Buying advise needed: i5-3570k: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 or other?: $100-150 budget

[m715]

Looks like that's a pretty good bundle, starts in with the 7950 series
Newegg has the SAPPHIRE 7950 for $269 AR...very tempting but will try and hold out till black friday for the graphics card...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202006

 

[m715]

Newegg left some boxes last night, couldn't wait till the weekend, started putting parts together, hooked up enough to boot tonight...

Most annoying problem is the 8-pin motherboard power connector on the OCZ power supply is TOO SHORT, no chance to route it around back, it's barley long enough going straight across the board
So I think I'm on the look out for another PSU, I'll keep this one for my file server project next...

The $19 NZXT 210 case impressed me for the price, everything actually seems like it will fit...

Also picked up a Thermaltake WATER2.0 Performer, pretty easy to install

Cats were trying to help out...
Now I have to read up on overclocking, its been a long time...

 

[EarthDog]

Or get an extension for the 8 pin.

 

[m715]

Or get an extension for the 8 pin.

Yea, I guess that would be the easiest cheapest route...

Got stuck home today grading exams, so I am playing around in the background with mild overclocking...

What is the stock voltage for the i5 - 3570k?

Right now I'm at:
4.0 GHz @ 1.055 volts
Prime 95: Small FFTs, 15+ minutes

Temps MAX
core0 - 38
core1 - 40
core2 - 45
core3 - 46
package - 49

 

[EarthDog]

What is the stock voltage for the i5 - 3570k?

You tell us....

Being serious, it varies from CPU to CPU. Load up bios defaults, boot to windows and see what it says in CPUz.

 

[m715]

You tell us....

Being serious, it varies from CPU to CPU. Load up bios defaults, boot to windows and see what it says in CPUz.

Ah, thank you, that's sort of what I was wondering from reading different info online.

Stock with Prime 95 - Small FFTs 3.6 GHz @ 1.096v
At idle it drops down to 0.896v

Also found out the water pump doesn't like to be controlled by the CPU fan temp, it gets a high frequency buzz if the computer cycles the speed down, I just moved it off the CPU power and put it on one of the regular fan headers set to full and now its quite and the dual fans on the radiator spin down.

 

[EarthDog]

Naaa, not with a load...and powersavings, my bad. Here is a better way... in the ABOUT section of CPUz you can save a file. Save it and look at it, it shows the VID. Sorry I wasnt more clear... when you put a load on it, vdroop comes in to play.

 

[rogbur22]

Very nice case for 19 bucks !! painted inside, some cable management cutouts, plenty of case fan screens. Cutout for the CPU fan and sink, Looks roomy enough. Very cool If I need a nice little budget case im getting one

 

[Deaks2]

Best guide for oc'ing on the Asrock Z77 boards: http://www.overclock.net/t/1198504/...-sandy-bridge-ivy-bridge-asrock-edition/0_100

 

[rogbur22]

Best guide for oc'ing on the Asrock Z77 boards: http://www.overclock.net/t/1198504/...-sandy-bridge-ivy-bridge-asrock-edition/0_100

Completely agree, I followed this one and I had never overclocked any Intel CPU before. Very easy to follow and with the ASrock Ext 4 board you can walk right up to and most cases beyond 4.5ghz on a i5-3570 doing nothing but bumping the multiplier. I got to 4.4 initially before having to bump the voltage by 1 setting. However after bios 2.30 I was able to drop the voltage back down to stock and run 4.5 with no problems just using the multiplier.

Sweet chip, sweet mobo, excellent guide

 

[m715]

Best guide for oc'ing on the Asrock Z77 boards: http://www.overclock.net/t/1198504/...-sandy-bridge-ivy-bridge-asrock-edition/0_100

Thanks for all the info and ideas, so far I'm liking this board, CPU and cooler

Haven't had much time, we got ready for Hurricane Sandy, and really lucked out. We only got some wind and heavy rain, nothing bad. School has also been keeping me busy...

Tried out the overclocking guide, set the offset voltage to +0.005v, got to 4.5 GHz by just stepping up the multiplier, increased the turbo boost to +0.008v and it seemed stable (10+ mins on prime95), temps were: 46/52/57/53 & 63-package, with a total draw of 126 watts.

What is the "Package" temp in HWMonitor under the core temps?

4.6 GHz, booted to windows but BSOD, didn't try anything else...

Oh, wife also gave me the ok to get the Corsair 600T white case
The NZXT 210 will work until I find a good deal on the 600T and then the NZXT will become my next project a file server...

Still trying to stay under $1k total for absolutely everything new for this build including squeezing in a 7950...next I need to figure out what (2) 24" LCDs from staples will be good.

 

[EarthDog]

10 mins of Prime is not an indication of stable... I mean if you arent freezing and such it is, but normally people wouldnt consider 10 mins of a stress test a stable system.

 

[m715]

10 mins of Prime is not an indication of stable... I mean if you arent freezing and such it is, but normally people wouldnt consider 10 mins of a stress test a stable system.

You are correct, I should have said it would start up at 4.5 GHz, not enough time to prove stability...I just wanted to see if it would run at those speeds. For now 4.0 GHz is fine, heck stock is fine until I get my GPU.

I did end up running prime95 for 1+ hour at 4.5 GHz so its somewhat stable anyway at those speeds...

I was reading that the "Intel Burn Test" is a more stressful test that Prime95 and that it would be a better indicator of stability in a shorter time?

 

[EarthDog]

If you ask me, IBT is overkill...you will never reach P95 loads and somehow, IBT goes further. I only use IBT for quick and dirty testing (no more than 5 mins).

For Ivybridge, I would use AIDA64 stress test as it supposedly tests more instruction sets than P95.

 

[Deaks2]

I found that 1 hour of P95 is a good indicator. With my current system the machine would be fine in P95 for 10-15 mins, but right around an hour it would crap out. At my current settings it is stable for 24+ hours (as tested).

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7325025&postcount=428