Looking for suggestions? core i7 platform

[Epoch8519]

Hello Everyone,

I'm a huge PC enthusiast. EVGA is pretty much my company of choice lately since my purchase of an 8800GTX a while back. Sadly I put that on an Athlon 64 4000+ on an A8N-32-SLI Deluxe mobo and bottlenecked the heck out of the gfx card. One core and a beefy card seemed ok.... but it was right before the change to dual and quad core that the industry seemed to head to.

So long story short... I've upgraded a few months ago. picked up a second 8800GTX for cheap about a year ago. Christmas last year, family helped me and got my CPU and ram, heatsink... etc.

Setup-

Core i7 920 Stock @ 2.66
EVGA 132-BL-E758-A1
6 Gb Corsair Dominator PC3 12800 8-8-8-24
Zalmann 9900 CNPS LED (temps seem to run high) idle 39-44 load 58-64 Might need to reset in place
2x EVGA 8800GTX in SLI
Win 7 64

So I'm looking to overclock the main system, CPU, Ram mostly and looking for some templates or starting points of people with similar systems. Since the CPU seems a little warmer than most, should i think about getting a better cooler. House has no AC so ambient is usually around 75F in the house.

Links to articles help me a lot. The last system i had was pushing the limits of what the 4000+ could handle running at 2.92 Ghz on air. Upgrade list. Hit me with all thoughts. Your system if similar and any info you need to get a better handle on what is going on.

 

[Lmeow]

I think you should go with a better cooler, the Zalman 9900 CNPS can't handle the 130W i7s too well compared to newer coolers, a good one is the Thermalright Venomous-X.

How are those 8800 GTX in SLI? They might be four years old or so but still perform very well... around an HD 5850 or so?

 

[Ubrales]

This is the exact system I had before I switched the motherboard to the EVGA Classified. I did the overclocking to 3.81 GHz using a Cooler Master V8 (I know, not the best). My idle temps were 30 degs - heavy gaming temps around 45 degs.

To help cooling, I polished (some refer to it as lapping) the base of the V8 to make it flat. Left the CPU alone. This resulted in 5 to 8 degs drop in temps.

The tall Dominator RAM will interfere with certain brands of heatsinks.

 

[Epoch8519]

What kind of timing and bios template would you suggest starting with once i replace this heatsink? I was thinking about going with the Prolimatech Megahalems with some quite but high flow fans. I would like suggestions for some good 120mm fans for that suggestion. The 8800gtx's in SLI crank man, I get steady frames all day at max details at 1600x1200. They do run hot though and are power whores.... i mean each one of them at load is pulling about 230-240 watts... talk about a space heater. But they scale soo well with my processor that i want to get the most out of them before I plan on upgrading. I kind of want to wait a while since the GTX485 is still in the works. So i was wondering if anyone can throw out some suggestions on memory timings, voltage, and multiplier, and FSB tweaks.

 

[aznshinobi]

IMO I think you should change the thermal paste and heatsink. For thermal paste, look at the IC7 paste they are really good paste and the company just gave out free paste But sorry that you don't fit the forum requirements Plus I think they just gave em all away. There pretty pricey paste, BUT Man! There performance is amazing. Also, as for the heatsink, Venomous X is SAAWEEET! http://www.ocxtreme.org/forumenus/showthread.php?t=5576&page=3 That review (sorry other forum) is although done by a user, it's a very good comparison in my opinion. If you don't want to spend 20$ on each fan like me for high CFM but low dBa, a good fan is Cooler Master R4's coming in at only 10$ a pop. Buy two though for a push pull config on the Venomous and it'll cool it like a beast. Also, if you do buy the Venomous, don't get the X-RT version, get the normal X, the RT just adds the fan and AM3 bracket, but you don't even need those, as the fan they give you is not even as good as the R4's and definatly not worth adding 10$ more. Since the fan only is 56ish CFM while the R4 is 69. somthing CFM GL on your options.

 

[Ubrales]

The Prolimatech Megahalem will work great in a push-pull fans configuration. And as already mentioned, the CM R4 fans are good for this application.

Be prepared for some RAM interference on the push side. Nothing that a Dremel tool will not fix.

 

[Lmeow]

I got a Megashadow in push-pull config, relatively decent temps I suppose.

I've got it on an EVGA X58 SLI LE and I can use all six RAM slots, however, I have low-clearance Ripjaws, you have Dominators, and this is what you'll probably need to do:

 

[Epoch8519]

That is a NIIIIICE setup im pretty jealous. My 8800's are probably heating the whole setup increasing ambient much more that it should be inside the case. That is just nice...

 

[Epoch8519]

AND.... what kind of case is that its really clean looking with all the cabling going behind the Mobo and where is the PSU located. Id love the same kind of setup minus the LED's since i dont want a corner of my room glowing all night.

 

[aznshinobi]

It's the Corsair Obsidian Series case.

 

[Lmeow]

Unfortuantely, that's not my rig lol. I have the same motherboard, and HSF though.

Aznshinobi is right - it's a Corsair Obsidian 800D, with a bottom mounted PSU.