The Official Budget-Conscious Dream Machine!

Thats true, I wasn't using my head.
I would get the 260 over the 4850 though, but for the price of the 260, I should get the 4870 as it is a better card. Will update.

I also only got the 750W corsair, because it was cheaper than the 620HX corsair....it is not modular however.

 

Oh, likewise. The GTX260 is better than the HD4850, but it's 50% more expensive, if not more. The HD4870 is similarly priced to the 260 and outpaces it.

Your decision to use the TX750 over the HX series is actually a clever one, as with that mobo you have the option to use Crossfire in the future with two 4870s...

 

Well I finally got my parts today. Took UPS forever to get it here.

Everything seems to be working fine. The 4870 is sweet but I have yet to try any games. The X38 is also sweet. It's the nicest motherboard I have ever owned by far. The OC options are extensive. Better voltage control than the P35 and better chipset cooling as well.

The Q9450 is still at stock right now. I'm still running Orthos Prime on it before I OC. I tried the line method as shown on the Arctic Silver website. Using both Real Temp and Speedfan, these are my temps under Orthos:

Core0 - 58*C
Core1 - 58*C
Core2 - 59*C
Core3 - 57*C

Overall Temp: 58*C

It idles somewhat warm at 36*C under a Tuniq Tower. It's quiet enough with the fan at 100%.

I'm told that Quads are supposed to run hotter. Is this true? I also heard the Q9450 in particular had issues with a bad thermistor. Some people are getting idles of like 45*C with decent coolers.

Further Googling shows people with similar temps with a Tuniq Tower. So I'm trusting that mine are fine.

 

Well yeah, a Quad core has TWICE the cores, so it's going to be hotter.

I think the 45nm CPUs have problems with stuck sensors.

 

IIRC it's only the core temperature sensors that get stuck, so go by the 'global' CPU temps.

 

Well then I'm at 36*C idle and 58*C load. I expect that to drop to about 35 and 57 respectively as the AS cures.

Overclocking looks like it's going to be easy. I'm seeing temps in the mid 60's over 3.2GHz so I hope the same for my own. If I can stay below 70*C I'll be happy.

 

To write the Degrees sign (assuming you have a full size keyboard, not a laptop one) hold down the left Alt button and type the number combination 0186 on your numpad, then release Alt.
ºººC

Hopefully your OC'ing goes well on the X38-DS4, I should be overclocking a Quad on my X38-DS4 tomorrow, all being well, assuming I can find my thermal paste of course!

 

That's too complicated for normal typing. I'll stick with my friendly asterisk(*)

I hope your OCing goes well. 3.4GHz is a nice goal to set methinks.

 

It's going to be a stock temp & perf test initially. If that all passes with remotely reasonable temps, I'll up it to 3Ghz, then let the real overclocking begin afer that...

 

lol This is coming from the guy who just told me to put my CPU at 3.4ghz right off the bat!

 

I have a friendly warning to anybody planning on a quad. Get a good cooler because they WILL run warm, even at stock. The Q9450 is about as cool as quads get, and I'm still seeing near 60*C load with the Tuniq. Though, these aren't realistic conditions and my load temp is usually lower than my Orthos temp. Hopefully it won't take a big temp increase when I OC :S

I want to keep it below 1.3v if possible.

 

Well I was getting about 65C at 3.6Ghz on Prime 95 blend test.

 

Hmm, that doesn't seem too bad. What processor was it? A Q6600? And what voltage were you using?

 

That doesn't sound right tbh, I know a couple of people who use Q9450s with tower coolers (one an NH-U12F and one an IFX-14) and I'm pretty sure they don't get THAT hot - is this normal load, or prime 95 load?

 

Because I genuinely can't hear it, I'm running the 120mm Nexus on my Ultra-120A at its full 1000rpm speed, so cooling performance shouldn't be too big an issue for me.

 

My Q6600 hits 67 degrees on load at ~1.4 Volts, This is using OCCT as well and not Prime95, as I find it less efficient.

The thermal break down or whatever of the Q6600 is at 72 degrees, although you definitely want a good buffer under that, I don't mind 67 on load, as I don't run on load often enough, or for extremely long periods of time. 62-65 would be better though.

Edit: Forgot to mention my cooler, the NH-U12F, with one pushing (Noctuna P Fans..), and one pulling, and the case back fan also pulling as it is right behind it....so one pushing, two pulling.

 

G0? Which cooler? How does it fare under normal load? My typical load is 43-44C on a warm day but if I load up either Orthos or OCCT my CPU temp rockets up to 50, sometimes higher than that.

 

Sorry, I edited my post to include my cooler, but you replied faster.

I also live in Canada, so its really cold half the time, and hot the other half. The ~1.4 is in the BIOS as well...sooo not really that acurate, usually its actually lower. Yes I do have the G0 revision.
I think I did get a bad batch of Q6600, considering my air cooling setup and having 8 fans, but I shouldn't complain with 3.4 from 2.4

 

Even so, that's alarming. You have a lower ambient temp than me (assuming your case is cooled well, which I expect it is), a slightly better cooler with a faster fan, and you're getting high temps at the speed I was hoping to make, possibly beyond...