Help Needed On A Solid Stable OVERCLOCK!????

Bozzvegas

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Dec 22, 2006
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I'm a first time overclocker and have been doing a little ressearch nothing major yet but these boards have always been the best!! So I'm hoping for a few suggestions in what to do:

E6600
nvidia 680 i Mobo
2 gigs @ 667
2 7950 gt OC 512mb in sli
750 thermaltake PSU @ 40a
500 Gb sata II 16 MB Cache
X-fi gamer sound card
etc

Any Help Would be GREAT!!! Thanks
 

jordanwise

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Dec 7, 2006
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looks like your going all out for it, especially with that motherboard. It has just about every feature you could possibly ask for on a motherboard, very accessible for overclocking, i've read that the automatic controls themselves can give a 25% performance boost with a few clicks!

all your componants look good, appart from the RAM. For overclocking you should look for the faster speeds, at least DDR2 800mhz(pc-6400) and for the most stable operations you need to keep to low timings.
 

AMDThunder

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Feb 18, 2006
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333 FSB would yield a decent OC, and run your 667 ram in a perfect 1:1 ratio. Depending on what brand of ram you have, may be able to OC the ram as well, and push for a higher FSB. More than doable with decent ram.
 

sailer

Splendid
Two things that I see as problem areas are the ram and the video cards. Change the ram to a DDR2 800 for better performance. It'll be better in the future.

With the video cards, its not the greatest idea to invest in SLI and get non-DX10 capable cards. It would be far better to either get a 8800 card or wait and see if the R600 does better than the 8800 before maing a choice. A single modern card should outperform two older cards with ease.
 

sailer

Splendid
I wasn't thinking of doing things on a budget since doing SLI was first stated. That said, a single X1950 XT or XTX would do good for the moment, with an eye for a future DX10 card.
 

sailer

Splendid
Now that's a fair card for the price. A 7600 GT doesn't sound as nice as a 7950, but the price is good and it should well do enough for the short term. Even with a SLI setup, the price isn't bad, and then you get a few extra fps.
 

Valtiel

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Well, the 7600gt is basically the samething as the 7900gt, as i believe they use a simular gfx processor, the 7900gt's is only slightly more powerful. So if you look at it that this particular 7600gt is clocked higher than the 7950gt (seriously, check it out, people are getting it to 650mhz core with stock cooling and good temps) and the ram size will be the same in sli. Only differences are the pipeline sizes and the processor, and I think sli would overcome the difference between the two cards (probably on par with the x1950xt which is just amazing at only $200)

Comparison between 7600GT and 7900GT

7600Gt uses a 128-bit memory interface with a G73 core
7900GT uses a 256-bit memory interface with a G71 core

Theoretically a 7600GT SLi will edge out a 7900GT.

I believe the 7600GT overclocks easier but I think the 7900GT overclocks easily as well.

BTW the 7900GT will destroy the 7600GT but I think pretty much any X19XX would destroy both of the cards though :) .
 

Bozzvegas

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Dec 22, 2006
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:D
I'm a first time overclocker and have been doing a little ressearch nothing major yet but these boards have always been the best!! So I'm hoping for a few suggestions in what to do:

E6600
nvidia 680 i Mobo
2 gigs @ 667
2 7950 gt OC 512mb in sli
750 thermaltake PSU @ 40a
500 Gb sata II 16 MB Cache
X-fi gamer sound card
etc

Any Help Would be GREAT!!! Thanks
For starters, lets drop the 7950gt oc, they are too expensive, now th ex1950xt, that's a good card, outperform's it by a long shot for less
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102067
and here's some nice ram at an affordable rate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227169
or if you have the cache, drop that for this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820609026
and then get 3 250 gig hdd instead. It will end up about the same price for cheap ones, and then you can run 2 in raid 0 and one by itself for stability of the os
drop on the psu, 600w will be plenty and maybe for the rd600 to come to stores\\Everything else is fine


I already own this system. I also have 2 7950 gt in sli i have had this sytem for awhile i was just asking for overclocking advice not shopping tips! But thanks anyway
 

Bozzvegas

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Dec 22, 2006
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thanks! do you think 400 fsb will be alright with my 667 ram i was thinking maybe 333 across the board..?? What would you suggest for voltage,timings etc not sure what GHZ that will put my cpu at but 1333 for the cpu,mobo and ram should all be 1:1 I think
suggestions(remember firt time oc'er)

also any recommendations on an aftermarket heatsink that will fit my board with not alot of hassle?