I recently completed a build of my everyday workstation; I haven't tried to do any performance tweaking on a PC in a long time, so please pardon any ignorance on my part. Specs are:
i7 4790K
ASUS Z97-AR
EVGA 16GB DDR3 1600
EVGA GTX 650
OCZ Vector 180 480GB
Fractal R5 case with (2) stock Fractal 140mm case fans.
Thermaltake TR2 430W
Cooler Master Nepton 140XL
I have it overclocked at 4.7ghz (102.2 clock * 46 multiplier), with vcore at 1.295 manual. Idle temps are about 30C, and stress/stability testing with AIDA64 and Prime 95 generates average CPU temps of about 55C. Individual cores average between 55C and 60C, with highest individual core peak at 75C during testing. The cooler is tuned for quietness, and I still have another 500rpm of fan speed available on the Nepton 140XL, if I need more cooling. I've attempted to go to 4.8ghz, but I haven't found settings that are stable (yet), and I've been cautious about pushing the vcore voltage much further.
Questions:
1) Given the current stability at 1.295 volts, what would be appropriate adaptive voltage settings to try? Or do I use offset? This is a 24x7 machine, so reduced voltage during idle would be a nice benefit.
2) I have a spare set of 16GB of EVGA DDR3 2400 sitting here. I've tested it in the machine, and Passmark reports worse performance than with the 1600, without any attempted tweaking. I presume that's because the timing of the 2400 (CL11) is worse than the 1600 (CL9). Is it worth the performance gain to install the 2400 memory and play with the DRAM settings? I know nothing about tweaking DRAM.
3) The PSU is a new-ish TR2 from another build, still has about 4 years of warranty left. Based on a couple of different power consumption calculators, the 430 watts is well matched to this build (has about 100 watts of headroom left). Aside from efficiency gains, any reason to go to a higher quality, bronze or gold rated PSU? Any performance gain potential? It's unlikely this will ever been anything but a single GPU box, as I generally don't game.
Thanks in advance for any comments.
i7 4790K
ASUS Z97-AR
EVGA 16GB DDR3 1600
EVGA GTX 650
OCZ Vector 180 480GB
Fractal R5 case with (2) stock Fractal 140mm case fans.
Thermaltake TR2 430W
Cooler Master Nepton 140XL
I have it overclocked at 4.7ghz (102.2 clock * 46 multiplier), with vcore at 1.295 manual. Idle temps are about 30C, and stress/stability testing with AIDA64 and Prime 95 generates average CPU temps of about 55C. Individual cores average between 55C and 60C, with highest individual core peak at 75C during testing. The cooler is tuned for quietness, and I still have another 500rpm of fan speed available on the Nepton 140XL, if I need more cooling. I've attempted to go to 4.8ghz, but I haven't found settings that are stable (yet), and I've been cautious about pushing the vcore voltage much further.
Questions:
1) Given the current stability at 1.295 volts, what would be appropriate adaptive voltage settings to try? Or do I use offset? This is a 24x7 machine, so reduced voltage during idle would be a nice benefit.
2) I have a spare set of 16GB of EVGA DDR3 2400 sitting here. I've tested it in the machine, and Passmark reports worse performance than with the 1600, without any attempted tweaking. I presume that's because the timing of the 2400 (CL11) is worse than the 1600 (CL9). Is it worth the performance gain to install the 2400 memory and play with the DRAM settings? I know nothing about tweaking DRAM.
3) The PSU is a new-ish TR2 from another build, still has about 4 years of warranty left. Based on a couple of different power consumption calculators, the 430 watts is well matched to this build (has about 100 watts of headroom left). Aside from efficiency gains, any reason to go to a higher quality, bronze or gold rated PSU? Any performance gain potential? It's unlikely this will ever been anything but a single GPU box, as I generally don't game.
Thanks in advance for any comments.
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