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The Official OC (OverClocking) Thread!
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NO Fanboy comments needed
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Senior Member
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28. January 2008 @ 02:11 |
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i think i know what the limits are now on this setup so once they turn up later this week i will just swap out the 2x1gb for the 2x2gb and leave it running 3.2ghz.
some interesting reading for the 38x2 lovers;
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 2.33 GHz
(Conroe, 2x 2048 KB Cache)
Motherboard: Gigabyte P35C-DS3R
Intel P35
Memory: 2x 1024MB A.DATA DDR2 1066+ CL4
Harddisk: WD Raptor 740ADFD 74 GB
Power Supply: OCZ GameXStream 700W
Software: Windows XP SP2
Drivers: NVIDIA: 169.04
ATI: Catalyst 7.11
3870 X2 tested with Catalyst 8.12 v8.451.2
and to bring us back on topic :P
so...it kicks asre at high res, much like sli/xfire and is just above at the more common res than some single ard setups.
if it comes in around £300 they will have a winner on their hands.
edit
seems they will be $450/500 so what £350/400 in the uk?
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 28. January 2008 @ 02:14
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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28. January 2008 @ 04:26 |
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Lol don't do that to me marsey. Just because I ordered two HD3870s doesn't mean I intended to keep both of them!
Besides, I can only do crossfire with my AMD board. Keep that up and I'll end up swapping my DS3R for a DS3P as well!
HD3870X2s are £330 in the UK - single HD3870s are only £140. You're paying £50 on top of buying two normal 3870s for something, not quite sure what...
Funny to think that pre-VAT I paid $235 for my 3870, what are they in the US, $250?
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 28. January 2008 @ 04:38
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28. January 2008 @ 04:35 |
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found out what the northbridge problem was on my mobo, i took it off, it didnt have a thermal pad, but thermal paste, much like artic silver but it was almost dry and had a crack in it, so as a temporary fix i have put some artic silver on, and have just ordered this as a replacement as I think nvidia chipsets do better with active cooling.
FX8120 @ 4.5Ghz 1.3v,Asrock 970 extreme 3,8 gig crucial ballistix 1600 @ 1866, thermalright true spirit 140, 120gb Sandisk extreme ssd, 3TB second drive. Hd4830. Corsair Hx520 PSU.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 28. January 2008 @ 04:35
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28. January 2008 @ 04:36 |
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Almost certainly, based on how hot my 650i board got with the biggest chipset heatsink I've ever seen. The entire sink got to about 80-90C during gaming.
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28. January 2008 @ 04:42 |
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yeh mine reaches 60ºc after 4 hours of COD4, under normal use its about 32-36ºc. as the 3870's cooler would get in the way of alot of the bigger passive coolers I went for the enzotech, now i just have to find the right material to use to pad the outside around the chipset and sink to stop any rocking and dampen some of the vibration, although ill be running it at 7v so only about 2000rpm instead of the 5000rpm @12v.
FX8120 @ 4.5Ghz 1.3v,Asrock 970 extreme 3,8 gig crucial ballistix 1600 @ 1866, thermalright true spirit 140, 120gb Sandisk extreme ssd, 3TB second drive. Hd4830. Corsair Hx520 PSU.
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28. January 2008 @ 04:44 |
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sam what coolers are you going to use on your 3870's?
FX8120 @ 4.5Ghz 1.3v,Asrock 970 extreme 3,8 gig crucial ballistix 1600 @ 1866, thermalright true spirit 140, 120gb Sandisk extreme ssd, 3TB second drive. Hd4830. Corsair Hx520 PSU.
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28. January 2008 @ 04:51 |
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Well, the one I intend to keep has the stock cooler on it, after I've thoroughly tested the card, I'm going to stick a Thermalright HR-03GT on it. The Powercolor one has its own passive cooler on it, the SCS3. I'm probably going to sell that as is. I'd love to keep both cards, but realistically, I can't use both in my gaming PC unless I get a new motherboard, and Crossfire's often a bit of a joke with regard to reliability, from the comments I'm reading it's still a bit of a trial to get it working properly in games. Given the solid performance from the rest of my PC (and indeed the card that preceded the 3870s) I have no real reason to keep them, other than to go benchmark racing, if you know what I mean.
edit: Just spotted the Supreme commander benches. Since that's one of my favourite games, I definitely won't be keeping crossfire!
Do you think an A8R-MVP will work with 3870s off the bat, or will it need a BIOS flash etc? The board's not that old, but it is for a rather aging socket (939)...
I see you have the Sapphire HD3870, in fact i never really noticed how awesome your spec list is... What do you think of your card so far?
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 28. January 2008 @ 04:55
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28. January 2008 @ 05:00 |
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ck5134,
Quote:
found out what the northbridge problem was on my mobo, i took it off, it didnt have a thermal pad, but thermal paste, much like artic silver but it was almost dry and had a crack in it, so as a temporary fix i have put some artic silver on, and have just ordered this as a replacement as I think nvidia chipsets do better with active cooling.
Where did you find those heatsinks? the finish on them is absolutely beautiful. I wonder how many people looked at them a minute before they realized that the one on the left shows a really good reflection of the one on the right!
Best Regards,
Russ
GigaByte 990FXA-UD5 - AMD FX-8320 @4.0GHz @1.312v - Corsair H-60 liquid CPU Cooler - 4x4 GB GSkill RipJaws DDR3/1866 Cas8, 8-9-9-24 - Corsair 400-R Case - OCZ FATAL1TY 550 watt Modular PSU - Intel 330 120GB SATA III SSD - WD Black 500GB SATA III - WD black 1 TB Sata III - WD Black 500GB SATA II - 2 Asus DRW-24B1ST DVD-Burner - Sony 420W 5.1 PL-II Suround Sound - GigaByte GTX550/1GB 970 Mhz Video - Asus VE247H 23.6" HDMI 1080p Monitor
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28. January 2008 @ 05:01 |
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yeh I know what you mean about the benching thing lol, as i said in the post a few days ago, unless the code is reliant on the drivers/ OpenGl and not on implimentaion of dx9 / 10 its always a bit of a farce.
expect the stock cooler to run in the high 80's without a bios flash on the card, the fan ramping in the bios is far too relaxed as standard, plus if you want to go for a high core speed youll have to flash it to a newer bios as its very limited with the stock bios. mind you flashing them is easy as pie with winflash(ati's version)
I have a more agressive fan profile in my bios which keeps my card under 65ºc when gaming and it idles around 40ºc with very little noise, so i have the best of both worlds for gaming / music writting :o)
FX8120 @ 4.5Ghz 1.3v,Asrock 970 extreme 3,8 gig crucial ballistix 1600 @ 1866, thermalright true spirit 140, 120gb Sandisk extreme ssd, 3TB second drive. Hd4830. Corsair Hx520 PSU.
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28. January 2008 @ 05:05 |
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Originally posted by theonejrs:
ck5134,
Quote:
found out what the northbridge problem was on my mobo, i took it off, it didnt have a thermal pad, but thermal paste, much like artic silver but it was almost dry and had a crack in it, so as a temporary fix i have put some artic silver on, and have just ordered this as a replacement as I think nvidia chipsets do better with active cooling.
Where did you find those heatsinks? the finish on them is absolutely beautiful. I wonder how many people looked at them a minute before they realized that the one on the left shows a really good reflection of the one on the right!
I first saw them about a year ago but couldnt find them in the uk for love nor money, but last night i stumbled across a handy little watercooling site which stocks some very nice kit.
you can find where you can but them off their main website http://www.enzotechnology.com/products.htm
FX8120 @ 4.5Ghz 1.3v,Asrock 970 extreme 3,8 gig crucial ballistix 1600 @ 1866, thermalright true spirit 140, 120gb Sandisk extreme ssd, 3TB second drive. Hd4830. Corsair Hx520 PSU.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 28. January 2008 @ 05:12
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28. January 2008 @ 05:24 |
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Sam my 3870 has totaly changed the way i feel about gaming, now I can just log into servers with a low ping on cod4, shoot people from the other end of the map with ease ect, was using my mates 7600gt previous to this and its in a whole different class, when the game starts you get a slight lag as the card comes upto speed (1-2 secs), other than that no probs at all :o)
your old 939 mobo should be cool just read up on its crossfire performance and it seems to be one of the better 939 crossfire boards.
FX8120 @ 4.5Ghz 1.3v,Asrock 970 extreme 3,8 gig crucial ballistix 1600 @ 1866, thermalright true spirit 140, 120gb Sandisk extreme ssd, 3TB second drive. Hd4830. Corsair Hx520 PSU.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 28. January 2008 @ 05:31
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MaccerM
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28. January 2008 @ 05:43 |
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Wow, that x2 card is romping away at the high resolutions in the games with CF support! Looks to be a bit of a monster. For us in the UK tho, if it is gonna cost that much, unless you have a 24"+ monitor and play mainly CF supported games I couldn't see a case for buying one of those over a G92 GTS say (£210 vs £330). Looking at the power figures too the TCO of that card is going to be pretty high compared with the rest of the market.
Q9550 @ 3.4Ghz-1.275v & TRUE, Asus P5N-T Deluxe, 4Gb Dominator 1066 (5-5-5-15), Inno3d OC 8800GTs in SLi with TT Duorbs, 580w 5.1 Setup, 2x DVD-RAM, 320&160Gb SATA2 HDDs, 17" 3ms Hyundai TFT, 700w Jeantech PSU.
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AfterDawn Addict
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28. January 2008 @ 08:32 |
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The latest beta of ATITool works with 3870s doesn't it? I'll use the fan speed adjusment in that if I can.
As for the performance of the card, sounds good, but what resolution do you play at? One of the main reasons I bought the card is so sick resolutions are playable, but huge frame rates in lower ones could also be useful... :)
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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28. January 2008 @ 09:42 |
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has anyone gotten the E8400 yet? done any testing on it?
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Member
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28. January 2008 @ 09:58 |
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Originally posted by sammorris:
The latest beta of ATITool works with 3870s doesn't it? I'll use the fan speed adjusment in that if I can.
As for the performance of the card, sounds good, but what resolution do you play at? One of the main reasons I bought the card is so sick resolutions are playable, but huge frame rates in lower ones could also be useful... :)
I found ati tool useless, none of the options came up as usable,
this is worth a read sam http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33912408.
oh yeh 3870x2's are in overclockers for £300 so expect them to be £250 else where lol http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduc...d=56&subcat=416
if your going to overclock your cards you will more than likely have to flash them, but you might be lucky and get them with the newer bios. 850 core 1200 mem seems to be a sweet spot
FX8120 @ 4.5Ghz 1.3v,Asrock 970 extreme 3,8 gig crucial ballistix 1600 @ 1866, thermalright true spirit 140, 120gb Sandisk extreme ssd, 3TB second drive. Hd4830. Corsair Hx520 PSU.
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AfterDawn Addict
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28. January 2008 @ 11:44 |
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Originally posted by cincyrob:
has anyone gotten the E8400 yet? done any testing on it?
JUST BUY IT!!!! lol. ;P Rob I've done some reading and that CPU (E8400) will OC WAY better than my E6850 for about $60 less. GGgggrrrrrrrrrrrr!!! lol. For you needs Rob you'll NOT need another CPU for at least 5 years!! Maybe longer.....
ck5134,
Thanks for the link to the company. I don't know about Russ but I'm thinking about a NEW chipset heatsink. ;)
in stock here Russ. ;) sidewindercomputers.com
looks like jab-tech.com has them too. link
Sorry got excited!! That's a beautiful product. lol. I'm sick I know....hehehe. :P
...gm
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28. January 2008 @ 11:55 |
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Originally posted by greensman:
Originally posted by cincyrob:
has anyone gotten the E8400 yet? done any testing on it?
JUST BUY IT!!!! lol. ;P Rob I've done some reading and that CPU (E8400) will OC WAY better than my E6850 for about $60 less. GGgggrrrrrrrrrrrr!!! lol. For you needs Rob you'll NOT need another CPU for at least 5 years!! Maybe longer.....
ck5134,
Thanks for the link to the company. I don't know about Russ but I'm thinking about a NEW chipset heatsink. ;)
in stock here Russ. ;) sidewindercomputers.com
looks like jab-tech.com has them too. link
Sorry got excited!! That's a beautiful product. lol. I'm sick I know....hehehe. :P
...gm
if i had the space i would have gone for one of these http://www.leftclicks.co.uk/userimgs/ant...pset_cooler.htm
FX8120 @ 4.5Ghz 1.3v,Asrock 970 extreme 3,8 gig crucial ballistix 1600 @ 1866, thermalright true spirit 140, 120gb Sandisk extreme ssd, 3TB second drive. Hd4830. Corsair Hx520 PSU.
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MaccerM
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28. January 2008 @ 12:12 |
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Just looked at Ebuyer, they have the standard X2 coming in soon at £275 inc vat, but then a standard G92 GTS is £185 on there too! Still nearly £100 difference for nothing noticeable in performance.
Back on the overclocking - I got my CPU to 2.95Ghz totally stable by setting the Vdimm to 2.1v (as spec'ed in the EPP), and I was able to lower my Vcore from 1.425v to 1.412v. This is with the ram unlinked at 789mhz and tight EPP timings. I notice that there are only certain FSB speeds that run the full 800 mhz, so it must be working on some kind of divider still. I'm at 1685 qfsb and the next one up that runs the full 800mhz is 1707 (2.99Ghz). I had a look at my N/b voltage and when set to auto and at 2.88/2.95ghz this runs at 1.55v. Thought I'd up this to 1.6v and try 2.99ghz. Managed to get it to boot stable and run 3dmark and Orthos fine, tried 3.0ghz and this also booted and ran 3dmark but crashed on Orthos. Thought I'd drop back to 2.99 as that seemed pretty stable but it crashed about 10mins into playing Dirt so I've now backed back off again to 2.95Ghz.
I'd like to get it up to 2.99 stable if poss - and it was in Orthos - any ideas?
Another thing I notice is that when the voltages are set to auto the s/b voltage ramps up in line with the n/b (to 1.55v vs 1.25v - I think.) Is there any need to be running the two chipsets at the same voltage? I'm not overclocking the PCI bus, so is this extra voltage just creating more heat or would it cause instability if they were different?
Edit: have booted it at 2.99ghz with 1.418v and 1.55v manual n/b - will try some testing now and see what happens!
Q9550 @ 3.4Ghz-1.275v & TRUE, Asus P5N-T Deluxe, 4Gb Dominator 1066 (5-5-5-15), Inno3d OC 8800GTs in SLi with TT Duorbs, 580w 5.1 Setup, 2x DVD-RAM, 320&160Gb SATA2 HDDs, 17" 3ms Hyundai TFT, 700w Jeantech PSU.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 28. January 2008 @ 12:56
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28. January 2008 @ 13:22 |
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the 3870 x2 performs better at high resolutions though which is who theyre aiming the card at. http://translate.google.com/translate?hl...01/1210234.html
I know the translated page is hard to read but it shows its better than the 8800 ultra in 13 out of 17 tests with immature drivers, in time it will shine, its about 15- 25% faster than the gts in most cases. and the gts still has the advantage of mature drivers at the moment :) couldnt be bothered to post all the images. thought putting the link in would give the interested partys the chance to read the weird translation :)
FX8120 @ 4.5Ghz 1.3v,Asrock 970 extreme 3,8 gig crucial ballistix 1600 @ 1866, thermalright true spirit 140, 120gb Sandisk extreme ssd, 3TB second drive. Hd4830. Corsair Hx520 PSU.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 28. January 2008 @ 13:25
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AfterDawn Addict
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28. January 2008 @ 13:25 |
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Still no hiding the fact that the 8800GTS is barely more than half the price though...
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28. January 2008 @ 13:32 |
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the gts512 is about £100 less, not half price.
MGR (Micro Gaming Rig) .|. Intel Q6600 @ 3.45GHz .|. Asus P35 P5K-E/WiFi .|. 4GB 1066MHz Geil Black Dragon RAM .|. Samsung F60 SSD .|. Corsair H50-1 Cooler .|. Sapphire 4870 512MB .|. Lian Li PC-A70B .|. Be Queit P7 Dark Power Pro 850W PSU .|. 24" 1920x1200 DGM (MVA Panel) .|. 24" 1920x1080 Dell (TN Panel) .|. |
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28. January 2008 @ 13:37 |
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closer to 2/3 :oP, and the ultra is still more, and so are the expected x2 nvidia cards.... still image quality is where im going to stand by :) got to love converting video through my 3870 much faster than using the cpu, 30 mins of avi converts in just over 5 mins to high quality mpeg2 using the ati ccc in basic mode :)
FX8120 @ 4.5Ghz 1.3v,Asrock 970 extreme 3,8 gig crucial ballistix 1600 @ 1866, thermalright true spirit 140, 120gb Sandisk extreme ssd, 3TB second drive. Hd4830. Corsair Hx520 PSU.
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AfterDawn Addict
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28. January 2008 @ 13:39 |
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Ah so that works now does it? It seemed pretty much beta stage last time I looked at it.
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28. January 2008 @ 13:50 |
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flys along all i can say is ati seem to be pushing the usefulness of a graphics card beyong games / design, making it a worthwhile attribute to more than just the gamer / designer :)
bit like their owners when the produced the first true quad lol, everything has its teething stage, and i think with ati / amd being one and the same we are going to see many good new things :)
FX8120 @ 4.5Ghz 1.3v,Asrock 970 extreme 3,8 gig crucial ballistix 1600 @ 1866, thermalright true spirit 140, 120gb Sandisk extreme ssd, 3TB second drive. Hd4830. Corsair Hx520 PSU.
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AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
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28. January 2008 @ 14:48 |
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You can encode videos in CCC? How do you do that? I looked and I didn't find it.
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