- Oct 1, 2009
- 36
- 0
- 18,540
I'm a professional video editor and have hit the max my current system will take. I can't afford to upgrade to a new system, but I do need to get more power out of what I've got. I've been told that my current CPU and MOBO are an excellent combination for OC'ing, but I'm concerned that my other components won't do well with an overclock. Here's my current system specs for you:
Intel i7-920 (D0 revision) processor, 2.67 GHz stock, running at 2.8GHz since I manually set the multiplier to 21x and turned off EIST yesterday.
Stock Intel heatsink and fan
Asus P6T6 WS Revolution Mobo
12 GB DDR3 1333 MT/s memory
nVidia GTX 285 1GB Graphics card
RocketRaid 231x PCIe Raid controller
Wireless PCIe card
Seasonic 80 Plus cert. 700 Watt Power Supply
Windows 7x64 Ultimate
Internal drives (All WD Enterprise drives):
1x 250 GB 7200 RPM Sata 3.0 for OS/Programs
1x 500 GB 7200 RPM Sata 3.0 for Pagefile, Photos, Graphics, Audio, other files
3x 1TB 7200 RPM Sata 3.0 in onboard RAID-5 for Video Project files
1x 1TB 7200 RPM Sata 3.0 for Video export files
1x DVD-RW (Sata)
1x BD-RE (Sata)
External drives (all independently powered):
4x 2TB 7200 RPM Sata 3.0 in RocketRaid Raid-5 for Video Data (GSpeed eS array)
2x 2TB 7200 RPM in Raid-0 via eSata for backup (Western Digital backup drive)
1x 2TB 7200 RPM Firewire 800 for backup
1x 1TB 7200 RPM eSata for backup
1x 400 GB Sata 3.0 in external enclosure via eSata for backup
All this is in a full-tower case, and the computer was originally manufactured by the BOXX corporation about 3 years ago.
I already know my cooler is not up to par... running the Prime stress test on it at stock shot the core temps up close to 90/C, so I already know I need a better cooler. I'm looking at the Cooler Master 212, as I've heard good things about it. I'm a little concerned about the size though, and concerned it may not fit in the case properly. If anyone has suggestions for other coolers that are a bit smaller, I'm open to ideas. Water cooling isn't an option, though.
My concerns are two-fold: first, that the power supply won't be up to par for overclocking. Running my current system specs through a power supply calculator, I'm coming up with about 574 Watts that I'm using now, which only gives me about 125 Watts of overhead for the PSU. Is that enough overhead for OC'ing this machine? My second concern is the memory: I'll admit I don't know a lot about the mathematics behind how this stuff works, but if I've got triple channel memory, at 667MHz, then wouldn't that mean my memory is running at an effective 2GHz? And if the machine is only as good as it's weakest link, wouldn't that then mean that OC'ing my proc would be pointless since the memory can't keep up anyway?
On my list of upgrades is 1000 Watt PSU and 24GB of DDR3 1600MT/s memory, along with an SSD for the OS/Programs drive and the GTX-570 or 580 (or possibly 7xx series by then), but I'm not going to be able to get that stuff until our new fiscal year starts in July. I've already overspent my budget by about $3000 this year on video equipment, and it's going to be pulling teeth just to get the $30 for the better cooler. I'm just hoping that I can safely and effectively OC this system with nothing more than a better cooler.
Thoughts? Suggestions? Thanks for your help, everyone!
Intel i7-920 (D0 revision) processor, 2.67 GHz stock, running at 2.8GHz since I manually set the multiplier to 21x and turned off EIST yesterday.
Stock Intel heatsink and fan
Asus P6T6 WS Revolution Mobo
12 GB DDR3 1333 MT/s memory
nVidia GTX 285 1GB Graphics card
RocketRaid 231x PCIe Raid controller
Wireless PCIe card
Seasonic 80 Plus cert. 700 Watt Power Supply
Windows 7x64 Ultimate
Internal drives (All WD Enterprise drives):
1x 250 GB 7200 RPM Sata 3.0 for OS/Programs
1x 500 GB 7200 RPM Sata 3.0 for Pagefile, Photos, Graphics, Audio, other files
3x 1TB 7200 RPM Sata 3.0 in onboard RAID-5 for Video Project files
1x 1TB 7200 RPM Sata 3.0 for Video export files
1x DVD-RW (Sata)
1x BD-RE (Sata)
External drives (all independently powered):
4x 2TB 7200 RPM Sata 3.0 in RocketRaid Raid-5 for Video Data (GSpeed eS array)
2x 2TB 7200 RPM in Raid-0 via eSata for backup (Western Digital backup drive)
1x 2TB 7200 RPM Firewire 800 for backup
1x 1TB 7200 RPM eSata for backup
1x 400 GB Sata 3.0 in external enclosure via eSata for backup
All this is in a full-tower case, and the computer was originally manufactured by the BOXX corporation about 3 years ago.
I already know my cooler is not up to par... running the Prime stress test on it at stock shot the core temps up close to 90/C, so I already know I need a better cooler. I'm looking at the Cooler Master 212, as I've heard good things about it. I'm a little concerned about the size though, and concerned it may not fit in the case properly. If anyone has suggestions for other coolers that are a bit smaller, I'm open to ideas. Water cooling isn't an option, though.
My concerns are two-fold: first, that the power supply won't be up to par for overclocking. Running my current system specs through a power supply calculator, I'm coming up with about 574 Watts that I'm using now, which only gives me about 125 Watts of overhead for the PSU. Is that enough overhead for OC'ing this machine? My second concern is the memory: I'll admit I don't know a lot about the mathematics behind how this stuff works, but if I've got triple channel memory, at 667MHz, then wouldn't that mean my memory is running at an effective 2GHz? And if the machine is only as good as it's weakest link, wouldn't that then mean that OC'ing my proc would be pointless since the memory can't keep up anyway?
On my list of upgrades is 1000 Watt PSU and 24GB of DDR3 1600MT/s memory, along with an SSD for the OS/Programs drive and the GTX-570 or 580 (or possibly 7xx series by then), but I'm not going to be able to get that stuff until our new fiscal year starts in July. I've already overspent my budget by about $3000 this year on video equipment, and it's going to be pulling teeth just to get the $30 for the better cooler. I'm just hoping that I can safely and effectively OC this system with nothing more than a better cooler.
Thoughts? Suggestions? Thanks for your help, everyone!
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