

If you want 3.6GHz then you are looking at 1.4-1.5V and temps in the 70C range under the same really good aircooling.

It'll still run like that for years though, you have to work pretty darn hard at it to kill those 65nm Kentsfield chips. (I had 6 of them, managed to kill one under phase from condensation/corrosion)

Everything is lapped like a mirror and temps are not a concern. I however got a Butterfly Heatsink (Can't resist the look of it). I never successfully boot the PC at 3.6Ghz. I didn't pencil mod the board.

Can you give me some light on what to upgrade too please dear Idontcare?

Very appreciated.

 

[brencat]

Can you give me some light on what to upgrade too please dear Idontcare?

Very appreciated.

You can always sell your core components and upgrade to i5-760 which overclocks terrific. Here's the math:

New Build:
i5-760 $181 taxed (Microcenter)
GA-P55-USB3 mobo $105
4GB DDR-3 1600 $75 AR
CM Hyper 212+ cooler $30
= Net $391

Sell Existing:
Q6600 $90
4GB DDR2 $40+
680i $45+
= Net ($175)

Out of Pocket = $216

No brainer.

 

[Seero]

You can always sell your core components and upgrade to i5-760 which overclocks terrific...

I am not considering selling because a) I don't know how, and b) I lapped the CPU. Since my wife has i7-920, I want something that beat that because it is very hard to get legitimate reasons for upgrade.

 

[JAG87]

Follow IDC's overclocking advice

 

[Idontcare]

Everything is lapped like a mirror and temps are not a concern. I however got a Butterfly Heatsink (Can't resist the look of it). I never successfully boot the PC at 3.6Ghz. I didn't pencil mod the board.

Can you give me some light on what to upgrade too please dear Idontcare?

Very appreciated.

Very likely a 680i limitation then.

I had a 680i, a good one too the Striker Extreme, and it sucked ass for overclocking Kentsfield and that is no understatement.

The intel chipsets make overclocking kentsfield a doable process.

So Seero, if you are serious about this adventure then you need to isolate and identify the bottleneck in your system.

First we need to determine where your chipset craps out for FSB.

To do this go into the bios and manually set your CPU multiplier to 6x (the lowest). Keep Vcore unchanged from what you are using to get 3GHz.

Set your memory speed to the lowest the bios lets you.

Now start increasing the FSB, increase it some (say 10MHz increments) and test for stability with Prime 95 LARGE (not small!) FFT.

At some point above 333MHz it will start to error even though your CPU and ram are well below stock clocks. At this point you can either (a) increase MCH voltage, and/or (b) implement better cooling on your northbridge. Then continue upping the FSB until you are convinced you've found the upper limit.

With this number in hand you will know just how far you can overclock your CPU and your ram.

Lemme know how that goes.

 

[Seero]

Very likely a 680i limitation then.

I had a 680i, a good one too the Striker Extreme, and it sucked ass for overclocking Kentsfield and that is no understatement.

The intel chipsets make overclocking kentsfield a doable process.

So Seero, if you are serious about this adventure then you need to isolate and identify the bottleneck in your system.

First we need to determine where your chipset craps out for FSB.

To do this go into the bios and manually set your CPU multiplier to 6x (the lowest). Keep Vcore unchanged from what you are using to get 3GHz.

Set your memory speed to the lowest the bios lets you.

Now start increasing the FSB, increase it some (say 10MHz increments) and test for stability with Prime 95 LARGE (not small!) FFT.

At some point above 333MHz it will start to error even though your CPU and ram are well below stock clocks. At this point you can either (a) increase MCH voltage, and/or (b) implement better cooling on your northbridge. Then continue upping the FSB until you are convinced you've found the upper limit.

With this number in hand you will know just how far you can overclock your CPU and your ram.

Lemme know how that goes.

As I type this, My PC is running at 3.6G @ 1.5v, 400x4FSB, at around 42 degree idle. No fans are at max speed, it is still really quiet atm. 26% cpu fan speed.

I was wrong, i had it running at 3.24Ghz ever since I put it together several years ago. However, I didn't remember that I could boot it at 3.6Ghz. It will probably crap out if i run prime95.

 

[Idontcare]

42C idle?...is that with core temp? Did you adjust the TJmax to 90C from the default 100C for that program?

 

[Seero]

42C idle?...is that with core temp? Did you adjust the TJmax to 90C from the default 100C for that program?

TjMax is 100C. I didn't know Q6600 has TjMax 90. Anyways, the CPU fan is at 26%. I dont' know how to adjust TjMax in Core Temp.

A side note: I always wonder why the heatpipe is so cool for the CPU. I thought that is a normal temp because I ran prime95 hours and the heatpipe wasn't even warm and the PC is still stable. I thought "hey if heatpipe off CPU is not hot, then heatpipe off GPU should be too hot." I realized that was wrong in the hot way by feeling the heatpipe from GPU with my toe... and yes, the reflexes of my toe is really really slow...

I don't know why I can suddenly run at 3.6Ghz without any issues. It may be due to the new(relatively) PSU.

Just played civ 5 for a bit, temp about 50ish with TjMax 100. civ5 isn't a CPU heavy game.


Update: 3.6Ghz is not stable. If it isn't stable @ 1.5v, then i believe the board doesn't like 400x4. I went down to 380x4 and see if it is stable.

Update2: 400x4 is fine, the CPU doesn't have enough v-core...

 

[betasub]

I realized that was wrong in the hot way by feeling the heatpipe from GPU with my toe... and yes, the reflexes of my toe is really really slow...

Is that with one foot or both feet inside the case?! I know it is nice to keep your feet warm in winter, but they tend to block the flow of air.

 

[Seero]

Is that with one foot or both feet inside the case?! I know it is nice to keep your feet warm in winter, but they tend to block the flow of air.

Not even. It was when I put together the PC before the case cover is on. You now "check check" and "test test?" I got lazy but want to check if the heatsinks are working.

Edit: Not stable, not enough vcore at 3.6Ghz. Fail small FFT. To be able to go up, I probably need to mod the board as the voltage fter Vdroop is 1.44v. That reminds me of the fact that my Q6600 ain't the best chip out of the batch.

 

[Seero]

Okay, so I got it close to 3.5Ghz stable, but I dont' see any gain in real performance (not in sc2 and civ5). Now can someone shine some light on whether I should wait for sandy bridge or go I7?

 

[Seero]

@epsilon84

Thank you for you information. I have heard that Intel is going to release mainstream first, so when will they release the high end chipsets? To be specific, I want it without the on-die GPU. Do you have any info on it?

I am willing to spend < 500 on CPU, and < 500 on mobo.

 

[Seero]

That is correct. SB will launch initially for LGA1155, then SB-E will come in H2 2011 for LGA2011 which will replace LGA1366. That's a long time to wait for an upgrade. If I were you, I'd go SB once its released.

Why does the on-die GPU bother you? It will only run on H series mobos, on P series mobos it's disabled.

The i5 2500K is rumoured to cost ~$200, and the i7 2600K ~$300. I'd expect decent P67 mobos to be between $150 - $200, with the higher end boards pushing $250, so it'll be well within your budget.

I don't like buying something that i won't use. I will have discrete cards so why do i need on-die gpu? If I don't need it then I don't want it in my CPU as each parts cost me money.

Anyways, thank you for the information.

 

[Ben90]

I'm not even sure if SB-E will do away with the on die GPU either. Maybe someone else can shed some light on that.

No GPU for socket 2011.