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Joined: 11/4/2007
Posts: 342
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Ok, just replaced my 939 4400+ X2 after doing my taxes. Here is the new box: Q6600 ZALMAN 9500A GIGABYTE GA-X38-DQ6 Crucial Ballistix 2x 1GB DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) XFX PVT84JUDD3 GeForce 8600GT XXX 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 Corsair 620HX Modular PS (had 350W before) I'm very excited! I understand that overclocking this config shouldn't be too hard, but I hesitate to do this without a little direction. I'm a complete noob when it comes to this. Can anyone offer any advice or pointers for some good reading? Thanks!! PS. I understand that the P35 is recommended over the X38 for price/features reasons, but went with the X38 anyway because the rest of the board was *exactly* what I was looking for. No need to point that out to me.  Let me be happy with it.
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Joined: 1/20/2007
Posts: 112
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It would be alot easier to get direction if you log into irc. Gonna be a nice machine.
 I've done horrifying things with salad tongs. It's really eaten into my social life.
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Joined: 11/4/2007
Posts: 342
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Greeri wroteIt would be alot easier to get direction if you log into irc. Gonna be a nice machine. Will do Greeri, most likely this evening or tomorrow. Gotta step out to help my sister pick a new car, and then visit some friends this afternoon. Thanks!
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Joined: 7/9/2006
Posts: 1182
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Cool, you showed up in the channel today, got some good info going for you from festess and Greeri. Think I'll keep this thread updated as we go along, so maybe if someone else is interested, they can pick up a thing or two. First off, you did really well with your selection of components. That motherboard just can't be beat by any significant margin by any out there. The Ballistix is excellent ram, using Micron d9 chips, the fastest out there. Nice video card and the PSU is capable of doing what you want, supplying solid 12V rails for as high as you want to go. As we discussed, the HSF is not up to the job of overclocking an Intel quad. It's actually OK if you just want a better hsf than stock, but not nearly enough to overclock a quad. Greeri and I recommended a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme, with an adjustable rpm 120mm fan, with 2500-3000 rpm upper limit. The adjustable fan is for noise purposes. I don't mind noise, and use a 2300 rpm fan myself, which is not too loud. I can't stress how important it is getting the best HSF you can get for overclocking a quad. All of the guys in the channel are using premier HSF's or water cooling in their builds. and we're all in the 3600+ range 24/7. While our choices of motherboard/memory/ power supplies may differ, they are all solid units, plenty of power and specs, and significantly more costly than typical components. But hey, it's our hobby...  Next up will be a basic overview of what you need to do to start putting those pieces parts to work.
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Joined: 11/4/2007
Posts: 342
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Thanks Paul, learned a lot about cooling yesterday. I really appreciate everyone's help! paul wrote
As we discussed, the HSF is not up to the job of overclocking an Intel quad. It's actually OK if you just want a better hsf than stock, but not nearly enough to overclock a quad. Greeri and I recommended a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme, with an adjustable rpm 120mm fan, with 2500-3000 rpm upper limit. The adjustable fan is for noise purposes. I don't mind noise, and use a 2300 rpm fan myself, which is not too loud. I'll work on picking up a Ultra 120E sometime soon and will check back in. Can you tell me what temps are generally considered to be in the safe range? What is too hot for a G0 quad? Also, any recommendations for a fan? What have you purchased so far for the 120E?
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Joined: 7/9/2006
Posts: 1182
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Shown here- http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SLACR Intel says the thermal limit for the G0 is 71C. This is the limit they want to cover your warranty on a stock system. When you overclock, it changes to a number that we set, knowing that heat is the major obstacle we must overcome to operate a cpu past it's rated speed. Generally accepted rule of thumb is to keep it as low as possible, with a ceiling of 60C when overclocked. Anything past that limits your overclock and causes stability problems, and may cause your cpu to fail prematurely. Again, let me stress, when overclocking, heat is the #1 enemy, both in performance limits and stability, and also the life of your cpu.
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Joined: 11/4/2007
Posts: 342
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Wow, the B3 stepping 6600 has a maximum thermal envelope of 62C in comparison to 71C for G0. Really scary, considering my stock speed B3 in my Dell Dimension is running between 68C and 71C... You get what you pay for I guess.
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Joined: 7/4/2006
Posts: 1079
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Jack,
Take those numbers with a grain of salt. I think Intel's numbers are for the thermal sensor, not for the on-die one that programs like Coretemp reads. Coretemp has a value for Tj. Max, (also read from the chip) and comparing the Tj. Max to the actual core temps is the best indicator of where you are thermally.
Having said that, my cpu's vary widely, and temp isn't always the limiting factor on O/C, and isn't the only thing that'll damage or shorten the life of CPUs. Too much voltage, regardless of heat, is a bad thing too. Voltage is force, and the higher the voltage, not only the higher the heat, but it has a wear effect on the transisors burned into the silicon. I don't like to run the quads over 1.375v actual, (intel recommends no higher than 1.35).
In any case, your cpu might be relatively cool, but you can hit a point where it takes incresingly more voltage to get higher stable overclocks, and I use this as my "limit" point. I usually hit it somewhere in the 1.35-1.38 range.
That said, I'm somewhat conservative with my boxes, as none of them are pure crunchers. They all have business or important personal uses to them. Because of that, I don't push them as hard as some of the others do as I need 100% stability and reliability.
YMMV  .
Gary
You can't fix dead.
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Joined: 11/4/2007
Posts: 342
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Xaak, thanks for the additional info about heat and power!
I ordered my Thermalright Ultra 120E yesterday, including a 120mm Panaflow fan for it. Hopefully I will be ready for another training session sometime early next week. :D
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Joined: 11/4/2007
Posts: 342
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Joined: 11/4/2007
Posts: 342
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I'm ready to start looking into this again. Got my Thermalright Ultra 120E installed, under full load my temps are now right around 40C. When I open the case up, they drop to 30C. I'll try to check into the forum and we can discuss soon. Man that heatsink is a monster. I bet it doesn't fit into smaller cases. Fortunately I'm using a big Lian-Li PC60 so it's not a problem.
BTW, installing my fan on the 120E was a royal PITA. It's not too sturdy, so I have been leaving the case on it's side with the fear that moving it will cause the fan to come loose and drop. If anyone has an pictures of how they mounted the fan on that heatsink, I'd sure appreciate taking a look. I just couldn't figure out the clips.
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Joined: 1/20/2007
Posts: 112
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Those clips suck, I just used a couple of zip ties.
I've done horrifying things with salad tongs. It's really eaten into my social life.
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Joined: 11/4/2007
Posts: 342
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Greeri wroteThose clips suck, I just used a couple of zip ties.
I had some zip ties and considered using them, but couldn't figure out what to wrap them around. Did you send them in between the fins Greeri? The zip ties I have aren't long enough to go all the way to the other side of the heatsink and then come back again. Maybe I'll find some others.
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Joined: 7/4/2006
Posts: 1079
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You can always double them up if they'll still fit between the fins.
Gary
You can't fix dead.
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Joined: 7/9/2006
Posts: 1182
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While no big fan of the clips, they do the job, but are horrendous to install. However, once installed, I kinda like the simple elegance of the design. Also, I don't like the way the hsf can rotate a bit once screwed down. I used a rubber washer, not too thick, to give it something to grab, to stop the rotation. But, despite it's flaws, it cools a quad excellently once installed. I'll get some pics up of the way the clips attach. You can't really cipher it from their instructions. Now I'm not quite sure about the Ultra120E, I also installed the big brother to it, the IFX14, which has a similar clip, after the second install, I wa spretty sure I had it down. It does help if you have someone holding the fan right in place while you finaggle with the clips.  
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Joined: 1/20/2007
Posts: 112
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I stuck 3 ties together to make one real long tie and it went all the way around the unit and the fan. So I actually used 6 to make 2 really long ones.
I threw the clips in the trash.
I've done horrifying things with salad tongs. It's really eaten into my social life.
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Joined: 11/4/2007
Posts: 342
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Paul, thanks for sharing those pictures.
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