New setup, need some advice

michaelpalmer7

michaelpalmer7

michaelpalmer7

Associate
Joined
17 Aug 2010
Posts
9
Hi there all, im a newbie and need some advice. Im familiar with installation and fairly familiar with overclocking CPU's but just require advice on the best bits to get.

My current setup:

Asus P5k-E Wifi
Intel Quad Q9650 (stock fan, running at good temps)
ATI Radeon HD 3850 256mb
6GB of OCZ DDR2 slow ram i think 400
Antec P182 (so nice to work on!!!)
Stock Antec cooling
Corsair TX 950W Power Supply.

Basically i have been running this for a while with Win 7 64bit and fancy an upgrade. Fitted the quad a couple of days ago though.

I want to put really good RAM in but am not sure of the best option?
I plan on setting up a couple of TB drives on RAID with a fresh install.
Also I would like to get as much as possible out of the processor on air. Can you advise me as to the best cooling options?
And i also intend on putting in a kick ass graphics card but right now i wanna get the other bits done.

Any advice would be great!!

cheers

Michael
 
megahelms cooler with some decent fans in push/pull OR
Noctua NH-D14 Dual Radiator CPU Cooler (check in your case can house it, it is HUGE!)

Kingston HyperX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel (KHX8500D2K2/4G) x2 for 8Gb
Nvidia 460 x2 in SLi or if budget limited just one, you get near 5850 performance for a little more £ than a 5770.
64mb SSD for OS and most used apps, 2x 1 tb Raid for storage
Win 7 64bit


Actually check your ram type by looking at the ram modules themselves and post what is labelled on them here. I doubt its 400 you mean. Your ram may be fine.
 
Last edited:
The H50/H70 cooler from Corsair is a good buy. Easy to install and looks great in your set-up. Love the way I can't hear the fans ramp up when the CPU gets hot whilst playing Battlefield BC2, now history with my H50.
 
Last edited:
Cheers for the speedy replies, to answer the memory question:

I have:

2 Sticks of 2GB Crucial DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 Ballistix Memory CL4 2.0V
http://www.eb+yer.com/product/143844 (change the + to a u obviously not a liked word lol)
and

2 Sticks of 1GB OCZ DDR2 PC2-6400 800MHz
these

By the way, im sold on the fan but is the Noctua NH-U12P SE2 as good as i can get that on my favourite website lol for next day delivery.
 
Last edited:
the pc6400 should be good enough to get the Q9650 to 3.6ghz, if you want to go higher then look at the memory jimbo listed.

make sure you have the memory timings set to the slackest of the 2 sets of modules and ensure you have the voltage going through them thats required.
 
Sounds good. It just overheated at stock so its a good thing ive ordered the fan. Think ill use the laptop untill it arrives. I like the look of the hyperx, only thing is can you take the fins off as i think im gonna need to with the new fan
 
Last edited:
can't see any fins on the hyperx 8500 ?

you won't need to overclock with the hyper, within bios you can set it to match the cpu speed, it just allows you a little safe overhead if you do want too overclock being as its max is 533, compared to your current memory's 400.

i'd start with the memory you have then if it falls short of what you want from it when you overclock with the new cooler have a lok at the hyper.
 
Thanks for the advice with the ram. i will do. Just fitted the noctua and on prime at 100% load its not really going above 40 degrees and tj max not under 60. Time for some overclocking i think. :D
 
Overclocked 445x9 not going above 50 degrees and below about the same TJ max. It seems to be running great. It did shut otself down once with prime on 100%. Voltage is still on auto and isnt reading above 1.304 so happy days i think
 
michaelpalmer7 said:
Overclocked 445x9 not going above 50 degrees and below about the same TJ max. It seems to be running great. It did shut otself down once with prime on 100%. Voltage is still on auto and isnt reading above 1.304 so happy days i think
Click to expand...

set the vcore manually to 1.304, or as close as it will let you go and see how it goes.
 
Last edited:
Hi there,

I have set the cpu voltage in the bios to 3.125 and its fluctuating between 1.280 and 1.288. After a few prime tests its incredibly stable. Ironically just as i was writing this it blue screened haha. i think ill pump it up a bit and just keep going untill its stable.
 
Last edited:
Done. I now have it stable. I had a driver issue that was causing crashes and this was making me think it was the overclock. Ive now stabilised it at 4005 Mhz with a Vcore not exceeding about 1.344 which is perfect as research tells me that if you have these running at over 1.3625 it will degrade the chip. Next job is the hard drive I think. I like the SSD setup. But is it gonna be worth it to get a slightly bigger one to install some games on? im gonna set up a couple of good HDD on raid for storage anyway.

Im looking specifically at this:
http://www.**********/Product.aspx?WebProductID=1231753&source=froogle
But they also do a 60GB version, at the moment my program files folder is about 120GB but i don't intend installing all games on it just my favourite ones. Im curious to know if there is likely to be a performance benefit worth getting a bigger SSD?

cheers

Michael
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom