upgrade.....GURU'S FAVOURITE

[BUSTER]

Ok im gona upgrade my mb cpu and ram, but I want to keep my 2 7800s and hd’s and case any suggestions ? I might upgrade the vid cards but I think im looking at about 2 gorillas there for not a whole lot more.

[GURU]

well do u want to spend big dollars or something realistic? is overclocking an option or not?


realistic
cpu with o/c = core2duo e6600 2.4ghz [good for around 3600mhz @400fsb ] or e6420 2.13ghz [ 3200mhz @400fsb] [$450/$260]

found really cheap oem for E6600 =$260 no fan

motherboard = evga 680i? approx $425
ram corsair /ocz pc6400 2gb 4-4-4-12 around $325-400

big dollars

cpu $1200 core2 quad core
m/b$450+

ram corsiar /ocz pc8500/pc9200 2gb $700+

[BUSTER]

$ dont matter me love but i got to be realistic ....

[GURU]

well r u prepared to overclock it or not?

these core 2 duos are the best damn overclockers ever !

i checked the $ for cpus lately andnhte core 2 duos have dropped a good deal.

E6600 is now only around $315 !

that is awesome value and great performance! and overclocks like a dream!

of course sli is expensive like $400 + or for ATI crossfire is too but not as bad.

also there is crossfire the cheapy way with the 965 pro chipset which is only slightly down on performance, for now!

[BUSTER]

Ok i got the 6700 and a p5n-e sli i had laying around and 2 gig of corsair 4444.12 ram but still getting blue screens now and then. been playing with ram timings all day still not sure though.

[GURU]

is that on default settings [ie non overclocked?] p5ne-sli. is that the 650 chipset? hav to look it up!


E6700 is good , at fsb of 400mhz = 4.0ghz cpu spd. of course u probly wont get n e where near that on air. maybe 3.7/3.8 ghz with a lot of cpu core volts and a good aftermarket hsf unit!.

i have read a lot on big o/c's and they seem to be on at least 1.6V cpu core. which is pretty big increase overt std 1.325V . i try to stick to the max increase of cpu core Volts of 10% and never seems to give me n e problems .
1.6V is approx a 20% increase!

on the GA-965p ds3p m/b i just let it go auto and then adj cpu core V and fsb and checked with cpu-z that it si running at what i think it is,if it isnt i adj it. it has that v-tune u can do through windows although i have read they reckonthat the bios is always better to use! just more reliable!

[BUSTER]

Havent made any cpu changes only ram to try and fix this blue screen problem. tcl,trcd,trp,tras,trrd,trc,twr,twtr,tref,async latency set to 1 now with good results. trd set to 7 and trfc set to 114.
Oh and thanks for the quick reply GURU

[Rusty]

this might sound crazy but have you run a memtest on the stick/s of ram .... it might be as simple as a faulty stick of ram?

[GURU]

try upping the ram voltage a little ! like 0.1 or 0.2V

u could also check at the asus website for a bios update and see if they list one for increasing the compatabiility with ram etc or even specifically corasair etc

[GURU]

here is a forum exrtract seems it is a common problem

ok update..btw this is the 650i chipset skyrider123...looking around ive found alot of ppl having this same problem...finaly ive got it up and running..seems stable,first i downloaded the latest 650 chipset drivers and installed them..power down then insert corsair into yellow slots..ive heard the black are more stable but bios wouldn't respond with ram in this slot so yellow it is!..then enter the ram settings manually 4-4-4-12 for the twinx c4..then set the voltage over 2.1 volts!this is where i failed..i was cautious and kept it at 2.82 ..set it the next step and bingo it works..hope this helps any one with a p5n-e sli...they are well known for being tricky with ram

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HELPFUL THREAD ? - http://www.overclock.net/intel-motherbo ... hread.html



this was the original prob and setup.4 above

asus p5ne-sli,
e6400
zalman 600w psu
samsung 400gb sata 2
8800gts 320mb xfx
vista home premium

hi guys ive just built this new system and i cant get the ram i bought for it to work,corsair twin2x-6400c4...the asus website recommends this ram for the board and no matter what i try it just wont boot windows,so put in 2 gb of cheap ram...works perfectly,so i took the ram back and got it replaced thinking the modules where faulty but same result with new ones...ive try flashing the bios to latest version,entering the timings manually but still wont boot,any ideas?thanks

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[BUSTER]

Looking for a new mb now i want to stick with ASUS but ill go gigabyte if i have to. Any sugestions?

[GURU]

well been reading something that i would really like to get and it is not stupidly expensive as they have been in the past, although it is still quite dear!

DFI LAN Party UT NF680I LT SLI-T2R but hey it is a beast ! $419 online using staticice limited places but!
i beleive it is really new! just REMEMBER it runs the watered down 680i setup but... see below

all the 680i m/bs seem to be much of a muchness, as i dont own one but i personally would prefer to get the DFI if i could afford it although for a cheapy solution i just lurrrvvvv the 965p-ds3p. spud has got the GA 680i uber board , u could ask him how his is going.

the asus striker extreme is good but way over priced . most reviews seem to say that u would be better off to get the EVGA 680i m/b!

personally if i had a choice buying for ME , i would choose the DFI for 680i LT and gigabyte 965p-ds3p for 965 ati [much better for a single vid card although will do dodgy x fire version]. but i am overclocking mad ! hehe both are beasts in the overclocking department.

as with n e thing u r not going to overclock ie think normally , u r really looking for compatability performance amd features and price.



the "680i LT" version which is a watered down version. go to the link below to give u a good understanding of what is diff between the 2 chipsets.-

http://techreport.com/reviews/2007q1/nf ... dex.x?pg=1



toms hardware has another look at 680i motherboards.- more info 680i !

http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/12/21/ ... index.html

http://techreport.com/reviews/2007q1/nf ... dex.x?pg=1

http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/12/19/ ... index.html

[spud]

the gigabyte 680i model that I have is a fucking sweet board but is way overkill! Has a lot of features I probably won't use, but at the time I bought was pretty much the best solution to future proof for SLI (Striker extreme is too expensive, and evga/bfg boards weren't avilaable from the shop I was buying from).
If I was buying now I'd be definitely getting one of the 680i LT boards.

With the 680 performance is much of a muchness. The 680i boards are limited OC due to passive chipset cooling (big pain to turn that active because of the massive heatsinks/pipes that are used), besides if OC is important you would be getting a 965 based mobo. Seems all the trouble with 680i have been ironed out and I have had zero issues with my board.

[BUSTER]

Ok using a ASUS STRIKER EXTREME now , the system seems to be stable no blue screens yet. But the 680i sli chipset still has some problems with some dimms,asus only guarantees DIMMs on the OLV (quality vendor list) Other DIMMs might cause system instability..

[spud]

all the 680i boards have the same DIMM requirements (i.e. QVL). There is also that SLI compatible RAM going round, but damn if it isn't expensive!