Spec check - i7

Calneon

Calneon

Calneon

Associate
Joined
17 Nov 2008
Posts
1,680
Current rig:

E6400 C2D 2.13 @ 3.2Ghz
Asus P5B
GTX280
4GB GeiL 800Mhz RAM
Sony NEC Optical Drive
320GB Samsung HDD
Antec 900
Corsair 520W PSU
Vista 64

Proposed upgraded rig:

GTX280
Sony NEX Optical Drive
Corsair 520W PSU
Vista 64

These new components:

overclockersukyourbaske.png


---------------------------------------------------------------

1. Is i7 going to be the most powerful for a while or is it worth waiting for something new?
2. Will my 520W PSU handle it (i ask because it runs my current rig fine and i'm not upgrading the GPU)?
3. Is it possible to install dust filters onto the HAF case?
4. Have I made any stupid mistakes with components?

Thanks for the help!
 
Looks ok. PSU should be ok but might turn out to be a little weak. Excellent choice of fan.

Things to bare in mind!
The C1E enhanced halt instruction will make that power supply squeel and whine( it's coil whine). Turn that off in the Bios advanced CPU features to lose the anoying noise. I was pulling my hair out with the very same mobo, PSU and CPU trying to fix that one.

This motherboard sets the unicore frequency too high if left on auto( and slightly unstable), you should set it at a speed which is 2x your DDR speed + 200mhz.

Also to run your memory at 1600 and 1.65v, remember to set your QPI VTT to keep it within 0.5v of the DDR3 voltage, 1.15v or higher(or keep it close to your Vcore as you overclock).
 
Last edited:
Depends on what you mean as a "while"

Now looks like a good time to buy, from what the market is doing at the moment prices are tending to fluctuate/rise due to the economic **** up
 
I would say yes to your first question mate, i7 is the most powerful processor around atm..

Though if you only plan on using your PC for gaming then the PhenomII would be a better choice... but if you do a lot of CPU intensive stuff then i7 is the way to go...

If I were you, I would go for the overclocked i7 bundle, at least that way you are guaranteed to run at 4GHz, whereas if you build it yourself using the hardware in your first post, it will be a hit or miss whether it will o/c to 4GHz... although most D0 stepping processors will do 4GHz without any issues...

If I was buying an i7 system right now, I would order the bundle, because of all the issues I have experienced with my i7 rig.. that's just me though...

::edit::

Remember you will need to buy a couple of these fan clips to fix your fan to the Megahalems heatsink...
 
Last edited:
Ah DavyBoy I would have forgotten those, damn they are out of stock at the moment :(. I will mainly play games but I also sometimes encode video and i'll be doing some rendering at uni next year. How big would the difference be for gaming?

The Pre-OC bundle would be good but for a 4Ghz OC it would cost almost £100 more, i'm pretty sure I could get 4Ghz with the cooler I'm buying (atleast I hope so).
 
I recon you will easily hit 4GHz with the above configuration as well, it's just that it wont be guaranteed to run at that frequency...

If I were going to build another rig right now, I would go for the bundle personally so I had the guarantee of it running at 4GHz...

My i7 setup has been a nightmare from day one, I have went and bought another set of triple channel ram, a new PSU, and another mobo, and I am still getting issues, I think it is down to a bad CPU tbh, but I already RMA'd it and it was tested and no faults were found...

But now my system is only seeing 2 out of the 3 sticks of RAM installed, and I first thought it was the mobo's DIMM slot that was dead, so that was why I bought another mobo, but the same thing happens with the new board as well!!!

It isn't my RAM, because it does this with both sets, and I have tested each stick individually using memtest boot disc, and they all managed to do 20+ passes without any errors...

The only piece of hardware that hasn't changed with each configuration I have tried is the CPU, so I think it is the IMC on the processor that is damaged... I have another RMA number for it, so I will be shipping it off as soon as I get the money to do so...

I guess this is the price I pay for shopping around to get the cheapest prices... I should have just bought everything from one place, that way I could return it all and have it tested together so that the techs can find exactly what the problem is..
 
DavyBoy said:
I guess this is the price I pay for shopping around to get the cheapest prices... I should have just bought everything from one place, that way I could return it all and have it tested together so that the techs can find exactly what the problem is..
Click to expand...
I was going to shop around, I can't find those fan clips anywhere though :(.
 
Seems like the fan clips come with the heatsink, so no worries there. I was thinking of getting a Noctua instead as i've heard good reviews.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom