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Should I keep my 2500k + GD 65 upgrade, or return them?

bhavv

bhavv

bhavv

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14 Nov 2009
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I just ordered an OEM 2500k on yesterdays daily offer plus a GD 65 with the 20% cash back offer that MSI are offering - the total cost being £305 without the cash back yet, but decided against it thinking it wont make much improvement.

I currently have a Rampage III Extreme and a lousy clocking I7 920 that I hate and really want replacing anyway.

My current 920 only does 4.2 Ghz with HT OFF @ 1.38v, and I could easily sell the CPU and my mobo for almost the same as what I paid for the new CPU and mobo.

So would the I5 2500k really make much improvement over my 1.38v, 4.2 Ghz, HT off I7 920, of should I refuse the delivery and ask them to send it back?
 
Yea thats why I bought it - £155 for the 2500k, and 20% cash back on the £149 MSI mobo. I then called them up to cancel because I didnt really need it, but their systems werent working and they couldnt log in to cancel it yesterday. They told me to call back in the morning, but I was asleep and it despatched.

I still have my X58 UD5 unsold - I can sell the UD5 + I7 920 + 12 Gb ram for about £200-250, and also sell my R3E and the remaining 12 Gb ram for around the same, so I make back what I spent plus enough extra for the new G Skill Ripjaw Z ram.

In the meantime I still have my 2 Gb geil ultra modules, 4 of those will do 1866 - 2000 Mhz at 1.5v.

Seems worth it, I was just feeling too lazy to make the effort to upgrade + sell again.
 
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No I could only do HT with 1.25v @ 3.8 Ghz, or 1.3375v at 4 Ghz (and incredibly roasty hot).

1.38v @ 4.2 Ghz would only work with HT off, like I have said several times, my I7 920 is lousy, and changing to a 2500k and Z68 seems a lot better than buying another 1366 CPU would be (I was hoping for a price cut on the I7 980, but a 2500k + decent Z68 board cost less!).


vorticalspace said:
Not that it's needed on Sandy

May be sell & pick up 8gb (2 x 4) of LP Corsair.
Click to expand...

Im going to be using my 2 Gb sticks while I sell my Vengeance triple channel kits, I dont really need to buy new ram yet as the 2 Gb Geil Ultra series modules will be more than enough for now.

I want to wait for this ram to go on a good offer before I buy 4 Gb sticks again:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-068-GS
 
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bhavv said:
I want to wait for this ram to go on a good offer before I buy 4 Gb sticks again:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-068-GS
Click to expand...

Why on earth would you spend £150 (or whatever price you're wating for) for 16GB of DDR3 for a Sandy Bridge system?

You'll see very little benefit from it:

The Best Memory for Sandy Bridge

Either of these will do you fine at half the price:

Kingston HyperX Genesis 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit £71.99 TWO

G.Skill RipJawsZ 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit £77.99 TWO
 
^^

You've posted benchmarks using an I5 2500k @ 3 Ghz there, I'm pretty sure that the same memory benchmarks using one clocked to 4.5 Ghz show a significant improvement in game performance with faster ram.

But I'll see how my 2 Gb modules fare, I dont need any more than 4x2 Gb modules, and the ones I have are rated for 2133 Mhz @ 1.65v with 9-9-9 timings (I would assume that using them at 9-11-9 would give me a lot of headroom at lower voltages).


Surveyor said:
or whatever price you're wating for
Click to expand...

I'd pay no more than £99.99 for them ;). That would be worth it for 16 gigs of 2133 Mhz ram IMO.
 
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bhavv said:
You've posted benchmarks using an I5 2500k @ 3 Ghz there, I'm pretty sure that the same memory benchmarks using one clocked to 4.5 Ghz show a significant improvement in game performance with faster ram.
Click to expand...

Some improvement in some games.

If you already have 2133MHz RAM that's fair enough but spending £150 instead of ~£75 isn't worth the difference.

For gaming you'd be better adding the £75 to the graphics card budget.
 
Yea I get that, I'll just use my current 2133 Mhz 2 Gb modules and sell of my vengeance kits.

Is 1.65v safe for Sandybridge though, or will I be wanting to loosen the timings to 9-11-9 and run at lower voltages?

It didnt work over 1800 Mhz on X58, but it should on Z68. If not I make a claim on the lifetime warranty and get better stuffs for free (have to pay for shipping to Taiwan though) :)

So I wont bother with new ram, and with the cashback on the mobo this lot will have only cost me £275.

Whatever extra I make from clearing out all my X58 stuff goes towards my Keplers along with however much my GTX 560s will sell for :)
 
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bhavv said:
Is 1.65v safe for Sandybridge though, or will I be wanting to loosen the timings to 9-11-9 and run at lower voltages?
Click to expand...

It would be at your own risk.

The Intel recommendation is 1.5V +/- 5%.

For at least one person their Sandy Bridge system wouldn't work properly with RAM @ 1.65V:

Replacement Ram Faulty? - Unlucky?


bhavv said:
It didnt work over 1800 Mhz on X58, but it should on Z68. If not I make a claim on the lifetime warranty and get better stuffs for free (have to pay for shipping to Taiwan though) :)
Click to expand...

Good luck with that.
 
Ok so up to 1.575v is fine?

I'll see how far that gets my ram.

On X58 it does 1600 Mhz @ 7-7-7 with 1.43v, or 6-7-6 with 1.57v, so it should have loads of headroom on 1.575v @ Cas 9.
 
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