The Official OC (OverClocking) Thread!

I really appreciate your info. VERY incite full! You keep opening my mind/eyes! Your arguments are QUITE logical. Until I release my first freeware, im gonna have to let this rest. I believe linux is the first step in my doing so. Im looking at a Debian 5.0 Amd release now. I find it unusual that there are over 30Cds and 5 dvds though. However I read that, All I probably require is the first dvd. The remaining are packages least likely to be used. Depending on the end user. I cant wait to learn something new!

 

All you need is the first cd. all the extra cd's are for all the software in the Debian repositories. You will only need those if you don't have internet access and need to install something.

 

Oman7,
You sound just like me before I got sick in 01! LOL!! It's a rare day that goes by where I don't learn something new. For me. it's just a thirst for knowledge. I don't know why, but I've always been that way since I was about 3, but that's another story. Ask me in a PM sometime. You'll enjoy it!

Oh, I had the development pack for Linux, I think it was Red Hat or something like that, about 12 years ago! LOL!!

Russ

 

I figured as much from what I read. Thanks though Its downloading VERY fast! Its using my whole connection speed! I cant wait to play!

Russ,
If your anything like me, thirst would be an understatement! I have to pace myself LOL! Give my mind some time for the knowledge to acclimate LOL.

Kevin

 

Well, I went and did a proper overclock on the new 9500-GT! Core clock is set to 594MHz, Shader clock is set to 1512 and the memory clock is set to 1728. Here's 3DMark 03 1024x768 with 4xAA turned on.



Wings of Fury looks like a damn movie! LOL!! Here's the rest of the particulars!



Seems to work pretty good! If I run the defaults, I get about 1000 more 3DMarks than I did with it stock. About 19,500! I'm going to leave it at these settings for now. I could overclock it more, but then you get the fan noise, so I think this is a good compromise. Mother Nature kicks the fan up to 50%, everything else it runs at 27%!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

The X2 7750 has a 95W TDP. By 130W I also mean DC draw not AC, which on a US voltage, particularly a slightly lower than usual one, would be quite a marked difference in efficiency. 9500s draw very little power, so wouldn't make a huge addition.
As for the Corsair, I stand by what I said. Even if you could draw 400W off that CM for hours, I wonder how long it would last if you did. If you consider its voltage regulation excellent, then it's better than any other PSU Coolermaster have made, no matter the price, as every CM unit's regulation has been average at best.
You of all people would realise I make sure nobody skimps on a PSU, and I still consider that Coolermaster skimping. 500W for $40 should be enough to raise eyebrows. Since ditching the Pentium D your system draws less power, even now you've added a modern graphics card.

3DMark03? 3DMark06 is getting a bit long in the tooth, but 03? I have no idea how good that score is, as 03 hasn't been used since shortly after 06 came out!
Also, Wings of Fury looks like a movie? I suppose I'm just not as enthusiastic, when I went back from 06 and Vantage to 03 I remember laughing to myself 'I used to think these graphics were amazing' - seeing modern stuff really makes you paint a rosier picture of what you saw in the past.

 

Sam,

And that's what I expected to get. That's why I was so surprised at the stability of it's voltage. Even when running OCCT, the voltage hardly ever changes much. I've seen other older Cooler Master's that were all over the map with the voltages. I'm sure that some of it is the power regulation on the Motherboard, but it still takes very stable voltages to maintain that level like it does. The new Cooler Master PSUs weigh a good bit more than the older ones too! AOpens, and their ilk, feel like popcorn balls compared to it! My next priority would have been to replace the PSU, but for now, I'll put it on the back burner. Maybe try and save for a Phenom II 940BE! LOL!!

I use 3DMark 03 because most of what's on 3DMark 06 can't be played with my video card, at least not very well, so it's not relevant to anything meaningful for me! I mean what's the point of using 06, when half the games look like they are wading in fudge! LOL!! Battle of Proxycon, or what ever it's called looks beautiful but runs too slowly with 4xAA turned on. Canyon Flight look and runs great, but slows down in spots. I have no intention of spending the kind of money necessary to run those games properly. If I turn off the AA maybe, Deep Freeze is playable, but that's it. Forget about Red Valley entirely! It's less than 2fps! It must take some video card to play that game decently with full everything!

I get 5155 3DMarks for 06 with 2xAA turned on. I get 6077 3DMarks with it turned off! Not too bad for my $44!

Russ

 

That's the whole point, unless it lags it isn't stressing your system. 3DMark was designed to lag systems for that very reason.

 

Here's a random question.... I don't really understand electronics very much - but what (if any) effect is there on your system running a PSU in the US on 110v versus running it on 240v in Aus? To clarify, I don't mean damaging effect, because I know there isn't one, but I mean is it more stable running 240v?

 

rubixcube,
It uses less power as you cut the amp load at the wall outlet in half! Electricity is really not difficult to understand. A one horsepower electric motor will draw 15A, but connect the same motor to it's 240v wiring (most motors have dual voltage built in) and it only uses 7.5A. It's also more economical to make, although Power Companies still charge a little more for it!

Russ

 

So, when a PSU says that it's rated for say 40A on the 12v rail, does it still make that same amount regardless of what voltage it's running on?

 

From the Things You Don't Quite Understand Department!
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I gave my new 9500-GT a healthy overclock, and promptly made my computer run cooler?? The cooler fan is now running at 33% at idle, and is cooling the GPU so much better, that the rest of the temps went down. I just encoded Titanic, and my CPU temps never went over 41C. Mostly it stayed at 40C. My GPU Diode is reading 4-5C less than normal so my other temps are lower as well! I guess that means that any app that doesn't need a lot of video muscle will now run cooler. The bulk of the GPU's heat is going out the lower side fan and you can feel the warm air, coming out of the side louvers. I'll have to try Orthos and see how warm that makes things! LOL!! BRB!

I'm back! LOL!! I ran the first three tests with orthos. Two threads 100% CPU Usage, and it hit a fat 43C. Since the GPU Temp never went up, everything ran 4-5C cooler. Guess I learned something new today! LOL!!

Russ

 

rubix: Overall, obviously the amount of power used is very similar (twice the volts, half the amps, same power), but using a higher voltage makes PSUs more efficient, typically by 3-5%, so you are actually using slightly less power in Aus with that. Not to mention the US electrical suppliers have to pay for thicker wiring to avoid heat problems with the higher current draw.
As far as safety goes, any switching PSU can be plugged into either voltage, it will detect itself. The ones with the red switch on the back though, make sure they're in the right place or Kaboom!

Russ: Perhaps your side vent is quite weak? The force of the increased airflow out the GPU may be forcing the air out the vent, rather than some of it meandering up and past the CPU and chipset to reach your rear case fan. This is what I found, I could save CPU degrees by turning the exhaust fan up when I had an internal exhaust GPU.

 

Sam,
The lower side fan (there's two) is 120mm 33cfm. The upper one is an 80mm Silverstone, both exhaust. The only thing changed is how much air comes out of the Video card. I thought it was idling at 27%, but the fan is actually running at 50% at idle now, and so far the only thing that raises it at all is when Mother Nature runs in 3DMark 06. Then it goes up to about 75%. Since it's only really loud at full chat, there's no noise problem. Here's my temps!

Starting at the blue, which is incredibly the GPU Diode at 41C. it's 5-6C lower in temperature since I overclocked the video card. 47C was the normal idle temp before Then there's the system 29C, the NB 32C and the CPU at 26C.

The video card exhausts toward the front of the computer, and the whole idea of making an exhaust out of the lower fan was because it's right there with the video card, and I figured that it would help remove heat from the video card,s exhaust. It's a little cool at 72F/22C in here, but these are the lowest temps I've had to date on any computer, all because the video cards cooling fan is running at 50%. It's got to be making more heat, as it has a pretty decent overclock, yet everything is running much cooler. You are right about the fan being a little weak, because they use louvers rather than holes on the side cover for the lower fan, but you can feel warm air coming from the louvers. The side benefit is that anything you do that's not GPU intensive runs much cooler. While encoding with DVDRB/CCE, the CPU hits all of 42-43C maximum. I ran Orthos for about 15 minutes and it never went any higher than 43C. 52C would have been the normal CPU temperature before the overclock of the video card, while running Orthos, That's an amazing 9C drop in CPU temp! Who would have thought that overclocking a video card would wind up resulting in much lower temps across the board!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

Hey russ, what did you use to overclock your GPU? Since Im gonna replace my 8600GT, I wouldnt mind playing with it first! Though i'll be gentle with it, because it will be passed down to someone in my family! Either my sister or my brother!

 

RivaTuner tends to work quite well.

 

LOL, I have 2.24 installed. Just hadn't looked at it yet! Looks pretty straightforward. Definitely uncharted territory however LOL! Whats generally safe baby steps in OC'ing the GPU. 3, 5, 20MHZ increments? And I hear the shader clock is most important. Any thoughts on that?

 

5mhz increments is how I do it.

 

Thanks sam. ATI 4890 spotted!