NEW RIG :P -- Again

[spam_dagger]

Evening folks,


I've got to say, after my years of loyalty to the fucking shit brand, which offers a fair trade off between price & performance i am sick of it now,
and decided to shell out for the dogs bollocks kit.

All i've effectively done is replaced the motherboard, processor and ram from my current built:-

Asus P6T Deluxe OC Palm Edition X58 Socket 1366 7.1 channel audio ATX Motherboard
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152202
Renowned as about the best motherboard there is for overclocking on this platform, all the reviews seem to inform this decision.

Intel Core i7 920 D0 2.66GHz Socket 1366 8MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/151477
Looking at the range, all the way upto the Extreme Edition, there's actually i think, no difference in the architecture, just the clock speed, though im not sure of any variances in memory support or cache. Extremely stable overclockable processor.

Corsair 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 2000MHz Dominator GT Triple Channel i7 Kit With Fan CL8 1.65V
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/164765
The most bitching, high speed performance ram there is, i need the speed and the performance for 3d production either way, so i can't go wrong here, avoiding the upgrade to a better ram later on down the line.

This all shall be sat in an enormous Full Towercase, the Coolermaster HAF 932, and powered via the Corsair TX750watt processor, Single Rail PSU which can probably power two or three high end rigs lol. Oh, and not to to forget, im using the ATi HD4870X2, great GPU, no bother so far.

[skeletor]

Same CPU and RAM as me.

I have the CPU running at 3.6GHz with no increase in voltage.

Replace the retail fan with a Noctua 120mm. http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Noctua-N ... A1366-only

Fucking brilliant CPU cooler and extremely quiet.

[spam_dagger]

Yes,

I've heard about that aftermarket coolers reputation, it's quite formidable. Also, i've been reading up on alot of places nowadays talking about
lapping the processor Dye, the art of sanding down the CPU face with wet&dry until you can literally see your face in it like a copper mirror, and doing the same to the
aftermarket cooler aswell? can anybody verify the integrity of this technique? obviously i'd imagine your warranty is in the bin afterwards but you lose a fair amount of degrees of the load temp as apparently
the manufacturing process does not leave the CPU pin point flat, and techincally not having a completely 100% flush connection between your CPU and heatsink can cause that extra bit of heat buildup in the static air in the minute
planes on the CPU surface due to it's uneven form.

heck, it's speculative, but the results do show a gain, i dunno? what do people think.

cheers

[skeletor]

You will find the bulk of the heat is in the centre of the CPU and has bulges out slightly and the CPU coolers often have the most contact there which is good.

I did lap one of my old CPU's down to the copper and also lapped the CPU cooler and noticed a 2 deg C drop idle and load, but the CPU was no way near flat and there wasn't very good contact.

The Noctua is so well made I don't dare mess with it, it has a slightly textured contact from what I remember which helps the thermal paste get good contact. CPU was slightly bulky like most new Intel CPUs that have the heatspreader. In some cases you can take the heatspreader off, but it's best to lap it if you want good contact with minimal risk.

Get a piece of glass and various bits of sandpaper from 400 grit to 4000 grit (higher you go up the smoother finish). Use 400 grit till you get the copper showing, then move up to 800 grit which should get your a smoother all copper finish, then finish it off with 1200, 2000, 4000. Then admire your work by taking a picture of the reflections.

If the contact between the CPU and the CPU cooler is OK to begin with lapping will give you nothing other than a void warranty. But saying that, if you have an hour to spare and you don't care about the warranty (very rare that CPU's break internally anyway) then do it. CPU cooler wise, the only thing that is likely to go wrong is the fan(s) and they can be replaced (generally speaking).

[Revolver]

Not knowing anything about computers basic physics/chemistry whatever tells you that any air gap between contact areas is going to increase temperatures because you will essentially have a hot air pocket (although minute) and heat won't conduct through that as efficiently. But doesnt the thermal paste help counter that i.e. filling the gaps?

After my brainless input, i now give you two tech heads permission to carry on your conversation

[skeletor]

Yep, you are right.

But.

You actual want 2 extremely flat surfaces touching with a minimal amount of thermal paste between the two (rather than a large dolup) which reduces the distance the heat has to travel from the CPU heatspreader and CPU cooler. There were cases on a forum I went on a fair bit in the day, that if you lapped both properly, you could lay a thin piece of gold or silver rather than thermal paste. Once the CPU heated up the strip of gold/silver melted and acted as a thermal paste, but a lot better than most other thermal pastes.

But all of this only saved up to 5degrees. Which isn't a lot until you get in to heavy overclocking.

I have an extra 1.0Ghz from using one of the quietest CPU coolers for the new i7's.

If you want to do it, then do it, just don't expect 10 deg C differences etc.

[spam_dagger]

well,

it's not really worth the ordeal, and personally, i've not had such an easy ride hardware wise, the CPU would most probably pop within a month, i'd rather have a warranty for that eventuality lmao.

I'll consider the noctua, so much so that i'll probably get one, i've joined the gym to get the CSS pounds off, my girlfriends gonna go astray if i dont get the abs back lol so purchasing components is bottom of the list lol

cheers

[Revolver]

I'll consider the noctua, so much so that i'll probably get one, i've left the gym to save some pounds, my girlfriends gonna go astray if i dont get the components back lol so purchasing abs is bottom of the list lol

cheers

[spam_dagger]

oo check you, the grammatical fucking genius....

[skeletor]