I dont need a new gfx card yet, it seems my 295gtx is still going strong, so i wont need to upgrade untill DX11 really kicks off (At which time hopefully nvidia pull their fingers out) but i havnt really read up much on O/Cing the 1366’s.
Sweet merciful balls that’s a lotta money for a mobo! :blink:
Dunno if you can buy 920s any more, except maybe 2nd hand (they pop up fairly regularly at OCAU). It’s now replaced by the i7 930.
I’ll let Nip deal with mobo choice, but my thoughts are only choose what you’re gonna buy within 2 weeks of actually gettin it, just keeping about a grand aside for when you choose. Prices will change, and there may be better mobo choices by that time.
Unless your planning to be a professional bench tester, that board won’t be any different to something cheaper. The price isn’t as bad as it once was though, they used to be up around the $700 mark. I can see its appeal though and I would have to think very hard to not buy one, I paid similar money for my EX58-Extreme on release. The large amount of PCIe slots is also a handy feature.
There’s little doubt that they are the best over clocking board on the market, but for the clock speeds it can obtain, you WILL NOT have adequate cooling to use it 24/7. 4.0 - 4.2 GHz seems to be the wall for most people on after market cooling, even on water due to crazy voltage requirements needed to keep anything above stable. It’s not something to do if you plan on your CPU lasting a considerable amount of time.
So whilst I find it very tempting for the price, it is a waste of money when comparing what it will do for you compared to any other board in a general PC. Any of these will suit you fine whilst saving a bit of money.
TBH, even a ~$270 UD3 or P6T will get you by just as fine.
If you can find a 920 for a bit less than a 930, no reason not to buy it. Pretty much guaranteed to hit 4.0GHz if you know what you are doing. The 930s are still a little bit to knew for anyone to know how well they really clock, the first examples were below average but I’ve seen some now that are as good as an average 920. You’d be unlucky if you couldn’t get one to 4.0GHz. So either or, can’t go wrong.
RAM is fine, anything over 1600MHz always seems to be wasted imo.
yeah mobo is i bit pricey … dunno whether you need to shell out that much … but its your $$$ … otherwise $250 -300 will get you the mobo that does prety much the same thing …
you can still get 920’s atm … but in 2 mths they will be gone and 930 will be the staple ( runs at a higher stock clock … but a bit unknown whether it will perform as good overclocking wise … as the 920 D0 is amazing)
QFT, you’ll end up with obsolete hardware before even getting it. As it is, USB3 and SATA3 will probably make their way onto the actual chipsets soon, rather than being handled by a 3rd party chip. This would be something to research if you do want a board that properly supports it.
Yeah of course, ive been trying to do some reading and make my decision obviously closer to purchase date (Might even be sooner, depending on comission) but yeah
Ill also be watercooling it, going into the unkown pretty deep, but hey whats the worse that can happen. Reason i didnt look into the gigabyte stuff is that ive had a few bad experiences with them in the past, but that wa s a while ago. Ive since owned EVGA stuff, and it hasnt skipped a beat, so id prefer to stick with them, but if people can vouch for Gigabyte, i wouldnt mind moving over if theyve picked up their quality.
GB have been fine for me, never had any real issues, just niggly ones that every manufacturer has when people start over clocking boards. It’s all be fixed in new bios revisions though.
EVGA are fine, if you want to save a bit of money and still keep with EVGA, get this board, looks hawt.
Water cooling is great fun, just make sure you are the type that doesn’t mind going without your PC for a night from time to time. You are going to need to leak test and maintain your loop on a semi regular basis, last thing you want is your hardware swimming in water.
If you do it properly, it will never give you any problems and the performance is awesome. If you are a member of the OCAU, there are plenty of guides and people that give great advice. That is what I used when I took the leap, XS is also fantastic when it comes to water cooling.
This is not something you want to rush, make sure the cons of water cooling will not outweigh the pros. It can be time consuming which bothers some people. As for me, any excuse to take my computer apart to play with it is a good excuse. I take the thing apart just so I can route the tubes a different way, I’m about to do it again soon AAMOF. That also means that I will be going without my PC for another day whilst I let it leak test.
i dont mind not having my pc away for a day or so, i usually take it apart every tuesday to spray the dust and crap out of it anyway, so ill just do it then
Im not rushing into anything, ive been reading alot lately (On ocau) and trying to learn the basics, learn the brands etc. Its all just a bit overwhelming right now, but im sure it’ll come soon
OCAU is a great place to read up on it, you’ll be fine.
Plenty of guys to follow, plenty of guys that have made mistakes that you learn from. Stay away from preassembled kits, it may cost you more to go the custom route but you will get far better performance. If there is anything you want to ask in regards to brands/radiator requirements/suitable fans etc, let me know. There should be more info than you need at the OCAU forum anyway.
Ill be buying the 920 probably next week, make sure i get one before they all sell out. What do i need to be looking at in regards to overclocking my i7 when i get it
I’ll just quote this part in particular for John’s guide, this gets so many people stuck that it isn’t funny.
The uncore must be at least 2:1 of the DRAM speed otherwise you will not get a stable overclock, in fact your PC will not even boot if the ratio is not honored.
Doesn’t matter how long you play around with voltages for, you will never get it stable if the uncore is not at least twice the speed of your RAM. Depending on how far over you go will also determine the level of QPI/VTT voltage you will need. My recommendation is to just stick to exactly twice the speed of the ram frequency.
ill be going water cooling eventually, so ill probably just stick to the stock cooler (and probably not overclock) until i get w/c, but ill keep it in mind
Fair enough, the stock 1366 coolers struggle enough as it is keeping temps down at stock frequencies so I would recommend staying at stock clocks until you take the leap.
It can leak which is not desirable but if you assemble everything properly, then there is minimal risk.
Basically you have a water pump, radiator with fans and a special block that is usually made of copper that goes over what you are trying to cool (the CPU is this case) water circulates around the loop via tubes and takes heat away from the CPU and then cools the water when it passes through the rad. Just like in a car.
Oh ok, that sounds fairly efficient.
When I get my rig in a few months, I am looking at top of the line + SLI or crossfire, and definitely looking at overclocking. So this would be fairly dear yes?
