# qubit's Sandy upgrade



## qubit (Nov 29, 2011)

Ok, I've decided to get the i7-2700K and have ordered it as a collect from store from www.novatech.com as I don't think Ivy Bridge is worth waiting for: a better IGP I'll never use and lower power consumption - wow.  They're nice improvements, but hardly worth waiting for until next April.

*All I need now is a mobo, RAM and performance air cooler - and I'd like your suggestions please!*

Here's some criteria to base your suggestions on:

*MOBO* - My current one is a Gigabyte (see specs) and it's been flawless for almost three years now, so this is my preferred brand. I would also consider Asus and perhaps one or two others. I'm looking to overclock it a fair bit and hope to get 5GHz out of the CPU, if possible (not gonna go mental to achieve it, though). Also, the mobo should have a UEFI, no BIOS. I'm not looking to run SLI or Crossfire, but dual x16 pci-e slots can always come in handy. Onboard sound performance is irrelevant, as I'll be using my trusty Creative X-Fi card.

*RAM* - I want 8GB at least. I'm easy regarding brand, as any quality one such as Corsair, OCZ etc have all worked reliably for me.

*CPU COOLER* - a potent air cooler, but no need to go over the top. Again, any decent brand will do.

EDIT: Oh duh! I was half asleep when I wrote this post and I meant to add that I'm looking to spend £400-450 overall on this upgrade, although I'm always flexible if the better item isn't massively more expensive. Also, I meant to say that I compared chipsets the other day and I want a Z68 mobo. These don't seem especially expensive, either.

And finally, the cooler has to be quiet, too. I think that's everything.


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## Darkleoco (Nov 29, 2011)

For the cooler it would be nice if you gave a bit more to go on really, their are many factors that would help recommendations for cpu coolers such as size, noise level, and price point.


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## Sir B. Fannybottom (Nov 29, 2011)

http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?C=1417&ID=2044 

Thermaltake Frio Ock for teh cooler?


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Nov 29, 2011)

If you want UEFI go Asus and avoid Gigabyte. Asus has had a flawless implementation since day one and Gigabyte's is still funky. Brand loyalty never benefits you anyways. For ram just get the cheapest cas 9 1600mhz that runs 1.5v. The cooler I can't help without knowing UK prices, as that's about as big a factor as anything else given how cool SB runs. I like the H60 for the performance and finger room but that's cause it's been on sale for $50 for ages now, cheaper than even the H40.


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## John Doe (Nov 29, 2011)

Kevinheraiz said:


> http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?C=1417&ID=2044
> 
> Thermaltake Frio Ock for teh cooler?



Agreed, Frio OCK is a solid cooler. It's built like a Megahalems underneath, and comes with push-pull fans attached.

As for the board, Asus WS Revo/AsRock Extreme7 if you want NF200, P67 Fatal1ty/P67-GD80 if you don't want NF200.


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## Frizz (Nov 29, 2011)

X79 gigabyte mobos have uefi now, I too have been using gigabyte for 2 generations of platforms and they haven't died on me so I could recommend sticking to what you're familiar with. But in that regard I have a p5q pro from Asus lga775 and it's still running like a king after much abuse it is close to 3 years old.


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## John Doe (Nov 29, 2011)

random said:


> X79 gigabyte mobos have uefi now, I too have been using gigabyte for 2 generations of platforms and they haven't died on me so I could recommend sticking to what you're familiar with. But in that regard I have a p5q pro from Asus lga775 and it's still running like a king after much abuse it is close to 3 years old.



It doesn't matter. There're better choices than Gigabyte on Sandy.


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## Rowsol (Nov 29, 2011)

okay, why hasn't this been asked yet?

Why not save money and get the 2600k?  I'm assuming you can handle overclocking 100 mhz on an unlocked processor...

I know this isn't relevant to the thread but for the life of me I can't understand why anyone would spend way more for the 2700.


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## John Doe (Nov 29, 2011)

Rowsol said:


> okay, why hasn't this been asked yet?
> 
> Why not save money and get the 2600k?  I'm assuming you can handle overclocking 100 mhz on an unlocked processor...
> 
> I know this isn't relevant to the thread but for the life of me I can't understand why anyone would spend way more for the 2700.



Why not do some research on 2700k OC'ing?  The chip has been out for weeks, it's not a rebadged 2600k. Later 2600k's have a worse batch than earlier ones, and the 2700k has the best batch out of all. People have been OC'ing them to 5-5.4. And it doesn't cost "way more". You can find it for a few ten dollars more on some retailers.

http://www.eteknix.com/reviews/processors/intel-core-i7-2700k-flagship-showdown-review/

http://www.eteknix.com/reviews/processors/intel-core-i7-2700k-flagship-showdown-review/3/

As a side note, you should have suggested him a 2500k. The 2600 is a waste over it (for gaming) as well. We told him that on an older thread but he wanted the best.


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## Frizz (Nov 29, 2011)

John Doe said:


> It doesn't matter. There're better choices than Gigabyte on Sandy.



It depends what you mean by better, I can definitely agree with that statement on the P67 platform but that is solely based on the motherboard not having UEFI but since the x79 variations do have this feature I got lost when you said that there are better choices as it comes down to layout and personal preference this is also considering heavily on the fact the OP had a Gigabyte Mobo for 3 years now and has run flawlessly for him. :S Don't forget the OP is the one buying the motherboard. Anyway to emphasize on my previous post, Asus can be really reliable as well so I'd suggest looking at their offerings also.


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## John Doe (Nov 29, 2011)

random said:


> It depends what you mean by better, I can definitely agree with that statement on the P67 platform but that is solely based on the motherboard not having UEFI but since the x79 variations do have this feature I got lost when you said that there are better choices as it comes down to layout and personal preference this is also considering heavily on the fact the OP had a Gigabyte Mobo for 3 years now and has run flawlessly for him. :S Don't forget the OP is the one buying the motherboard. Anyway to emphasize on my previous post, Asus can be really reliable as well so I'd suggest looking at their offerings also.



So... point being? Gigabyte's P45 offerings were some of the best S775 boards. Who cares what it writes on top of a board? It's the product that matters, not the brand.

Better suggestions have been made. Gigabyte's Sandy offerings (on the higher end) are overpriced and lack functionality (slot config etc.).


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## Frizz (Nov 29, 2011)

John Doe said:


> So... point being? Gigabyte's P45 offerings were some of the best S775 boards. Who cares what it writes on top of a board? It's the product that matters, not the brand.



Point being, they're all good it's up to what the OP's layout needs and personal preferences are. Saying there are better choices than x mobo without justifying your own opinion is a very canned response.

And yes who cares? so what does it mean if Gigabyte is written on top of the board? really lost here.


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## Damn_Smooth (Nov 29, 2011)

qubit said:


> Ok, I've decided to get the i7-2700K and have ordered it as a collect from store from www.novatech.com as I don't think Ivy Bridge is worth waiting for: a better IGP I'll never use and lower power consumption - wow.  They're nice improvements, but hardly worth waiting for until next April.
> 
> *All I need now is a mobo, RAM and performance air cooler - and I'd like your suggestions please!*
> 
> ...



Fine! Ditch me here to wait for Ivy all alone.

At least I have a pink handbag to cry into

Seriously though, what are you looking to spend on these parts?


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## John Doe (Nov 29, 2011)

random said:


> Point being, they're all good it's up to what the OP's layout needs and personal preferences are. Saying there are better choices than x mobo without justifying your own opinion is a very canned response.
> 
> And yes who cares? so what does it mean if Gigabyte is written on top of the board? really lost here.



The point here is you're suggesting him a Gigabyte board just because his P45 is Gigabyte. You're the one that needs to give reasoning behind your suggestion. All my suggestions are cheaper than their Gigabyte equivalents while offering more slots/better VRM, BIOS and so on. Get real.


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## puma99dk| (Nov 29, 2011)

qubit, if u ain't a benchmark freak than just take one running x8/x8 in SLi if u will plugin a another GTX580 one time, and personally i don't think £300 is worth it for a NF200 chip, and if u want it why not just get a AsRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen3 than?

if u r planning on using 2 graphics avoid the Asus P8Z68 except the Deluxe it's the only one u actually of them uses the PLX chip, and the normal V, LE, LX and Pro has this at Note:

The PCIe x16_3 slot shares bandwidth with PCIe x1_1 slot, PCIe x1_2 slot, USB3_34 and eSATA. The PCIe x16_3 default setting is in x1 mode.

even i like the fact that u get a PCI-E x16 slot that only runs at x4 maybe many don't use it, but it's fine even it runs off the chipset and not the cpu.


atm i use a Asus U3S6 card bcs i got the old Intel P67 B2 chipset on my ECS P67H2-A but that doesn't matter the only i am using onboard SATA-2 for is my dvd-brænder.


and talking about the Frio cooler what is the difference between the Frio and Frio Ock? there is a about 36USD / 27euro between them.


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## John Doe (Nov 29, 2011)

puma99dk| said:


> and talking about the Frio cooler what is the difference between the Frio and Frio Ock? there is a about 36USD / 27euro between them.



Fans lol.


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## puma99dk| (Nov 29, 2011)

John Doe said:


> Fans lol.



so if that's the only thing than u can find some better i think for that price i think 

but thx for the answer John Doe.


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## Frizz (Nov 29, 2011)

John Doe said:


> The point here is you're suggesting him a Gigabyte board just because his P45 is Gigabyte. You're the one that needs to give reasoning behind your suggestion. All my suggestions are cheaper than their Gigabyte equivalents while offering more slots/better VRM, BIOS and so on. Get real.



Z68/P67 Gigabyte boards are missing UEFI and only one slot is capable of PCIE 3.0, I've mentioned before to avoid Gigabyte on Z68 and P67's because of this. AsRock and Asus by far have better offerings for the 1155 platform. P8Z68 Asus or AsRock Extreme7 is a good ticket to that 5ghz and some added future proofing.


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## kyussgr (Nov 29, 2011)

Hi,

I have done a lot of research recently and these are my results. Although my choices are based on pricing in Greece.

Motherboard: Sensible choice : MSI P67A-GD65 , (129 Euro) (has everything + no reported
                   problems + reviews in all major websites)
                   High-end choice : ASUS MAXIMUS IV EXTREME (295 Euro) for multi GPU setups
                   (has everything + no reported problems + reviews in all major websites)

Memory:        Corsair XMS3 8GB 12800, (60 Euro) or 
                    Mushkin Blackline 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz 1.35V 9-9-9-24 (996988) if you want a
                    low profile + low voltage memory (64 Euro)

Cooler:          Be Quiet! Dark Rock Advanced (60 Euro) or Thermaltake Frio (64 Euro)
                   (both great! Choice depends on availability and aesthetics. For example the TT Frio has red lines on the top cover that suit the ASUS MAXIMUS IV EXTREME which has a black and red colour scheme. 

I hope this helps 

Regards


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## John Doe (Nov 29, 2011)

The Maximus is overpriced, not worth it. The AsRock Extreme7 does the same thing for cheaper, while looking better.


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## kyussgr (Nov 29, 2011)

John Doe said:


> The Maximus is overpriced, not worth it. The AsRock Extreme7 does the same thing for cheaper, while looking better.



I agree that it is very expensive but if you are building an overclocked multi-gpu monster would you trust AsRock for BIOS (functionality, updates) and power (voltage) management ?

Personally if I choose to go extreme I go all the way cause if you spend a lot of money you want results and more significantly peace of mind.

Having said all the above I never had an AsRock anything so I can't comment on their products.... but I  have read mixed reviews about them

Cheers


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## John Doe (Nov 29, 2011)

The new AsRock isn't the same as the old one. Their new boards are designed by the people who left Asus, so they're not low-end anymore. Their Sandy boards are argueably "the" best.

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2380133#post2380133

There's not one thing the Extreme7 lacks over the Maximus. If anything, it's a more likeable board than the Maximus due color scheme.


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## kyussgr (Nov 29, 2011)

John Doe said:


> The new AsRock isn't the same as the old one. Their new boards are designed by the people who left Asus, so they're not low-end anymore. Their Sandy boards are argueably "the" best.
> 
> http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2380133#post2380133
> 
> There's not one thing the Extreme7 lacks over the Maximus. If anything, it's a more likeable board than the Maximus due color scheme.



Hi, 

I don't want to get to a protracted argument about mobos that I don't have or have not tested (in a way it is silly to say something is better than something else when I don't have any of them) but.....

When I googled the AsRock Extreme7 I couldn't find reviews on any of the major websites (probably because it is brand new) and I did find many complaints regarding overclocking in forums (although sometimes people that write in forums don't have a clue about overclocking)

Anyway I must agree that the mobo looks amazing....


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## John Doe (Nov 29, 2011)

Even a cheap Gigabyte is capable of maxing out a CPU, you don't need the best of the best of boards for an OC on air. AsRock boards are praised over the net nowadays and they certainly have hit the nail on Sandy. Asus may have an edge on extreme overclocking, but that's beyond what you or I do, which makes the AsRock a better choice for everyday OC'ing.


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## Sinzia (Nov 29, 2011)

I really, really REALLY love my P8P67 Deluxe, and my P8Z68 Deluxe...

Both have nearly the same feature set as the Maximus, and can overclock just as well.


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## scaminatrix (Nov 29, 2011)

John Doe said:


> The point here is you're suggesting him a Gigabyte board just because his P45 is Gigabyte. You're the one that needs to give reasoning behind your suggestion. All my suggestions are cheaper than their Gigabyte equivalents while offering more slots/better VRM, BIOS and so on. Get real.



It was the OP that said "My current one is a Gigabyte (see specs) and it's been flawless for almost three years now, so this is my preferred brand"

John, I've been seeing a lot of your posts round here recently and I've got to say: Please keep your opinions as your opinions; and stop forcing them down everyone's throat. You are obviously very knowledgable and will be a credit to TPU, but come on man, an opinion is just an opinion. Calm down a bit! 

I don't want to derail the thread more than it already has been so that's all I'm saying.


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## qubit (Nov 29, 2011)

Thanks for all your great replies, everybody.  I've updated my OP to clarify a couple of points.



Rowsol said:


> okay, why hasn't this been asked yet?
> 
> Why not save money and get the 2600k?  I'm assuming you can handle overclocking 100 mhz on an unlocked processor...
> 
> I know this isn't relevant to the thread but for the life of me I can't understand why anyone would spend way more for the 2700.



Why? Basically what John said:



John Doe said:


> Why not do some research on 2700k OC'ing?  The chip has been out for weeks, it's not a rebadged 2600k. Later 2600k's have a worse batch than earlier ones, and the 2700k has the best batch out of all. People have been OC'ing them to 5-5.4. And it doesn't cost "way more". You can find it for a few ten dollars more on some retailers.
> 
> http://www.eteknix.com/reviews/processors/intel-core-i7-2700k-flagship-showdown-review/
> 
> ...



But yes, you're right, I just wanted the top model and I wanted an i7, because they are faster in the reviews due to the greater cache. The "we told him" bit John is referring to is this thread: Get the 2600K or the 2700K, that is the question? Notice the dodgy grammar in the title?  So, it looks like the 2700K is more than just a multiplier value better, which I kinda suspected. And yes, there's only a few pounds difference between that and the 2600K, so it's pretty much a no-brainer.

I did look at the Gigabyte website at their UEFI implentation and all I could find was this hybrid BIOS with 3TB+ support, which seems to beg for compromises and potential problems. However, bta posted a news article the other week about Gigabyte's new UEFI implementation with a "3D" look, so perhaps it's worth looking out for mobos based on it? While I do like Gigabyte and their board designs (dual BIOS especially, for piece of mind) I will switch brand if need be.


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## radrok (Nov 29, 2011)

What about a Noctua NH-C14, you could have some RAM clearance issues but the performance is very good and isn't noisy (atleast for my standards)


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## (FIH) The Don (Nov 29, 2011)

i got the p8z68-v its cheap, has 3 pci-e slots, in proper layout, usb 3, sata3, and i have my i7 2600K running @ 4.7 for 4 month now without one freakin problem, settings are pretty much this : multi 47x100bclk, and voltage 1.350

but ive also heard VERy good things about the new ASRock board, the extreme series, think its extreme 4, with the gold caps, supposed to be around same overclocking as the maximus boards

memory is not a big factor for SB, just choose some regular whatever you find, like vengeance, they look good too, i got the 8gb 1600mhz cl9 kit works fine.

cooler, try the NZXT Havik, its supposed to be one of the best, or take a look @ tweaktowns cooler testing section  very good guy who test the coolers, cases and such there


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## puma99dk| (Nov 29, 2011)

(FIH) The Don said:


> i got the p8z68-v its cheap, has 3 pci-e slots, in proper layout, usb 3, sata3, and i have my i7 2600K running @ 4.7 for 4 month now without one freakin problem, settings are pretty much this : multi 47x100bclk, and voltage 1.350
> 
> but ive also heard VERy good things about the new ASRock board, the extreme series, think its extreme 4, with the gold caps, supposed to be around same overclocking as the maximus boards
> 
> ...



only problem with the V, LE, LX and Pro when we talk Asus P8Z68 is this:

The PCIe x16_3 slot shares bandwidth with PCIe x1_1 slot, PCIe x1_2 slot, USB3_34 and eSATA. The PCIe x16_3 default setting is in x1 mode.

that's what i see of a problem since Asus didn't wanna use a PLX chip on them, bcs they mean it will be to expensive and it will roll out all their models


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## brandonwh64 (Nov 29, 2011)

Im looking at this for my sandy bridge build! It has great OCing abilities.

ASRock Z68 PRO3-M LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard


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## mik (Dec 1, 2011)

I prefer ASUS boards because of the multiple on-board fan headers which can control fan speed via desktop software Fan Expert. I really liked that P6X58D-E was able to do 24w on the cpu_fan, so I have a pwm y cable for my dual tower CPU cooler. 24w gives me lots of headroom should i ever want to drive really high cfm fans. Fan Expert was able to calibrate itself with the fans' rpm, so I could make my User profile for at what CPU temp and what %fan speed combo how ever I wanted. 
Frostytech does reviews on most major air coolers. Though I have a Noctua NH-D14 now, I wish I had the Aegir.. after reading their review of Xigmatek's Aegir being more quiet for near similar performance. 
Are you still going to use the HAF 922 like in your system spec? How many case fans?


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## qubit (Dec 2, 2011)

Ok people, I've now decided on a mobo, but before I get it I'd like your opinions on it.

I really wanted to get another Gigabyte mobo, but because they don't do UEFI yet, I've had to abandon them. BUT! Check out this TPU news on their new 3D BIOS (UEFI) which looks amazing. As far as I can tell, it's only gonna be for LGA 2011 boards for now, unfortunately. Anyone know if it's coming to LGA 1155 soon? You can see Gigabyte's 3D BIOS launch page here.

I was initially looking at the MSI Z68A-GD55 (G3) which seems a nice mobo and in fact cadaveca reviewed the MSI Z68A-GD65 (for the life of me, it's not clear what the difference between the 55 & 65 are, as MSI doesn't show any difference). The MSI website isn't very detailed with its specs either and from cadaveca's review, it appears to have an 8+2 phase VRM.

I then looked at the Asus P8Z68-V/GEN3 mobo and this baby has a 12+4 phase VRM and has more features generally than the MSI. I then saw that for another £20, I can get the P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 which has a bit more features. Also, the standard of English in the documentation is better with Asus than MSI, which is more important than you think, although not a dealmaker/breaker.

I looked up a couple of reviews and the Asus seems really good, especially with its VRM and UEFI, therefore, I've decided on the Asus P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3. It will cose me a fairly pricey £160.

What do you think - is this a good choice?

RAM: I'm just gonna find some branded DDR3 1600 sticks and get 8 or 16 gigs of those in two sticks, depending on price.

Cooler: I'll just use the stock cooler for a bit. I wanna let the heat from the credit card cool off a bit first. 




mik said:


> Are you still going to use the HAF 922 like in your system spec? How many case fans?



Yup, my beloved HAF 922 ain't going nowhere. As far as fans go, it has none.

What! 

Hehe, that's because it lives permanently with the side panel off, as I'm always tinkering around inside, so doesn't need fans.


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Dec 2, 2011)

That will be a very solid choice. Though being a pro it's really only got 12 relevant vrms. The other 4 are for the igpu. Not that it makes a difference.



> ASUS Digital Power Design :
> - Industry leading Digital 16 Phase Power Design
> (12 -phase for CPU, 4 -phase for iGPU)
> - ASUS DIGI+ VRM Utility


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## radrok (Dec 2, 2011)

qubit said:


> Ok people, I've now decided on a mobo, but before I get it I'd like your opinions on it.
> 
> I really wanted to get another Gigabyte mobo, but because they don't do UEFI yet, I've had to abandon them. BUT! Check out this TPU news on their new 3D BIOS (UEFI) which looks amazing. As far as I can tell, it's only gonna be for LGA 2011 boards for now, unfortunately. Anyone know if it's coming to LGA 1155 soon? You can see Gigabyte's 3D BIOS launch page here.
> 
> ...



I have built something like five 1155 systems for friends (even though I just do it for fun) and four of them sport an ASUS motherboard! No one of them has encountered issues, just one which had bluescreens with a Vertex 3 drive, I still think that it was the drive SF controller as we know OCZ had some troubles with it.
Both are PCIe 3.0 Ready and that's what matters in terms of future-proofing as I think Ivy Bridge motherboards will not be and should not be called upgrading since the only difference is that they will support USB 3.0 natively... big deal, controllers can do that just fine!
VRMs are strong and willing to squeeze your 2700k so here we are covered 

These are the differences between the 2 motherboards 



> Marvell® PCIe SATA 6Gb/s controller
> 2 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), navy blue



SO! I think that the extra SATA 6Gb/s will come in handy, better have them for a small sum than regretting later and having to purchase an additional PCIe SATA controller!

I like the PCIe configuration a lot, the switch are good because you'll have two 8x @ 3.0 or 16x @ 3.0 that'll be more than enough for the future.

You can't be wrong with ASUS, every single motherboard I've owned lately is from ASUS (R2E and RIVE now)
No disappointments so far! 

Hope this helps


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## qubit (Dec 2, 2011)

LAN_deRf_HA said:


> That will be a very solid choice. Though being a pro it's really only got 12 relevant vrms. The other 4 are for the igpu. Not that it makes a difference.



Oops, that was a blatant typo!  Fixed, thankyou. A solid choice, great. 



radrok said:


> I have built something like five 1155 systems for friends (even though I just do it for fun) and four of them sport an ASUS motherboard! No one of them has encountered issues, just one which had bluescreens with a Vertex 3 drive, I still think that it was the drive SF controller as we know OCZ had some troubles with it.
> Both are PCIe 3.0 Ready and that's what matters in terms of future-proofing as I think Ivy Bridge motherboards will not be and should not be called upgrading since the only difference is that they will support USB 3.0 natively... big deal, controllers can do that just fine!
> VRMs are strong and willing to squeeze your 2700k so here we are covered
> 
> ...



It does help. And yes, besided the extra SATA, it's got IEEE support which I'll never use, lol.

So you've had direct and good experience with them. That sounds great. 

Interestingly, the board supports Crossfire & SLI. While I wouldn't buy it specifically for this feature, it does mean that I can play with SLI using my two 8800 Ultras that I got cheaply some time ago.


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## X800 (Dec 2, 2011)

I have this Scythe Mugen 2 Rev. B CPU cooler at my clocks its 48-50c while playing. I ordered theese for my new build CPU_Intel Core i7 2700K + Asus Maximus IV GENE-Z Z68 + Corsair 8GB KIT PC3-14900 DDR3-1866 CL9 Vengeance .This helpep me to choose the motherboard http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/Maximus_IV_Gene-Z/


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## radrok (Dec 2, 2011)

X800 said:


> I have this Scythe Mugen 2 Rev. B CPU cooler at my clocks its 48-50c while playing. I ordered theese for my new build CPU_Intel Core i7 2700K + Asus Maximus IV GENE-Z Z68 + Corsair 8GB KIT PC3-14900 DDR3-1866 CL9 Vengeance .This helpep me to choose the motherboard http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/Maximus_IV_Gene-Z/



But that's an mATX right? I think qubit is looking for a full ATX motherboard


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## Sinzia (Dec 2, 2011)

the Pro is a solid choice, I have nothing to add other than that. 

keep us posted on the system build!


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## qubit (Dec 2, 2011)

Sinzia said:


> the Pro is a solid choice, I have nothing to add other than that.
> 
> keep us posted on the system build!



I've ordered it!

I've also got some RAM: Corsair Vengeance Blue 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800 C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit







Now, I just need a SATA DVD writer, but I already have one. Just need to test it actually works...


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## radrok (Dec 2, 2011)

It matches your motherboard colors perfectly, you're going to have a nice build qubit!
Now all you'll need is an heatsink to keep the 2700k cool but that one can wait, you're going to see a giant increase over your old CPU even at stock!


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## linoliveira (Dec 2, 2011)

gratz for you'r nice build! 

If i were you i just would change 1 thing, the RAM! Because i like high clocks! xD
I got my 2x4GB 2133Mhz CL11 1.5v kit for ~ 60pound, tweaked it to CL10 and its pretty awesome.

Regarding your cooler, as far as few reviews i see, the noctua coolers look the way to go (low noise and good temps).
LINK - LINK - LINK

I picked the last Cooler Review so you can compare temps with a vast list :b


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## (FIH) The Don (Dec 2, 2011)

like i said before, high speed RAM is really not important on SB, so that would be a utter waste of money really.

rather spend them on a ssd, better gpu, or something else


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## linoliveira (Dec 2, 2011)

(FIH) The Don said:


> like i said before, high speed RAM is really not important on SB, so that would be a utter waste of money really.
> 
> rather spend them on a ssd, better gpu, or something else



I know I know, I'm a clock freak, but take a look -> HERE

Latencies are lower and the speed is just... amazing!! I spent ~ 10pound more on the 2133Mhz kit that i wont regreat :b
This is how I see things, and i know you barely notice in real world performance.


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## brandonwh64 (Dec 6, 2011)

Any update on your build? What board did you end up with?


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## radrok (Dec 6, 2011)

He ordered the P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3, it's mentioned some posts above 




qubit said:


> I've ordered it!
> 
> I've also got some RAM: Corsair Vengeance Blue 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800 C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
> 
> ...


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## brandonwh64 (Dec 6, 2011)

radrok said:


> He ordered the P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3, it's mentioned some posts above



AWWW IM BLIND! *pokes his eyes out!* That is a BADASS board! Cant wait to see more updates!


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## LifeOnMars (Dec 6, 2011)

Hope the build goes well Q, benchies please and a nice review of components


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## brandonwh64 (Dec 6, 2011)

LifeOnMars said:


> Hope the build goes well Q, benchies please and a nice review of components



+1

we def need some benches!


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## qubit (Dec 6, 2011)

Hold your horses people, I'm building up to a great update! 

Gimme a bit to finish dinner please, lol.


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## twicksisted (Dec 6, 2011)

Sandybridge K series processors overclock well on pretty much any sandybridge board with OC functions, you dont have to buy a top of the range board. I went for an Asus because to me the UEFI bios looks nicer and AI Suite lets me overclock from within the operating system easily at the push of a button.

Also worth mentioning is that i dont really use an overclock on this machine anymore as it dosent give any perfromance increase in games as those are already maxxed out, and even in encoding video or editing I dont see a difference in real terms as the 2600k is already stupidly fast on stock 

*EDIT buy a cheaper board and get yourself a 64 or 120gb SSD to make the most of the 2700k


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## qubit (Dec 6, 2011)

brandonwh64 said:


> Any update on your build? What board did you end up with?



Yes, I've been meaning to update you guys...

Here's what I got on Saturday from www.novatech.com:

*Intel i7-2700K with free Battlefield 3 £265*










*Asus P8Z68-V/GEN3 mobo £160*





More mobo pics:


Spoiler















*2x4GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3-1600 RAM £40* Tell me, does it look like they're sitting in an Asus mobo? 









And now for the joker of the pack: a Samsung S222AB 22x DVD+/-RW SATA Black - OEM for £14. Turns out the SATA drive I have works, but the tray tends to stick when ejected most of the time and for such a small sum, it wasn't worth the hassle of trying to fix it, lol.

So, the whole build cost me £465 + the DVD drive. Now I just have to migrate my PC over to it. Here's the strategy I'm gonna use:

My current PC has two 2TB Greens in RAID 1 holding all my precious data and there's a further backup drive in a low-end server PC. I'm going to update that backup drive and then make a further copy on another drive connected to that PC. The system drive is a 640GB Caviar Black.

I'm going to use SYSPREP to run my current install on the new hardware. What!  you all say, aghast - you must install Windows clean!!! Well heck, I've never used Windows 7 SYSPREP before and there's no harm in trying and seeing what I end up with. _Endless blues screens and glitches, qubit_ 

The RAIDed drives likely won't work without reformatting and rebuilding on the new mobo (haven't checked) so after checking that the system boots properly and is stable, I'm gonna connect the drives up and see if I need to rebuild the array.

Of course, I'll be installing all the latest drivers for all the new hardware on the Asus mobo.

I'll be upgrading the cooler at a later date.

Now I just need to stick it all together.


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## brandonwh64 (Dec 6, 2011)

Wow those look so pretty! I actually got the motherboard I mentioned to you on like a couple of pages back.


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## LifeOnMars (Dec 6, 2011)

Drool...Damn I miss my sandy rig. Early next year I'll be upgrading again. But then I'll be waiting to buy a new graphics card from either one of the camps depending on who puts out a killer card.

It all looks great Q, can't wait to see what that rig will do to your fps and gaming experience. Good god man, when I get new parts I skip food altogether I get that excited and I'm a 32 yr old man boy


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## Sinzia (Dec 6, 2011)

Are you going from vista to 7? or XP to 7? or just a board swap?

I ask cause I did a vista to 7 on my old asus G53 and it went flawlessly, no reformatting needed...
I also switched the board out twice, going from P67/recall/new P67/then Z68, once again with no issues.


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## qubit (Dec 6, 2011)

Sinzia said:


> Are you going from vista to 7? or XP to 7? or just a board swap?
> 
> I ask cause I did a vista to 7 on my old asus G53 and it went flawlessly, no reformatting needed...
> I also switched the board out twice, going from P67/recall/new P67/then Z68, once again with no issues.



The system will be the same, except for those components and I already explained that I'm gonna attempt to fit my current install on it using SYSPREP. Therefore, my 64-bit Win7 is going on it. 

Thanks for the info. It looks like modern Windows can withstand core hardware changes much better than XP, doesn't it?


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## Sinzia (Dec 7, 2011)

qubit said:


> The system will be the same, except for those components and I already explained that I'm gonna attempt to fit my current install on it using SYSPREP. Therefore, my 64-bit Win7 is going on it.
> 
> Thanks for the info. It looks like modern Windows can withstand core hardware changes much better than XP, doesn't it?



Yeah, it can! the intel on board raid even went from my core 2 duo P45 to the P67 etc etc

And I never sysprep'd it at all... it "just worked"


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## LifeOnMars (Dec 8, 2011)

Need......more.......updates........squints


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## LifeOnMars (Dec 10, 2011)

Well old chap how is the beast ?


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## qubit (Dec 10, 2011)

LifeOnMars said:


> Well old chap how is the beast ?



Still sitting seductively in it's boxes.  Because of work and just generally, I've not had a chance to put it together. Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to do this.


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## LifeOnMars (Dec 10, 2011)

Qubit you are a stronger man than I, temptation has always got me into trouble though


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## qubit (Dec 10, 2011)

Hey, quickie update everyone.

I'm gonna put the basic system together on an open frame first to make sure that it works ok. I then realized that the only two decent PSU's I have are sitting in my main PC (the one to be upgraded) and my server PC and I don't want to disable either one. I've got two others, but they're a touch flakey, therefore, I rushed out to Novatech and bought myself a Corsair CX 500W V2 ATX2.2 80 PLUS for £48 and as an impulse buy, a handy Thermaltake Doctor Power 2 - PSU Power Tester for £24.

More updates on the way.


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## linoliveira (Dec 13, 2011)

I found a good and updated review on some coolers mentioned in this topic you might want to take a look: Here

They take good pics on how the cooler fits on the motherboard, including the so contested RAM slot area.

Also they take a 2600k over 4.7GHz with 1.40v for testing the temps, and that might be close to your target with that sweet 2700k :b


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## happita (Dec 13, 2011)

You better test it out soon. I don't know what the return policy is from the place where you bought your setup, but I'd feel safer knowing that something works vs. not working then being shit out of luck if its past the 30 day warranty or whatever it is


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## qubit (Dec 14, 2011)

linoliveira said:


> I found a good and updated review on some coolers mentioned in this topic you might want to take a look: Here
> 
> They take good pics on how the cooler fits on the motherboard, including the so contested RAM slot area.
> 
> Also they take a 2600k over 4.7GHz with 1.40v for testing the temps, and that might be close to your target with that sweet 2700k :b



Thanks for that, I'll check these out.



happita said:


> You better test it out soon. I don't know what the return policy is from the place where you bought your setup, but I'd feel safer knowing that something works vs. not working then being shit out of luck if its past the 30 day warranty or whatever it is



Thanks buddy, but don't worry, these are brand new and have a full warranty, plus the shop I bought them from, Novatech, has great customer service (famous last words). I still haven't got round to it and a big part of it is because I have to write news stories for you 'orrible lot, lol.


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## happita (Dec 14, 2011)

qubit said:


> Thanks buddy, but don't worry, these are brand new and have a full warranty, plus the shop I bought them from, Novatech, has great customer service (famous last words). I still haven't got round to it and a big part of it is because I have to write news stories for you 'orrible lot, lol.



Even news editors have to take vacations, no?  I just speak from my own experience because I am a procrastinator and usually wait until the last minute to get something done. But when it comes to getting a new system up for myself, I JUMP at the first opportunity to get it set up and running. It's computer pr0n for me


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## MilkyWay (Dec 14, 2011)

Wait so your building it on an "open frame" just to make sure it works properly? So are you keeping your current rig or are you going to have 2 rigs and the server? I would have commandeered a PSU from one of the other rigs to test, saves buying one unless your planning to have 2 rigs then it makes sense because you would need a new psu anyway. Something must be flying above my head .

Hmmmn most items here are 2 weeks return policy but i dont really know the returns policy for Novatech, if you open anything they they might not refund or replace but thats what an RMA is for anyway.

How long have you had these parts lying around for? I instantly install new parts.


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## dhdude (Dec 14, 2011)

Gonna be a good upgrade man! Get it done!  I made the same upgrade to the same CPU and mobo at the weekend with an H80 & Vertex 3 and am loving it!


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## qubit (Dec 14, 2011)

MilkyWay said:


> Wait so your building it on an "open frame" just to make sure it works properly? So are you keeping your current rig or are you going to have 2 rigs and the server? I would have commandeered a PSU from one of the other rigs to test, saves buying one unless your planning to have 2 rigs then it makes sense because you would need a new psu anyway. Something must be flying above my head .
> 
> Hmmmn most items here are 2 weeks return policy but i dont really know the returns policy for Novatech, if you open anything they they might not refund or replace but thats what an RMA is for anyway.
> 
> How long have you had these parts lying around for? I instantly install new parts.



Whoa - lots of questions!  Here we go:

I've got my main rig, you know the expensive, powerful gaming one with the E8500 in it (see specs) that I use for internet and email for about 99.5% of the time.  It's getting a bit long in the tooth now, so I bought the 2700K and supporting components, as shown in previous posts - so that I'll have a massively _more_ powerful system continuing to do the same light tasks that a basic Citrix terminal could accomplish. 

I also have a server PC, running on an ancient socket 939 system A3800 X2, doing a fine job. Both PCs have quality PSUs in good order. I've got two other "quality" older Antec PSUs that are a touch flaky, which I'd rather not plug into £460-worth of new gear. Before I go putting the new PC into my case, I want to test it on the open mATX frame cribbed from a case long ago by a friend and given to me. I intend fiddling around and running it like that for a little while, to get confidence that the hardware works ok, compare it to my old system and generally nerd out over it. 

I also have another very solid reason to have bought that PSU: my old S939 is going to my mum, who only uses the internet, so it will run fine for her, despite its age. Also, my E8500 is going to be repurposed as my server. That means the loss of a 100% working PSU to my mum, hence this purchase is necessary.

It doesn't matter if a little time passes, because I don't want different components. If they fail, I'll just get them replaced under warranty. With a bit of luck, I'll get to build it this weekend, but then of course there's the Christmas shopping to get in the way...


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## mediasorcerer (Dec 14, 2011)

Personally, id recommend a closed liquid cooler over air, more room for ram, quieter and better efficiency for around the same price, ie -i got my antec for 89$ aus and it allowed me to oc my i5 to 5 ghz the other day.Its only a single radiator with two fans on it.works great too.

ps, good choice of mobo q, hope it works gr8 for you!! bet it will my friend.


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## TheoneandonlyMrK (Dec 14, 2011)

lookin good ,would be nice if you updated the OP with your list of purchases


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## joyman (Dec 21, 2011)

Hey qubit, I really enjoy reading your articles, so wanna be helpful too. For cooler I would recommend Thermalright Macho - silent and cheap, but powerful. If you got spare wallet filling go for the Archon - dead silent, but really capable - want more power grab 1 extra vent. Requires large cases though. Both get along with tall memories like yours.
Check this out and keep up the good work. 
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/thermalright-hr-02-macho.html
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/thermalright-archon.html


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## JustaTinkerer (Dec 21, 2011)

Dont know how I missed this my old chap....and now I see its not built....shame of a busy schedule.

Same kit of corsair as myself....alas I choose bulldozer.
Fine chip for my needs right now all the same. Hope to see this built soon. 
I would advise on cooler and PSU but I'm green eyed enough just now and and all I would advise is stuff I want.


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## qubit (Dec 27, 2011)

*Sandy lives!*

_Finally!_ After sitting around in their boxes for over three weeks, I've had a chance to put the bits together on the open test rack and power her up for the first time - and she works perfectly. 

At the moment, all I've got is the mobo, CPU (with stock cooler) RAM (both sticks) keyboard and mouse connected together just to test it works. The CPU is at 37C/98F and the mobo at 33C/91F, which looks fine.

I've checked the EFI BIOS and seen that it's at the initial 0301 version. I've downloaded the updated 0401 version and before I do anything else, I'll flash it. _Which will be the point at which everything dies. No, don't say that..._

Boy, it's nice to get this thing off the ground finally.


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## JustaTinkerer (Dec 27, 2011)

Fantastic, glad you got the time to build it up make sure its all working etc, I did get over my bout of jealousy, enough to recommend a cooler, but I just can't, every time I poke about looking I keep coming back to the H80/H100 from corsair, even then I'm not sure about all in one water....I learnt something new about myself today I'm an elitist waterboy...just stick in a custom water setup 

Hmm, your system brings out the bad in me


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## qubit (Dec 27, 2011)

JustaTinkerer said:


> Fantastic, glad you got the time to build it up make sure its all working etc, I did get over my bout of jealousy, enough to recommend a cooler, but I just can't, every time I poke about looking I keep coming back to the H80/H100 from corsair, even then I'm not sure about all in one water....I learnt something new about myself today I'm an elitist waterboy...just stick in a custom water setup
> 
> Hmm, your system brings out the bad in me



I see you're a real watercooling junky - that'll get you high overclocks for sure.  I'm happy just to use a decent air cooler. Tell you what, those Intel stock coolers have gotten no better: this one still makes an irritating whirring sound, just like the S775 one from almost three years ago which is totally unnecessary and the heatsink part is actually thinner! I'll be replacing it sooner rather than later, I assure you.

In fact, taking a look at it, the fitting appears to be the same as my S775 one. I wonder if I can transfer the Zalman cooler from the old system to this? I'll have to check it out more closely to say for sure.

Well, I've now updated the EFI to the latest 0402, cleared the CMOS, loaded defaults and it's working fine. My strategy now is to familiarize myself with all the features of the mobo. Then, I'll grab a spare HD and install Windows 7 on it and see how this baby flies.  It'll be a little while until it becomes my main system. Speaking of which, I need to blow the dust out of the cooler...

When it's time to make it my main system, I'll attempt an OS transplant first. If that doesn't work, even with sysprep, I'll install it clean. However, I feel confident that a transplant will go ok. Oh and all my data is backed up, of course.


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## twicksisted (Dec 27, 2011)

I think once you get your pc up and running properly and running your programs you'll see that theres little need to overclock it.
The 2600K is a beast of a chip and will perform fantastically in any situation, your 2700K will only be better


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## qubit (Dec 27, 2011)

Thanks twick, you're right the CPU is real fast, but overclocking is in my blood and a gigglehurtz overclock is so easy to achieve, that I'm gonna grab it with both hands. 

I can just see myself getting Ivy Bridge when it comes out, even though I "won't need to".


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## twicksisted (Dec 28, 2011)

yeah i know what you mean and i was right with you when i first upgraded from my old 775 Q6600 setup... spent the extra dosh getting a fancy motherboard, fast memory and all-in-one water cooling thinking that it would be something that id inevitably need but as it turns out the 2600K dosent really benefit from having a fancy motherboard, faster than 1333mhz ram or an overclock as its so fast stock... 

Sure mine overclocks easily to 4.6ghz and playing a bit can get 4.8ghz with really low temps using the auto overclocking tools.. playing further in bios will likely get me to 5ghz as my temps are so low but actually I have used an overclock with this setup about 8 times now in 6 months only as the processor at stock is so blazingly fast and this is from someone who does a lot of video conversion & editing.

My old Q6600 rig was always run overclocked to the max to squeeze out every bit of performance i could get, this one I cantr find a program that actually taxes it in any way yet 

Im building up a cheap sandybridge i5 2500k rig with a £50 motherboard and some 1333mhz ram that will cost me £250.. its for my secondary rig and i presume it will run all of these tasks just as well and do it costing 3 times less.. This is for my GF to use mainly and as a secondary gaming rig. dont get me wrong, i like having all the parts i have now, all im saying is that this is the first time in my life that ive upgraded to something that chews through anything I throw at it with ease and I diddnt have to break the bank to put it together.


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## Sinzia (Dec 28, 2011)

Glad you're having fun with it! =D


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## qubit (Dec 30, 2011)

*Irony: the PSU was faulty*

You're gonna love this one, guys. I bought that Corsair CX500, because I didn't want to connect my expensive new PC to my old flaky PSUs that I have, quite understandably. However, that new Corsair was actually faulty!

I noticed that it was making feint whistling noises, as soon as I turned it on, in standby and when the PC would reboot. Everything worked, but it just didn't look right, besides the noise being damned annoying. So, I put my new PSU tester on it and it showed a fail on the 3.3v line. Hooray! A solid fault that the shop can't argue with.

So, today I rushed back with the PSU and my PSU tester, to Novatech who gave me excellent service, as usual. They connected their own tester and it came up as bad, too (3.3v low) and refunded me the money, no quibbles, even though I'd had it for three weeks now. They didn’t try my tester – this is important. 

This PSU was a Corsair CX500. For another £7 I saw that they did the CX600 model and thought I’d go for that (£53). However, it turns out that the OEM building these for Corsair is Channel Well Technology according to one of the sales guys, which apparently doesn’t have the greatest reputation in PSU's, so I was a little wary of the second one being bad too. Therefore, I asked them to test it before purchase, which they duly did with their tester… and it failed! The same 3.3v line was showing as too low, again. Finding it a bit hard to believe that two PSU's in a row were bad the same way, I put my tester on it – and it passed! 

That’s conclusive.

So, after much dithering by myself and Novatech over what to do with these conflicting results and a quick browse of their catalog, I decided to buy it and I’m glad I did. I tested it again at home, the voltages were fine and there were no funny noises this time, either.

So, I've now familiarized myself with all the mobo and EFI features and will be installing Windows 7 on it next. As I've said previously, it's not going to be the main PC for a little while, as I'm gonna just play around with it on the open frame for a bit.

Stay tuned.


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## qubit (Jan 2, 2012)

*Partition help*







I want to image my Windows drive and store it as an image file, using Paragon Hard Disc Manager, which can selectively copy partitions. Then I'll use that file to put that image on a spare HD and test it on the new Sandy Bridge PC. I'll then reimage that spare HD as necessary as I try different things out. However, there's a little problem.

Taking a look at the picture above, you can see that the only partition I'm interested in is the Win7 new (C: ) partition. However, that is only the Boot partition, the System partition is that XP64 one on the right. I don't want to image that over every time as it's redundant for this exercise and the extra copying will take significant time and storage space, so I need to make the Win7 partition also the system partition.

I've tried googling and looking at the Microsoft knowledgebase for the answer, but I can't find any way to do it. Any help appreciated.


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## okidna (Jan 2, 2012)

Hello, I'm new here...



qubit said:


> This PSU was a Corsair CX500. For another £7 I saw that they did the CX600 model and thought I’d go for that (£53). *However, it turns out that the OEM building these for Corsair is Channel Well Technology according to one of the sales guys, which apparently doesn’t have the greatest reputation in PSU's*, so I was a little wary of the second one being bad too. Therefore, I asked them to test it before purchase, which they duly did with their tester… and it failed! The same 3.3v line was showing as too low, again. Finding it a bit hard to believe that two PSU's in a row were bad the same way, I put my tester on it – and it passed!



CWT is not that bad. In fact they've made a lot of good PSU for Corsair in the past.
VX550, HX1000, HX1050, TX750-950, etc.
In fact, HX850 (your PSU on your spec. list) also made by CWT.

The new CX, GS, and modular TX also built by CWT. They used a new platform which unfortunately not as good as the old one.

Here's a list of Corsair' PSU OEMs : http://pastebin.com/SMGkUA2W


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## NdMk2o1o (Jan 2, 2012)

John Doe said:


> Fans lol.



Hardware secrets says otherwise, and says they are nothing like each other except for both being a dual fan tower type


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## qubit (Jan 2, 2012)

okidna said:


> Hello, I'm new here...
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Thanks for the info. 

I thought my HX850 was actually made by Seasonic, according to the reviews I'd read? Don't quote me on it though, as it was ages ago and it's still working very well.

Well, my replacement Corsair CX600 worked alright and it's not going to be run with a heavy load, so it should hopefully be ok.

Welcome to TPU.


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## qubit (Jan 7, 2012)

*Screenshots*

My system is up and running on its test rack and I thought I'd share a couple of screenshots with yourselves.


*64-bit Windows 7 and that glorious 16 gigs of RAM* 





This is actually a scratchpad image and I'll be doing it all over again when I put the new system into my trusty HAF 922 case, hence I won't bother activating it.


*Quad core i7-2700K comes with an extra core!! EDIT: See this important update on post 92* 





I was able to just transplant my current Windows 7 installation onto the new motherboard. I initially got blue screens at boot, because the old mobo was set to SATA compatibility mode for XP and the new one to the superior AHCI mode. I was able to cure this and then run that install in AHCI mode very simply: I set the EFI BIOS to compatibility mode, then installed all the drivers off the motherboard DVD, rebooting as necessary. I then set the EFI to AHCI and rebooted. Windows did some more driver installations and reboots and then came up perfectly in AHCI mode.  I now get the option to "remove" my hard discs, just like USB flash drives.

As I write this, I'm preparing to transfer my two RAID 1 data drives to the new system. I'm doing this by taking an image of the array with Paragon Hard Disc Manager, onto a third drive, which is taking some time, to say the least. Once the image is made, I'll connect the drives to the new mobo and see if it recognizes the RAID format. If not, I'll just reformat them for the new mobo and copy the data over. Note that I have at least two copies of it at all times, for insurance against data loss.

It really didn't help the image creation that my overclocked E8500 blue screened half way through  so I've taken out the overclock and it's going fine now. In fact, with the 4.11GHz overclock in place, the copying process was causing severe intermittent stutters in the audio while playing music, which has now disappeared without it. The odd thing is that I can play the toughest of 3D games with complete stability with that overclock. A salutory lesson in the perils of overclocking, lol.


@okidna

Found a review of my HX850W and it turns out that it was actually made Channel Well Technology for them, but apparently Corsair have a big hand in the design. Also, it looks like I was wrong about CWT and they're actually an excellent PSU manufacturer. It was this review mainly that convinced me to buy it and an excellent purchase it was, too.


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## PopcornMachine (Jan 7, 2012)

Ok I probably missed something about the 2700k, but why 5 cores? 

I just put together a SB 2500k system myself and am very happy with it so far.  Got it to 5GHz for some benching without much trouble.

And I have a Corsair HX650.  Probably a different source than your 850, but the whole HX line got good reviews.  Don't think you can go wrong with any of them.


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## fullinfusion (Jan 7, 2012)

PopcornMachine said:


> Ok I probably missed something about the 2700k, but why 5 cores?
> 
> I just put together a SB 2500k system myself and am very happy with it so far.  Got it to 5GHz for some benching without much trouble.
> 
> And I have a Corsair HX650.  Probably a different source than your 850, but the whole HX line got good reviews.  Don't think you can go wrong with any of them.



They don't have 5 cores. It's a bug from a dodgy install or patch up. Or in msconfig he set cores to 5 instead of 8 .... A man with so much knowledge and didn't do a fresh install? Wow! Welcome to non stop issues Q. I'm running the same board as you but into the pci 2 version. When I upgrade to the ROG board the ssd is getting a sanitary wipe and a fresh install of windows. Using a flash drive it takes  5-6 min for the install and about two hrs to finish everything else.


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## mstenholm (Jan 7, 2012)

qubit said:


> Quad core i7-2700K comes with an extra core!!



Update your specs so we don't need to read the whole tread to see which MB you ended up getting. Gamers


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## fullinfusion (Jan 7, 2012)

mstenholm said:


> Update your specs so we don't need to read the whole tread to see which MB you ended up getting. Gamers



Look back one page, he has nice pix


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## mstenholm (Jan 7, 2012)

fullinfusion said:


> Look back one page, he has nice pix



My point....


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## qubit (Jan 8, 2012)

*Them CPU cores...*

Hey guys, I'm just messin' with ya.  Yeah, it looks retarded with 5 cores don't it? There's no such animal as a 5 core CPU, of course. All I did was use MSCONFIG to tell Win7 to use 5 cores, like this:







Unticking the checkbox has restored my CPU to its former glory:






Note that in the BIOS, you can set the number of cores active and HyperThreading on or off. This gives you options of 1,2,3,4,6,8 cores/HT - note that you can't get a combination of 5 or 7 active threads from fiddling with this.

I may do some benchmarks one day, with the OS set for all the cores from 1 to 8 and see what I get. I'll take temperature readings while I'm at it.



fullinfusion said:


> They don't have 5 cores. It's a bug from a dodgy install or patch up. Or in msconfig he set cores to 5 instead of 8 .... A man with so much knowledge and didn't do a fresh install? Wow! Welcome to non stop issues Q. I'm running the same board as you but into the pci 2 version. When I upgrade to the ROG board the ssd is getting a sanitary wipe and a fresh install of windows. Using a flash drive it takes  5-6 min for the install and about two hrs to finish everything else.



You guessed right about MSCONFIG.  

As far as non-stop issues, it's actually working really well. Win7 is much better than creaky old XP at being transplanted onto another mobo. Don't forget that this is my test image, which I can f* up as much as I want and just wipe out if it goes bad. Only when I have sufficient confidence, will I do this with the original install.

You're right about putting on a fresh install, of course; it's always recommended. However, my Windows is set up just the way I like it, so I wanna see if I can avoid going through days of pain of installing (which is quick) patching and tweaking and installing all my apps all over again - I'm a pain in the ass perfectionist, so believe me, it takes me ages.


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## radrok (Jan 8, 2012)

I never keep anything on the boot drive, just windows and the essentials.
I do have a Win7 backup on a pendrive so when I want to quickly install my customized OS I can do it very fast.
The other programs which don't need any installation are kept on secondary drives, this saves me a lot of time 

Glad to see you put your system on, too bad you don't have enough time to enjoy it man, I hope for you that you'll have some in the days to come


----------



## mediasorcerer (Jan 8, 2012)

qubit said:


> _Finally!_ After sitting around in their boxes for over three weeks, I've had a chance to put the bits together on the open test rack and power her up for the first time - and she works perfectly.
> 
> At the moment, all I've got is the mobo, CPU (with stock cooler) RAM (both sticks) keyboard and mouse connected together just to test it works. The CPU is at 37C/98F and the mobo at 33C/91F, which looks fine.
> 
> ...




hey q ive flashed 3 bios updates via win7 ai suite internet download etc without a problem on my asus board.  great stuff, got any pics of it all assembled?[or did i miss somtin lol?]


----------



## qubit (Jan 9, 2012)

*I'm pissed off...*

Asus's RAID implementation is inferior to my old Gigabyte mobo and its costing me.

The Gigabyte has Intel RAID and third party RAID (brand not specified in mobo manual). This meant that I used third party RAID 1 to keep my 6 Intel SATA ports free and it's working very well.

However, the Asus only has Intel RAID coming off the Z68 chip, which means that setting them to RAID sets _all six_ SATA ports to RAID mode! This leaves a mere 2 SATA's free + eSATA, which is a bit crap, frankly. I'm only gonna use 2 of those ports for RAID 1, so it means I'm gonna waste 4 bloody ports because of this limitation.  I even looked on the Asus website to see if any of their mobo's had third party RAID, but even their very top Maximus IV Extreme-Z is just like my mobo, relying solely in Intel RAID.

It looks I'll either have to get a plugin RAID board which is expensive, or a plugin non-RAID board, which shouldn't cost too much, but will lose me a slot and possibly performance.

It's a real shame that Gigabyte doesn't have an EFI BIOS for LGA1155, as I would have got that and been sorted - I just checked and they continue to have the dual RAID implementation with their Z68 boards, along with the dual BIOS feature, which I want.

No wonder I'm pissed off. Any suggestions?



mediasorcerer said:


> hey q ive flashed 3 bios updates via win7 ai suite internet download etc without a problem on my asus board.  great stuff, got any pics of it all assembled?[or did i miss somtin lol?]



No, I don't have any pics, MS. I may take some later, possibly.


----------



## INSTG8R (Jan 9, 2012)

Not sure what your real issue is here qubit? I mean I am running 2 Caviar Blacks in RAID 0 on the 6G ports and another 1TB and my DVD ROM drive on the 3G ports. I don't even have the Marvell ports enabled(Not too mention I hear they are worse anyway)
I of course have it set RAID but it has no effect at all on the other ports.


----------



## qubit (Jan 9, 2012)

INSTG8R said:


> Not sure what your real issue is here qubit? I mean I am running 2 Caviar Blacks in RAID 0 on the 6G ports and another 1TB and my DVD ROM drive on the 3G ports. I don't even have the Marvell ports enabled(Not too mention I hear they are worse anyway)
> I of course have it set RAID but it has no effect at all on the other ports.



Ah, I've just realized that RAID mode still allows a Basic (Windows term) non-RAID HD to be connected like before and without any special formatting. I assumed that RAID mode ports would only work with RAID formatted discs - my mistake. It's now working fine with the same boot drive and the ports in RAID mode.  I just had to let Windows install the RAID driver, because it blue screened before that.


----------



## INSTG8R (Jan 9, 2012)

Yeah they will just act like AHCI ports, no worries. Yeah I keep RAID and Chipset drivers etc on a USB stick to get it all in there on initial install.


----------



## LifeOnMars (Jan 15, 2012)

Hey Q I'm going Sandy again in the next couple of days. I can only afford around £300 ish so it looks like a 2500K with board  unless I can find a super deal on a 2600K.

Where are your benchies, I've been on the edge of my seat waiting to see the improvements you have noticed by upgrading.


----------



## qubit (Jan 15, 2012)

LifeOnMars said:


> Hey Q I'm going Sandy again in the next couple of days. I can only afford around £300 ish so it looks like a 2500K with board  unless I can find a super deal on a 2600K.
> 
> Where are your benchies, I've been on the edge of my seat waiting to see the improvements you have noticed by upgrading.



My costs broke down like this:

CPU: £265
Mobo: £160
8GB RAM: £40 (but then I just _had_ to have 16GB and got another 8GB, lol)
Total: £505. Damn, I didn't wanna see how much I'd spent!  

Admittedly, other than the RAM, I bought fairly high end components (and doesn't my credit card know it). You can obviously reduce this cost by going lower, but I think a £300 budget sounds a bit tight and I hope that you can go over it a little. You'd have to get a low-ish end mobo for the 2500K, which seems a shame for such an awesome CPU and also less RAM. 8GB can be had for much less than £40 if you shop around. However, I got a decent brand, because I wanted to guarantee stability as far as possible, so I don't think that this should be skimped on too much. It would run fine with 4GB, if you really wanted to save costs.

Sorry about the benchies. I'm not all that big on them really and I don't even know how to do them for most games.  I just read the reviews, then put the system together and just enjoy the extra performance.

To get a feel for it, what I typically do is play a small section of a game on both machines and see what the average gain is, by looking at the realtime Fraps readout. If a particular scene is especially taxing, I'll kill off all the enemies and place the game character at that spot and save the game at that point (if the game saves allow this...) The I run that spot of the map on both machines and see the difference. It's pretty good at giving you a rough and ready indication of comparative performance, especially if that was the spot that tended to judder annoyingly on the old machine.

I've now finally finished with my fiddling of the new rig on my open test frame and it needs to go in the case - taking special care with my RAID1 data setup and having my data backed up. I've been wanting to do this for several days now, but just didn't get the chance. Hopefully today will be the day and I will update my specs when it finally goes in.

btw my 'budget' was only £400 and look what happened!  I hate compromising with these things and if I can't afford it, I won't buy at all rather than get something lower which will make me feel unsatisfied.


----------



## LifeOnMars (Jan 15, 2012)

My bad. I'm actually using the same 8GB RAM I currently have so I only need to purchase board and chip. I think I'm going for this ARIA package here -

https://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/GIGABYTE+Intel+i5-2500K+Gamer+Bundle+?productId=47140

Ideally I would use my Corsair A70 but when I had a Sandy setup last time I snapped the screw fittings  Still I'm sure the cooler supplied will provide at least a 4-4.5GHz overclock.


----------



## qubit (Jan 15, 2012)

LifeOnMars said:


> My bad. I'm actually using the same 8GB RAM I currently have so I only need to purchase board and chip. I think I'm going for this ARIA package here -
> 
> https://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/GIGABYTE+Intel+i5-2500K+Gamer+Bundle+?productId=47140
> 
> Ideally I would use my Corsair A70 but when I had a Sandy setup last time I snapped the screw fittings  Still I'm sure the cooler supplied will provide at least a 4-4.5GHz overclock.



That's a nice bundle, actually.  Gigabyte is my brand of choice, if I can get them. However, my current Asus is great too and I chose it because of its great UEFI BIOS. The only slight caveat I have with that bundle, is that AFAIK, you can't use an Ivy Bridge CPU in that mobo, because it doesn't have a UEFI BIOS, so you may want to consider it carefully. If someone with more definitive knowledge on this point could post, I'd be grateful.

Of course, it's always worth shopping around for deals and there may be better ones from other retailers. Try Novatech, perhaps, as they give great customer service.

Finally, as far as those benchies go, I think it's about time I did something about this, so I might bother cadaveca to see how he goes about it.


----------



## LifeOnMars (Jan 15, 2012)

Yeh I had an ASUS board with a 2500k previously and the UEFI bios is very nice. I'm still trying to convince myself I need to upgrade. My system is currently playing anything I want......but I want moar power lol


----------



## qubit (Jan 15, 2012)

You need a business case, huh? Here's one: you want it.

Us enthusiasts don't need any more than that!


----------



## LifeOnMars (Jan 15, 2012)

Lol, I hate PCs. They are the bain of my life and my wallet


----------



## FreedomEclipse (Jan 21, 2012)

Id like to see how far you can OC it, then i would like to compare benchmarks


----------



## qubit (Jan 22, 2012)

Finally! My new PC is inside my HAF 922 case and I've updated my specs. It's all working just fine people and she's awesome.  It's currently running at stock speed with the stock cooler, but that'll change soon, believe me. 

Got a quick question: the cooler mounting seems to be the same as my old S775. I've got a spare cheapy S775 cooler that's better than the stock one and a damned sight quieter, so I'd like to put that on, if possible. I'm just a little wary about it not making proper contact with the CPU and damaging it.

@FreedomEclipse

We'll compare benchmarks and I'll start another thread on it. Please be patient my friend. 

EDIT: I had to reactivate Windows, but it went without a hitch, in under 5 seconds.


----------



## newtekie1 (Jan 22, 2012)

The mounting holes for 775 and 1156/55 are slightly different, so 775 coolers aren't compatible with 1156/55.  Everything else is the same, so other than the holes not lining up you can use a 775 cooler on an 1156/55 CPU.  The board I'm currently using actually came with holes for a 775 cooler along with the holes for the 1156/55 cooler.  When I got it all I had was 775 mounting hardware for the TRUE so I used that and it made contact with the CPU just fine(though the 1156/55 backplate interferred with the 775 backplate I had).  I bought 1156/55 mounting hardward.

I'd suggest you check to see if there are 1156/55 mounting hardware for the cooler you already have.


----------



## LifeOnMars (Jan 22, 2012)

Glad to hear she is all up and running. I'm loving being back on a Sandy rig. My framerates are through the roof and my GTX 560ti is looking forward to getting a partner in crime when I upgrade my monitor/resolution 

Skyrim is now as smooth as silk even in towns/villages!! and GTA IV plays like a dream.


----------



## qubit (Jan 22, 2012)

newtekie1 said:


> The mounting holes for 775 and 1156/55 are slightly different, so 775 coolers aren't compatible with 1156/55.  Everything else is the same, so other than the holes not lining up you can use a 775 cooler on an 1156/55 CPU.  The board I'm currently using actually came with holes for a 775 cooler along with the holes for the 1156/55 cooler.  When I got it all I had was 775 mounting hardware for the TRUE so I used that and it made contact with the CPU just fine(though the 1156/55 backplate interferred with the 775 backplate I had).  I bought 1156/55 mounting hardward.
> 
> I'd suggest you check to see if there are 1156/55 mounting hardware for the cooler you already have.



Thanks man, I knew it was wise to ask before blundering in there.  And a little birdie told me you'd know the answer. 

The cheapie cooler I have is an Akasa AK-955 which was made before S1155 came out, so obviously I can't use it. I'll just sit it out until I get myself a new cooler.

There's this new Zalman model, CNPS8900 Extreme, (released in the UK in February) that I have my eye on. I really like the Zalman flowers because of the looks and the fact they cool the mobo too. Note that potential issues for this one are that it's billed as a "slim" cooler, so cooling performance may not be its top priority and I will be overclocking my CPU (it's at stock right now). The other thing, is that the Corsair Vengeance modules are rather tall, so they might interfere with it, so I'll wait for the reviews.


----------



## newtekie1 (Jan 22, 2012)

qubit said:


> Thanks man, I knew it was wise to ask before blundering in there.  And a little birdie told me you'd know the answer.
> 
> The cheapie cooler I have is an Akasa AK-955 which was made before S1155 came out, so obviously I can't use it. I'll just sit it out until I get myself a new cooler.
> 
> ...



I don't think memory clearance will be an issue.  From the looks of how the cooler mounts, it doesn't actually extend past the mounting holes, so it shouldn't come anywhere near the RAM.


----------



## qubit (Feb 4, 2012)

*Aaargghh dammit!*

While I'm waiting for that Zalman cooler to become available, this stock Intel one is driving me nuts with the noise. 

My PC sits to my right on the table, with the side panel permanently off so I can tinker with it. This means that I can hear everything. This bloody fan makes very irritating semi-musical harmonizing whining noises, made even more irritating by the fact that the speed constantly shifts up and down with the CPU workload.

Because of this, I'm getting a temporary fan and looked for something cheap to save my sanity while I wait for it. I couldn't decide between the Akasa K25, or its big brother the K32, so I got both from Amazon, hehe. The pair only came to £25.


----------



## qubit (Feb 10, 2012)

*It looks like it will interfere*

The Zalman CNPS8900 has now been released and is available from quietpc.com

However, it looks like my fears about interference are well founded. Take a look at the picture below taken from this French review, which shows it intruding into the RAM space. Unfortunately, when I bought my RAM, I hadn't thought of the height of the memory modules and these Vengeance modules are quite tall. I reckon I can fix it by buying two low profile modules and selling the others, although it's hassly and will cost me money.

This huge 120mm cooler looks beautiful and I really want it, so it'll be worth the effort. What do you lot think?


----------



## brandonwh64 (Feb 10, 2012)

I dont see that Zalman CNPS8900 beating a good 120MM cooler?


----------



## qubit (Feb 10, 2012)

It may or may not be the most efficient at cooling the CPU (I'll wait for some proper English reviews I can actually read before making judgement) but asthetics are important here too and I can't see it being a lemon. I also like that it cools the mobo, which I think is quite important. Remember, my PC lives with its side panel permanently off and only a front case fan for the hard discs, so there's no forced air circulation through the case.

EDIT: Forgot to say that I've got that temporary Akasa K25 fitted and it's so quiet. Bliss!

I'm tempted to chuck that Intel POS in the bin. Seriously, it's the worst cooler I've ever had the misfortune to be subjected to. :shadedshu


----------



## fullinfusion (Feb 10, 2012)

qubit said:


> Finally! My new PC is inside my HAF 922 case and I've updated my specs. It's all working just fine people and she's awesome.  It's currently running at stock speed with the stock cooler, but that'll change soon, believe me.
> 
> Got a quick question: the cooler mounting seems to be the same as my old S775. I've got a spare cheapy S775 cooler that's better than the stock one and a damned sight quieter, so I'd like to put that on, if possible. I'm just a little wary about it not making proper contact with the CPU and damaging it.
> 
> ...


Id like to see how far you can push that cpu as well. My 2700K is rocking 5.4GHz and still haz the room for more


----------



## brandonwh64 (Feb 10, 2012)

qubit said:


> It may or may not be the most efficient at cooling the CPU (I'll wait for some proper English reviews I can actually read before making judgement) but asthetics are important here too and I can't see it being a lemon. I also like that it cools the mobo, which I think is quite important. Remember, my PC lives with its side panel permanently off and only a front case fan for the hard discs, so there's no forced air circulation through the case.
> 
> EDIT: Forgot to say that I've got that temporary Akasa K25 fitted and it's so quiet. Bliss!
> 
> I'm tempted to chuck that Intel POS in the bin. Seriously, it's the worst cooler I've ever had the misfortune to be subjected to. :shadedshu



You must remember that it blows how air into the motherboard from the CPU. Those types of coolers are not used much anymore in main stream computing. Best option you could do is pickup a nice H60/70 and two 110CFM fans in Push/Pull.

Examples


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## fullinfusion (Feb 10, 2012)

^ you done editing lol.... 
my screens going bonkers but your right on that cooler...
Heck for the cost grab a H100 imo


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## brandonwh64 (Feb 10, 2012)

fullinfusion said:


> ^ you done editing lol....
> my screens going bonkers but your right on that cooler...
> Heck for the cost grab a H100 imo



My internet at work is bad. They have 10MB connection for TWO plants and over 600 people...

But yea even a simple H50 would do quite well as long as you were not shooting for the moon clocks.


----------



## radrok (Feb 10, 2012)

fullinfusion said:


> Id like to see how far you can push that cpu as well. My 2700K is rocking 5.4GHz and still haz the room for more
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/120210/lovethiscpu.png



I hope that's atleast on custom water and you are not running that 24/7, 32nm really doesn't like more than 1.4v


----------



## qubit (Feb 10, 2012)

@brandonwh64

I'm sure that watercooling has awesome performance, but I prefer to stick to air. I just don't fancy all that water and tubes in my rig and I'm not shooting for super-high clocks, either.

Sure, the air's warmer from the CPU, but it depends on just how hot that heatsink is on whether it overall cools the board or heats it up. Besides, I've had that style of cooler since 2003 and I love them. How's that for a good, solid technical reason to stick with them!  That little Akasa I've put on temporarily is a flower cooler.

@fullinfusion

That's a very nice overclock you've got there.


----------



## fullinfusion (Feb 10, 2012)

radrok said:


> I hope that's atleast on custom water and you are not running that 24/7, 32nm really doesn't like more than 1.4v


Yes on H20 and Nope, I run it 4.5GHz @ 1.22v 24/7


----------



## brandonwh64 (Feb 10, 2012)

qubit said:


> @brandonwh64
> 
> I'm sure that watercooling has awesome performance, but I prefer to stick to air. I just don't fancy all that water and tubes in my rig and I'm not shooting for super-high clocks, either.
> 
> Sure, the air's warmer from the CPU, but it depends on just how hot that heatsink is on whether it overall cools the board or heats it up. Besides, I've had that style of cooler since 2003 and I love them. How's that for a good, solid technical reason to stick with them!  That little Akasa I've put on temporarily is a flower cooler.



Honestly I would recommend a 120MM cooler if your case allows.


----------



## qubit (Feb 10, 2012)

brandonwh64 said:


> Honestly I would recommend a 120MM cooler if your case allows.



Yeah, that Zalman fits the bill nicely  and I do intend on trying for a minimum of 4.5GHz with my 2700K. I've got the HAF 922, so room isn't a problem. I got it originally, so that I could fit large graphics cards and guarantee that they won't snag against the case.

I'll likely do the switcheroo with the RAM if it interferes.


----------



## EarthDog (Feb 10, 2012)

Hyper 212+ or Evo... 

Mobo cooling isnt remotely important for 24/7 clocks. This isnt X79.


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## pantherx12 (Feb 10, 2012)

QUBIT!

Join the tower heatsink cooling community!


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## qubit (Feb 10, 2012)

Hmmm... that's two of you saying that now. I sense a conspiracy... 

Ya know what, I'm quite capable of getting both, just to compare them. 

So, which is your favourite tower cooler, panther?


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## brandonwh64 (Feb 10, 2012)

You wouldn't be interested in this qubit?

Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO CPU Cooler


----------



## qubit (Feb 10, 2012)

brandonwh64 said:


> You wouldn't be interested in this qubit?
> 
> Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO CPU Cooler



I would - and from Novatech no less.  It doesn't interfere with my RAM, either.

Now I wanna see what panther recommends. 

I better read up on some reviews too so that I have a clue of what I'm looking at, too, lol.


----------



## brandonwh64 (Feb 10, 2012)

qubit said:


> I would - and from Novatech no less.  It doesn't interfere with my RAM, either.
> 
> Now I wanna see what panther recommends.
> 
> I better read up on some reviews too so that I have a clue of what I'm looking at, too, lol.



For the price and features the 212 provides, it is one of the best buys you can make. Panther may agree


----------



## qubit (Feb 10, 2012)

brandonwh64 said:


> For the price and features the 212 provides, it is one of the best buys you can make. Panther may agree



It sounds like you've done the reviewing for me.  It's in stock, too... you're tempting me now. 

Also, I generally prefer copper coolers for the slightly better cooling performance, but the risk of damage due to all that weight is significant, especially with a large overhang. You forever have to worry about giving your PC a little bump in case you trash it and that's not a great feeling.


----------



## FreedomEclipse (Feb 10, 2012)

If you could get the extra clip so you can attach a fan on the back of it as well as the front. THAT + 2 Akasa Apache's = Win


----------



## qubit (Feb 10, 2012)

Ok, I've been doing a bit of googling and review reading. It looks like the Prolimatech Megahalems is the cooler to beat. Am I right, or is there one better?

Basically, if I don't go for the Zalman, I'm gonna get the best performance air cooler I can get. I want that CPU temperature _low!_

Thanks for the tip, freedom. 

EDIT: Crikey, it looks like this Megahalems can even go passive!


----------



## FreedomEclipse (Feb 10, 2012)

qubit said:


> Ok, I've been doing a bit of googling and review reading. It looks like the Prolimatech Megahalems is the cooler to beat. Am I right, or is there one better



Noctua NH-D14 - Current boss of all bosses for aircooling.

if you can afford it, id recommend getting a closed water loop like my Antec - Im sure you dont need to hear me harping on how i never go above 60'c even after 12hrs prime95 that will probably beat the Noctua hands down but the Noctua is cheaper.


----------



## HammerON (Feb 10, 2012)

Yep - have to agree that the Noctua NH-D14 is still the king of air coolers.


----------



## EarthDog (Feb 10, 2012)

QubE! Dont make it harder than it needs to be... Where you are clocking, just about any midrange cooler will do. 

I honestly wouldnt spend any more money than the 212+ or Evo. Best bang for your buck out there. Takes my 2600k to 5Ghz benchable on air, and will easily hold 4.8Ghz daily. I cant imagine you would want to go over that.


----------



## linoliveira (Feb 10, 2012)

Hyper 212+ with 2 fans isn't that bad... and its allot cheaper than the NH-D14
Results HERE


----------



## qubit (Feb 10, 2012)

FreedomEclipse said:


> Noctua NH-D14 - Current boss of all bosses for aircooling.
> 
> if you can afford it, id recommend getting a closed water loop like my Antec - Im sure you dont need to hear me harping on how i never go above 60'c even after 12hrs prime95 that will probably beat the Noctua hands down but the Noctua is cheaper.





HammerON said:


> Yep - have to agree that the Noctua NH-D14 is still the king of air coolers.





EarthDog said:


> QubE! Dont make it harder than it needs to be... Where you are clocking, just about any midrange cooler will do.
> 
> I honestly wouldnt spend any more money than the 212+ or Evo. Best bang for your buck out there. Takes my 2600k to 5Ghz benchable on air, and will easily hold 4.8Ghz daily. I cant imagine you would want to go over that.





linoliveira said:


> Hyper 212+ with 2 fans isn't that bad... and its allot cheaper than the NH-D14
> Results HERE



Thanks people. I was just reading a review of the Zalman Zalman CNPS12X over at guru3d and it appears to equal the Noctua according to them, plus I like the look of it.

Spending extra on a high performance air cooler (sorry freedom!  ) is not such an obstacle to me. I want to know that I can throw anything at that CPU and it will keep it as cool as possible.

EarthDog, you make a compelling argument and so do you linoliveira.  That 212 is a bit of a dark horse, isn't it? And yes, the cheaper price is significant.

EarthDog, what temps do you get out of that 212 when you push your CPU hard, then?


----------



## FreedomEclipse (Feb 10, 2012)

a closed waterloop will grant you better cooling then any air cooler on the current market. 

Many people may say its not worth it as theres little difference in temps, but even when i was on my TT Frio a while back running the stock fans at full whack. temps would still hit 72-75'c.

Unless you are saying that you dont believe that closed water loops can handle anything you throw at it???

honestly its a no brainer... Money is no obsticle - You want the best but yet you refuse to pay for the best when its the best by a fair margin and not just a few degrees.


----------



## qubit (Feb 10, 2012)

FreedomEclipse said:


> a closed waterloop will grant you better cooling then any air cooler on the current market.
> 
> Many people may say its not worth it as theres little difference in temps, but even when i was on my TT Frio a while back running the stock fans at full whack. temps would still hit 72-75'c.
> 
> ...



I don't think you understand me. I know water cools inherently better (sometimes way better) it's just not something that I want to put into my PC. I just don't like the idea of liquid coolant anywhere near it with the possibility of leaks and the awkwardness of the pipes.


----------



## EarthDog (Feb 10, 2012)

Temps hit around 80-85C at 5Ghz (1.49v bleh chip) under P95 which is perfectly acceptable. During gaming It doesnt break 70C there. I had a nice 4.5Ghz overclock and it didnt break 63C in gaming IIRC. Plenty. Thats with one Yate Loon high at 1k RPM.


----------



## FreedomEclipse (Feb 10, 2012)

well i suppose the pipes can look a little ugly if you have a clear side panel. 

as for leaking, its very rare that a closed loop unit would leak unless you really really really twist up the pipes. Ive only heard of one occasion where a guy woke up to find his closed loop had sprung a leak over night and leaked all over his hardware but thats an isolated incident afaik. there are many others here on these forums who are running with Corsair Hx0/H100's and they have never had a problem. but its fine, but its just like saying you dislike having your PC plugged into the mains because Electricity could fry your hardware - Same consequences.

you wont achieve if you dont take risks.


----------



## qubit (Feb 11, 2012)

Looked at some more reviews (TPU) and this video review and others and it does look like that Noctua D14 is the daddy of coolers to have - it cools overclocked CPUs so efficiently, yet with almost no noise, just what I'm looking for. Problem is the size. It definitely will not fit with my Vengeance RAM (I so kick myself for not considering the height of the modules when I got them) so I'd either have to run with half the RAM (no!) or sell it and get the low profile version, which will cost me extra money and hassle. 

EarthDog, that 212 Evo is starting to look more compelling, especially considering its surprising cooling performance. I suspect that you know what you're talking about.


----------



## PaulieG (Feb 11, 2012)

qubit said:


> Looked at some more reviews (TPU) and this video review and others and it does look like that Noctua D14 is the daddy of coolers to have - it cools overclocked CPUs so efficiently, yet with almost no noise, just what I'm looking for. Problem is the size. It definitely will not fit with my Vengeance RAM (I so kick myself for not considering the height of the modules when I got them) so I'd either have to run with half the RAM (no!) or sell it and get the low profile version, which will cost me extra money and hassle.
> 
> EarthDog, that 212 Evo is starting to look more compelling, especially considering its surprising cooling performance. I suspect that you know what you're talking about.



The Noctua is NOT the current king of coolers. The current king is the Phanteks ph-tc14pe. Look it up. Serious beast of a cooler. . If you want a smaller footprint, I love the Venomous-X. It's better than the Mega, and just a couple of degrees behind the Noctua. I switched back to water recently, but I own the V-X, Mega, and I had the Noctua for awhile, so I'm talking from experience. I really didn't care for the size of the Noctua. Much too large for my taste.


----------



## qubit (Feb 11, 2012)

Paulieg said:


> The Noctua is NOT the current king of coolers. The current king is the Phanteks ph-tc14pe. Look it up. Serious beast of a cooler. . If you want a smaller footprint, I love the Venomous-X. It's better than the Mega, and just a couple of degrees behind the Noctua. I switched back to water recently, but I own the V-X, Mega, and I had the Noctua for awhile. However, I really didn't care for the size of the Noctua.



Thanks man, that's very helpful. 

While looking at the Novatech website, I came across the Coolermaster V8. I've read one review in which it came out well, but I'll have to check out more, of course. I'll also check out the models you suggested, of course.

I really don't want something that will force me to change my RAM.


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## PaulieG (Feb 11, 2012)

qubit said:


> Thanks man, that's very helpful.
> 
> While looking at the Novatech website, I came across the Coolermaster V8. I've read one review in which it came out well, but I'll have to check out more, of course. I'll also check out the models you suggested, of course.
> 
> I really don't want something that will force me to change my RAM.



I had the V8 too. I thought it was meh. Mediocre cooling, and I didn't love the mounting. If you want a solid performance/price with a smaller footprint, the V-X is the way to go. If you are running just 2 sticks of ram, it will not get in the way.


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## qubit (Feb 11, 2012)

Paulieg said:


> I had the V8 too. I thought it was meh. Mediocre cooling, and I didn't love the mounting. If you want a solid performance/price with a smaller footprint, the V-X is the way to go. If you are running just 2 sticks of ram, it will not get in the way.



Hmmf, you're not kidding about that V8. Hardware Canucks' conclusion can be summed up as "good, but flawed". And the bloody fan can't be replaced.  I'll pass.

The Venemous-X looks good in a couple of reviews. Now I just have to find some places that'll sell it... I think it might be a discontinued model.


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## PaulieG (Feb 11, 2012)

qubit said:


> Hmmf, you're not kidding about that V8. Hardware Canucks' conclusion can be summed up as "good, but flawed". And the bloody fan can't be replaced.  I'll pass.
> 
> The Venemous-X looks good in a couple of reviews. Now I just have to find some places that'll sell it... I think it might be a discontinued model.



http://www.amazon.co_uk/dp/B003NWXH9S/?tag=tec053-21


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## linoliveira (Feb 11, 2012)

I think you don't want that cooler! Proof!


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## PaulieG (Feb 11, 2012)

linoliveira said:


> I think you don't want that cooler! Proof!



LOL. Like I said, if you run just 2 sticks, you are fine. 4 is a no go, like with many of the high end coolers. Sometimes you just have to go low profile, if you want good cooling and all dimm slots populated.


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## qubit (Feb 11, 2012)

Paulieg said:


> http://www.amazon.co_uk/dp/B003NWXH9S/?tag=tec053-21



Thanks, I saw that, but I never buy off the Amazon marketplace any more, because I've had a bad experience once with them and Amazon covered it up by deleting my negative feedback.



linoliveira said:


> I think you don't want that cooler! Proof!





Paulieg said:


> LOL. Like I said, if you run just 2 sticks, you are fine. 4 is a no go, like with many of the high end coolers. Sometimes you just have to go low profile, if you want good cooling and all dimm slots populated.



I definitely want all my memory slots populated, so I'll just have to get some new low profile RAM, lol _qubit gives himself another kick for not doing that in the first place. n00b_

btw, I've just got adventerous with that tiny Akasa K25 fitted and set the BIOS to 4.5GHz: it worked nice and stable (no extra voltage applied) but the fan revs kept shooting up to high/max and back down again, depending on the load. Tried a little gaming and the CPU stuck at around 60C with the fan spinning fast. Of course, trying IntelBurn or similar with that cooler strapped on is a no-go (yes, I did try and it's a no-go even at stock). 

Now I've underclocked it to 1.6GHz (slowest it'll go) with a turbo of 1.7GHz to get a feel for it like that. That little Akasa is sufficient for 1.6GHz though, with the CPU running at at around 46C. 

Ultimately, I still can't quite decide what high-end cooler to get just now. That Thermalright Silver Arrow cooler is either slightly better or slightly worse than the D14, depending on which review one reads.


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## linoliveira (Feb 11, 2012)

The NH-D14 comes with silent fans, so acoustics will not be a problem while still performing great, but it weights 75g more than the Silver Arrow. Also the Silver Arrow uses BIG fans rly, the dimensions are: Length 160mm x Width 25mm x Height 140mm.

Its up to you to decide now, both are good coolers


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## qubit (Feb 13, 2012)

Ok, I've been reading reviews and watching YouTube reviews and am leaning towards the Silver Arrow. It seems to be slightly better in cooling performance, noise, looks and price, so I'm interested.

However, availability seems to be very poor, with only one Amazon marketplace seller actually having it, with most retailers not even listing it. However, the D14 is available everywhere. *The Silver Arrow is newer too, so this lack of availability is bothering me and I wonder if this points to some flaw in it that I don't know about? There's no newer model listed on Thermalright's website, either.*

I've resigned myself to changing my RAM to low profile modules to accommodate such a cooler, lol.

Here's xbit's review of the Silver Arrow, for example, which shows it beating the D14. Not every review agrees with this, but on average it seems to edge out the D14.

The Silver Arrow loses in this OC3D review however, so it's not clear cut to me without being able to get my hands on both of them and compare them.

My CPU does 4.5GHz without batting an eyelid, so I want to try for 5GHz and without going insane due to fan noise (the cheapie ones I have now go mad with noise, due to the high fan speeds, as you might expect) which is why I'm looking for the very best cooler.

Pauleig: I looked up a review of that Phanteks cooler (xbit, again) and it turns out that the fans are a bit loud, so it rules it out for me.

EDIT: Just found this YouTube video of Noctua showing off new prototypes at Computex 2011 back in June. They described a new version of the NH-D14 with greater RAM compatibility (clearance) and PWM fans. However, when I look around the retailers, it appears that's for LGA 2011 only, which seems a real shame. There's other interesting designs there too, which I don't see on store shelves. Even the Noctua website doesn't show these new models.


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## twicksisted (Feb 13, 2012)

Thats a beast of a cooler!!!!
Looks like a pain to install (and uninstall again when changing ram). Also looks like it will put a lot of weight/strain on the motherboard.

Why not get a Corsair H80 or H100... i have had the H100 for the last couple of months and its great, looks sexy, awesome temps pretty easy to install and leaves the motherboard unobstructed.


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## FreedomEclipse (Feb 13, 2012)

twicksisted said:


> Why not get a Corsair H80 or H100... i have had the H100 for the last couple of months and its great, looks sexy, awesome temps pretty easy to install and leaves the motherboard unobstructed.



This....



qubit said:


> I know water cools inherently better (sometimes way better) it's just not something that I want to put into my PC. I just don't like the idea of liquid coolant anywhere near it with the possibility of leaks and the awkwardness of the pipes.


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## twicksisted (Feb 13, 2012)

yeah well i guess the same could be said for most things like immersion heating elements in kettles and heated swimming pools etc... if its done right its perfectly safe. 

I'm quite impressed with this H100 and although its not going to outlive a standard metal HSF, it will definately outlast my sandybridge system whereby when i upgrade to the next best thing I'll look at what the best cooling solution is then and have something else.


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## FreedomEclipse (Feb 13, 2012)

twicksisted said:


> if its done right its perfectly safe.



thats what she said!


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## qubit (Feb 14, 2012)

Ok, I've quit faffing around and got myself the Noctua NH-D14. 

I'll be installing in the next couple of days or so and I'll let you know how I get on with it.

btw, I bought it from Novatech and got the low profile RAM to go with it.


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## HammerON (Feb 14, 2012)

To help with RAM clearance I simply moved the front fan to the rear and didn't notice much (if any) temp variances. Make sure you install your RAM before mounting the beast though
EDIT: But then again I am using a techstation and not a case. I remember I did that as well in one of my ANTEC cases and it was a tight fit with the fan on the rear...


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## qubit (Feb 14, 2012)

HammerON said:


> To help with RAM clearance I simply moved the front fan to the rear and didn't notice much (if any) temp variances. Make sure you install your RAM before mounting the beast though
> EDIT: But then again I am using a techstation and not a case. I remember I did that as well in one of my ANTEC cases and it was a tight fit with the fan on the rear...



Thanks, those are helpful tips. If I don't actually need the low profile RAM, I'll be returning it. I'm on a HAF 922 case, which can take the biggest graphics card, so this heatsink won't be a problem for it. Also, the fact that the side panel never goes on eliminates any potential problems with that.

I just love the way you can overclock a hot CPU hard with this thing, run IntelBurn on it and still have useably low temps - and all with quiet cooling! Of course, in day to day computing (even hardcore gaming) it'll never get stressed anywhere near as hard, so it's gonna run really cool and quiet.

It's funny, but I maintain a hot-rod gaming rig, upgrading it when the time comes, but I don't actually play games all that often. Why do I do this? It's a similar principle to people who by super-expensive 200mph cars and only ever drive them on public roads where they can't ever put the car through its paces. It's the having and the knowing that it's all there under the bonnet should they want it.  Of course, I have the distinct advantage, that my hobby is _waaay_ cheaper!  And I do let her rip sometimes, too.


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## HammerON (Feb 14, 2012)

You could always use your rig for crunching for the WCG team (just saying)


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## qubit (Mar 18, 2012)

I forgot to update the thread, but my build is finally complete.  I've installed the Noctua NH-D14 a while back and it is indeed a fantastic cooler, keeping my CPU nice and cool and doing it really quietly. I had to fit the low profile RAM on the nearest two memory slots, but I could just move the fan up for the second two.


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## erocker (Mar 18, 2012)

but whaddabout pics?!


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## v12dock (Mar 18, 2012)

Are you going to show how insanely large the Noctura NH-D14 really is


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## qubit (Mar 18, 2012)

Yes, it looks very much like v12's picture, but it's in the case, lol.

I'll try to get us a picture.


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## Aquinus (Mar 18, 2012)

I personally have a Zalman CNPS9900MAX-B which cools my SB-E 3820 and it does a very good job at it. It isn't too big and shouldn't interfere with tall memory (there is enough room to put 8-stick of tall DIMMs in my P9X79 Deluxe with this cooler,) and it doesn't go higher than 60*C at 1.4 volts and it is QUIET, very quiet, I almost thought that it wasn't working it was so quiet, but it was and does a very good job. I think it does just as well as my old Push-Pull setup with the Thermaltake Frio (which is not quiet one bit) with the two ThermalTake fans ripped off of it and two server grade 100CFM fans added.

Short answer: It's not all about how much air you can move but how efficiently it gets rid of the heat, I think Zalman has always been on the ball with this. Also if you don't have two CPU fan headers (my M4N72-E didn't, but my P9X79 Deluxe does) you may have to have some form of speed control or a board that handles chassis fan speeds well if you choose to go the route of a push-pull system (which doesn't benefit you unless you run it full power and under very heavy load at higher temps).

Here is a link to it on NewEgg: ZALMAN CNPS9900MAX-B 135mm Long life bearing CPU C...

Edit: I was too late again. t.t


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