i3 6100 to replace i7 920 @ 3.5GHz

[krypto1300]

Sweet. Let us know how it goes with the Xeon, and then also once you add the 970. Bet it's going to fly!

Will do. I struggled with deciding between r9 390 and gtx 970, but in the end went with the 970 because of it's project cars and witcher performance. Either of them would have been awesome, but I got a EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SSC Gaming ACX 2.0+ Cooling Graphics Card (04G-P4-3975-KR) for $303 and that was $30 cheaper than the r9 390.

Can't wait to install the Xeon and 970. My rig will be pretty good for a few more years I'm pretty sure. 6 years and counting on this x58 platform (Amazing!!!).

 

[krypto1300]

Well, the gtx 970 is installed and Wow! This card is great! 1080p Ultra @ 60fps on just about every game I throw at it.

Haven't even installed the Xeon x5650 yet. My i7 920 is running again at 4ghz. Just needed to make some small voltage tweaks. Not sure if the Xeon will even make a difference in games. What do you think?

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Well, the gtx 970 is installed and Wow! This card is great! 1080p Ultra @ 60fps on just about every game I throw at it.

Haven't even installed the Xeon x5650 yet. My i7 920 is running again at 4ghz. Just needed to make some small voltage tweaks. Not sure if the Xeon will even make a difference in games. What do you think?

Awesome! Congrats!


You won't seem anymore frames per second as the ipc is almost identical but there will be more overclocking headroom with probably less volts and less heat until you get into the 4.4Ghz and > area.

 

[DrMrLordX]

I would go with the Xeon, they're sweet chips. That 920 could start getting cranky on you and degrade even further. At least try to find the limits of the x5650 anyway . . .

 

[Arachnotronic]

Well, the gtx 970 is installed and Wow! This card is great! 1080p Ultra @ 60fps on just about every game I throw at it.

Haven't even installed the Xeon x5650 yet. My i7 920 is running again at 4ghz. Just needed to make some small voltage tweaks. Not sure if the Xeon will even make a difference in games. What do you think?

Put the six core in, what are you waiting for?

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Damn 6th gen is already out? Been running my i7 860 foreverrr. Actually it just hit its 6th year anniversary last month.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Get a Z170 mobo, up the BCLK to 127MHz (or thereabouts), and watch that i3 rip the old i7 to shreds

 

[krypto1300]

So the xeon x5650 is installed and running at 4.4GHz Prime95 stable for 8 hours which is good enough for me.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Nice man! What's your vcore? Uncore speed?

 

[krypto1300]

Nice man! What's your vcore? Uncore speed?

vcore is 1.265 or something close to it. Uncore I can't remember as I'm not at my PC ATM. I left all of the voltage settings the same as my i7 920.

 

[Arachnotronic]

So the xeon x5650 is installed and running at 4.4GHz Prime95 stable for 8 hours which is good enough for me.

That's awesome. 50% more cores, same frequency as what you had before. Enjoy!

 

[DrMrLordX]

Actually higher, since the 920 was down to 3.5 GHz before retirement.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

well . . .



as long as it's stable, it's not dying

It is dying. Hes had to incrementally step it down. Many who did the same thing with Q6600's cant even run the chip at stock without tons of voltage. These are the last few legs before it craps out entirely

 

[Arachnotronic]

Actually higher, since the 920 was down to 3.5 GHz before retirement.

True! Yeah, this is a massive upgrade on the cheap. I wish current Xeons could be overclocked via BCLK; this would make owning X99 much more attractive longer term as you could count on being able to buy some cheap used 6, 8, or even 10 core chips on eBay several years down the line and get a massive perf boost.

 

[krypto1300]

So I had to back the Xeon down to 4GHz (182bclkX22@1.35vcore), but it is stable 24 hours running Prime95. At 4.4GHz it was stable, but running hot (90c) here in Hawaii's climate.

My i7 920 could hit 4GHz @ 1.2vcore in its prime. All in all, I'm very happy with my PC now. Thanks for all the help and suggestions.