New Build Questions

[mhsbrian]

Hi everyone:beer:

I recently(and finally) just ordered me a gaming pc from new egg.

My List of hardware:

Seagate 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
XCLIO Windtunnel Case
ASUS P5N32-E SLI Plus LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
XFX GeForce 8800GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model
Tuniq Tower 120 P4 & K8 CPU Cooler
Rosewill 600W Power Supply
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)

I know very little about overclocking. I've read the guides of overclocking before posting I just wanted to input before I start getting crazy with my $1300 computer.

Is my motherboard sufficient for over clocking ? I know the motherboard is the most important part of it.

I've read around about the processor I ordered and I noticed people mentioning the b3 and g0 models. Is there a issue with the b3 ?
How do I know if I have the b3 or g0 ?

Is my RAM sufficient for good over clocking ?

I looked around real hard for a good fan and by opinion of many people I know the Tuniq tower is supposed to be one of the best fan heatsink coolers out.

I bought the Xclio case because it seems like its a over clockers friend with the 2 25cm fans built in the side and I read many reviewers said that it brought their temps down 10-15c. Anyone had good experience with my case or know anyone that has ? Also the case is HUGE!!!!

Overall I just wanna make sure my build is able to be oc'd and run well while oc'd.

Thanks guys,
Brian

[GTengineer]

Hi everyone:beer:

I recently(and finally) just ordered me a gaming pc from new egg.

My List of hardware:

Seagate 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
XCLIO Windtunnel Case
ASUS P5N32-E SLI Plus LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
XFX GeForce 8800GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model
Tuniq Tower 120 P4 & K8 CPU Cooler
Rosewill 600W Power Supply
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)

I know very little about overclocking. I've read the guides of overclocking before posting I just wanted to input before I start getting crazy with my $1300 computer.

Is my motherboard sufficient for over clocking ? I know the motherboard is the most important part of it.

I've read around about the processor I ordered and I noticed people mentioning the b3 and g0 models. Is there a issue with the b3 ?
How do I know if I have the b3 or g0 ?

Is my RAM sufficient for good over clocking ?

I looked around real hard for a good fan and by opinion of many people I know the Tuniq tower is supposed to be one of the best fan heatsink coolers out.

I bought the Xclio case because it seems like its a over clockers friend with the 2 25cm fans built in the side and I read many reviewers said that it brought their temps down 10-15c. Anyone had good experience with my case or know anyone that has ? Also the case is HUGE!!!!

Overall I just wanna make sure my build is able to be oc'd and run well while oc'd.

Thanks guys,
Brian

Your RAM is very good. However I am afraid to say you are going to have problems overclocking that motherboard with a Q6600. I had the mobo below and although nice it was not a very good overclocker even with a dual core which puts less stress on the mobo. There were two members trying to OC their Q6600 with that board recently with no success.

I would seriously consider trying to get it exchanged for a P35 board such as GA-P35-DS3R, Abit IP35, or Asus P5K Premium. If you are planning to run SLI then go with EVGA 680i A1.

The Q6600 G0 is rated 95W while the B3 is rated 105W and generally runs a bit hotter than the G0. The G0 also usually overclocks better although some of the newer B3 have been overclocking well too. But if you are unfortunate to get a B3 which was packed many months ago you will be looking at a 3-3.2GHz overclock or so versus about 3.6GHz with a G0.

The Tuniq is indeed a very good heatsink, the TR Ultra-120 Extreme is better but the Tuniq is not far behind.

[bail_w]

Rosewill 600W Power Supply

You spent so much on that rig, why wouldn't you spent some more money on a better quality PSU such as a Corsair HX 620W.

[mhsbrian]

Your RAM is very good. However I am afraid to say you are going to have problems overclocking that motherboard with a Q6600. I had the mobo below and although nice it was not a very good overclocker even with a dual core which puts less stress on the mobo. There were two members trying to OC their Q6600 with that board recently with no success.

I would seriously consider trying to get it exchanged for a P35 board such as GA-P35-DS3R, Abit IP35, or Asus P5K Premium. If you are planning to run SLI then go with EVGA 680i A1.

The Q6600 G0 is rated 95W while the B3 is rated 105W and generally runs a bit hotter than the G0. The G0 also usually overclocks better although some of the newer B3 have been overclocking well too. But if you are unfortunate to get a B3 which was packed many months ago you will be looking at a 3-3.2GHz overclock or so versus about 3.6GHz with a G0.

The Tuniq is indeed a very good heatsink, the TR Ultra-120 Extreme is better but the Tuniq is not far behind.

Thank you much for your information! Does newegg allow you a way to change your order without canceling it ? I would switch mobos if I could do that. I'll have to look into that. I'm not going for a extreme overclock. Just maybe push my processor to 3.0ghz just a small increase.

[mhsbrian]

Sorry for the double post. But I did some research.

It seems the p5n 680i chipset has trouble over clocking but I read around some other sites and it seems its because the actual chipset has poor cooling and runs extremely hot(even at stock voltages). The case I have is a monster with cooling. I'm wondering If I can squeeze better settings out of the motherboard. Maybe they will also release a new bios update as well. I'll stick with it since the processor itself is a monster even not over clocked. Thanks alot for your information

[GTengineer]

Sorry for the double post. But I did some research.

It seems the p5n 680i chipset has trouble over clocking but I read around some other sites and it seems its because the actual chipset has poor cooling and runs extremely hot(even at stock voltages). The case I have is a monster with cooling. I'm wondering If I can squeeze better settings out of the motherboard. Maybe they will also release a new bios update as well. I'll stick with it since the processor itself is a monster even not over clocked. Thanks alot for your information

It is not only about cooling, the biggest problem is that a lot of these older 680i boards just don't cut it when it comes to clocking a quad core. If you are absolutely set on 680i because of SLI look into the EVGA 680i A1. However I would absolutely recommend going with P35 boards.

[Ben333]

You spent so much on that rig, why wouldn't you spent some more money on a better quality PSU such as a Corsair HX 620W.

Is anyone alse tired about hearing how bad of a PSU someone has? If anyone of you have OWNED the psu he has and have FIRST HAND seen it die then tell me. mhsbrian, if you buy another PSU then I'd be glad to buy the one you have now.

[mhsbrian]

Is anyone alse tired about hearing how bad of a PSU someone has? If anyone of you have OWNED the psu he has and have FIRST HAND seen it die then tell me. mhsbrian, if you buy another PSU then I'd be glad to buy the one you have now.

Actually have 3 lan party friends that use the same PSU in their machine and it works just fine. I'm sticking with my buy. I probably won't even OC my processor. I've read many many many reviews on the p5n and its a very stable board once you got it set up. So for my climax I'm just not gonna OC my CPU, just my video card :P.

[mhsbrian]

Okay I found a interesting article. People saying they over clocked Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 from 2.6 to 3.6 on this board.

Here is the page. http://www.anandtech.com/printarticle.aspx?i=2958 The over clocking section is down and they do many processors.


So its possible for me to get something outta this board yes?

[Immortal_Hero]

Is anyone alse tired about hearing how bad of a PSU someone has? If anyone of you have OWNED the psu he has and have FIRST HAND seen it die then tell me. mhsbrian, if you buy another PSU then I'd be glad to buy the one you have now.

Yep I have seen one first hand. Buddie got one bundled with his case it fried 2 mobo's. PSU is the most important part of the system IMO. The Corsairs are awsome and at a great price. I doubt you will go far with your Quad on that PSU. You need a good 'n stable one.

[mhsbrian]

Just FYI this is not a bottom line rosewill. It's the new revision from the 1st model that DID have problems, this one has a good rating on newegg and isn't "that" cheap of a buy. The first of their 600W had a problem then they took them out of stock then they replaced them with a new revision.

Anyway, did anyone read over that article I posted. They jump a quad core a whole gigahertz. I read the other posts with people that had problems with this board but it IS possible to over clock with this board and the article actually says its easier than all the other ASUS 680i chipsets out there.

They only list the voltages and timings out not explaining how they did it really. It's pretty vague.
"360x10 (3-4-3-9 1T, 800MHz, 2.25V), CPU 1.4500V
3600MHz (+35%)"
They set the multiplier to 360 then changed the memory timings to as so and memory voltage to 2.25. Then upped the CPU from stock 1.3500 volts to 1.4500 volts.

So I think I'll have to just play with my settings a lot before I can probably figure out the sweet spot for my quad.

[Immortal_Hero]

The problem with cheap PSU's may not be seen immediatly. They use cheap caps that over time will fail faster than good caps. They will buldge and leak. You won't get the milage out of this PSU like you would a Corsair (Seasonic), PC Power & Cooling, etc. You are spending a lot of cash on good hardware. What is an extra $60 for a better PSU? It will only protect your investment.

Just like GTengineer stated above. If you plan on SLi you should be looking at the 680i chipset as it is much more stable. If you don't want/plan SLi then go with a P35 much better chipset. I have had mine for less than a week and it is doing 450 MHz FSB. The nVidia BIOS is also more complicated than Intel (for what that is worth).

Personally I would revisit your selection of chipset and PSU. Just my $0.02.

[Karadhas]

In a nutshell: Should've gotten a P35 chipset (more futureproof), should've gotten a named powersupply, and should've gone with the Ultra 120 Extreme.

Longer: P35 chipsets handle quads and overclocking better and will last longer with their being designed to handle the upcoming 45nm processors. The power supply is basically the single most important part of your computer, it's the only one capable of not only failing but also taking out everything except the case and heatsink without you ever seeing it coming, and also make stable overclocks a lot easier and good ones can even act as a last line of defense from mains power problems. My 520HX doesnt even reboot the comp when the power flickers here in florida. As for the heatsink.... Tuniq Towers are awesome, but for some reason they seem to have great difficulty cooling quadcores. Maybe it's the way the processor is on the chip, maybe it's because they are better at dissipating heat than transferring it from the IHS to the fins, but for whatever reason I've seen many people getting bad performance from them. Myself included.

[MRD]

I'd also caution against that power supply. Ditch it and get a Corsair (or Antec, PCP&C, or something else decent). Games and high end video cards draw a lot or power, and a crappy power supply can definitely make your whole computer unstable, or even hurt your cpu/mb/ram.

[Immortal_Hero]

@MRD you mean a crappy PSU not video card?

[MRD]

Oops yes, fixing... Thanks.

[bobad]

I'd also caution against that power supply... or even hurt your cpu/mb/ram.

I guess I've replaced a hundred dead power supplies, but I've never seen a PS failure take down any hardware with it. I have seen a failed MB kill 2different power supplies. I even saw a failed modem kill a power supply, and tried to kill another one. :D

[Immortal_Hero]

I guess I've replaced a hundred dead power supplies, but I've never seen a PS failure take down any hardware with it. I have seen a failed MB kill 2different power supplies. I even saw a failed modem kill a power supply, and tried to kill another one. :D

I had an Antec TPII kill 2 mobos. My buddy had a Rosewill kill a mobo. I had some no name brand kill an old P4A board. Pretty much every bad PSU I have encourntered has killed something.

[MRD]

I had an Asus A7M266 and an athlon tbird 1.4 that were destroyed by a bad power supply.

Most of the time though, you're right, it won't destroy it, it will just cause system instability... crashing, freezing, etc. especially when you are talking about someone pushing a system to the limits, as with gaming. That 8800 is going to need to be able to count on a solid power source.

[mhsbrian]

I dunno, I'm stuck to the PSU because I've seen it deliver great results with my own eyes. Every PSU on the market namebrand or not fails sometimes people just tend to pick on the ones that aren't by chance name brand and overpriced.

I work at a computer shop and all we sell are non named brand cheap power supplies and have had only a few come back on us in the past 5 years I've been working here. We also sale Rosewill products(just not PSU's) and they have earned their right in my book as a good provider of budget products.

That being said, I have contacted newegg about the board and a RMA after I receive my board and most likely I am gonna send it back and get the P5k Premium.:beer:

[GTengineer]

P5k Premium.:beer:

GOOD choice :D

[Immortal_Hero]

I dunno, I'm stuck to the PSU because I've seen it deliver great results with my own eyes. Every PSU on the market namebrand or not fails sometimes people just tend to pick on the ones that aren't by chance name brand and overpriced.

I work at a computer shop and all we sell are non named brand cheap power supplies and have had only a few come back on us in the past 5 years I've been working here. We also sale Rosewill products(just not PSU's) and they have earned their right in my book as a good provider of budget products.


I am really not so concerned with them failing but the stability of the unit. Most people don't care how stable the rails are. The further you push your hardware the more important stable clean power is. I am not trying to sell brand names. Go buy a Seasonic as they are the OEM for many PSU's such as the Corsair HX520 and HX620, two of the best PSU's on the market right now. With a cheap PSU you see unpredectable instability with OCs. Random crashes that cause nothing but headache. I don't see the big deal to spend the extra $60 on a good PSU.

[MRD]

I agree with Immortal_Hero... you don't have to spend a ton or get a highly recognized brand name to get good quality. I've bought mostly Fortron / Sparkle power supplies over the years, which is not a name like Antec, but they are excellent quality. Recently, I've heard some of their higher models aren't as good. The Corsair have been getting great reviews.

Few people realize that the two most important factors for determining system stability are power supply and cooling. If the power supply works, but sends out a signal that is not as stable as it should be, you're likely to get crashes and freezes, especially if you do anything that pushes the computer. Most people can get away with a generic power supply because they are using a C2D to email and word process. If you are a gamer though, you're crazy to go with a generic power supply. I've done it myself, and regretted it. (Mine was a Powmax... horrible, horrible unit. I compared it to a a Fortron with the same rated wattage, and it was over 4x as heavy and a good deal larger. It's not just a brand name you are paying for, there really is a quality difference, and it's obvious if you look at them side by side.)

Also, tests done by places like Tom's Hardware have consistently shown that a Fortron 300W will easily put out more power with more stability than a generic 600W. Those watt ratings mean very little. If you really need to save money, get a lower wattage, non generic, and it will still put out more power than the high wattage rated generic.

[Immortal_Hero]

Really though, he is looking at a quad and G80 he needs a good bit of power. I would suggest a good 500 watt supply. The HX520 by Corsair meets this need perfectly.

[MRD]

I agree, but tests have shown that you get more power out of a low-rated high quality brand than a generic rated for some absurdly high output. The generics just put a sticker on it that says "500W", but that doesn't mean ****. If you need a 500W corsair, you probably need a 1000W generic to get anywhere close in terms of power output, and it won't be as stable.

[mhsbrian]

hi everyone,

Just wanna say I got my machine finally, It's all together and working fine with stock settings on everything. I have a friend(actually our UPS guy where we work that is a EXTREME over clocker) he oced my q6600 and the best he could get is 3.3 Ghz on the newest bios. Then we tuned it back down to stock settings(just cause It's so freaking fast at stock no point in ocing it really to me.)

Rosewill 600w PSU is doing a great job and its so pretty:burn:

[GTengineer]

hi everyone,

Just wanna say I got my machine finally, It's all together and working fine with stock settings on everything. I have a friend(actually our UPS guy where we work that is a EXTREME over clocker) he oced my q6600 and the best he could get is 3.3 Ghz on the newest bios. Then we tuned it back down to stock settings(just cause It's so freaking fast at stock no point in ocing it really to me.)

Rosewill 600w PSU is doing a great job and its so pretty:burn:

Was this on the P5N32-E SLI Plus or the P5K Premium? Also is the Q6600 a G0 or B3? 3.3GHz is not bad but with a G0 on a P5K Premium you should be able to do much better assuming good cooling.

[mhsbrian]

This is on the Pn532-3 Sli Plus!

I am actually very happy with it. It's running so good, I ran a few benchmarks on some games and god....the quad is a ****ing beast...I went from a p4 2.2 478 socket to the quad sooooooooooooooooooooo much faster its blowing my mind.

It's a G0

The new bios update allows 1.4v(with the quad) so you can get higher fsb. My friend played with it for about an hour and got 3.3 ghz out of the P5n32-e Sli Plus

[mhsbrian]

There is also a volt mod for the p5n32-e sli where if you solder 3 points on the board with a certain connector you can get up to 3.8 on a q6600 I believe this is a Vmod.

[GTengineer]

thats pretty good for the 650i

[v8440]

If the clio case you bought is the one with a 350 mm fan in the side, did you run into the problem where you can't get the side on the case? I have a tuniq tower 120 and couldn't get the side on the case because the fan hits the top of the cooler. I ended up modding the side of the case to put the fan on the outside. The only real problem with that is the side of the fan sticking out does not have a grille to keep foreign objects out-I'll have to do something about that if we have kids around.

I was just curious as to whether you ran into the clearance problem, since you didn't mention it.


*Edit* I ended up turning the fan around, still on the outside. I did this because I wanted the big fan to remove air, not cram more in, since my oven *ahem, I mean video card* dumps its heat right there in the case, perfect for the big fan to remove it.

[mhsbrian]

If the clio case you bought is the one with a 350 mm fan in the side, did you run into the problem where you can't get the side on the case? I have a tuniq tower 120 and couldn't get the side on the case because the fan hits the top of the cooler. I ended up modding the side of the case to put the fan on the outside. The only real problem with that is the side of the fan sticking out does not have a grille to keep foreign objects out-I'll have to do something about that if we have kids around.

I was just curious as to whether you ran into the clearance problem, since you didn't mention it.


*Edit* I ended up turning the fan around, still on the outside. I did this because I wanted the big fan to remove air, not cram more in, since my oven *ahem, I mean video card* dumps its heat right there in the case, perfect for the big fan to remove it.

I don't have that problem. My case shuts fine with it installed. Mine is the Xclio Windtunnel, it has 2 fans on the side that are HUGE!

The fans don't hit in this case because they are actually in the door ? If that makes sense, thats why I attached the pictures so you can see. It's very much so nice :), eye candy woo woo!

With my Tuniq and these fans and a 120mm and asus north bridge cooler my processor is at 25c idle and when I ran Super Pi it got to 37c!!!

Very happy with my setup at the moment.

Oh btw, this case..is ****ing GIGANTIC!!!!!!! I had to buy a new table to put in my room, it wouldn't fit on my full size computer desk!