Hi and few upgrade questions

Silver47 · 10 Apr 2010 at 16:07

Hi all

First time poster and part time reader of the forums and just wanted to get ideas for some small upgrades (read cheap) to my gracefully aging gaming rig. I've stuck my system specs in my sig for all to see, but will go through them in a bit more detail.

Powering the rig atm is a E6600 that I've left at stock for the most of its life but today decided to let it off the leash and OC it to 2.7. It's going through through a Orthos blend test atm (been going for over 4 hours so far with temps ranging from 41-45C). Still on the stock HSF so not wanting to tempt fate and push it any further and is one of the things I know will need to upgrade to get it any higher safely. Any suggestions on a good cooler and compound?

Next up is my GFX card, a HD4850 that replaced a 8800 GTS 640MB I orginally fitted to it when it died unexpectedly. Now theres nothing really around worth upgrading it to IMO other then a HD5800 and I don't have 200 quid spare at hand. OCing is one option to get more out of it but the damn things hot as it is (89C with the fan at full speed) and would require a fair bit of modification.

Next up is my HHD that I feel needs an upgrade after all these years, more so after I benched it with HDtune. It's a WD Caviar SE16 320GB and it maxed out at 65MB/s and figured that was reasonable. Then I ran it on my Media PC with a WD Cavair Blue 160 and 250. Then my jaw droped. 100MB/s??? There must be a mistake, that can't be right. But it was, HDD drive tech moved faster then I expected. So I'm thinking pick up a 500/640 drive but do I go for a WD black/blue or a Samsung F3? Or is there nothing between them and save some money at the the Blue 500?

Cheers

stulid · 10 Apr 2010 at 16:09

You want a black 500Gb with 64Mb of cache.

The Titan fenrir cooler is exceptional, use artic Silver 5 or ceramiqe paste.

Silver47 · 10 Apr 2010 at 16:29

Thanks for the quick reply. I might grab the HSF AS5 along with some cleaner when I get a chance this month. Probably get the HDD in July after my Cars MOT and tax.

pastymuncher · 10 Apr 2010 at 19:41

With a decent cooler your E6600 should be able to go a lot further as well. Most will do 3.2-3.6Ghz.

Silver47 · 10 Apr 2010 at 22:31

pastymuncher said:
With a decent cooler your E6600 should be able to go a lot further as well. Most will do 3.2-3.6Ghz.

Yeah the potential of this chip for overclocking is legendary, just not had to till now as newer games have gotten a bit more demanding.

I've tried to clock higher but at 3Ghz Orthos spat out an error straight away so probably need a bit more voltage at that point but won't try again without proper cooling. On the plus side it has been running the stress test for 11 hours without a hitch and the temps around 44C at 2.7 so seems to be successful so far.

Fallen god · 10 Apr 2010 at 23:09

Thats a decent temp for a stock cooler man.

Temi_D · 10 Apr 2010 at 23:23

First off, welcome to the forums

For a new hard drive, i recommend a Samsung F3. I made a thread about it here: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18128402

If you want a new cooler as well, there are two major types: The one that you need to remove you mobo first before installing and the one that just without you needing to remove the mobo. The Titan fenrir recommended above is pretty good but you need to remove your mobo to install it. If you dont want that, then the Akasa Nero is very good as well and you dont have to remove your mobo to install it http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-052-AK

Fallen god · 10 Apr 2010 at 23:34

The Titan is a really good cooler and it should offer you a good 3.4ghz+ i guess. Also the thread about software raid is really good temi D.

Silver47 · 11 Apr 2010 at 00:14

Temi_D said:
First off, welcome to the forums

Thanks, its good to be here

Temi_D said:
For a new hard drive, i recommend a Samsung F3. I made a thread about it here: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18128402

Interesting read. I was thinking at a later date when I have the cah to upgrade to an SSD and then having a RAID 0 or 1 for storage. Space isn't a concern as I'm currently using 196 of 298 of my current drive and worried about the RAID 0 going *poof* one day so would side for RAID 1, but thats in the future and I might change my mind

Temi_D said:
If you want a new cooler as well, there are two major types: The one that you need to remove you mobo first before installing and the one that just without you needing to remove the mobo. The Titan fenrir recommended above is pretty good but you need to remove your mobo to install it. If you dont want that, then the Akasa Nero is very good as well and you dont have to remove your mobo to install it http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-052-AK

I'm not too worried about having to remove my mobo, since the last (and first) time putting the bugger on was a pain in the arse I would be gald to have it outside the case. Damn thing didn't go on properly the first time and was confused at the high temps it had while throttled to protect its self. took it out again and saw it was only half on half off. Made me realise how much I missed the P4 it replaced in terms of installation.