Sprocket sashays...

[clocker]

...into the arms of the Dark Lord.

For her entire life, my PC, Sprocket, has been an AMD girl.
Starting with a lowly Athlon 2200+, through Barton core 2500's, a quick side trip to s754 and finally, the dual core Opterons, AMD chips and nVidia chipsets have been the basis of her goodness.
She has watched with increasing sadness as Intel has whomped up on AMD and has hoped for nearly two years that the Green Team would strike back with a combo as potent as the s939/NF4 of yore.

Alas, this has not happened and there is no indication that it will anytime soon.
AMD has piddled around with sAM2 and a mediocre selection of new chips that barely outperform Sprocket's Opteron 180.
If there was going to be an upgrade, it had to be dramatic enough to justify the cost and AMD just wasn't providing the goods.

A few weeks ago whilst perusing Microcenter, I saw a new Intel chip- the e8400. For a mere $189 (since raised to $199 and easily available at etailers for @$240), Intel was giving 6MB of L2 cache and a dual core chip running @3GHz.
Enough is enough I said, and the chip became Sprocket's Valentine's Day gift.
On the journey home I stopped at the local going-out-of-business CompUSA and scored a Corsair 620w modular PSU for $94 (normally $150+), and we were off to the races.

Sprocket was pleased but we needed a new motherboard and memory to actually use the new chip.

Life used to be so simple- just get a good Nforce4 motherboard, DFI for overclocking or Gigabyte/Asus for stability- but things on the Intel side are bewildering for the BlueNoob.
So many chipsets...aargh!

Finally settled on the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4 because it was reputed to work with the 45nm Intels out of the box and ran the amazingly cheap DDR2 memory.
Picked up 2 x 2GB of fast G.Skill RAM to start with.

Decided that a new platform deserved a new vid card as well, so we added a eVga 8800GT (512MB) to the order.

The parts arrived yesterday and the build commenced last night.
In the frenzy of anticipation I only took a few pics- and the ones I did get are pretty crappy- but I'll share what I have and take better ones after I go back and pretty things up.

First up is the memory- 4 gigs of DDR2 for the system and the newly repopulated (4 x 1GB) iRAM for the OS...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/8918df70.jpg

Now for the heavily festooned motherboard...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/d109d925.jpg

New boards sure come with more sophisticated cooling than they used to.

And finally, a shot of the motherboard tray ready to slot back into the case...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/f1cde9b8.jpg

She POSTed first time and I was into the BIOS where I quickly realized that I knew nothing about new Intel settings.
I actually had to go through and read the manual to get myself oriented.
Still not sure what half this stuff is, so I'm sure I'll be toying around for a while but I did manage to get XP Pro x64 installed.
Four times so far, in fact.

First thing I did (after wiping the drool off my keyboard) was build a slipstreamed nLite disc and started experimenting with storage setups.
Still working on the variants, will report back after I finalize.

Currently writing with the OS on the iRAM and 2x 250GB Seagate SATAII in Matrix RAID as storage.

Have yet to play with any memory timings or overclocking the chip.
Even at basically default settings though, this setup is fast as shit.

Sprocket is a happy girl.

[mr. nails]

just a question... why not a mob with pci-e 2.0? on a budget? too much money for the boards? don't care? u'll upgrade in 1 year anyway?

also, do u benchmark? what are some of the benches u've gotten? i'll compare.

[clocker]

I probably will upgrade in a year or so and at this point the 2.0 version of PCIe isn't really utilized.

Still need to decide on a setup before I do any benching.

[mr. nails]

...at this point the 2.0 version of PCIe isn't really utilized.

the 3870x2 uses it and if u dont' have the 2.0 u will be ignoring 1/2 the performance of the card. i'll have to work on finding u a link for verification purposes if u need it. the gforce 8 cards use it, but i think it's a mild performance upgrade as u've stated.

also, welcum 2 the world of the 8400. i love mine! :)

[Detale]

Glad you got the new stuff when I have more time Ill take some pics of my E8400 setup. I love mine as well except for the reported temps that I have chosen to ignore. When you guys are ready we should all bench at the same time to compare and share settings
( Ghey??)

[clocker]

Open for suggestions re: relevant benchmarks.
I just ran superPI in under 17 sec.

[mr. nails]

I love mine as well except for the reported temps that I have chosen to ignore.

are u talking about teh fact lots of ppl are reporting their 8400 are overheating? imo that's due to old software & not the 8400. currently my cpu is running @ 25c stock on air. lots of ppl claiming theirs running up in the mid 40's to 50's. i have yet to see this. 4ghz of this cpu runs @ around 60c i believe on air. u really don't notice any changes on this cpu 'til u pass teh 3.6ghz mark.

[clocker]

are u talking about teh fact lots of ppl are reporting their 8400 are overheating? imo that's due to old software & not the 8400. currently my cpu is running @ 25c stock on air.
It's not that the chips are overheating, but it does seem that they misreport their temps.
Mine (at stock settings) says it's 35°c at idle with watercooling....

Edit:
Oy vey!
My head hurts.
Just finished a session of storage reconfiguring that nearly did me in.
Prior to this morning I'd installed Windows on the iRAM and then again to the Seagates- once in RAID and once just seperately.
Today I wanted to get the iRAM and the Matrix RAID working together.

Also, the Intel RAID drivers include the AHCI drivers as well.
My external eSATA drive now is hotswappable...it can be turned on after the PC is running and appears in My Computer without a reboot.
I consider this a "good thing".
This behaviour is apparently native to Vista but hit or miss in XP so I'm pleased it seems to be finally working.

All drives (including the Lite-on DVD SATA burner) were connected to the six ports of the ICH9R Intel controller.

First, I decided to try the drives in AHCI mode to enable command queuing and hotswapping.
Begin the install, Windows setup sees the iRAM and goes through the loading of files and reboots.
And starts from the beginning.
Huh?
Try again, same thing.
Enter BIOS and realize that the iRAM has disappeared from the list of hard drives.

Switch the drive controller back to "native IDE" mode ("Disabled") and the iRAM appears again.
Change to "RAID" mode and it disappears.

Obviously the iRAM will only function as native IDE which means I can't have it connected to the Intel controller if either AHCI or RAID is to be applied to the Seagates.

Fortunately, the board has two separate SATA ports operating from a Gigabyte controller.
Unfortunately, these two ports are overlapped by the very card I want to connect to them.
Rooting through my vast collection of cables I found a 90° connector cable that just barely fit.
On my next motherboard, I want SATA ports that are oriented to the edge of the board, facing sideways.
I've seen this feature on other boards and it will become a requirement for my next purchase.
In fact, I'd like to see the main ATX 24 pin power connector oriented the same way.

Anyway, I now have the OS loaded on the iRAM and the two 250GB Seagates in a RAID0 stripe.
I have the page file on the stripe and will also install most of my program files there, only keeping the most used (like Firefox) on the iRAM.
So far, of the 4 GB available I'm only using 1.1GB on the ram drive which leaves a bit of room to play with (Edit: after visiting Windows Update I now have filled 2.77GB, leaving just 1.2GB free. Still not a problem space-wise but my boot times have slowed dramatically. Damn Windows! Gonna try BootVis and see if it helps...).
More to come...

Edit #2:
Another oddity regarding the temps...
Coretemp continues to show idle temps of @35°c even with a nearby window open and relatively frigid air flooding the case (in fact, my hands are freezing).
At the same time though,the Gigabyte EZTune Hardware Monitor shows CPU temp as 10°c and it rises and falls with CPU usage...basically it acts like one would expect.
Not sure what this indicates but for now I'm going to join Detale in ignoring the reported temps and just assume that all is fine as long as the PC runs well and doesn't smell funny.

[Detale]

I love mine as well except for the reported temps that I have chosen to ignore.

are u talking about teh fact lots of ppl are reporting their 8400 are overheating? imo that's due to old software & not the 8400. currently my cpu is running @ 25c stock on air. lots of ppl claiming theirs running up in the mid 40's to 50's. i have yet to see this. 4ghz of this cpu runs @ around 60c i believe on air. u really don't notice any changes on this cpu 'til u pass teh 3.6ghz mark.

Na dude Core temp, everest, bios all say its 41-44 degrees idle they go up from there under load I haven't pushed it to see how high they will get due to my current time constraints. "Old Software"? What current software are you using?

@ Clocker what settings using Super pi are you using so I can compare. is that 17 seconds on the 32M?

[clocker]

@ Clocker what settings using Super pi are you using so I can compare. is that 17 seconds on the 32M?
Man, I wish.
That's the 1 million run.
Just ran it again (all speeds stock)...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/b9b28c51.jpg

[Detale]

WOO HOO I got 14 seconds. What other BM software do you use bro? I know very little about Benchmarking (among other things) but I would love to get a "Benchmarking Club" or something going I would love to see Polar Bears machine results with that dual Xenon cpu rig he has there.

[clocker]

WOO HOO I got 14 seconds.
Pics, or it never happened.

What other BM software do you use bro? I know very little about Benchmarking (among other things) but I would love to get a "Benchmarking Club" or something going I would love to see Polar Bears machine results with that dual Xenon cpu rig he has there.
HD Tach (http://www.simplisoftware.com/Public/index.php?request=HdTach) for hard drive/storage performance.
Orthos (http://sp2004.fre3.com/beta/beta2.htm) for stability testing.
That's about it for me, I'm not a big benching sportsfan.

I was totally psyched about the 15 sec. SuperPi- it's less than half the time the Opteron ever achieved- till I saw the sub-9 sec. scores the heavily overclocked guys were posting.

If you are interested in more dedicated practitioners, look here. (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=175)
These guys approach it as a sport, going so far as to have developed a custom OS that optimises results/performance in various tests.
Stripping an OS of nearly all it's day to day functionality and running it naked on a separate partition with a suicidally clocked chip can result in some pretty amazing results...if you're into that kind of thing.

I will no doubt try clocking my chip sometime but not until I figure out what all the BIOS options are.
At this point, I haven't even exercised the doublesecret ctrl + F1 Gigabyte handshake to get into the advanced options page.

[Detale]

http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/7387/superpi1he2.jpg

I noticed your version of Superpi looks a bit different mine is 1.1 is there a newer version I dont have?? I will put my rig through the tests in a bit and maybe start a new thread as I always seem to hijack yours by accident, sorry for that BTW.

Also what about Everest benchmark tests?

[clocker]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/d7644013.jpg

Just finished this run of Orthos stress test.
Wasn't really concerned about my stability but did want to heat up the chip and waterloop.
During the test the temps did blip up and down a degree or two, so my sensors are not stuck.
Note that the Gigabyte panel shows the temp as @20° less than CoreTemp does...this was a constant for the entire duration.
After stopping Orthos, both monitors plummeted- the Gigabyte down to 12° and CoreTemp down to it's usual 35° (CoreTemp has never read less than this, no matter the ambient).
Odd, but ultimately of no consequence...even if CoreTemp is correct, under 50°c at full load is fine.

D., use this version of SuperPi. (http://www.xtremesystems.com/pi/)
It's called the "mod" version and is the only one accepted at most sites (apparently prevents hacking/tweaking the score somehow and also records to more decimal places).

[Detale]

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/6578/allmj5.jpg



I will run orthos in a bit. See my freakin temps are @ 41 when idle and it kills me when I think about it.

HD tach

http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/3793/aaksjg8.jpg


Im not sure how good or bad this is as im still not sure of what Im looking at, however I was under the impression that my SataII was supposed to transfer @ 3Gigs a sec but I still have to learn more on the whole raid thing and set it up that way

[Cabalo]

well, i own a Gigabyte P35C-DS3R (has DDR3 dimm slots) and a E8400 @ 4.5ghz. i am doing near 10~11 seconds on watercooling. I am using 2x2gb OCZ Platinum CAS5.
These cpus are beasts!

what are the max volts u guys popped on that cpu so far ?

[Detale]

well, i own a Gigabyte P35C-DS3R (has DDR3 dimm slots) and a E8400 @ 4.5ghz. i am doing near 10~11 seconds on watercooling. I am using 2x2gb OCZ Platinum CAS5.
These cpus are beasts!

what are the max volts u guys popped on that cpu so far ?


Pics, or it never happened.


I haven't really started to OC much I got it up to 3.6 and I think the voltage was around 1.3 something. What temps are you getting with yours?

[clocker]

The iRAM...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/c0946aa9.jpg

Matrix RAID...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/0db31215.jpg

Things have definitely changed with the advent of SATAII...the RAID volume surpasses the solid state iRAM in all aspects save seek time.
Too bad the iRAM doesn't use SATAII and DDR2 modules.

Fortunately, the iRAM's most endearing feature- silence- is still present.

Cabalo, I haven't done anything beyond stock voltages, either.
If/when I do start to clock it, the goal will be to see how high she'll go without cranking the volts up.
Seems like most folks running 4GHz and higher are in the 1.35 -1.5v range.

[kaiweiler]

Interesting results on the iRAM, I would have thought differently...
Quite jealous of the superpi times posted here. My AM2 at 3Ghz calculates 1M loop in 35 seconds!

[Detale]

Sorry you're stck with an AMD bro :P

[clocker]

Interesting results on the iRAM, I would have thought differently...
Quite jealous of the superpi times posted here. My AM2 at 3Ghz calculates 1M loop in 35 seconds!
A year or so ago I remember making it a mission to crack the 30 second barrier with my Opty 180.
I came very close but don't think I made it.

This silly Intel hit mid-15's without a single tweak and I've seen sub 9's on clocked units.
I think the world record is probably in the sevens.

Edit:
Have run into a problem with the iRAM.
The card has a battery on it that should provide a ten hour backup in case all power is removed (it normally draws juice from the PCI slot).

Today I was working on a neighbor's PC and had to unplug Sprocket for a few hours.

When reconnected, I got the "insert system disk" "no operating system found" surprise...apparently my backup battery has died during the months the card sat unused.
This is not good.

While I search for a new replacement battery, I'll be running on RAIDed Seagates.
Might as well install every OS I have and play around a bit.

Currently in Vista Ultimate (32 bit).
My "Experience" rating is 5.6.
Humorously, all the categories get a 5.9 except the CPU, which is what drags everything down.

[kaiweiler]

Sorry you're stck with an AMD bro :P

For now ;)
I'll be moving to Intel very shortly.


Currently in Vista Ultimate (32 bit).
My "Experience" rating is 5.6.
Humorously, all the categories get a 5.9 except the CPU, which is what drags everything down.
I figured the E8400 would get higher than 5.6, my 3Ghz AM2 get's 5.4
My other categories are also all at 5.9. Apparently this will be upgraded in the near future allowing ratings of 6.0 and higher, even though they don't mean much...

Article
http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/pages/458117.aspx

[Detale]

I welcome you to intel with open arms

@ Clocker maybe I missed it but why is the CPU "dragging it down"??
Also if your playing with Os's try one of the Black XP versions my personal fav Id love to hear what you think of em

[kaiweiler]

The Vista Experience score is based on a subset of 5 scores.
Processor, Memory, Graphics, Gaming graphics, and Primary hard disk. All of his scores are 5.9 aside from his Processor score of 5.6. The Vista Experience score is determined by the lowest subscore, in this case 5.6.
The result, a processor score which "drags down" the overall base score.

Clocker, I apologize for answering your questions :P

and Detale, have you had any problems with malware being embedded into XP Black? I have heard cases of this..

[clocker]

Also if your playing with Os's try one of the Black XP versions my personal fav Id love to hear what you think of em
I have two versions of Black (thanks to j2) and have deployed one on my Mom's PC- she actually uses the Office suite.
As long as I'm installing to the array- thus, not constrained by size- I suppose I could try the latest version I have.

Usually, I prefer to build a nLite OS and strip them way down instead of loading them up with tons of apps I won't use.
For instance, my Pro 64 install disc- with SP2 and drivers integrated- is only 370MB and installs in about 10-12 minutes.

[Detale]

Ah I see I thought there was some technical this where it was really bringing it down not that crappy Vista score BS.

The Black Xp's are fine I have heard of this also but I have never had any problems with any of them, I actually am in contact with the designers of the black Xp editions, soon to be released under a new name. The only thing Anti virus scans would catch are some of the many keygens it comes with.

@Clocker If I may be so bold the best version they say is 7.5 reloaded not 8 as some are lead to believe.

[kooftspc11]

Also if your playing with Os's try one of the Black XP versions my personal fav Id love to hear what you think of em
I have two versions of Black (thanks to j2) and have deployed one on my Mom's PC- she actually uses the Office suite.
As long as I'm installing to the array- thus, not constrained by size- I suppose I could try the latest version I have.

Usually, I prefer to build a nLite OS and strip them way down instead of loading them up with tons of apps I won't use.
For instance, my Pro 64 install disc- with SP2 and drivers integrated- is only 370MB and installs in about 10-12 minutes.

YES!!

nlite is great and is very easy to use

edit: the best thing about nlite is that u can integrate drivers into your xp install as well. sometimes u need a sata driver and not all xp disks have them


Ah I see I thought there was some technical this where it was really bringing it down not that crappy Vista score BS.

The Black Xp's are fine I have heard of this also but I have never had any problems with any of them, I actually am in contact with the designers of the black Xp editions, soon to be released under a new name. The only thing Anti virus scans would catch are some of the many keygens it comes with.

@Clocker If I may be so bold the best version they say is 7.5 reloaded not 8 as some are lead to believe.

black xp would be fine if it didnt have a shitload of apps that i dont want. i really like the theme and the dock

[Cabalo]

well, i am using vista ultimate SP1 X64 and my results are ex-aequo with the XP ones.

i'm using WC, cuz the stock cooler is shite, one of the worse i ever saw, very low profile ! i was getting around 45ºC at stock volts, ffs.
with wc, at nearly 1.6 i am having the same temps, clocking the hell outta of it.

pretty good chips these ones. I've been an AMD fanboy for a long time, and unfortunately AMD can't face these 45nm wolfdales.
My previous Spi 1Mb record was 29.9s with an Opteron 170 at 2.9g, and i had to go subzero to do it. at water my record was ~30,5.
what an huge difference, this e8400 destroys it at stock volts...

[clocker]

Some random results...

First is an Aquamark run.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/d2984d9b.jpg

This is in XP Pro (32 bit) cause Aquamark wont run in Vista.
It ran unbelievably fast.
Lovin' it.

Next are two runs through PC Pitstops new beta tests...
first is Pro 32...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/dcd07d7c.jpg

Next is Vista 32...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/57c0e08c.jpg

Of interest is the fact that XP beats Vista in CPU, memory and disk scores but Vista has much higher video scores.
Maybe this is DX10 at work?

Both OS were loaded on the same Intel stripe and no BIOS settings were changed. Latest drivers loaded for both installs.

I know ya'll be happy to hear that the iRAM is functional again.
I killed Vista and reinstalled XP to the iRAM.
The 500GB stripe is Program files, page file and misc. junk.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/aab528dc.jpg
This is a graphic example of why i love nLite so much...this is a fully functional XP Pro install with all drivers and SP2 installed.

Edit:
Ran 3D Mark06.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/17849d0f.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/42c7076c.jpg

[clocker]

A bit of overclocking...

Stability stress test.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/5cc312db.jpg

And SuperPi at 3.8GHz...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/f553b88b.jpg

Remarkably- well, to me anyway- all I had to do to get from 3.0 to 3.8GHz was raise the CPU voltage from 1.225 to 1.250v.
Ram is still running 1:1 with the FSB.

Looks like 4GHz is in reach.

[kaiweiler]

There has been a lot of talk of those chips easily breaking the 4Ghz mark, most even as high as 4.2-4.5Ghz. Beautiful chip!

EDIT NM

[Cabalo]

finally i got mine to get stable @ 4,4ghz , but the damn ram sticks are holding me back from going further.
Well, this is as far as it goes on my rig: http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=321595

damn good these gigabyte boards, not much vdroop, pitty that the cpu voltage can't be much tweaked above 1.6 , as there are only 1.8 and 2.0 above that.
for those OC'ing in one of these, remember to turn off C.I.A. and EIST at the bios.

[clocker]

Damn, I'm impressed.
Although I'm sure I'll take some shots at a higher clock- you know, for educational purposes:naughty:- I'd be leery of applying that much voltage on a daily basis.

So far, I have yet to lose any hardware to an overclocking accident and don't particularly feel like starting now.
Besides, the platform is so damn capable at stock speeds that any improvements will only show up in benchmarks, not my daily usage.

That said, could you show us a SuperPi (1M) run at 4.4GHz?

[Cabalo]

when i arrive home i'll put here a screenie, right now i'm working.
btw, the cpu needed 1.488 REAL volts (1.5375 at bios) and is running at 58ºC at full load.

[clocker]

Just swangin' the peen...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/4dc4e423.jpg

Still no voltage bump...testing for stability soon.

[Detale]

Had to beat me didn't you

[clocker]

well, um...yeah.

BTW, for all you Wolfdale guys, check this out-an accurate temp sensor app for the e8400. (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=179044)
Unfortunately, it doesn't work in my 64 bit XP, hopefully he will fix this.
Looks pretty good for you 32 bit guys though.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/6f332df2.jpg

[Detale]

It says that both of my sensors are bad core 0 is 13 and core 1 is 0 I need to read more to find out what that means, you have any idea Clock?

[clocker]

At this point, not a clue.
I kinda lost interest when it failed to install on my OS.

Might install Pro x86 just to see what happens though...

Edit:
Now at 4.2GHz.
No stability test yet but SuperPi runs...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/e6ae6486.jpg
Really would like to break into the tens.
Hmmm...

Second edit:
Craps out immediately in Orthos.
Have upped the memory and northbridge voltage to no avail.
This might require fiddling with the memory timings (which are stock @ 5,5,5,15) but my knowledge here is minimal and I'm not sure what is to be gained for the effort.
Might be time to drop back down to 4GHz and call it a day.

[Detale]

4 aint a bad number at all. I ordered some new ram so I will continue the tests then.

[clocker]

Just tried a suicide run into 4.5GHz.
Lost Windows altogether.

Ended up with just a blinking cursor at the end of the boot screens.

Inserted the OS disc and all it saw was the unformatted iRAM, no option to repair or nuttin.

Struck me as odd...usually you'd see a error message of some kind ("corrupted bootloader", missing "NTOSkrnl", etc.) but this time- nada.

Oh well.

[Cabalo]

try to keep the timmings sth like 6-6-6-18 @ 2.1v max. should work with most ram sticks.
If not, try 6-7-7-21 @2.1v.
btw, which are your sticks ?

[clocker]

I'm running these G.Skills. (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16820231145)

And yes, I know I probably could start relaxing the RAM timing to pile on a few more MHz but don't feel the desire to do so right now.
Been there, done that.
I mean really...I took a $200 chip and bumped it a full GHz without having to do anything...frankly, it's made me lazy.

Besides, until you post a verified SuperPi result I still have the fastest score around, so where's my incentive?

[Detale]

Oh I cant wait to get a better score:angry:

[kaiweiler]

I'd like them to make a program like SuperPi that can utilize multiple cores. Then my score would likely beat yours :P
My vista experience score is 5.9 all across the board now, but too bad that doesn't mean squat.

[clocker]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/a445080d.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/9bc4b4b1.jpg

This is 32bit Vista.
I should have a 64bit copy in a few weeks.
Right now I'm triple booting Vista and both versions of XP Pro.
I have a partition all ready for Ubuntu but still can't figure out how to get it on a RAID array.

K., how about running the OverDrive beta tests here (http://www.pcpitstop.com/) (must use Internet Explorer).
I'd be interested to see how the processor scores compare.
Anyone else is welcome too, of course.

Bragging rights at stake.

[kaiweiler]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v147/kaiweiler/Score.jpg

Bragging rights = mine :)

Literally no tweaking at all aside from bumping the Q6600 to a measly 3Ghz, and it recommends updating my sound and video drivers, which would likely yield a higher result as well.
But top 3% in the whole world is pretty decent...

[clocker]

Holy shit.
That chip is amazing.

Hmmm, wonder if Microcenter is still selling 'em for $200.

[kaiweiler]

Yes, it is a beast. Mine has been proven stable at 3.6Ghz but I just can't deal with the heat load right now so I'm running it at 3Ghz which is still plenty.
Compared to the e8400, I like to think of it as being the big 1 tonne truck, capable of pulling/pushing through anything you throw at it with absolutely no effort. While the e8400 is like the sports car, incredibly fast but extremely high sped.
Something like that anyway....
Notice in my score my crappy Crucial value RAM, only running at 667Mhz. Also your drives are faster than mine are, I'm also running a raid-0 array, but not as efficiently. My drives are both the same size but different specifications, also one is Sata and the other is Sata2. Still considerably faster than booting from a single drive though.
I do wonder why your 8800GT scores 300 points higher than mine. What drivers are you running, and what speeds?

EDIT
Just ran 3DMark06
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v147/kaiweiler/13155.jpg

Sorry clocker...

[clocker]

I do wonder why your 8800GT scores 300 points higher than mine. What drivers are you running, and what speeds?

EDIT
Just ran 3DMark06


Sorry clocker...
169.21 forceware.
Stock speeds, want to upgrade the cooling before I play with the card.

No need to be sorry, you've got a great PC.

Just finished my qualifying run for the official [H]forum OC database. (http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1138241).
Should put me #6 in the e8400 class...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/d4cd5a6f.jpg

Even if I scrape up another couple hundred MHz, it won't compare to that quad though.

[kaiweiler]

What's holding you back on the overclock?
I'm guessing the 445FSB is getting close to the max for that P35-DS4...
Nice voltage for 4Ghz though :)

[clocker]

I'm guessing that my artificial and arbitrary cap on CPU voltage is the limiting factor.
That, and laziness.

There are so many other aspects of Sprocket that I could spend time on- video performance, for one- that ekeing out a few more MHz of clock speed has to fall down the list a bit.

Besides, I've run into a few issues that need to be addressed that affect my day to day usage...primarily, mouse stuttering.
This seems to be a relatively common problem and the general consensus points to the Intel AHCI/RAID drivers.

So far it is limited mostly to my Pro 64 install.
Not so much the 32 bit Pro and not at all in Vista.

I need to round up a PS2 mouse to see if this solely a USB issue or what.

Have any of you guys run into this?

Edit: Tightened up the RAM timings and added another 50MHz...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/854030f9.jpg
Also set new personal Aquamark record...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/92ef2609.jpg

Ran a new 3DMark but it wouldn't upload the score for some reason, shall try again.

[clocker]

Scraped a few more MHz out and still didn't cross the 1.3v vCore limit...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/d3f304b8.jpg

And came so fucking close to a 10 second SuperPI that I could almost cry...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/260040b1.jpg

BTW, the world record SuperPi is somewhere around 7.9 sec these days.
Achieved on an Intel chip clocked to 5.5GHz and cooled with liquid nitrogen.

Guess I still have a ways to go.

[clocker]

Just throwing this up because it surprised me so.

Flashed to the new Gigabyte F12 BIOS- only apparent change is the ".5 multiplier" option- and was considering where to go next with my chip when I recalled some talk about a "hole" in the FSB that seems to sit around 450 or so.

I wondered how deep that hole might be and decided to try 8 x 500, just kind of randomly picked it out but the resulting numbers had a pleasing symmetry to them...nice round 4000MHz clock speed, RAM exactly at it's 1000MHZ advertised speed and a rated FSB of 2000 even.
Figured it might boot to desktop but not much more.

Well, it did boot and seemed OK so I set up an Orthos run and left to run some errands.
This is what I came home to...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/1cdc6e16.jpg

Note the vCore.
It's set to 1.275v in BIOS so there's some droop under load (Orthos reports an idle voltage of 1.280, so there's a bit of inaccuracy everywhere it seems) but this particular chip seems to thrive at lower voltages.
Very odd.

Also, my temp sensors seem to be "loosening up" or something.
When I first got the chip a few weeks ago, it would NOT read below 35°c, regardless of the ambient.
I froze my tail off with a window open only to see the temp remain stubbornly fixed.
Now, under more normal conditions- i.e., window closed, me comfy- idle runs a more realistic 26-28°c...much closer to what I would have expected with effective watercooling.

Next I think I'm going to try lowering the vCore again- maybe 1.25v- and see what happens.
Meanwhile I'll enjoy the warm and fuzzy feeling that a 500FSB gives me...

[kaiweiler]

Wow, that's awesome.
Why does Orthos see the CPU speed at 4.5Ghz instead of 4Ghz?

[clocker]

I don't think ORTHOS can deal with any multiplier except stock, which is 9 in the Wolfie's case...so 9 x 500= 4500.

Just a guess.

[kaiweiler]

Ahh I see, good guess!
I see your using the Windows Sidebar, what do you think of it?
I didn't like it at first and didn't use it for quite some time but gave it another shot a couple months ago and loaded it up with some useful gadgets and now I'm quite fond of it actually...

[clocker]

I don't have strong feelings one way or the other actually.

I'm still just playing with Vista, waiting for my 64 bit version to arrive from MS.
I was just notified yesterday that my participation in the "Windows Feedback Program"- essentially 90 days of being spied upon by MS*- was complete and my free Vista (both 32 and 64 bit) would be sent soon.

So right now I'm just experimenting, both with Vista and overclocking configurations, wiping and reloading as necessary.

What gadgets do you find useful?


*During this period, whoever was monitoring my data saw a blizzard of OS installs, hardware changes and crashes due to overclocking.
I have to think that they were somewhat confused by the results and doubt I provided much in the way of useful info.
But I got another legal set of OS to add to the collection, so what the hell.

Last night's experiment involved the hard drives.
Since I was no longer being monitored I decided to ditch all the standby operating systems ( I had three, the "Feedback Panel" was only installed on XP Pro 32 so I could duck into the other two and remain hidden from prying eyes) and try to optimize the RAID array.

I rebuilt the RAID array and sliced off the fastest 30GB section for the OS.
The rest of the 500GB is just storage/page file, etc.
This made quite a difference...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/238964a9.jpg

Granted, "burst speed" is purely a benchmark result, but still....

[kaiweiler]

For gadgets I use:
Multi Meter - displays CPU usage on each individual core as well as RAM consumption
Imp's Drive Info - displays hard drive consumption for multiple drives

As well as some not so important gadgets like weather and clock.
I have the sidebar located on the right side of my secondary monitor, so when I game I can still see the sidebar. It's nice to have a clock there to see how much of my life I waste away...

[Detale]

WOW dude I HAVE to try those numbers tomorrow, as of now we have the same chip and ram. I still haven't had time to set up the Q6600 yet have you? What do you leave your setting at on a normal day?

Also I use multi meter because it shows both cores too. I know you said you had a few copies of Black XP have you installed the 100 or so gadgets using the WPI?

Secondary monitor Kai!? Must be nice

[clocker]

I still haven't had time to set up the Q6600 yet have you? What do you leave your setting at on a normal day?


I haven't bought a quad yet...kinda waiting to see what you thought.
No pressure or anything...

Those are my normal settings.
I ran a ten hour Orthos test today while I was out and about and passed with flying colors.
Average temp was under 40° (I had the window open as it was pretty nice here), so stability is good, temp is good and voltage is low...why not run like this all the time?

I did get some new cooling stuff, will have pics up (hopefully) tomorrow as it gets installed.

[kaiweiler]

WOW dude I HAVE to try those numbers tomorrow, as of now we have the same chip and ram. I still haven't had time to set up the Q6600 yet have you? What do you leave your setting at on a normal day?

Also I use multi meter because it shows both cores too. I know you said you had a few copies of Black XP have you installed the 100 or so gadgets using the WPI?

Secondary monitor Kai!? Must be nice

I run two 19" widescreen LCD's, I doubt I'll ever go back to single monitor setup again.

I'm pretty happy with my Q6600, I'm only running it at 3Ghz daily but as soon as I get a better cooling solution I plan on running it at 3.4-3.6 (which the chip itself has been proven to be easily capable of)
I could use some better RAM though as well...
It's a never ending story isn't it?


clocker, is the new cooling stuff wet?

[clocker]

Let's try this again...I had a big response all ready yesterday only to get the "Site down for maintenance" when I hit submit.
Kinda pissed me off...

No K., it's not "wet".

I've seen some posts around that deal with the fancy heatpipe setups that many motherboards feature- mine included.
Apparently, these contraptions look quite impressive but are not in fact very well implemented.
Since I've been pushing my system more than anticipated (and don't have any way of monitoring north/south bridge temps (thanks a lot, Gigabyte), I decided to take a look at mine.

Glad I did.

Apologies in advance for the picture quality, many of the motherboard shots were completely unusable...

I stripped Sprocket down and removed the motherboard.
Then, squeezing off the retention pushpins, I pulled the all-in-one heatpipe cooler off.
This particular board has the heatpiped sinks covering the north and south bridges as well as the power conversion components.
Of the four main sinks, only the northbridge showed any indication at all that the sink had actually made contact with the chips it covered.
The sinks did not have thermal paste, instead there was a rubberlike strip between the sink and the chips, and close examination did not show indentations which would indicate contact.

Basically, most of that setup was for show.

I cleaned off the sinks and the chips with AS cleaner & purifier and applied Ceramique to all the components.
Then I reinstalled the heatpipe with screws and nuts instead of the flimsy pushpins.
Like so...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/54e7a79d.jpg

On the back I used a plastic washer (for insulation) followed by a metal washer and a nut...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/368dea68.jpg

Then I removed the entire assembly to check my contact patches- it looked much better- recleaned, repasted and reinstalled.

So now I know that at least the sinks are making contact with the motherboard and the components have a chance at being cooled.

That was Stage 1.

Stage 2 involved cooling the vid card (which has been running stock so far) and the memory (ditto).
I ordered a box of swag from FrozenCPU and got this...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/848ae4a3.jpg

-Zalman VF1000 copper VGA cooler and a RAM sink cooler unit (which, despite being advertised as applicable for the 8800 series, does NOT fit the GT, so it will be returned)OCZ Freeze Extreme TIM.

-OCZ memory cooler module which sports two 80mm fans and clips to the DIMM retention clips

-OCZ Freeze Extreme TIM ( for the CPU as well as the GPU).

-the bag of fans I already had and was hoping to use as spot coolers on the motherboard but haven't done anything with yet.

First, the video card.
Remove the stock cooler...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/eef5ac0b.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/a4cb1325.jpg

And install the Zalman.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/f5a3f1c6.jpg
I had to use the individual memory sinks that come with the cooler instead of the super-duper heatsink that Zalman sells separately (which covers everything...as long as you have a GTS or Ultra).

Then the board got remounted in the case and the memory cooler and vid card were reinstalled.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/0ec74459.jpg

It's a very close fit between the memory cooler bracket and the bottom of the video card...so close that I layered some electrical tape on the memory unit's upper bracket to prevent accidental shorting.

I'm not impressed with the OCZ's mounting method- it works but is rather loose, so I may custom make a bracket that is more stable and lowers the module a few millimeters to completely eliminate the possibility of vid card contact.

Thus ends Stage 2.

The Zalman VGA cooler lowered the GT's idle temps from 55°c to @ 30°c- a dramatic improvement. Running a few loops of 3D Mark 06 gave me load temps in the mid to upper forties, so I consider this modification to be an unqualified success.

I have no way of measuring my memory temps so I can't comment about the OCZ's effectiveness, but it does look pretty cool and I consider it good insurance as well as adding a bit of bling.

I went through all this rigamorole because I've hit a wall overclocking the CPU and it seems likely that I'll have to apply more voltage to the motherboard to achieve stability.
Even if I don't pursue the quest for more MHz, it seemed like a good idea to make sure my cooling was up to par and judging by the look of the stock heatpipe solution, this board needed some attention.

Now that I feel more confident about my safety net, we'll see what this thing can do...

[Detale]

I haven't bought a quad yet...kinda waiting to see what you thought.
No pressure or anything...


Sorry man life in general has been insanely hectic, I have been working my ass off 6 days a week 12 hours a day so when I'm home I'm eating, sleeping or changing shitty diapers.

BTW way to void every warranty you had!! :P You rock dude

OK but I had Sunday off and 3 whole hours to myself(these days thats an eternity) So I flew through installing the new PSU ( Corsair 620 Thanks Clocker I love the damn thing) and the Q6600 also re-installing my Blue Orb II cooler as I had the stock cooler on the wolfdale after the temp confusion episode.

So all is going well when I am tightening the 2nd screw on the CPU cooler when I hear an oh so dreaded "snap" I'm like WHAT THE FUCK NOW!!! so the good news is it was only one of the mounting screws on the cooler itself so not that big a deal but the bad news at least for now is I am stuck with the stock cooler again ( BTW I need a recommendation on a new CPU cooler guys)

OK so I get the rig up and running just then now remembering I wanted to run some last min tests on the Wolfdale and take some screenshots to compare along with pics of my rig innards All of which I forgot about because I was in an incredible rush ( sorry again)

Now I overclocked it to 333x9= 2997 which is close enough to 3 for me as a first run. Now CPU-Z is showing the multiplier @ 6 which is less than 2Ghz if I check the Bios it shows 3 but why not in Cpuz or Everest?? Oddly when I first ran Cpuz and saw that it said 6 I ran my mouse over it and it only for a second changed to 9 but then back to 6???:huh:Everest shows this



Overclock





CPU Properties:


CPU Type QuadCore Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600


CPU Alias Kentsfield


CPU Stepping G0


Engineering Sample No


CPUID CPU Name Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz


CPUID Revision 000006FBh


Core Voltage 1.163 V

CPU Speed:


CPU Clock 1998.0 MHz (original: 2400 MHz)


CPU Multiplier 6.0x


CPU FSB 333.0 MHz (original: 266 MHz, overclock: 25%)


Memory Bus 499.5 MHz


DRAM:FSB Ratio 12:8

CPU Cache:


L1 Code Cache 32 KB per core


L1 Data Cache 32 KB per core


L2 Cache 2x 4 MB (On-Die, ASC, Full-Speed)

Motherboard Properties:


Motherboard ID 01/02/2008-X38-ICH9-6A79OG0QC-00


Motherboard Name Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 (2 PCI, 3 PCI-E x1, 2 PCI-E x16, 4 DDR2 DIMM, Audio, Dual Gigabit LAN, IEEE-1394)

Chipset Properties:


Motherboard Chipset Intel Beachwood X38


Memory Timings 5-7-7-19 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)


Command Rate (CR) 2T

SPD Memory Modules:


DIMM1: G Skill F2-8000CL5-2GBPQ 2 GB DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-15 @ 400 MHz) (4-4-4-10 @ 266 MHz)


DIMM3: G Skill F2-8000CL5-2GBPQ 2 GB DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-15 @ 400 MHz) (4-4-4-10 @ 266 MHz)

BIOS Properties:


System BIOS Date 01/02/08


Video BIOS Date 12/06/07


Award BIOS Type Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG


Award BIOS Message X38-DQ6 F7


DMI BIOS Version F7

Graphics Processor Properties:


Video Adapter nVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT


GPU Code Name G92GT (PCI Express 2.0 x16 10DE / 0611, Rev A2)


GPU Clock (Geometric Domain) 602 MHz (original: 600 MHz)


GPU Clock (Shader Domain) 1512 MHz (original: 1500 MHz)


Memory Clock 900 MHz (original: 900 MHz) and here is Cpuz and speedfan with a little SuperPi thrown in

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/9678/q6600wg6.jpg


Now the temps look OK IMO but the same 3Ghz under the Wolfdale I got on my first try as seen in an earlier post in this thread is @ 15.6 sec So I have to say thus far at least I am not immediately impressed with the Q6600 over the E8600 The next 3 hours I get will prob be spent Swapping out this CPU for the Wolfdale again along with installing a new CPU cooler which I say again
I need some advice on please
But there is something to consider, the Blue Orb had two brackets installed using screws through the back of the Mobo then two screws through the fan onto said brackets. I cannot use something with a "plate" on the back of the Mobo I have this Copper plate back there ie

http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggImage/productimage/13-128-066-06.jpg

I have read that it will interfere with certain CPU coolers in that there screws aren't long enough to reach past the copper So any help would be cool as hell guys Thanks in advance I am looking for something firstly functional but also a little flash if thats possible something along the lines of this

Cooler Master Hyper TX 2 CPU Cooler
http://www.frozencpu.com/images/products/main/cpu-cma-11.jpg

or
Cooljag Falcon 92-CU Quad Heat Pipe Copper Silent PWM CPU Cooler

http://www.frozencpu.com/images/products/main/cpu-cjg-20.jpg

[clocker]

D., you need to disable the power saving features in BIOS (EIST, CIA2?)...they are what causes the multiplier to default down to 6 whenever they decide the processor can run slower.
I thought that overclocking the chip usually disabled the power save features automatically but it wouldn't hurt to do it manually.

TheAC Freezer Pro (http://www.arctic-cooling.com/cpu2.php?idx=79&disc=) is tough to beat for the money.
On the high end, the Thermalright Extreme 120 (http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/thermalright-ultra120ex.html) is generally considered the unit to beat.

[kaiweiler]

Yeah, it's the power savings feature...
Also remember that SuperPi just runs on a single core, where FSB and Ram speed probably plays the biggest factor. The E8400 has a 1333Mhz bus, while the Q6600 has 1066Mhz.
Try some video editing or other multi-core apps, even heavy multitasking and that is where the Q6600 will come out on top of the E8400.

[clocker]

Played around a bit with the video card...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/17dfe229.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/3097dbd6.jpg

Now I need something to stress the vid so I can check the temps, any suggestions?

[kaiweiler]

AtiTool, scanning for artifacts?
Nice score in 3dMark! Around 400 points more then I am getting. Although I see your using XP 32bit, I'm on Vista64.
What clocks did you get on your GT?

[clocker]

Actually K., that's Vista 32 SP1.

That run was at 700/1100.

I'll try the ATI Tool, thanks.

[kaiweiler]

Oh strange, in your screenshot it says XP 32 bit, I just assumed you had added a Vista theme.

[clocker]

Um, yeah, you're right.
I dunno why it says that.

It's definitely Vista x 86...I spent time this morning installing SP1.
At this point Vista is the only OS I have installed.

[kaiweiler]

Did you notice any improvements with SP1? Is it the final release or the RC version?

[clocker]

It's the final release and no, I haven't seen anything obvious as yet.
My understanding is that the file transfer speeds will be increased and I plan on testing that out soon.

My brother, sister and nephew are all visiting this week, so time is at somewhat of a premium.

[Detale]

D., you need to disable the power saving features in BIOS (EIST, CIA2?)...they are what causes the multiplier to default down to 6 whenever they decide the processor can run slower.
I thought that overclocking the chip usually disabled the power save features automatically but it wouldn't hurt to do it manually.

TheAC Freezer Pro (http://www.arctic-cooling.com/cpu2.php?idx=79&disc=) is tough to beat for the money.
On the high end, the Thermalright Extreme 120 (http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/thermalright-ultra120ex.html) is generally considered the unit to beat.

Dude thanks so much. I hope all is well with the whole Clocker crew. I did some research on the Thermalright and I found that only 1 cooler beat it in certain tests the Enzotech Extreme-X Copper Forged Premium Heatsink (http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=185&products_id=21314) I think I am going to go with it What do you think?

[kaiweiler]

Looks like a decent cooler, but I would personally go for the Ultra 120 Extreme from Thermalright instead. I like having the freedom of choosing a fan that suits my liking.
That Enzotech is rated at 43dBa, which is quite loud. Of coarse sound level ratings have a lot of variables involved to make them accurate, but regardless I'd probably end up changing out the fan anyway. It depends what you want really.
In any case, I have never ever heard of anyone being disappointed with the Ultra 120 Extreme.

[clocker]

...I think I am going to go with it What do you think?
Given my freakish weakness for cooling products, I'd probably buy both and see for myself.
But that's just me.

I've used Thermalright products in the past and believe their rep is fairly earned.
Enzotech is relatively new but seems well reviewed.

Forced to choose, I'd go with the Thermalright since I have many, many fans I could slap on, not to mention the world's best fan controller (Sunbeam), so I could tailor the performance/noise ratio to a T.

If you're working with the e8400, it really doesn't matter much...the chip runs so cool that almost any quality sink would handle the load.
I suppose one deciding factor would be how you want the heatsink oriented on the board...the TR sits vertically and the Enzo horizontally, so you may want to analyze your layout and see which might be more advantageous to the components surrounding the CPU socket.

[Detale]

...I think I am going to go with it What do you think?
Given my freakish weakness for cooling products, I'd probably buy both and see for myself.
But that's just me.

I've used Thermalright products in the past and believe their rep is fairly earned.
Enzotech is relatively new but seems well reviewed.

Forced to choose, I'd go with the Thermalright since I have many, many fans I could slap on, not to mention the world's best fan controller (Sunbeam), so I could tailor th
[quote=Detale;2731370]...I think I am going to go with it What do you think?
Given my freakish weakness for cooling products, I'd probably buy both and see for myself.
But that's just me.

I've used Thermalright products in the past and believe their rep is fairly earned.
Enzotech is relatively new but seems well reviewed.

Forced to choose, I'd go with the Thermalright since I have many, many fans I could slap on, not to mention the world's best fan controller (Sunbeam), so I could tailor the performance/noise ratio to a T.

If you're working with the e8400, it really doesn't matter much...the chip runs so cool that almost any quality sink would handle the load.
I suppose one deciding factor would be how you want the heatsink oriented on the board...the TR sits vertically and the Enzo horizontally, so you may want to analyze your layout and see which might be more advantageous to the components surrounding the CPU socket.

Don't temp me bro. Damn I still don't know I have to think on it a while but Im leaning towards the Enzotech because I think it looks a bit nicer.

Have you put any thought into the Q6600 at all? I personally don't think much of it after the E8400 also I used the new Convert X to DVD 3 ( My video converter of choice) it says it supports quad cores but I only see an increase in converted frames per second of around 10-15 average again not really impressed much, When I have time I'm going back to the Wolfdale prob when I get the new CPU cooler.

EDIT: OK so I never really wanted to get into water cooling before because I feel it's a bit expensive BUT I am lurkiing around on some great cooling sites and I come across this product:

CoolIT Eliminator Thermoeletronic CPU Cooler (http://filesharingtalk.com/vb3/f-hardware-24/CoolIT%20Eliminator%20Thermoeletronic%20CPU%20Cooler) $160

http://images.tigerdirect.com/skuimages/large/C432-1000-main.jpg

Now I have not seen anything like this before.
3DGameMan gives it a "kickass" review ( I know he's corney but I think his reviews are thorough)

DU7Z8VeRJHQ

I have done some mild reading and can't find anything wrong with it as of yet. Do you guys know anything about it? Please hurry I don't know how long I can hold off from making an impulse but right now

Sorry to hijackyet again, I'll stat a new thread (http://filesharingtalk.com/vb3/f-hardware-24/t-coolit-eliminator-thermoeletronic-cpu-cooler-285684#post2733276) man

[clocker]

I've been playing around some more but in a somewhat unusual direction.

It's pretty apparent by now that the e8400 Wolfdales are freakishly overclockable but there is a huge difference in how people achieve the extra speed.
In the various threads it seems that once the easy level is reached- by this I mean 9 x 400= 3.6GHz- the amount of voltage required to hit 4 GHz is radically different (although there is no way of knowing how competent these people are...they may just be upping the juice because they think they should).

Sprocket's chip seemed to be less voltage hungry than most (I've only seen one or two examples that hit 8 x500 at less than my 1.275v), so I've been experimenting with the highest possible clock balanced against the lowest possible voltage.

Although not exhaustively tested as yet, I have managed to hit 9 x 400 (3.6GHz) with just 1.175 vCore ( this is down from a stock level of 1.225v) and I'll bet she'll go even lower...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/c2f48446.jpg

This is not just a whim on my part.
Lots of the early users are now reporting a total loss of overclock capability after a few weeks of 24/7 running at elevated voltage.
There is a lot of controversy about what the highest "safe" voltage might be and I've decided that until more trustworthy data is available (which may be never) that I'll just sidestep the question altogether and explore the undervolting option.
So far, it seems to be working out quite well.

The Wolfdale's other main weirdness surrounds it's temp reporting...basically, idle temps are very untrustworthy.
Intel says that it really doesn't care about the sensor's accuracy at low temps since they are there to throttle the chip at dangerously high levels, so that's the area they concentrated on.
There is a program (RealTemp) specifically written to try and spoof this inaccuracy but I'm not sure how good it really is.

My doubt springs from the fact that my idle temps haven't scaled downward with the voltage decrease.
Even my full load temps haven't changed much (after factoring in ambient variations) but as I've rarely seen max temp exceed 40°c under load, I guess I can stop worrying about that as well.

This setup is just sweet as hell...I don't know how AMD will ever catch up again.

Edit: Just finished another round with 1.15v vCore...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/e7a7f8b9.jpg

Time to drop 'er again...

[Cabalo]

any ideas of which are considered the safe volts to keep a wolfie 24/7 safely? i'm near 1.48v and i think it's kinda high for a 45nm chip.

[clocker]

I don't know and I don't think anyone else does either.

People argue quite vociferously and throw Intel White Paper quotes around like spears about that very topic.
Then there are the folks who have lost the ability to clock at all after a few weeks of higher voltage.

It's confusing partly because heat alone doesn't seem to be an indicator.
Used to be- think AMD 2500 Barton here- that you had to toss lots of voltage to up the FSB but as long as you managed the temps the chip seemed to survive OK.

Nowadays- probably because of the advances in cooling solutions- even insanely (by my definition) overvolted chips max out well below the TJ max value and yet some of them die.

Because of the uncertainty I set my personal comfort cap at 1.3v.
It helps that I got extremely lucky with my chip and excessive voltage hasn't been needed to reach good clocks.

Within a few days of posting initial results (I admit to pimping Sprocket in several other forums) I started getting offers to buy the Wolfie at a premium over what I paid.
The potential to profit has also had an effect on how much I'm willing to push the chip as well.

[clocker]

I sold the e8400.

Now have to decide between a q6600 (excellent price/performance ratio with the GO stepping) or the newer 45nm q9450 ( approx. 10% performance increase over the 6600 w/ lower voltage but significantly higher price).

At this point, despite the price, I'm leaning towards the 9450.
I already know that my motherboard will easily run a 500FSB, so the chip's lower multiplier shouldn't be a problem and the lower voltage (and therefore, heat output) is very attractive.

The sale itself was a Marx brothers slapstick comedy involving a drug addled internet buddy from Florida and a desperate New Zealander but worked out fine in the end and for the first time ever I actually made a small profit on the chip.
Usually I buy stuff and see the price plummet within weeks, this time I lucked into a widespread shortage of a highly desirable product and sold just in time.

Fortunately, I have backup machines so I can disable Sprocket and ponder my choices for a few days without being completely cut off.
I received notice that my copy of Vista 64 will be shipping early next week and I have a few other irons in the fire, so there is no rush to decide anything right away.

Rest assured, when she comes back online Sprocket will be bigger and badder than before.

[j2k4]

I sold the e8400.

Lordy, you're moving pretty fast.

Given Newegg is usually sold out of the E8400, the market for "pre-owned" versions must be fairly healthy.

How'd you do? :whistling

[clocker]

Purchased for $189, sold for $275.
'Twas fun while it lasted but I really wanted to try a quad.

Pondered which quad to get, was primarily thinking of the older 65nm q6600- a proven overclocker (at least the GO steppings)- and the brand new q9450.

The 9450 was really the chip I wanted but it's priced at $350 and that was a bit rich compared to the 6600's $200 tag.
So, I ended up compromising and got the q9300 instead.

It's a 45nm Yorkfield and only sacrifices some L3 cache compared to the 9450.
Microcenter had a deal going...the chip and 2 x 1 GB of OCZ RAM for $299.
So now I have 6GB of memory, even though it can't all be used till Vista 64 shows up (which should be in the next week or two) and a low wattage (1.0875 VID) quad chip to play with.

Stock speed is 2.5GHz and I'm already at 3.3GHz (un-stresstested).
Going to hit 3.5 (fingers crossed) and see what she'll take to run OTTC stable.
Next week, if all goes as planned, I should have another 250GB Seagate to add to the array which will up my disk I/O by another 33%.

I still haven't even touched the timing on the vid card yet.
That will be a whole 'nother adventure.
Life is good.

[Detale]

Damn! You're always one step ahead of me aren't you? I was just looking at the q9450 the other day eh don't have the money right now anyway still haven't gotten the new CPU fan/loop yet. Im saving for a new TV 50" I think

[clocker]

I'm not sure this was a step "ahead" yet...may turn out to be a sideways move.

I'm discovering that quads are not just bigger dual cores and clocking them- or at least, this one- isn't going to be the piece of cake that the Wolfie was.

The 9300 runs a max divider of 7.5, which I knew going in but discounted as a problem since my board/RAM had already proven capable of a 500FSB, so 3.5+ GHz should have been within reach.

So far....no.

Going to have to study the quad threads and see what successful people are doing.
It's already apparent that I'll have to learn about/tweak voltage settings that I previously left on "Auto" and at this point, I have no clue what "safe" vCore settings might be.

Also, I've run into a problem with the video.
After rebooting, many times the PCI-e bus width shows up as 1x instead of the full 16x.
This translates into horrible vid benchmark scores- which is how I noticed this to begin with, I couldn't figure out how K.'s vid scores were almost double mine with the same card.
Still not sure what's going on.

Oh well, if it was easy everybody would do it...

Edit: Hmmm, may have found something to try.
At least I know I'm not the only one with this issue.

Remarkably, I found discussion that deals with my specific hardware- eVGA 8800GT and the Corsair 620PSU- and a Corsair rep was participating.
This is a "known issue" and Corsair is laying the blame squarely on nVidia...no surprise there, eh?
Apparently, the problem lies with the nVidia cards low power draw- which I'd have thought to be a good thing- and the way the card and the motherboard interact at boot.
Somehow there is a transactional disconnect and the card believes it is not getting full juice, so it downclocks itself.
There is no known 100% fix but many have solved the problem by reflashing to an OLDER BIOS...seems odd to me but I have updated my BIOS and even though I can't precisely pin my problem on that, it's the only thing I can think to try.

Off to give it a whirl, wish me luck.

Edit part2: That didn't work.
Damn.

[kaiweiler]

Try bumping the MCH voltage a couple notches, that was the only other voltage setting I really needed to play with the get a good overclock on my quad.
I'm using a Corsair HX520, was that problem specific to the 620? or Corsair PSU's in general? I have not experienced it yet...
Also try turning down some of the visual settings in Vista if you want some better benchmark scores, some of them eat up a lot of video resources and can be disabled for the benchmark.

[clocker]

The problem was not Corsair specific, they were able to duplicate it with a variety of units- it just so happened that a Corsair rep responded in the thread.
It was not a consistently reproducible error either, cards that did it once might be fine after a reboot and vice-versa.

I'm going nuts now.
I have tried everything I can think of...reseated card, tried another PCI 6- pin cable, flashed the BIOS, gone back to all stock settings, broke the RAID array and reinstalled Pro 64 to a single drive- and still the problem persists. There is no obvious manifestation, the screen looks fine, plays movies fine, does everything fine except benchmark. If I didn't know it should be working better, I'd never think twice about it.

Time to contact eVga, methinks.

[Detale]

After reading this I had to run and check but my card is fine. Oh Oh yeah time to contact Evga, I understand they have pretty good customer service though.

On a lighter note what is the max OC you've successfully had with the 9300 so far?

[kaiweiler]

Hmm where do you see that it is only running at 1x? When it runs at 1x does it still use 3.3v on GPU Vcc? Or is there a drop in voltage as well?
I'm wondering if maybe manually setting your PCI-e voltage might help...
Aside from that I can't really think of any other things to try either.

[clocker]

Look at the "motherboard" tab of CPUID...at the bottom it shows the PCI-e link width.
Setting voltages in this Gigabyte is tough...they don't show what the voltage actually is, just allow you to add/subtract from some unknown default value.
I don't trust their defaults either...it shows the CPU voltage as "normally" 1.2v when everything else tells me it's much lower.
I'll have to see where I can find a value for GPU voltage...any suggestions?

@Detale: Last night I was at 3.2 GHz but throttled back to 3 even for stability testing.
I need to go back to basics here and see what my lowest possible vCore is and then decide how high I'm willing to go in search of clocks.
Currently running stock (7.5 x 333= 2.5GHz) at 1.075v (that's the VID shown in CoreTemp, so I decided to start there).

Just like the Wolfdale, one of the sensors was stuck but a round of OCCT freed it up and all sensors now show a movement of 5 in RealTemp, so at least that is going well.
Running temps seem comparable to the Wolfdale also...@ 24-28° idle and high 30's load.
Very little variation between cores, so that's good too.

[kaiweiler]

I like Everest Ultimate.
Under the sensor tab it displays all the voltages.
There is a trial version, or possibly a free limited feature version.
Great program though.

[clocker]

Naturally, the GPU vcc is blanked out in the trial version.

Meh.

[Detale]

Trial versions!! Cmon guys don't either of you do any Torrent or Newsgroup Downloading??

[kaiweiler]

Trial versions!! Cmon guys don't either of you do any Torrent or Newsgroup Downloading??

I have both the full Ultimate edition and the Corporate edition.
This is FST.

[clocker]

Firstly, thanks to K. for the Everest (and thanks to Detale for the offer).
Got it, installed it.
Says my vid voltage is right where it's supposed to be, damnit.
My PCI-e link is at 16x too.

Here's what I'm dealing with...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/5bd18809.jpg

Note the stupidly low video score.
The disk score is abnormal because I'm not RAIDed at the moment.

All I can say now is
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/d145ecab.jpg

[kaiweiler]

Yikes, that is awful!
Your CPU score is nice at 3Ghz though, scores 160pts higher then my Q6600 at the same speed.
Try using Driver Cleaner Pro and uninstall nvidia and nvidia WDM while in safe mode, then reboot with no internet connection and install the new beta drivers, 174.74 I believe.
See if new drivers fix anything...

[clocker]

I'm on it boss.

[Detale]

My 8800 isn't much better @ stock but running @ 16x here. Same CPU tho ;)

http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/162/pcpitstopxy9.jpg

If we have the same CPU at the same speed why is mine slightly higher? Also my Ram score too Hmmmm.


BTW don't make fun IE is my wifes browser but it's easier to use with PC Pitstop

[kaiweiler]

You've got some issues there D,
My 8800 get's just over 2300 points, overclocked but still there's no way it should have that much difference!
Also your HDD score is quite low, what drive do you have??

[clocker]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/1cd0df09.jpg

Edit: Wait a minute D., you've got a q9300, too?

[kaiweiler]

Hmm that didn't help either eh?

D's bench was with a Q6600, it says "Core 2 Quad 2400 Mhz" while the Q9300 says "Core 2 Quad 2500 Mhz"

Long shot but could there be any type of thermal throttling on the card? Knowing you, I am sure that the temperatures are fine, but you never know...

EDIT clocker, you should try switching Robust Graphics Booster (R.G.B.) in your BIOS from Auto to Turbo.

[Detale]

no no I have a q6600 in right now sorry I forgot for a sec, What can I do to improve my 8800 score?

[kaiweiler]

Setting your visual effects to "Adjust for best performance" will probably double your score, but still seems low.
Try a few of the things I've been telling clocker to try.

[Skiz]

I decided to jump in on this too.

Not bad for a 2 year old PC. :)

Video scores are a bit low but I could get them up a decent amount I'm sure if I kicked on my second GPU. I have 2 7900GTX's but only run one due to issues regarding my two monitors. The other just sits as a monument to how much Dell mobos suck. :dabs:

I'd like to get a new mobo and case soon so I can take advantage of the second GPU and do a bit of overclocking as well, but that's a whole 'nother thread.



http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/964/62316507cj3.png

[kaiweiler]

Just to put some scores into perspective :P
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v147/kaiweiler/Untitled.jpg
Memory score is lower then normal, got over 500 points more when I had it running 45Mhz slower...
Oh well, can't complain.
See the difference in video though? It is quite substantial!
I'll do another run at 3Ghz with the video at stock speeds and see how it turns out.

Here's my 3Ghz run with 8800GT at stock speeds of 600/1500/900.
Video score still kicking ass and taking numbers...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v147/kaiweiler/3Ghzrun.jpg

[clocker]

OK, now it's just getting weird.

Went back to Vista (still 32 bit for the nonce) and reRAIDED the disks.
Loaded drivers, etc. and ran the pitstop.
First run...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/13041e66.jpg

OK, video is looking better but WTF is up with the CPU score?
Made no changes- absolutely nothing- rebooted and ran again, so this second pass was within 5 minutes of the first...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/69049139.jpg

Hmmm, CPU is now about what I'd expect but the damn video went down again.

Think I'll install SP1 and see what screws up next.
Fortunately, I have a full cup of French Roast and slept well so this strikes me as amusing right now but that could change at any time...

[kaiweiler]

haha that is very strange!
The only thing I can really think that may cause something like that would be if during the first run you unknowingly had a CPU intensive task scheduled and running in the background, maybe a defrag, virus scan, something of the sort...
But nice Disk score! I wonder why my Raid is so much slower then yours...

It's a never ending story eh?


EDIT Slept well?!? it's 5:30am in your screenshots! Did you go to sleep before the sun went down last night??

[clocker]

No, I usually go beddy-bye @midnight and get up @4:30.
Thanks for asking.

Now we might be getting somewhere but I'm not sure why...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/8c7e03bc.jpg

I bumped all the voltages up a little and obviously the clock speed has been increased too.
Have no idea how stable this setting is but Windows is fine so I'll start testing when I go to lunch today.

Indeed, it IS a neverending story.

Started a bit of stress testing just to see where I stand.
Ran OCCT for 3.5 hours while I was at lunch...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/1ef0c668.jpg

And here's what the vCore voltage looked like during that time...yes Ross, this is for you...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/eeb4acf3.jpg

Also note the disparity in temps as reported by the two programs.
OCCT uses the CPUid engine and mistakenly assumes the Tmax is 105° instead of 95°c.
I quite like the OCCT app. Unlike ORTHOS, it will load all four cores in one instance and has some nice logging options.
I have no idea what happens when you fail using the program- presumably the red button lights up or something but never fear, I'm sure I'll find out.

[Detale]

I just downloaded OCCT today and I LOVE the pics of the results as the will come in quite handy when comparing. I did notice that the "built in" temp monitor had my chip 32 idle while speedfan had it @ 19? I dunno but usually I found with the stock fan I have now it's usually around 20 degrees with all programs so I'm not gonna worry. I will run some tests and post in a few.

[clocker]

19°c?
Really, you believe that?
That's only 66°F, surely your room ambient is right around there.

[clocker]

Well, she's good at 3.1GHz now...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/474ad1fa.jpg

Boring I know, but necessary nonetheless.

[clocker]

Well, since yesterday I've tested Sprocket with OCCT at both 3.2 and 3.3GHz.
Passed both speeds for four hours and don't see the point in posting pics...they are all beginning to look the same.

PCPS looks like this at 3.3GHz...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/24d8864a.jpg

However...beyond a 450 FSB I start to have real problems (3.3GHz= 7.5 x 441 and I've been increasing the bus by 14 for each speed increase, so the next logical step was 7.5 x 455) and I'm not sure how aggressively I want to pursue the issue.

I still have no real idea of what common vCores are- there just aren't many folks running these chips yet (and I suspect the 9300 will always be the bastard child compared to the 9450, so there may never be many to compare with...).

I might just cool my jets for a while and see what happens when my copy of Vista 64 shows up and I can install the rest of the RAM I have.
All in all I can't really complain...I've got a 32% overclock with low temps and (apparent) stability.

I do wish I'd held out for the 9450 but chances are good I'll be able to finagle one in the semi-near future and in the meanwhile I can spend some time trying to figure out the vid card (lately, the bus link has stayed at 16x, so the voltage bump seems to have fixed that issue but I still can't figure out why it scores so much lower than K.'s card...).

[kaiweiler]

Oh so it was voltage causing the vid card to drop to 1x? I guessed right (granted not on the first try) :)
What was it running at instead of 3.3v?

And I am getting much higher video scores because my card is overclocked and I disable a lot of Vista's eye candy before running a test. Set Vista preferences to adjust for best performance and I bet you'll get another 750-1000 points on your video, Vista is a hog.

[clocker]

OK, I'll try that now.

Edit: Yowzah!
Now we're getting somewhere (and this card is running stock!)...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/99f03cc1.jpg

[kaiweiler]

:)
Much better

[clocker]

Couldn't have done it with you, K.
Thanks.

[kaiweiler]

Don't get too excited, you still have yet to break 10k ;)

[clocker]

True, but I'm going to use the roundabout road to get there.

Disk and memory scores can both be increased without having to screw with my CPU clock.
Memory score won't help much but the disk will.

[lynx]

Seems to me that despite your efforts there's only one conclusion we can make from all this - Vista is a POS.

All in all, we haven't really learnt anything new. :sigh:

[clocker]

Hi lynx, long time no see.
How did we reach that conclusion?

[Detale]

Damn I need to follow those steps my vid score still sucks ass

[clocker]

By all means, do it.

Now.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/c174e988.jpg

[lynx]

Hi lynx, long time no see.
How did we reach that conclusion?
It's simply that, except for necessary scheduling tasks, any OS should give up it's cycles when an application needs them.

The fact that you needed to disable features of the OS to make them available for the application indicates that it is unable to give up those cycles when required.

Not that I'm surprised, Microsoft have always been masters of inefficient bloatware, so there is no reason why that aspect would not intrude into their OS design.

[clocker]

So it's not just "Vista sucks", it's "all MS OSs suck", then.

That may be true but oddly enough, Vista will install onto a RAID array with no fuss and will use my X-fi soundcard with a few mouse clicks- things Ubuntu won't do (at least not that I can figure out).

[lynx]

When I was talking about bloatware, I was talking about their applications such as Office, the overloaded type of features of which now seem so be appearing in Vista much more than they have ever done in previous versions to their operating systems.

I don't subscribe to the view that just because a few unusual combinations of hardware don't seem to work currently with one particular OS (in your case Ubuntu) that we should accept systems which are flawed in their very concept. I'm reasonably confident that the problems with Ubuntu will be overcome if there is sufficient demand (either from users or from the manufacturers). At the same time I'm sure that the basic design flaws present in Vista simply can't be corrected.

This would not be a problem but for the fact that Microsoft intend to cease production of XP in the very near future. Given the current level of investment in Microsoft products it is not reasonable to expect corporate users to switch to non-Microsoft offerings overnight. Consequently current users have a right to expect that the replacement for XP offers at least similar levels of performance, and in this respect Vista clearly fails.

Improvements in hardware should be resulting in better performance, the reality is that Vista absorbs all those improvements leaving the end user no better off.

Sorry, didn't really mean to hijack your thread.

[kaiweiler]

I will argue that Vista does indeed require more resources then all previous operating systems from Microsoft, however the resources are available with up to date hardware.
The reason Vista requires more resources is because it's UI is enhanced, giving the user a flashier and "nicer" interface. The resources have not simply been wasted, they have gone towards making the product more appealing to the end consumer. Of coarse providing they have the means by which to power it. It is of no fault to Microsoft if people are still using 10+ year old hardware in their homes.
XP is being discontinued because it is old, as simple as that. XP was released in 2001, it's about time they came out with something "new".
With all the new hardware developments since 2001, it would be selfish of Microsoft not to release a new OS.
So the new OS may be slower then XP, but it is more appealing to the majority of consumers. Do you think that most people care about framerates in games? Or how many seconds faster they can transfer a file? No, most do not. If it works, they are happy. And Vista works.
With that being said, just wait until Windows 7 :P Estimated to launch in the next year or two (anywhere from 2009 to 2011), then you'll see eye candy.
I guess to sum it up, it's not all about speed. It's about being visually pleasing as well.

[lynx]

I have to disagree with your basic premise that the majority of buyers want extra eye-candy.

Corporate sales are, by a long way, the largest part of Microsoft's market. What they want is a system which will allow them to process information, with applications such as spreadsheets and databases, both quickly and efficiently. They don't require all the flashy visual effects, and they most certainly do care about how long it takes to transfer that file, or how long it takes to process that spreadsheet.

As long as the extra eye-candy doesn't interfere with the smooth running of the applications there's no problem. Unfortunately, as you've demonstrated, that simply isn't the case with Vista. Indeed, Vista tunes itself to make maximum use of your hardware. That, by definition, means that there are less resources for the applications.

If Vista came pre-configured for best performance and with the eye-candy disabled I could just about agree that it is a worthwhile update. But it doesn't, and when you've got to make those changes manually to every single pc you install, trust me when I tell you it makes the job a real ball-ache.

[clocker]

Well, I certainly can't argue that Vista is the raving success that MS was hoping for but I won't jump into the "Worst OS since ME" boat either.

If anything, Vista points up how great the divide has grown between the PC's original target market- business, and the force that now drives the industry- the home user.
It's silly to try and configure one OS to conform to the needs of both markets.

Business is inherently conservative, and the larger the business the more conservative they are. Their needs/requirements change slowly and deploying new hardware/software is not only a financial burden but a physical one as well.

On the other hand, the home user wants- or at least thinks they want- the latest and greatest.
The looming recession may put the kibosh on that particular fantasy...time will tell.

Word has it that the new MS offering -MS7?- will be modular (in great part to satisfy the hammering re:monopoly that MS has suffered at the hands of the EU) and different modules will be bolted to the kernel to satisfy different user requirements.

Sounds like a good thing to me.

[Detale]

Ah Jesus! so what the hell am I doing wrong, I changed Graphics booster to Turbo like you said K and upped my GPU clock to 700 but my vid scores actually went down by 1%

http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/8483/scr952c7ld3.jpg

I am at a loss also I have to do something bout my HDD score also anyone have any I ideas? I don't have any Raid configured but If I have time I might look into it as well. DAMN DAMN DAMN. Why do you too always get 5hit to work seemingly easy and I have trouble almost always? Damn smart K and C!

[clocker]

Calm, D., calm.

You still have the visual styles turned on.
Go to Control Panel> Performance Information> Advanced Tools (in the righthand pane)> Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows> set to "Best performance".

Edit: You can go here (http://www.speedyvista.com/registry.html) and grab the reg files to automatically set your services (both the "tweaked" and the "minimal" set will disable the Themes service which in effect does the same as the above.
I'm running "minimal" ATM and it cut the number of services to 30 (with FF open) and trimmed RAM usage from @750MB to @475MB at idle.

[Detale]

I'm using the new Vision XP from some of the makers of the Black and indigo. So Those reg files won't work for me right? Also I don't have "Performance info" option either

[clocker]

No, those are Vista only.

Don't have XP installed ATM and don't remember off hand exactly where the setting would be.
Either in the Advanced tab of System or in Display.

[clocker]

Why do you too always get 5hit to work seemingly easy and I have trouble almost always? Damn smart K and C!

Just to make you feel better, D.- and so you are finally disabused of the "always get things to work" theory- I tried loading Vista in AHCI mode today (still trying to get sleep mode to function) and ultimately failed/gave up.

I usually make a custom nLite (or in this case, vLite) disk with drivers slipstreamed but since this was to be a one-off install (switching to 64 bit as soon as the disk arrives) I thought I'd just use my *cough*Dell*cough* disk and install the drivers via flash drive.

'Twas not to be.
Prompted to insert the USB drive containing the drivers, Windows promptly superceded the hard drive and assigned the flash with drive letter C:.
Then it would load the drivers and claim it could no longer find the hard drive at all.

Now, several hours and a fresh install of Pro x64 later, it occurs to me what I might have been doing wrong but damned if I'm going back to find out.

Part of making it look easy is simply not fessing up when you fail...just so you know.

[j2k4]

Part of making it look easy is simply not fessing up when you fail...just so you know.

Just so.

Honesty is indeed a trying proposition. :whistling

[Detale]

Thanks Clock I do feel better. J2K4, are you saying I complain too much?

[j2k4]

Thanks Clock I do feel better. J2K4, are you saying I complain too much?

Not at all - just that Clocker is much too competent to admit the occasional failure. :D

I'm the same way...just because perfection is unattainable we shouldn't be deterred from presenting the facade, you see. :whistling

[Detale]

Well I know he listens to my Bull5hit way too often always there with an answer or a link to one. He did admit to it once he even posted an "epic Failure" pic

[Acid_death69]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/0ec74459.jpg


clocker is that zalman external w/c kit? if so which one is it? Im looking to get the res1 v2, wondered if you knew if it was any good?

[clocker]

Nope, it's not a Reserator just a finned reservoir.
Much smaller than the Zalman unit.

I was always fascinated by the Reserator but never dropped the dime to buy one.
They seemed to have pump problems- although easily fixed- and were not capable of cooling the older CPUs as well as a conventional water loop but I'd bet they'd work pretty well on the newer Intel chips.

I wouldn't consider using the Zalman waterblocks, they have always been second rate but the Reserator coupled with a Swiftech or D-Tec should work well.

The Zalman's claim to fame was always it's low noise level, so if that's a main consideration and you can get the unit cheaply, I'd try it.

[Acid_death69]

cool i shall go for it:) what were the pump problems and how were they fixed?

[Detale]

Clock did you ever get around to WC your 8800?? Also did you ever do that workstation we spoke about a while ago?

[clocker]

No and no.
Been lazy.

[Detale]

Dude!? C'mon man I need a good clocker pictorial, it's been a while no?

[clocker]

Sorry, been putting my time and money into the car lately.

[Detale]

Ok thats cool. WHERE ARE THE CAR PICS THEN!!!???

[clocker]

Ok thats cool. WHERE ARE THE CAR PICS THEN!!!???
Really nothing of interest to show.
The oiling system mods are internal and a rebuilt caliper looks just like a non-rebuilt caliper.
Did change seats (Honda CRX) but that's not finished yet.
Tomorrow all the oils get changed (engine, trans and diff) which gets really pricey at $11/quart (use Red Line stuff, 5 qts engine, 3 qts. tranny, 2 qts. diff.).
I have a cruise control system on the way from New York...that will be nice to have.
So, nothing really visually cool to see, just mechanical maintenance and tweaks.

[Skiz]

Ok thats cool. WHERE ARE THE CAR PICS THEN!!!???

There are some pics from some of the original work. It is an RX7 if I recall. A search for "mazda" in the Hardware section will likely turn up the a sole thread. :)

[j2k4]

Ok thats cool. WHERE ARE THE CAR PICS THEN!!!???

There are some pics from some of the original work. It is an RX7 if I recall. A search for "mazda" in the Hardware section will likely turn up the a sole thread. :)

It's going to be the ultimate Q-ship before she's done, I think. :yup:

[clocker]

You'll be seeing her in October.

[j2k4]

You'll be seeing her in October.

Waaaaay cool.

Keep me posted. :)

[Acid_death69]

what do you plan on doing to your car clocker?

[clocker]

See post #146.
Today is the big fluid change marathon which will include replacing the seals on the speedo drive gear and shimming the e-shaft thermo-pellet (it's a rotary thang).

[Acid_death69]

ah right kk, do you need all that stuff, like the cruise control?

[clocker]

Every year (mostly) I make a 3500 mile trip around the country to see friends and family- the first and last legs are a thousand mile, straight through blast from Denver to Chicago (and back, obviously).*
About 700 miles of this leg is on I-80 which is the straightest, most boring road anywhere.
Cruise control would be nice for this, even if that's the only time I use it all year.

Shimming the thermo-pellet should increase the oil pressure which is beginning to drop dangerously.
I'm trying to eke every last mile out of this engine before I contemplate a rebuild or- better yet- an engine swap.


*My best time for this journey was 12.75 hours in my '71 240Z.
Last year- the first for the RX- took 13.5 hours but there was lots of road construction to deal with.

[Acid_death69]

i bet that gets boring, do you just do it by ya self?

[clocker]

Yup.

[Acid_death69]

:s god that's bad, i dont think i could be on mi own for that amount of time it would drive me mad. Bet you might have a massive long list on your Ipod for when you do that drive:p

[clocker]

No music.
Car has no stereo (I ripped it out) and I don't own an iPod.

Just the sound of the tires on pavement and the growl of the exhaust.
And gas being guzzled.

[Detale]

Buy a cheapo radio and keep it in the car, Im sure you could make up a AC to DC cigarette lighter switch or buy one. and there you go. If you come to NYC lemme know we'll have a drink....as long as you're not a weirdo IRL :P

[Acid_death69]

lol detale might get raped:p
I dont see how you can make that car journey with only the voice in your head as company:\

[clocker]

I dont see how you can make that car journey with only the voice in your head as company:\
Well, it seemed to me that every car break-in I heard about involved the stereo.
Prior to the Z car, all my vehicles were convertibles, so securing a sound system was impossible and when I finally got the Z running right I did pop for a sound system.
Too bad the car was so rasty that you couldn't hear anything under speed.

The Mazda actually came with a decent system, amp and everything.
Unfortunately, the moron who installed it must have a midget because he put the amp on the bulkhead behind the driver's seat.
When I moved the seat back I got a nice spineful of sharp edged metal.
Out it went.
Got a nice offer for the whole shebang which paid for my new(ish) wheels.

On a side note:
Replaced the thermo-pellet today and the oil pressure went way up!
Yay!

[Detale]

Did you ever post pics here?

[j2k4]

Buy a cheapo radio and keep it in the car, Im sure you could make up a AC to DC cigarette lighter switch or buy one. and there you go. If you come to NYC lemme know we'll have a drink....as long as you're not a weirdo IRL :P

Not a weirdo, no.

Incredibly astute, reasonable and not quite as radical as you might think, him being on the opposite ('60s) side of the decadal hump from yours truly.

A master of several known and unknown arts, unquestionably.

In another twenty years, he'll be positively wizened. ;)



I dont see how you can make that car journey with only the voice in your head as company:\

As long as it's his voice, what possible harm. :dabs:

[Acid_death69]

lol well him and his own voice could get in an arguement, i'd like to see that get settled

[j2k4]

lol well him and his own voice could get in an arguement, i'd like to see that get settled

Nah.

He's only maladjusted for special occasions.

[clocker]

Here. (http://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?t=683172&highlight=ambient+air+intake)
Here. (http://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?t=684225)
Here. (http://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?t=687704)
Here. (http://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?t=645675)
And here. (http://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?t=690355)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/V3.jpg

[j2k4]

Well done, sir.

Junkyards are da bomb. :)

[clocker]

For those of you not conversant in KevSpeak, I'll translate...
If you come to NYC lemme know we'll have a drink....as long as you're not a weirdo IRL

Not a weirdo, no.

Incredibly astute, reasonable and not quite as radical as you might think, him being on the opposite ('60s) side of the decadal hump from yours truly.
"Clocker is old as fuck, you could easily whup his ass..."


A master of several known and unknown arts, unquestionably.
"Practically unemployable."


In another twenty years, he'll be positively wizened. ;)
"He'll be dead soon."



I dont see how you can make that car journey with only the voice in your head as company:\


As long as it's his voice, what possible harm. :dabs:
"As long as he takes his meds he's harmless".


Junkyards are da bomb.
"Scavenging crap from abandoned junkers has turned your car into a deathtrap."

See?
It's actually pretty simple once you master the basics.
Just like Mandarin Chinese.

[Acid_death69]

lmao, loving the translation there:p

[j2k4]

lmao, loving the translation there:p

Yeah, he's really tuned-in. :dabs:

[Acid_death69]

think we should start speaking in pig latin?

[j2k4]

think we should start speaking in pig latin?

Can you do that still. :dabs:

[lynx]

This thread gets rasher with every post.







Anyone seen my coat?

[j2k4]

This thread gets rasher with every post.







Anyone seen my coat?

On-ay uh-thay ed-bay. :whistling

[Acid_death69]

adnes-may

i-ay eed-nay mething-soay o-tay a-day!

[Detale]

For those of you not conversant in KevSpeak, I'll translate...

Not a weirdo, no.

Incredibly astute, reasonable and not quite as radical as you might think, him being on the opposite ('60s) side of the decadal hump from yours truly.
"Clocker is old as fuck, you could easily whup his ass..."


A master of several known and unknown arts, unquestionably.
"Practically unemployable."


In another twenty years, he'll be positively wizened. ;)
"He'll be dead soon."



I dont see how you can make that car journey with only the voice in your head as company:\


As long as it's his voice, what possible harm. :dabs:
"As long as he takes his meds he's harmless".


Junkyards are da bomb.
"Scavenging crap from abandoned junkers has turned your car into a deathtrap."

See?
It's actually pretty simple once you master the basics.
Just like Mandarin Chinese.

Est-bay oast-pa ver-ey!!!!!!

[Acid_death69]

ndeed-iay!!!

[j2k4]

Ooo-tray? :huh:

[Detale]

aht-whay??

[Skiz]

eh?

[j2k4]

aht-whay??

Ffs, don't ask me that. ;)

[Acid_death69]

i-ay eed-nay omething-say etter-bay o-tay o-day ather-ray an-thay eaking-spay ig-pay atin-lay!

[j2k4]

i-ay eed-nay omething-say etter-bay o-tay o-day ather-ray an-thay eaking-spay ig-pay atin-lay!


I guess it says something about me that I spent eight seconds reading that before I realized I didn't want to finish it. :dabs:

I'm going to eat dinner, then tweak my new self-propelled mechanical device.

Kind of a WWII conveyance-cum-mildly advanced Luddite thing.

PS-

Fuck you AlGore, I'm doing it to feel the wind in my hair before it is gone.

The hair, I mean.

[clocker]

So you got a new lawnmower?

[j2k4]

So you got a new lawnmower?

No, I got a pedal-driven two-wheeler. :dabs:

http://bicyclespleasanton.com/itemdetails.cfm?id=10131

[Skiz]

Is that front seat? Will you be giving the missus a pump?

[clocker]

I got a pedal-driven two-wheeler. :dabs:

http://bicyclespleasanton.com/itemdetails.cfm?id=10131
Seriously?

[Skiz]

I got a pedal-driven two-wheeler. :dabs:

http://bicyclespleasanton.com/itemdetails.cfm?id=10131
Seriously?

I know. No pegs. :no:

[Detale]

This thread made a left at Albuquerque and never got back on track.

[clocker]

"Sashaying" can cover a lot of ground.

[j2k4]

I got a pedal-driven two-wheeler. :dabs:

http://bicyclespleasanton.com/itemdetails.cfm?id=10131
Seriously?

Yup.

It's water-cooled, too.

After a fashion.

You know how Luddites are.

Back on track, now, kids. :whistling

[Detale]

Not until you post pics so I can see what the hell you are talking about. I feel like Im reading one of Benchez posts :P

[j2k4]

Seriously?

Yup.

It's water-cooled, too.

After a fashion.

You know how Luddites are.

Back on track, now, kids. :whistling



Not until you post pics so I can see what the hell you are talking about. I feel like Im reading one of Benchez posts :P

It is equipped with a water bottle, and here is the link.

Again.

http://bicyclespleasanton.com/itemdetails.cfm?id=10131

[Detale]

Ah Thanks I must'v missed that though. There is one thing I find odd here though

The name of it is "Giant Tranny Sport DX" HMMMMM something you want to tell us J????

[j2k4]

Ah Thanks I must'v missed that though. There is one thing I find odd here though

The name of it is "Giant Tranny Sport DX" HMMMMM something you want to tell us J????

A typo, doubtless.

Perhaps your "personal settings" need adjusting, or you OC is unstable. ;)

[Detale]

Either my personal settings or your skirt :P

[j2k4]

Either my personal settings or your skirt :P

You, sir, have taken a swipe at me Irish.

En garde!

No, wait; that's not right...:huh:

[Detale]

Irish!? So that explains the green stars

[Acid_death69]

lol nice bike:p im suprised you didnt go for the sport bikes with ful suspension and brake disks and all that jazz.

[clocker]

He did mention he was a Luddite.

[j2k4]

lol nice bike:p im suprised you didnt go for the sport bikes with ful suspension and brake disks and all that jazz.

Thought about all that, but started getting into cubic dollars, and the Missus was in attendance, so.


He did mention he was a Luddite.

That, too.


Irish!? So that explains the green stars

Ah.

Hadn't thought of that.

You may have solved the mystery. ;)