Associate
- Joined
- 26 Feb 2011
- Posts
- 49
Hi all
First post here, have lurked for years! Nothing particularly revelatory for you today, but I am very pleased to have undertaken my first ever build and overclock which has worked out greatly to my satisfaction. Spec is as follows, now I have to admit that I was on a very strict £750 budget for this build (base unit only) so I spent a week sourcing the components from a number of places;
Intel Core i7 2600K
Asus P8P67 Pro
4GB Corsair XMS3 Classic DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600)
1TB Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3
KFA2 GTX 560ti
Silverstone KL03B Kublai Case
650watt Corsair PSU
Aftermarket Coolermaster cooler, can't remember the model but it's huge and has good review.
Monitor is a Samsung FX2490HD at 1080p.
The physical build was pretty smooth, and I was pleased it powered and booted first time. My worst nightmare was no post, and having to go over the system with a fine-toothed comb to find the problem. I have now overclocked the system, installing Afterburner and CPU-Z to help me. Anyway some thoughts and maybe questions;
1 - I was a little nervous about buying an OEM CPU. I sourced it from a company who also supply overclocked bundles, and I had worried that it would be easy for CPUs to be binned based on their own technicians rejecting chips not clocking high enough for their pre-built systems. My suspicions seemed to have been well-founded when I received the CPU that clearly had lots of fingerprints on it. However, I have tried a variety of OCs and this chip flies beyond my best expectations. I'm only using the motherboard's auto-overclock function and it's absolutely stable at a little over 4.6ghz (with the BLCK boosted to 103) and the best thing...voltage of 1.25! This seems incredible, from what I've read most chips need higher voltage at this level. I haven't used too many stability test tools but six hours of gaming and a few loops of 3DMark have left no artifacts, slowdowns or anything. The system will also quite easily clock higher than this and seems stable, I have tried a little over 4.8ghz with a half hour of 3DMark, the voltage went up to 1.35v for this and it seemed stable but I don't need an overclock that high so I am happy with the lower setting. Temps are very low, idling at 34 and maxing at 69. Fan set to auto but it's next to inaudible all the time but does spin a little louder under load
Quick questions; bearing in mind I am happy with my cool and quiet 4.6ghz overclock, do you think I need to do any more stability testing other than what I've done so far? Is there anything else I should look at in the ASUS auto-overclock settings to ensure stability and optimal performance?
2 - The 560ti. Now I only paid £180 for the KFA2 card, which I thought was a great deal on a card with low stock clocks but a well-reviewed cooler. This card has had its nuts overclocked and then some. On stock voltage the core will reach 950mhz easily, even a little higher, Afterburner has changed all the other settings in line. Memory left at 4000mhz. With a little voltage bump to 1.075, the core seems very stable at the highest I have taken it to, 1015mhz. The fan is on auto but again, it's dead quiet even under full load...and the temps are maxing at 63. How flipping pleased am I! Same questions if I may...it seems stable after 6 hours of gaming (Crysis etc), is there anything else I need to be wary of to ensure it's gonna stay that way?
Thanks and I hope I haven't bored you too much
First post here, have lurked for years! Nothing particularly revelatory for you today, but I am very pleased to have undertaken my first ever build and overclock which has worked out greatly to my satisfaction. Spec is as follows, now I have to admit that I was on a very strict £750 budget for this build (base unit only) so I spent a week sourcing the components from a number of places;
Intel Core i7 2600K
Asus P8P67 Pro
4GB Corsair XMS3 Classic DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600)
1TB Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3
KFA2 GTX 560ti
Silverstone KL03B Kublai Case
650watt Corsair PSU
Aftermarket Coolermaster cooler, can't remember the model but it's huge and has good review.
Monitor is a Samsung FX2490HD at 1080p.
The physical build was pretty smooth, and I was pleased it powered and booted first time. My worst nightmare was no post, and having to go over the system with a fine-toothed comb to find the problem. I have now overclocked the system, installing Afterburner and CPU-Z to help me. Anyway some thoughts and maybe questions;
1 - I was a little nervous about buying an OEM CPU. I sourced it from a company who also supply overclocked bundles, and I had worried that it would be easy for CPUs to be binned based on their own technicians rejecting chips not clocking high enough for their pre-built systems. My suspicions seemed to have been well-founded when I received the CPU that clearly had lots of fingerprints on it. However, I have tried a variety of OCs and this chip flies beyond my best expectations. I'm only using the motherboard's auto-overclock function and it's absolutely stable at a little over 4.6ghz (with the BLCK boosted to 103) and the best thing...voltage of 1.25! This seems incredible, from what I've read most chips need higher voltage at this level. I haven't used too many stability test tools but six hours of gaming and a few loops of 3DMark have left no artifacts, slowdowns or anything. The system will also quite easily clock higher than this and seems stable, I have tried a little over 4.8ghz with a half hour of 3DMark, the voltage went up to 1.35v for this and it seemed stable but I don't need an overclock that high so I am happy with the lower setting. Temps are very low, idling at 34 and maxing at 69. Fan set to auto but it's next to inaudible all the time but does spin a little louder under load
Quick questions; bearing in mind I am happy with my cool and quiet 4.6ghz overclock, do you think I need to do any more stability testing other than what I've done so far? Is there anything else I should look at in the ASUS auto-overclock settings to ensure stability and optimal performance?
2 - The 560ti. Now I only paid £180 for the KFA2 card, which I thought was a great deal on a card with low stock clocks but a well-reviewed cooler. This card has had its nuts overclocked and then some. On stock voltage the core will reach 950mhz easily, even a little higher, Afterburner has changed all the other settings in line. Memory left at 4000mhz. With a little voltage bump to 1.075, the core seems very stable at the highest I have taken it to, 1015mhz. The fan is on auto but again, it's dead quiet even under full load...and the temps are maxing at 63. How flipping pleased am I! Same questions if I may...it seems stable after 6 hours of gaming (Crysis etc), is there anything else I need to be wary of to ensure it's gonna stay that way?
Thanks and I hope I haven't bored you too much
