Need advice - i7 motherboard / memory combination?

[petreza]

Hello,

What I do:

- I am NOT a gamer (anymore)
- some photoshop
- might one day use programs that need 3D acceleration but not for now, hence the cheap video card (below)
- just want the fastest I can get within my budget

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What I already have:

- Processor - Intel i7 920 - 2.66GHz
- Cooling - Noctua NH-U12P - ( link )
- Power - PC Power & Cooling S61EPS 610W - ( link )
- Video - (fanless) SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4670 - ( link )
- WinXP-32bit for now - Vista-32/64bit later

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The goal:

- QUIET, air-cooled i7 system
- STABLE overclock

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QUESTIONS:

1. Could you please recommend me a motherboard and memory (3GB or 6GB) combination that will give me a good, absolutely-stable overclock, keeping in mind that:
- I have never done overclocking before
- budget $350-$400 - is this realistic or should I just get more $
- should have room for 3D upgradability later - SLI etc. (I know - I will have to upgrade the power for that)

2. Memory
- if I get 6GB but use 32bit Windows (seeing only 4GB) - would memory performance suffer (only 2 of the 3 sticks being used)?

3. What stable overclock should I expect to get using the cooling above? What settings in BIOS do I have to change in order to get it (for the motherboard you recommend in 1.)?

Any help will be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[Alai]

More moneys. Also you should know... generally, overclocked and "quiet" don't go together.

 

[ReTiCuLeX]

Unless you plan on doing water cooling, or have a case with a lot of silent fans with good airflow you can scratch quiet as OP said.

I don't know much about the motherboards other than the Gigabyte, Evga are good overclockers for the money. I personally have the Rampage 2 Extreme, bought it open box for 270 from egg and the backplate direct from ASUS for $30 with two fans and it works like a charm ::knocks on wood:: Duno if that's you want to spend that much though.

I bought this ram, works great. I paid 110 though. http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10010031

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231254

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226030

I would probably go with any of those personally. The mushkin might be more your type for the money. They make great ram. I've heard good things about Gskill but have no personal experience.

 

[PC_User]

QUESTIONS:

1. Could you please recommend me a motherboard and memory (3GB or 6GB) combination that will give me a good, absolutely-stable overclock, keeping in mind that:
- I have never done overclocking before
- budget $350-$400 - is this realistic or should I just get more $
- should have room for 3D upgradability later - SLI etc. (I know - I will have to upgrade the power for that)

$210 - Gigabyte EX58-UD3R-SLI. Good motherboard and should be sufficient for your needs. It only has 4 memory slots (most X58 boards have 6 slots) meaning that you can't run more than 4 sticks in triple channel. It also has worse northbridge cooling than some other boards. The stability over your overclock is also highly dependent on what your particular CPU can do. If you want a motherboard with (possibly) a bit more potential for stable overclocks, better cooling, and additional room for future upgrades, take a look at these:
1. ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 - $290
2. Gigabyte EX58-UD5 - $289
3. EVGA 132-BL-E758-A1 - $300

2. Memory
- if I get 6GB but use 32bit Windows (seeing only 4GB) - would memory performance suffer (only 2 of the 3 sticks being used)?

Memory performance would not suffer but it's pretty much pointless and would defeat the point. I would strongly suggest getting a 64-bit difference as you would notice a significant improvement in performance. From my perspective, there is just no point in having an i7 system that's limited by a 32-bit operating system. One of the advantages of an X58 motherboard is that you can run DDR3 memory in triple channel and you want to be able to take advantage of this. On a 32-bit OS, Windows will probably only recognize 3.25-3.5GB of RAM at most, because the 4GB total is allocated to all system memory including video ram, etc. Only again, I strongly suggest getting a 64-bit operating system and running this 6GB G.Skill DDR3 1600 kit.

3. What stable overclock should I expect to get using the cooling above? What settings in BIOS do I have to change in order to get it (for the motherboard you recommend in 1.)?

Any help will be greatly appreciated!!!

You should start from the bottom and work your way up when overclocking. Can't really aim for a particular overclock because you don't know what your particular CPU can do. Some i7s hit their limits at 3.5-3.6 GHz. Others (such as mine) are more willing to reach levels of 4 GHz+. It's all the luck of the draw.

As for the settings, take a look at some of the other threads and search Google for some overclocking guides. Many sites that review motherboards provide basic guides. There are many settings to tweak/change and you should familiarize yourself with the safe voltages for most of the settings that you need. Here is Gigabyte's official overclocking guide which they used to reach 4.0 GHz. An important caveat is that some of the voltages they use are in excess of the safe limits that you should not exceed.

 

[Alai]

Oh my bad. Didn't see you just need mobo and memory. That's plenty of moneys. But my second statement still stands. Then again, quiet is subjective .