[time machine] i920 i7 to 4ghz

Glass · 13 Jun 2015 at 12:28

Hi guys,

As you can see by my join date I've been around here a while, back in my student days I was all over this forum (2002-2003).

My last system upgrade was 2009 - I was the type that would upgrade every 8-12 months however since I've had an SSD as my OS partition there has really been no need.

Last upgrade was May 2009

Asus P6T SE
i7 2.67Ghz i920

Last week I decided to do an overclock upgrade, swapping out my Scythe Mugen 2 cpu cooler with a Corsair H90.

The Mugen has done me well but large dust build up and fan was starting to whine - that is the main reason for the upgrade.

What I would say about the Mugen is that it was a good stock cooler but any OC'ing and things got too hot.

A few days of research I've chosen the H90.

The biggest problem I had with the install was the case, an old Antec P182 so no 140mm fan support.

I've improvised

zip ties to secure the rad & fan. No optical drive now but I've not used it in over a year anyway.

OC'ing was fairly straight forward

BCLK 200
PCIE 100
DRAM Auto
CPU Voltage 1.35
DRAM BUS Votage 1.66

everything else left the same. I did have the DRAM set manually but not all RAM was being displayed since resetting to auto I'm back to the 24GB.

CPU is now sitting at 4.0Ghz and temps are 70oC under load which I'm happy with.

Hoping to get another 5 years out of this system!

DanTheMan86 · 15 Jun 2015 at 22:53

Nice, I'm still rocking out fine with my i7 930 @ 3.8ghz cooled by a Scythe Mugen 2 cooler, whole system is overdue for a dust but still runs great! Only thing I plan to change anytime soon is gfx card!

doyll · 16 Jun 2015 at 12:56

I'm also running X58s' .. a 920, 980 & 980X. Biggest complaint is power consumption foand slower Sata speedss to some degree. Other than that they are still great systems.

breathe3asy · 16 Jun 2015 at 13:33

Agreed, still going strong here keeping up with the big boys no problem

Schnippzle · 16 Jun 2015 at 13:57

Still rocking a stock i950 here on a Gigabyte X58 board. Cooling provided by an ancient Thermalright Ultra-120A with two Sharkoons on it. Running sweetly

doyll · 16 Jun 2015 at 17:43

Schnippzle said:
Still rocking a stock i950 here on a Gigabyte X58 board. Cooling provided by an ancient Thermalright Ultra-120A with two Sharkoons on it. Running sweetly

Have an Ultra 120A myself. Got it in early 2007. One of the best little coolers I've ever had. Changed mount and fan, but cooler is still the same and going strong. The Ultra 120A went on to become the TRUE Spirit 120.

kayomani · 16 Jun 2015 at 17:49

x5650 is a nice little boost and a direct replacement for the 920. There is a thread about it on this forum.

doyll · 16 Jun 2015 at 19:37

If I didn't have 980s' I would have done a 5650. Just make sure they are comparable with motherboard you have.

setter · 16 Jun 2015 at 19:49

Still running a 930 here as a second system. Cooled by the venerable TRUE 120. Not currently oc'd but have had it at 4.2ghz. Much cooler running setup than the system in sig.

Glass · 17 Jun 2015 at 15:41

I'm just reading up about the x5650 - looking very tempting! I've got a Asus P6t which looks to be compatiable.

Damm kayomani you are gonna cost me £60 with your suggestion however as this CPU was like £1000 a few years back i'll let it stand

breathe3asy · 22 Jun 2015 at 15:42

kayomani said:
x5650 is a nice little boost and a direct replacement for the 920. There is a thread about it on this forum.

What have you done, I've got itchy feet over this now

doyll · 22 Jun 2015 at 16:23

The X5650 is not always a direct replacement for 920. Check your motherboard compatibility to be sure it supports X5650

Glass · 22 Jun 2015 at 16:43

Have went for a x5650 overseas at the moment so will be a couple of weeks before I can update on progress.

Scania · 22 Jun 2015 at 23:24

Well, I finally replaced my Q8300 with an i7 870 only yesterday!

Board cost me £10,RAM £30 (via the MM) and £62 for the CPU via a second-hand retailer.
I've achieved the relatively big boost on a small outlay that I was hoping for.

Currently just loving the huge difference its given me with GTA V and my old GTX580...

Just wondering how long before I start clocking it!

doyll · 23 Jun 2015 at 11:10

Nice step up Scania.
Compared to today's compnents the i7 870 is rather ho-hum, while the GTX 580 is still rather good.

mushtafa · 24 Jun 2015 at 08:50

I wish I could overclock my 950 that easy! For some reason, I can't get mine stable past about 3.8Ghz.

Scania · 24 Jun 2015 at 08:53

doyll said:
Nice step up Scania.
Compared to today's compnents the i7 870 is rather ho-hum, while the GTX 580 is still rather good.

Indeed it is, but it's a big jump from my Q8300, got it up to 3.6Ghz thus far (although turbo mode seems to make it fall over), I don't think - given its cost me £102 total - I'd have done any better with modern kit at the price, it's a temporary measure but I didn't expect the difference to be so striking!

Incidentally, I have the same Asus 580 as you do, that's next on the overclock list!

doyll · 24 Jun 2015 at 21:25

3.6GHz is doing good!
I need to get ssds for my systems.

Scania · 24 Jun 2015 at 21:45

doyll said:
3.6GHz is doing good!
I need to get ssds for my systems.

3.8 Ghz (!) is the highest I've got but I've wound it back to 3.3Ghz now but with Turbo mode enabled and stable - GTA V is rocking along very nicely now!

Get the SSD's, the best upgrade you'll get for your PC bar none IMO, bigger the better if you can afford it.

Glass · 3 Jul 2015 at 15:43

Just back, managed to plop the x5650 in and kept the same settings in the BIOS, running at 4GHz max temp 57oC yesterday, on what I believe was the warmest day of the year.

Very happy with this setup now, lets see if I can come back here in 5 years with another post