Potential Sandy Bridge system purchase... new PSU or try it on Antec 550w?

[klepto12]

i have finally put together my build just waiting on my tax returns so i can pull the trigger on the new system i think i might get the 2500k though since its almost as fast but a $100 cheaper im going to go with the corsair hydro h70 cooler hope i can get over 4.5 ghz out of this little guy.

 

[Arris]

i have finally put together my build just waiting on my tax returns so i can pull the trigger on the new system i think i might get the 2500k though since its almost as fast but a $100 cheaper im going to go with the corsair hydro h70 cooler hope i can get over 4.5 ghz out of this little guy.

Well since I've gotten 4.4Ghz on the retail heatsink I think that 4.5Ghz is a conservative target. Good luck with your build. Let us know how you get on

Edit: 4.5Ghz with 100 bclk now(auto overclocking had it at 103 and seemed to be messing up my video card overclock but had to back down the video card clock from 900Mhz GPU to 875Mhz)

 

[Arris]

Seems stable (at least able to play 10 mins plus of StarCraft II with no problems ) at 4.7Ghz with 1.2v to the CPU.

Need to do some long term testing for stability but seems to be ok so far. Will push further tonight when I've switched the retail fan out for the Corsair H50.

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

Seems stable (at least able to play 10 mins plus of StarCraft II with no problems ) at 4.7Ghz with 1.2v to the CPU.

Hmm, but careful there, Starcraft 2 only uses two cores. That provides an interesting scenario with turboboost (if it even activates at this speed), but it doesn't stress the core 100%.

 

[Mizzou]

Seems stable (at least able to play 10 mins plus of StarCraft II with no problems ) at 4.7Ghz with 1.2v to the CPU.

Need to do some long term testing for stability but seems to be ok so far. Will push further tonight when I've switched the retail fan out for the Corsair H50.

That's just amazing, what kind of temperatures are you seeing at 4.7GHz?

 

[klepto12]

wow thats all i can say nice OC but u might want to use intel burn test or prime 95 for a couple hours to see what kinda temps ur getting and to see if your stable i havent found anything that pushes temps higher than intel burn test.

 

[Arris]

Yeah, the stress testing made me drop back to 4.4Ghz. Even then running prime95 is giving me high temps. Looks like I was right to order that Corsair H50
Still that is only running 1.2v. Can probably safely bump it to at least 1.25v. Some info suggests the max for the CPU is 1.5v but don't think I feel safe pushing the voltage that high. Will see what the temps look like with the H50 and stability up to 1.25v, and see how high I can get the overclock stable.

 

[Arris]

Ok, H50 installed. Set CPU(radiator fan) and Chassis(pump) to turbo profile through Asus AI Suite II - Fan Xpert. Still fairly quiet compared to my old Q6600 system.

Running Prime95 8 threads maxing all cores (small FFTs L2 cache testing).
10mins+

1 x Radiator fan ~1700 rpm (idle 639rpm)
Pump ~1400rpm (idle 1064rpm)
BCLK Frequency dropped back from auto overclocking 103 to 100Mhz.

Idle
CPU - 20C
MB - 28C

First level of overclock (4.1Ghz turbo, 1.165v).
CPU - 54C
MB - 27C

Second level (4.3Ghz, 1.195v).
CPU - 59C
MB - 27C

Third level (4.5Ghz, 1.195v).
CPU - 63C
MB - 27C

Fourth level (4.6Ghz 1.2v).
CPU - 65C
MB - 28C

Fifth level (4.7Ghz 1.245v).
CPU - 71C
MB - 28C

Think thats probably as stable as I'll get it without getting to scary temps. Although going back to 4.6Ghz with 1.2v as it leaves more headroom for temp increases from having the GPU running full out too.
Maybe put another 120mm fan onto the radiator for a push pull type setup before trying for anything higher and leave it to run in a bit more...

 

[Mizzou]

See that things are coming along nicely, hitting 4.7GHz stable looks promising.

 

[Leeky]

Once you've got it stable, hit it with an hour of Linpack using OCCT. If it holds temp fine with that, your good to go with anything.

I'd watch it closely though during that test, as its seriously harsh on the CPU, and it'll heat up very quick. If it can survive that without getting too hot it'll handle anything you can throw at it.

 

[Arris]

Once you've got it stable, hit it with an hour of Linpack using OCCT. If it holds temp fine with that, your good to go with anything.

I'd watch it closely though during that test, as its seriously harsh on the CPU, and it'll heat up very quick. If it can survive that without getting too hot it'll handle anything you can throw at it.

Will look into that, although Prime95 seems fairly good at stressing all cores to high temps

Pic of the setup...

 

[klepto12]

might i suggest intel burn test? it will punish your system beyond what prime 95 will do trust me if it holds up to that you are set.

 

[red1776]

Hi Arris,
Could we talk you into some benches @4.7Ghz would like to see that thing tear it up.

 

[Arris]

Hi Arris,
Could we talk you into some benches @4.7Ghz would like to see that thing tear it up.

I've backed it down to 4.6Ghz but what benchmarks would you like?
So far I've only stuck on SiSoft Sandra Lite 2011c.

I'm testing ram at the moment as I've had boot issues. Have a feeling one of the sticks might be a bit dodgy. But then there are so many options, auto overclocking, bios overclocking, switches on the motherboard to set it to find best performance settings every boot that I might have it pushing the ram beyond its capabilities and not the patience to let it keep testing until it finds stable settings.

Think I'm going to disable most of those options in the end

 

[Arris]

i7 2600k @ 4.7Ghz SiSoft Sandra Arithmetic bench
i7 2600k @ 4.7Ghz SiSoft Sandra Multi-Media bench
i7 2600k @ 4.7Ghz SiSoft Sandra Multi-core Efficiency bench
i7 2600k @ 4.7Ghz SiSoft Sandra Cryptography bench

Still hitting 70C after 10 mins of Prime95 so think I'm going to stick with 4.6Ghz for 24/7 settings for now (maxed 65C).
Although keep in mind this is with 1 x 120mm PSU fan, 1 x 200mm intake and 1 x 200mm blowhole exhaust case fan. The rear 120mm exhaust is now a 120mm intake for the CPU cooler radiator. So with a little bit more aggressive cooling 4.7Ghz with better temps should be fairly easy.

 

[Arris]

might i suggest intel burn test? it will punish your system beyond what prime 95 will do trust me if it holds up to that you are set.

Running at Maximum stress level for my 24/7 setting of 4.6Ghz @ 1.215v.

CPU never went over 64C.

 

[klepto12]

looks like your all set maybe after the thermal paste has some time to set you can increase that OC to 4.7 gl with your system man and congrats on one of the fastest systems around.

 

[Arris]

On long prime runs (stressing all 8 threads) I was getting temps up to 73C, which for me is a little too hot. Especially as I remember seeing 72 as the max temp on intel's info regarding the processor.

So to try and address this I've ordered two Akasa Viper 120mm fans(83.63 CFM, 28.9dB@1900 rpm) , going to setup push/pull config on the H50 radiator.

I also ordered a splitter for PWM 4 pin fans so I could run the 2 rad fans off the same motherboard header (takes a molex input from PSU as well) as the connections I could see for the case fan controller were unfamiliar to me. Was only on closer inspection today that I found they were unwired headers stuck on to protect the pins of the fan controller connections. Guess I could have saved myself the small cost of the additional splitter and just moved fans about from the motherboard headers to the fan controller to free up another 4 pin connection.

Hopefully these fans at less than full speed (to try and keep the noise down) will be able to cool the radiator more effectively than the single corsair that came with it.

 

[Mizzou]

That's really not a bad temperature at full stress with Hyperthreading enabled, do agree that it's about as toasty as you want to get. Hopefully, the new fans will pull you down to 70C or thereabouts which would be really good.