NEW Benchmark scene (Max 8 Vray RC3 required)

[askhamdesign]

Thanks blahblah the Q6600 a little slower than the QX6700 but for the diff in cost well worth it like you said:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/cpu-ch...w-2351-32.html

The Q6600 is around £175 at the moment, QX6700 £575 in the UK.

Looks interesting N6, anyone using any kits that are on here:

http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/...code=021&cate=

Some of these things are pretty big didnt notice untill I seen the Reserator images next to the case.

Quite fancy ago but a bit worried that I end up like Thomas Suurlands pc!

[arobbert]

I can hardly wait to see the bench on one of these:
http://www.boxxtech.com/Products/Ren...m_Overview.asp

[davexl]

Rig for 3.8GHz:




Rig for 3.6GHz:

+



But seriously n6, that is awesome - so you are combining water and phase cooling? I have never heard of that. What is the reason for not just using phase on the cpu directly? Avoiding condensation in the case?

[werticus]

This is my new workstation: q6600, x2900, 8gb geil, asus p5k, Kandalf Water cooling case, with zalman GPU block which happens to fit the x2900 perfectly (plus some ram sinks)

You can see the 3x 120mm fan cooler radiator at the front(it opens out to give access to dvd drive behind), and the tubing everywhere - i also put clear silicon on all the joins just in case.

The Corsair 620w PSU hasnt arrived yet.

[DaForce]

Very cool wert... very cool!!

What OC have you achieved so far?
With all of that I expect nothing short of 4ghz

[werticus]

PSU gets here tomorrow at which point ill have an answer

It will really depend on which revision of cpu I have - either 3.6 or 4+ghz.

edit: i just looked up the code on the processor and it looks like i have b3 stepping, so... 3.8max if im lucky.

Ill probably get another q6600 a bit later and this cpu can go into a slave.

[werticus]

system is up and running

totally stable with no voltage changes @3ghz - i havnt installed vray yet, trying to get the newer version because im sick of the texture viewport problem.

ill overclock more also when i do a bit more homework but it ran prime95 with 0 errors for 20mins using all 8gb of ram.

temps were under 40c under load @3ghz
and idel temps are under 20c

[DaForce]

Ah nice!!

My temps at 3.2ghz are just over 30c idle and just over 40c loaded.

Could probabaly drop the voltage some more but heck.. it works fine now and isnt really all that hot

Push on to 4ghz

[werticus]

I have no idea what im doing - need to figure out what safe voltages are etc - i dont even know what the default volts are.

is it the same as overclocking an amd? ie - turn down the ram speed, then overclock the lot (with pci/e locked)

[Blitterswitch]

As far as I know that is how it all works. Well... thats what worked for me.

Q6600 @3.06ghz idle@32c load@54
Arctic Colling freezer 7 pro

Can't remember what voltage is it of the top of my head, but it is the next one up from standard.

I think that I can get about 3.2ghz if I knock the voltage up another step. I dont want to go much nearer to 60c though so it may not be possible. I dont want to go down the water cooling route either because it is so damn expensive.

[DaForce]

There is alot more to do with OC'ing the core 2's and quads.
Strapping.. if you hit that your overclock will just logjam or actually end up running slower than a lower OC'.. AFAIK.. or something like that.

Read up abit on these thread.
http://www.thetechrepository.com/showthread.php?t=30
http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=103676
http://www.thetechrepository.com/showthread.php?t=41 (read up on strap)

This might help as well.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/....php?p=2213936

[werticus]

thanks guys - ill give it a crack now see what result we get with the water cooling

and i dont think water cooling is that expensive - the kandalf case was $450au - which has everything cpu cept a GPU block which i got for an extra $30

the case is excellent without the water cooling, and to get a case of this quality you'd be looking at $300 so the water cooling with it - is pretty good imo.

certainly not CHEAP but value.

[werticus]

What about temp monitoring software? i have 3 different programs and all give different temp readings

intels TAT gives me 60c under load @3.06 where speedfan says 44c! this is a large difference

and core temp is somewhere in the middle... hrmmm

[DaForce]

AFAIK some temps are 15c out.. now im not sure if its intels is 15c up or speedfan is 15c down.

I will instlal the intel software on mine and see what it says. As my speed fan shows 32c idle.

A simple test would be to get the idle temps of both the intel and the speed fan reports and then compare with the bios temps which I believe are at idle. (and would assume.. the most accurate)

Also be sure to see the cpu and the 4 CORE temps in speed fan as well.

Here ya go read this.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...ight=intel+tat

<edit> just ran TAT and it shows the exact same temps as speedfan does basically.

[werticus]

not going very well

i did get it to boot to 3.3ghz with 1.55v - but the temps are too high - 65c on core 0 under load which seems hotter than all other cores and the TAT program shows that the cpu is being throttled back to 2ghz

prime 95 errors at 3.1ghz,3ghz, 2.9ghz

seems stable at 2.7ghz - which is pretty sad 300mhz Ill try 2.8ghz now.

the interesting thing is - the temps are the same - 50c under load at all temps
using core temp and TAT for temp readings as speed fan seems to have it wrong.

so maybe the ram is holding it back.

or i have a dud cpu - hard to say at this point in time. Water cooling is a total waste on this cpu though - And i've tried relaxed timings on the ram.

Probably end up chucking this ram and cpu into a slave box and getting a new cpu and better ram to actually make use of the water!