Intel Core i7-920 and GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD4P

[killer625]

what do u think about these 2 ? are they good for OCing ? what air cooling would u suggest for i7 920 ( cheap ones please ) ?

cheers

 

[Grnkjr0]

Hey

Very good. Supports SLI and Crossfire and is very easy to use and overclock. If you are overclocking and you made a big mistake that prevents the system from booting, then it will reset to its default settings and you just try again.

I can run my UD4P with BCLK 205 x 20 and with turbo enabled, that is 205 x21 = 4.3 GHz while gaming. If you even have a D0 stepping I would think you can do better than that. Just make sure to update to the latest BIOS version, which is currently F9b or from the official site its F8 I think is the latest without checking. The reason being the new chips are supported in the latest BIOS version if you have that.

The only problem I have with my motherboard is the time it takes to boot. For some odd reason the motherboard sometimes reboots when you first power it on. It is not that big a problem if you know that it is supposed to do this - but scared me a bit at first untill I read that everybody gets that too.

Overclocking can be done using a Scythe Mugen 2 like I have. I am very pleased with that CPU cooler, but there are better ones out there, like the Prolimatech Megahalems, Thermalright IFX14 INTEL, Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme-1366-RT, ThermoLab BARAM, Noctua NH-U12P SE1366. All these are better but costs more than twice the money. I would say Scythe Mugen 2 is among the 7-8 best CPU coolers out there and it is very cheap ($37 on Newegg) considering its performance. The difference in cooling would be like 2-4 degrees from the best to the Scythe Mugen 2, which means that yout room temperature is just as important. Just make sure you have enough room in your case and that your memory will fit because it hangs over the first slot, but if you use some "normal height" memory like me, that will not be a problem.



205 x 21 = 4.3 GHz

 

[rolodomo]

Are you in the "I have a $199 920 D0 from Microcenter sitting on my bookshelf, what next..." club like me?

I was looking at this board too, from what I've read it is a very good 920 overclocker, probably better than the ASUS P6 family, however both bench about the same at their respective max 920 overclocks.

This seems like a really good deal at $212: http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-EX58U4P

The problem with me is I really want that second LAN port, I'm willing to pay $50 extra for that feature easy.

I've also read that Gigabyte is refreshing their X58 boards in July/August, including the UD4P. The higher end boards are going to have a Marvell Sata III chip plus even cleaner power regulation. It is probably safe to say the refreshed boards will be better overclockers, but we may also be seeing (or starting to see already above) discounts on the original Gigabyte boards.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

I have also joined the microcenter 920 D0 club except mine cost 159. I bought an open box but when I got there all they had were new ones so they gave me a new one. I have been looking at i7 boards and can't decide which to get. I have always had good luck with gigabyte boards but I keep going back to the DX58SO. Is it just me or do the i7 boards seem overpriced?

 

[killer625]

well they used to be overpriced thats for sure, nowadays its not that much of a difference between i7 mobos and others.

 

[killer625]

what do u guys think about Scythe Kabute cooler ?

 

[Grnkjr0]

Hey

Did you not search to see what the best coolers out there are? Like I said; If it is a question of money, you can not go wrong with the Scythe Mugen 2. If it is because of issues with it fitting in your case; look at this review.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articl...-roundup_19.html#sect0

All others reviews will show you something similar, that these coolers are the best you can get at the moment. And in this review, the Mugen 2 performs very well.

 

[killer625]

thanks alot Grnkjr0, appreciate it.