Light use gaming PC upgrade recommendations

[Termie]

Thanks Termie. The book says either A1+B1, A2+B2 or all four for dual channel capability. Then at the bottom in a note it just says: "for optimal compatibility and stability while overclocking memory frequency it is recommended to install two memory modules in A2 and B2 slots. Doesn't say why though. Went ahead and moved them.
Realtemp is showing 23* 24* 34* 24* at idle. Core 3 has consistently been about 10* hotter. I'll give it a few days to see if it evens out after some heat cycles otherwise maybe i'll try and reapply the paste.

-Luke

EDIT: btw booting to windows takes literally HALF the time 🙂

Glad it's up and running. Those are some amazing idle temps. You must have low ambients. Don't worry about the higher temp on Core 3. That's typical of Ivy Bridge. Lots of folks around here have reseated numerous times and achieved nothing - it's most likely not a heatsink issue. Test it at load and I bet the temps even out, or that Core 3 is actually lower than the others. Try it out and report back.

The boot times are thanks to the EFI bios, and in particular, AsRock's implementation - it has been shown to boot faster than most other boards: http://www.anandtech.com/show/5793/...th-ivy-bridge-asrock-asus-gigabyte-and-msi/14.

 

[lkailburn]

snuck into the world of skyrim for a quick 15 minute test. cores were at 34*34* 43* 36* after 15 minutes.
though they peaked earlier(before playing the game) while just installing apps and stuff at 45* 50* 54* 51*

btw i went to that same high stress spot in the game and was getting 58FPS. 60FPS literally everyhwere else I went during that 15 minutes in the game 🙂

 

[Termie]

snuck into the world of skyrim for a quick 15 minute test. cores were at 34*34* 43* 36* after 15 minutes.
though they peaked earlier(before playing the game) while just installing apps and stuff at 45* 50* 54* 51*

btw i went to that same high stress spot in the game and was getting 58FPS. 60FPS literally everyhwere else I went during that 15 minutes in the game 🙂

Ok, it does seem one core is a bit hotter. It's not problematic given those temps, but if you have the time and the inclination, try installing the heatsink again. Make sure to put a stripe of TIM on each of the exposed heatpipes of the 212+. Just don't be too surprised if it turns out the same after reinstalling.

58fps up from 25fps, huh? You're a poster child for CPU bottlenecking!

Oh, and also, I was right in my first post in this thread. 😉

 

[lkailburn]

haha no kidding. Amazing upgrades.
Well I feel a little guilty about this but..newegg rereleased the extreme4 + 8GB memory deal (with a different brand of memory) at only $114 with free shipping. mind you I paid $134 plus shipping just 6 days ago. I saw on SD today, a couple people who were in the same boat as me rang up newegg customer support and got the difference in a free gift card(almost $30)....so I followed suite and what do you know, they are sending out a $27 and change gift card for me. Sweet! looks like it's only valid for 90 days so I'll probably put it towards a new case in a month or two. Maybe some xmas deals will come around.

-Luke

 

[Termie]

haha no kidding. Amazing upgrades.
Well I feel a little guilty about this but..newegg rereleased the extreme4 + 8GB memory deal (with a different brand of memory) at only $114 with free shipping. mind you I paid $134 plus shipping just 6 days ago. I saw on SD today, a couple people who were in the same boat as me rang up newegg customer support and got the difference in a free gift card(almost $30)....so I followed suite and what do you know, they are sending out a $27 and change gift card for me. Sweet! looks like it's only valid for 90 days so I'll probably put it towards a new case in a month or two. Maybe some xmas deals will come around.

-Luke

That's some amazing customer service, actually.

As for using the credit on a new case, why wait to "pay back" the favor? Here are some awesome deals on the Corsair 300r cases: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...n=corsair+300r

They even come with an extra high-end case fan.

The 300r received one of the most postive Anandtech case reviews I've ever seen: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6055/corsair-carbide-300r-case-review-corsair-for-the-masses

The Antec P280 is also on special at Newegg right now if you're going for quiet over cooling: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SID=u00000258

Anandtech review: http://www.anandtech.com/show/5090/antec-p280-when-enthusiasts-are-engineers

 

[lkailburn]

good info! the 300r has been on my list of considered cases for sure.

Checked idle temps after finishing up with my last client for the day and they seem to have settled at 25* 26* 36* 27*. Ambient is probably about ~70*F? a very comfortable room temperature.

 

[Termie]

good info! the 300r has been on my list of considered cases for sure.

Checked idle temps after finishing up with my last client for the day and they seem to have settled at 25* 26* 36* 27*. Ambient is probably about ~70*F? a very comfortable room temperature.

Just for comparison, my idle temps are 38*, 33*, 31*, 29*, in an ambient 78*F. The only thing that concerns me about your setup is that Core 3 is also hottest while gaming, and by quite a bit. Perhaps you should try Intel Burn Test, even if just for 30 seconds, to test load temps with all cores loaded.

 

[mfenn]

I would test for longer than 30 seconds. If your build can't handle 100% for hours on end, something is seriously wrong.

 

[lkailburn]

here's max temps from a minute and a half of the intel test: 56* 64* 68* 62*
Run it longer? Thoughts on maybe reapplying paste?

 

[mfenn]

Run the test until the temps stabilize completely (as in, don't increase for 15 minutes or more). Your temps are pretty uneven right now, which does make me think that there is a heatsink mounting issue. However, 68 C is absolutely nothing to be worried about, so it doesn't matter if the temps are stable around there.

 

[lkailburn]

Well intel said I failed. I guess it only ran for 60 seconds. Max's this time were 58* 65*69*63*
It spit out 4 result times, all were 9.3xxx with speed of 95.xxx if that means anything

I'm running the 212+ with the fan on push. I do have that noctua 120mm rear exhaust fan. Maybe it's actually bottlenecking the air flow? or likely i messed up the application of paste. I find it very difficult to set this heatsink down in one shot and not even move it to one side or the other to be able to nudge the screws into the mount. talking just a 1/8" of movement maybe. I did the two grains of rice method with the paste.

 

[Termie]

Well intel said I failed. I guess it only ran for 60 seconds. Max's this time were 58* 65*69*63*
It spit out 4 result times, all were 9.3xxx with speed of 95.xxx if that means anything

I'm running the 212+ with the fan on push. I do have that noctua 120mm rear exhaust fan. Maybe it's actually bottlenecking the air flow? or likely i messed up the application of paste. I find it very difficult to set this heatsink down in one shot and not even move it to one side or the other to be able to nudge the screws into the mount. talking just a 1/8" of movement maybe. I did the two grains of rice method with the paste.

Odd that it failed at those temps. It's really not hot enough to fail intel burn test.

But... I'm pretty sure you applied the paste wrong. Two grains of rice don't work for coolers with direct contact heat pipes. Take it off and reapply with stripes of paste on the full length of the pipes.

The cpu should not fail intel burn test at stock.

Edit: please confirm the RAM settings you are using by reading the settings from the BIOS. Only a memory issue would cause instability at those temps. Did you blue screen? If not, that makes a memory fault more likely.

 

[lkailburn]

Odd that it failed at those temps. It's really not hot enough to fail intel burn test.

But... I'm pretty sure you applied the paste wrong. Two grains of rice don't work for coolers with direct contact heat pipes. Take it off and reapply with stripes of paste on the full length of the pipes.

The cpu should not fail intel burn test at stock.

Edit: please confirm the RAM settings you are using by reading the settings from the BIOS. Only a memory issue would cause instability at those temps. Did you blue screen? If not, that makes a memory fault more likely.

no blue screen. the test just stopped and said I failed due to instability. I'll double check what's in the bios but didn't manually change anything at this point. Played an hour of skyrim and my max's were 48* 53* 56* 53*.
thanks for all the help!

 

[Termie]

no blue screen. the test just stopped and said I failed due to instability. I'll double check what's in the bios but didn't manually change anything at this point. Played an hour of skyrim and my max's were 48* 53* 56* 53*.
thanks for all the help!

That seems fine, actually. While the intel burn test failure is problematic, perhaps it's best to just use the system for a few days as you normally would and see if you have any crashes. Eventually you can go in and reinstall the cooler.

Your results in the test were exactly on the mark, by the way. I really think the CPU is fine. Can you run cpuz and just read off the memory timings and speed?

Oh, and update your sig with the new rig!

 

[lkailburn]

sig updated!
Memory info from cpuz:
Type: DDR3 | Size: 8192 | Channels #: Dual
Dram Freq: 800Mhz
Ratio:1:6
CL: 9
trcd: 9
trp: 9
tras: 24
CR: 1T

 

[Termie]

sig updated!
Memory info from cpuz:
Type: DDR3 | Size: 8192 | Channels #: Dual
Dram Freq: 800Mhz
Ratio:1:6
CL: 9
trcd: 9
trp: 9
tras: 24
CR: 1T

Can you link the memory kit that Newegg supplied with the motherboard?

My hunch is that it's not rated for 1T operation at 1.5v (which should be the default voltage in the BIOS), and that you should probably be at 2T.

Congrats on putting together a fantastic rig, by the way. So, was it all worth it to play Skyrim at 2.5x the frame rate?!? 😉

I jest, of course - that C2Q was a long-lived system, but this new one has plenty of advantages.

 

[lkailburn]

haha definitely worth it! it was time for an upgrade for sure. I'd been super happy with the c2d but it was ready. I'll have to look back and see if i can figure out when i actually bought that setup. Would be interesting to see.
The good news is before joining here i thought, "ok it's time to upgrade, lets just see what kind of price we're looking at for a full bundle" and i had priced out a $1200 machine(3770k, psu, case etc included).
After all the suggestions and support here, i spent only ~$511 plus or minus a few bucks for tax somewhere and have a setup that's exactly what i needed.

Sure thing. Its the Patriot G2 series 1600ELK
Here is newegg's link:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820220558
and patriot's:
http://www.patriotmemory.com/product/detail.jsp?prodline=5&catid=34&prodgroupid=196&id=1049&type=1

 

[Ketchup]

After all the suggestions and support here, i spent only ~$511 plus or minus a few bucks for tax somewhere and have a setup that's exactly what i needed.

Very nice indeed. You make me feel like a hog on mine, but I had to replace everything, including the case, power supply, drives, etc. Still, you should give yourself (and Termie of course) a pat on the back for this one.

 

[Termie]

haha definitely worth it! it was time for an upgrade for sure. I'd been super happy with the c2d but it was ready. I'll have to look back and see if i can figure out when i actually bought that setup. Would be interesting to see.
The good news is before joining here i thought, "ok it's time to upgrade, lets just see what kind of price we're looking at for a full bundle" and i had priced out a $1200 machine(3770k, psu, case etc included).
After all the suggestions and support here, i spent only ~$511 plus or minus a few bucks for tax somewhere and have a setup that's exactly what i needed.

Sure thing. Its the Patriot G2 series 1600ELK
Here is newegg's link:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820220558
and patriot's:
http://www.patriotmemory.com/product/detail.jsp?prodline=5&catid=34&prodgroupid=196&id=1049&type=1

Glad we could save you some money!

So, as for the memory, it's an older set, made for P67, and even the data sheet doesn't provide information on the command rate (1T vs. 2T): http://www.patriotmemory.com/product/specs/PGD38G1600ELK.pdf

I'm pretty confident, however, that as an older RAM model rated at DDR3-1600, 9-9-9-24, 1.5v, it probably is not spec'd to run at 1T. I highly recommend that you enter the BIOS and adjust the command rate to 2T, then try to run Intel Burn Test again. There isn't anything wrong with the RAM, don't worry - it's just not really an "overclocking" set, and your BIOS is essentially overclocking it by default.

 

[lkailburn]

I'll be right back. testing 2t.
Will this cut memory performance significantly? Since command rate is half of 1t?

Passed a 20 round intel burn test(~5 Minute). Peaks were 57* 65* 67* 62*
I'll run a 30 minute test tonight

 

[lkailburn]

crisp day outside, have the windows cracked. with the room a cool 68* I'm idling at 18* 20* 33* 23*. Stupid core 3 why can't you be 10* cooler. Those are some chilly idle temps! I'm loving it hahah

 

[Ketchup]

crisp day outside, have the windows cracked. with the room a cool 68* I'm idling at 18* 20* 33* 23*. Stupid core 3 why can't you be 10* cooler. Those are some chilly idle temps! I'm loving it hahah

Although I don't have an Ivy chip, 12 degrees difference seem a pretty high at idle, load I could understand. Might want to try a re-apply of thermal paste.

 

[Termie]

I'll be right back. testing 2t.
Will this cut memory performance significantly? Since command rate is half of 1t?

Passed a 20 round intel burn test(~5 Minute). Peaks were 57* 65* 67* 62*
I'll run a 30 minute test tonight

Sounds like the memory timing issue may have fixed it, but feel free to do a 30-min test. And as for the effect of running 2T vs. 1T - honestly, I'm not sure, but it's nowhere near as bad as it sounds (i.e., "half" the command rate). Memory overclocking has by far the least payoff to effort/frustration ratio of any overclocking I've done.

Although I don't have an Ivy chip, 12 degrees difference seem a pretty high at idle, load I could understand. Might want to try a re-apply of thermal paste.

Agreed - not an emergency due to the generally excellent temps, but it's possible the TIM did not spread correctly on the heatpipes.

 

[lkailburn]

Thanks for the input! I'll spend a few minutes and try to reapply
so far it's the same 18* 20* 33* 23* at idle
This time i applied 4 very very thin strips of paste. one on each pipe.

EDIT: also forgot to mention that all intel tests were done at standard stress level. They still have High, Very High, and Maximum levels! yikes!

EDIT2: passed a 20 minute standard intel test with maxes of 57* 65* 67* 61*

 

[mfenn]

Sounds like the memory timing issue may have fixed it, but feel free to do a 30-min test. And as for the effect of running 2T vs. 1T - honestly, I'm not sure, but it's nowhere near as bad as it sounds (i.e., "half" the command rate). Memory overclocking has by far the least payoff to effort/frustration ratio of any overclocking I've done.

Command rate has to do with how long it takes the memory controller to look op which rank of memory (a high density DIMM can have multiple ranks) a given address is in. 2T means it takes two cycles to find the correct rank. Overall, the impact is pretty minor compared to the other latencies involved (such as CAS). The lookup also doesn't need to be performed more than once when you're accessing big blocks of memory sequentially, so it really only has an effect on latency, not on bandwidth.

In short, it's a pretty minor performance loss, so don't sweat going to 2T.