New 4Ghz PC, Need Help.

Z

Zer0Cool

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 4, 2008
Messages
375
Hello everyone,

I had decided to upgrade my PC and can really use your help in trying to figure out what parts I would need to reach 4Ghz OC from this PC!

I currently have ABS Tagan BZ 800W PSU, 9800GTX, 3 WD640AAKS HDD (two in raid 0) and Cosmos S case that I will be keeping. I live in the US and newegg had always done a good job delivering my parts in the past, but if other websites have the parts cheaper I dont mind ordering from them. I currently have Two 24" monitors. Im not in a rush ordering these parts. I will be using raid 0 & if a MOBO has SLI & CrossFire enable that would be a plus, I don't plan on using it right now (maybe in the future) but if a certain MOBO is a great for OC but is 3 way SLI crossfire then it doesn't make a difference to me. For now my goal is to get to 4Ghz 24/7 stable. Online Gaming is the primary role of this PC. I don't have a budget but im not made out of money ether if u know what I mean. If an extra $100 is something that will be a big help in getting it to 4Ghz then I will get it.

Its been about a year since I did any extensive research on computer parts, but from lasts night search here is what I have in mind so far. I am 99% sure that I want to go with the i7 920 CPU. I heard this processor are very OC friendly, and a lot of people were able to get to 4.0Ghz with good air cooling. The hardest part for me is to select a good MOBO that will handle a 4.0Ghz OC and good RAM to go with it.

CPU:

I7 920 2.66Ghz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202

MOBO:

Someone told me that these are the Top Tier Overclockers:
EVGA X58 Classified
ASUS Rampage II Extreme X58
Gigabyte X58 EXTREME (can't find it on newegg anymore) All of these boards are about $375-$400 Do I really need one of these boards to get to 4.0Ghz? How hard will it be for me, someone who doesn't really know a lot about OC to get to 4ghz with other MOBO’s?

The other MOBO’s that I was told are also good are ASUS P6T or P6T Deluxe, Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P or UD5, EVGA X58 3X SLI.

RAM:

From what I hear in order for me to get to 4Ghz I need at least 1600Mhz RAM. I never liked to settle for “at least” so would it be fair to say that 1800+Mhz would be perfect for me? Or will 1600Mhz will be more than enough for me to get to 4Ghz?

Here is a good looking DDR3 1600Mhz 6GB RAM $199
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145224

And here is the same RAM with DDR3 1866 $229
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145232

I don’t have much experience with DDR3 but I dont want atlest 6GB so if you have other suggestions, let me know.

Please comment. Thank you
 
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For input on overclocking, check out the Overclocking & Cooling, Intel Processors, and Intel MoBo's forums here. That question gets asked a lot in those forums.

Regarding your parts selection, you don't need to spend a lot of money on the board and RAM. And there's no guarantee that, even with the parts that you've chosen, you will be able to reach 4GHz on your first OC attempt. Having said that, I've heard of people obtaining pretty decent overclocks from using the "mid-level" boards like the Asus P6T Deluxe V2 or the Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5. EVGA and DFI also make OC-friendly boards, but DFI has many features that are better suited for experienced overclockers.

For RAM, voltage matters as much as speed. We normally recommend the G.Skill 3x2GB DDR3 1600 kit because of its speed and its relatively low voltage.

If you live near a Micro Center B&M store, you can buy the Core i7 920 for $200 (plus tax). Micro Center will also allow you to price-match its products against NewEgg's "regular" prices, enabling you to get a motherboard or some RAM at the cheaper price.

Stupid question, but why must you obtain a 4GHz overclock for gaming? Many of today's games are more optimized for the video card than the processor, and the Core i7 920 can easily outperform the Core 2 series and all of the AMD processors in most resource-intensive tasks.
 
tiraides said:
For input on overclocking, check out the Overclocking & Cooling, Intel Processors, and Intel MoBo's forums here. That question gets asked a lot in those forums.

Regarding your parts selection, you don't need to spend a lot of money on the board and RAM. And there's no guarantee that, even with the parts that you've chosen, you will be able to reach 4GHz on your first OC attempt. Having said that, I've heard of people obtaining pretty decent overclocks from using the "mid-level" boards like the Asus P6T Deluxe V2 or the Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5. EVGA and DFI also make OC-friendly boards, but DFI has many features that are better suited for experienced overclockers.

For RAM, voltage matters as much as speed. We normally recommend the G.Skill 3x2GB DDR3 1600 kit because of its speed and its relatively low voltage.

If you live near a Micro Center B&M store, you can buy the Core i7 920 for $200 (plus tax). Micro Center will also allow you to price-match its products against NewEgg's "regular" prices, enabling you to get a motherboard or some RAM at the cheaper price.

Stupid question, but why must you obtain a 4GHz overclock for gaming? Many of today's games are more optimized for the video card than the processor, and the Core i7 920 can easily outperform the Core 2 series and all of the AMD processors in most resource-intensive tasks.
Click to expand...

I will take a look if a Micro Center is near my area, thanks. In regards to OC, I got very fascinated with it and 4Ghz mark is like a goal for me, I mean that is what OC is all about being able to squeeze every single Mhz out of your CPU..etc :) In regards to GPU, this is something im planing on upgrading a bit later this month.
 
For 4Ghz, you don't need the most top tier overclocking boards.

Using an air cooler my 920 @4Ghz got to roughly 76 deg under a full load with a zalman 9900.

That was a safe temp. If you want to water cool it will shave off a good 10-15 degrees off the max.
 
Too get to 4 GHz, board isn't really that important as most x58 are design very good.

key is
-DDR3 1600
-DO step Core i7
-Good air cooler
-Good powersupply

EVGA X58 SLI LE is my pick.
 
I think I had narrowed my decisions to:

MOBO: ASUS P6T Deluxe V2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131365

And there are 3 different RAM's I'm having hard time deciding what to get... What what I hear ASUS recommends not going over 1.6v for ram on the P62, but a lot of people have 1.65v RAM and are doing fine.

Ram: G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231225 (why is this RAM is so much cheaper then the other once?)

Mushkin 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226030

CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145224

By the way does anyone know if newegg sending out the B0 stepping for i7? Is there a good chance I will one?

Any suggestions, comments plz keep it coming :)

Thanks
 
Get the G.Skill kit, as it is the cheapest of the three kits. I personally don't believe that Corsair Dominators are worth the price.

There is no guarantee that NewEgg will give you a Core i7 processor of a particular stepping; it randomly picks out a processor from its warehouse(s). There are online retailers that guarantee a particular stepping/revision, but I've never personally visited those sites.
 
Will there be a noticeable difference in boots and games with 7-7-7-20 compared to 9-9-9-24 ? And in terms of getting the i7 to 4Ghz + will this speed difference matter? I really don't know much about RAM as you can see. By the way the 1600Mhz is good enough to get me to 4Ghz but what about if I decided to try and push it just a bit more, 4.2Ghz - 4.5Ghz will the 1600Ghz still be able to take it or will the 1800ghz or 2000Ghz will do the job much better?

For $144 there is a 7-7-7-20 Mushkin kit. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226030 Should I get this over the Gskill 9-9-9-24? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231225
 
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dude, 4.5? Why? 3.6 is perfectly stable without changing voltages and does just fine for anything you need. That is a 1GHz OC
 
Well I guess you right I might be aiming a bit 2 high :) But I defenately want to be able to achieve 4Ghz with the i7. Can someone plz answer my question regarding the RAM in my last post. I think I have eveything sorted out. I7 + P6T Deluxe V2 and not sure about RAM. I want to be able to get the parts b4 the end of this week, so il be ordering ether today or tommorow, Free 3 day shipping I should be able to have it by friday. OMG cant wait! And after the 10th when the GPU prices will drop il be looking at what new vid card to get, but that will be on a defferent thread :)

Thanks
 
level of Core i7 4GHz overclocking isn't really my area. Most of my builds are AM3.
 
You will not see a noticeable improvement by choosing CL7 RAM (the Mushkin kit) over CL9 RAM (the G.Skill kit).

But it really doesn't matter, because a Core i7 920 pushed to around 3.6GHz would be more than enough for gaming. Hell, at stock speeds, the Core i7 920 outperforms most of the Intel Core 2 lineup and virtually all of the AMD lineup in most resource-intensive tasks. For gaming, however, you won't really see the benefit of having a Core i7 processor unless you're using a multi-card/GPU SLI/CrossFire setup.

Stupid question, but what are the visual settings that you plan on using for playing FPS games like Crysis? And you might as well ask your video card questions in this thread, since it is part of this build.
 
Well right I just want to have a beast like PC and be a member of the 4Ghz club :) I had started OC my Q9450 but something with my setup that doesn’t work good together because I cant even get a simple OC like 3.0Ghz. Seeing how I can sell my CPU, MOBO & RAM (ebay/forums) my total spending would be around $300 $400 not bad for a top of the line combination woudnt you say? The main game that I play is WoW and a lot of times it can be very demanding on the CPU as well as your GPU a specially if you are playing in a window mode + full enabled, that takes up a lot of my FPS, and I have two 24" monitors. So from where you stand tiraides you are suggesting the Gskill RAM that you linked me at first correct? I am being so careful about this, because I don’t want nothing holding me back when I start to OC...etc If there anything I will be missing it should be my knowledge in OC and that I think I can with members help and my own research down the road.

In regards to the video card, I really haven’t done any research to know what I want or what will be good... All I know that a new ATI cars are being released on the 10th and prices for other cards should drop. My original thought was to get one of them Nvidia cards something like 280 or 285, but depending how good the new ATI cards will be I will have so see. I probably have something around $250-$350 in mind for a vidio card upgrade, and since I will be selling my 9800GTX (hoping to get $80 - $100 for it) so this upgrade shouldn’t cost me that much. Any thoughts suggestions are welcomed here.

Thanks
 
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