Why being an Overclocker is tough.....(rant inside)

[sp00L]

Well, after going water cooling with the exact same setup as air cooling just to lower temps and quiet the jetliner I have as a computer, I'm no longer prime stable, wtf is all I can say.

1) Motherboards, primarily Intel chipsets. Why the @#$@ do they give us 1.8-2.0 vcores when northies and presumably prescotts die at anyting over 1.7 volts, yet (those of us fortunate to have bh5) can't get anything over 2.8 vdimm??? Ram loves voltage, cpu's do not, why don't the mobo manufacturers get it???? I've seen ch5, some hynix and even the new samsung stuff on memory respond well to voltage. Don't mention the MAX3, I've had one and it's hard as hell to get the advertised 3.2 vdimm working. The AI7 is SLOWER than any 875 based board. Tight timings can equal as much as 100-200MHz on the cpu speed from my experience.

2) What's up with all of voltage fluctuations??? If you have a decent 500+ watt psu, why the #$%#$% do mobo's struggle to maintain the clean lines the psu gives???

3) Fan noise. Why? Mankind is romping around with unmanned vehicles on Mars and we still have whiny fans here on Earth.

4) Speaking of 80mm fans, why do so many case companies insist on using multiple 80mm when single 120's will do the job with much less noise.

5) And another thing, directed straight at Intel's greedy palm, why PCI-X, socket T, AND DDRII? The current 3.6 prescott in LGA775 format will NOT outperform my 3.6 northie, it may come close but I ain't handing out cigars. I'd love to buy one of the beefier 9XX mobo's that can handle prescott but then I have to shell out another $400 to replace my 8 month-old 9800XT??? No DDRII running at my 225 fsb can match my bh5's. Where's the progress? I want another return to TIGHT TIMINGS.


Rant over. Now for a few good things that Overclocking has brought to me:

1) Love my BH5
2) Thanks to everyone here who's posted good things about Lian-Li, what a great case and worth every penny
3) Water Cooling - why did I wait so long??????????
4) Panaflo fans, great quality and do exactly what they are advertised to do
5) Gaming with headphones, why did I ever use those cheap speakers of mine?

Rant on, companies I personally have a problem with:

1) Vantec - mediocre heatsinks, the vortex requires you to manually turn it on each time you start the computer, this one is just pitiful
2) Thermaltake - great company 3 years ago, now they are more of a sideshow for the freakish frankenstein like products they put out
3) Coolermaster - what's with the price considering someone else probably makes something similar, cheaper

I picked these because I consider them tier one suppliers who a lot a people go to for overclocking gear

Rant off (again), companies I love:

1) Antec - solid tank-like cases, great psu's
2) PC Power & Cooling - I'd like to extend a heartfelt thanks for the 510 Deluxe psu
3) Lian-Li - 'nuff said
4) Seagate & Western Digital - I have a combinations of drives from both companies over the past 7 years, no problems, ever.
5) Thermalright - where would we be without Thermalright
6) Swiftech, Danger Den, DTek - if I'd only discovered each sooner - great products that perform as advertised.

All of this was basically sparked by my continued voltage flucuations on my P4C800-E Deluxe even after months since the droop mod. And to the mobo companies who've made us all cheer and cry (sometimes in the same evening of overclocking) I give this:

All of the above are my opinions, opinions only from my own experiences seeking the holy grail of raw computing power which I will never have any practical use for. I'll go play some games now and try to reap some return on this sink-hole of an investment that I call a "personal computer"

 

[Yuriman]

You could try mosfet sinks, and a sparkle psu. I had a sparkle power-q(cheepo model) 350w and it took my mobile barton to 2.6ghz+ and the rails were still right on target. a 530w sparkle would be awesome.

 

[sp00L]

What's odd is, it that it WAS stable expect now i have the water pump on my 12 volt rail. Go figure, I'm putting the blame on Asus. I do think I messed up the capacitor for the droop mod because I don't need 35K ohms across it, on 800. So, I broke the mobo and I'm too cheap to get another.

 

[DaFonz]

Amen to that! Nothing ****es me off than the 2.8/2.9 vdimm limitatins on most boards. ARggggggg!

Adding to your rant list - why are so called "silent" PSUs.. not really silent and why are the ones that are (wow.. talk about contradicting myself)...all under 450W?

I would KILL for a 600W PS that was silent.

 

[sp00L]

Hell, how about a 700 watt that was larger than the normal psu's to accomodate extra fans. After all, most of us oc'ers are still sticking by our over-spacious towers.

And, how about an American company charging $300 vs. the Taiwanese charging $200 for a mobo, and giving us one with all the bells and goodies.

And yet another thing, what's up with on-board sound? Raise your hand if you use those mediocre encoders. How many of us have bought an Audigy or something by M-Audio or Turtle Beach? Cut my cost and take that on-board sound off!

 

[teezer]

and in 3-6 months you just lost $300+ on new hardware?? ~~~ and it's still not fast enough

 

[sp00L]

welcome to the sickness.

 

[Mr.Guvernment]

Well, after going water cooling with the exact same setup as air cooling just to lower temps and quiet the jetliner I have as a computer, I'm no longer prime stable, wtf is all I can say.

OI know the feeling - sort off - got WC for my ti4600 ULTRA - got 3mhz more out of the core from stock air - got NOTHING on my CPU!!!!!!!! what a waste of $200US!!!!

2) What's up with all of voltage fluctuations??? If you have a decent 500+ watt psu, why the #$%#$% do mobo's struggle to maintain the clean lines the psu gives???

Seriously!!! you think they have such fluctuations in other devices such as PDA's / TV / dvd players / Walkmans - i doubt it!! so why motherboards? i think better testing is needed!!!! i know

there is a certainb % of margin for change but like .2-3v is alot!!!! as far as i am concerned since it can mean the difference between a few hundred Mhz O/C,

3) Fan noise. Why? Mankind is romping around with unmanned vehicles on Mars and we still have whiny fans here on Earth.

BUAHAHAHAHH!!! call up NASA and ask if they will make cooling systems for CPU's - but then again i guess they dont have to worry about heat since space is so cold anyways - talk about passive

cooling!

4) Speaking of 80mm fans, why do so many case companies insist on using multiple 80mm when single 120's will do the job with much less noise.

Conspiracy theory!! - they make deals with the fan makers - make room for 8 - 80mm fans - make more money then 4 - 120mm fans.

5) And another thing, directed straight at Intel's greedy palm, why PCI-X, socket T, AND DDRII? The current 3.6 prescott in LGA775 format will NOT outperform my 3.6 northie, it may come

close but I ain't handing out cigars. I'd love to buy one of the beefier 9XX mobo's that can handle prescott but then I have to shell out another $400 to replace my 8 month-old 9800XT??? No DDRII

running at my 225 fsb can match my bh5's. Where's the progress? I want another return to TIGHT TIMINGS.

PCI-X - sorry - correction - it is PCIe or PCIex - PCI-X is a 66mhz / 133mhz PCI slot usually found in server mobo's.

2) Thanks to everyone here who's posted good things about Lian-Li, what a great case and worth every penny

Your welcome - IF i ever contributed to one of your threads.

3) Water Cooling - why did I wait so long??????????

I wondered the same thing - then once i got it i knew why - cause it cost $200 more then air and gave me %0 increase in performance - but that was just my scenario - but in most cases it helps alot!!!

5) Gaming with headphones, why did I ever use those cheap speakers of mine?

And that is why i spent $260 on my senihihihihihser HD 580 precisions, even if you get a 7.1 surrond sound when playing a FPS - headphones are just So much better and easier to target that

sniper 1000m out and knife his gutt's open (not sure what i am talking about go buy Nova login Delta Force land warrior - all of the way up to Joint Operations - Typhoon down - 150!!!!!!

person multiplayer maps!!!!!!!!!!

3) Coolermaster - what's with the price considering someone else probably makes something similar, cheaper

See - http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=313077 - i think coolermaster has come a LONG way from where they were and NOW companieslike themaltake / right are now COPYING!!!!!!

coolermasters desinges / cases!!!!! and usuall y are CHEAPER!!!! BUt he quality is CRAP compared to coolermaster - they must be doing something right!!! otherwise why would other top companies

copy their designs? also look @ the knock off wave master cases by thermaltake?? i think it is - throw in a window and charge more.... Cant companies come up with their own idea's?

I picked these because I consider them tier one suppliers who a lot a people go to for overclocking gear

Rant off (again), companies I love:

1) Antec - solid tank-like cases, great psu's
2) PC Power & Cooling - I'd like to extend a heartfelt thanks for the 510 Deluxe psu
3) Lian-Li - 'nuff said
4) Seagate & Western Digital - I have a combinations of drives from both companies over the past 7 years, no problems, ever.

Totally agree - "usually" top quality products!!! you can rely on for sure - dont forget Fortron!

5) Thermalright - where would we be without Thermalright

are copying lesser known companies - like coolermaster and making "cheaper" quality knock offs using their name to sell - or am i confused with thermaltake?

6) Swiftech, Danger Den, DTek - if I'd only discovered each sooner - great products that perform as advertised.

i agree! - but also other companies not so well known that do just as well

All of the above are my opinions, opinions only from my own experiences seeking the holy grail of raw computing power which I will never have any practical use for. I'll go play some games now and

try to reap some return on this sink-hole of an investment that I call a "personal computer"

If you get into 3d design / CAD/ dvd encoding/ ripping - you WILL find a use for every last mhz you can get!!! to shave off that last second off time you get for better ram timings - for that

seconds less you get for getting a 500mhz OP/C more for WC possibly.


there is always something that can eat everything you throw @ it mzh / FSB anything!!! - dont forget crunching or folding - so - that way every Mhz is put to use

 

[Tebore]

Amen to Thermalright and Antec. Great Products with great support.
As other have said Overclocking is an addiction.

Hell if we weren't so picky we'd be using dells.

For the above post you're confusing Thermalright with Thermaltake. Thermaltake probably picked that name just to be like Thermalright which is one of the best in the aircooling business.

 

[LmpPns]

Although I do agree with most of what you said, I wouldn't say being an overclocker is necessarily tough. Can be frustrating, but not tough.

 

[Mr.Guvernment]

^^^ and can be cheaper too - sometimes....

 

[sp00L]

bah! Good points. I've wasted too much money for a few more MHz, but that was before I found these forums But to keep the Rant Alive......

What's up with feet wearing off of mice??? Maybe I shouldn't be using the bare table top and splurge for a mouse pad. But this is the 3rd mouse in as many years where I've worn the feet off. And that teflon tape, I have to replace one of the five strips on my mouse every month because of wear. And why don't the US hone companies roll-out 25Meg DSL, Japan has it.

 

[Mr.Guvernment]

^^^ have never had that problem actually - usually because i end up throwing the mouse against a wall cause igte mad or i just randomly buy a new one and give someone my old one..MUAHAHHAHA

 

[LmpPns]

Well, the real answer to all of your rants can be said in one simple sentence.

Most of the stuff you buy for your computer is cheaply made crap.

 

[sp00L]

Well, the real answer to all of your rants can be said in one simple sentence.

Most of the stuff you buy for your computer is cheaply made crap.

This is just an odd reply.

 

[LmpPns]

How? I'm just saying most of this stuff is not manufactured to the 'highest' standards. Not insulting anyones' purchasing decisions, but that's what alot of it is.

 

[NovaShine]

tru dat.

The stuff we get is built to a price.

I hear the military has flight sim machines that contains graphics cards soooo many times more powerful than our little punny graphics cards. FX6800u? Bah.

 

[filip04]

^^^ and can be cheaper too - sometimes....

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!! sorry to break it to you, but you're wrong. how many of us are running extreme cooling, or expensive ram and uber power supplies???

as soon as i finished my first tbred-b 2100 fully overclockable system, i overclocked it, and compared prices to the same stock system.... i saved $300 on the cpu, but lost it on the ram, the power supply, and that darn heatsink/fan combo... go figure... it came out to the same thing

we're ENTHUSIASTS, and that's costing us a lot of money, but who cares? i love it
[/myrant]

 

[Mr.Guvernment]

^^ i meant it in the sense of you can go buy a 3.4C chip for $800 - or a buy a 2.4c chip and overclock it to 3.4 and spend $50 on a good air cooler

that is still $250 for a $800 CPU - to which leaves you with $550 to buy that CPU and Ram with

hence why i also said "sometimes"

 

[tricknasty]

haha for us OVERCLoCKERs its about pushing your gear to the limit it sux cuz i know i spend alot of money but its worth it. i dont know about you guys but the only thing that sux is an overclocker is never satisfied