# Water Cooled, Sandy Bridge 2600K



## xbonez (Jan 15, 2011)

Having sold my dedicated folding i7 920 D0 rig (which never got around to folding at all, but thats a different story), I have received my Sandy Bridge build, and I'm putting it together right now.

Jusst a bunch of pictures an possibly benchmarks for anyone curious / interested in Sandy Bridge.

If you want any particular benchmarks, feel free to ask.

*Specifications:*

Intel i7 2600K 
Asus P8P67 motherboard
ASUS GTX 470 + 8800 GS + 8800 GT
Silverstone 1000W PSU
2 x 2 GB Corsair XMS3 CL7 1600Mhz RAM
XSPC Rasa RS240 Water Cooling
Open test bench. 

I'll keep updating this thread with pics and info.


















Oh, great. My Rasa 1156 backplate won't sit nice on my motherboard. Its because the CPU socket is rather thick on the underside of the motherboard. Lets see what I can do. 







Edit: Disregard the update about the backplate incompatibility. I was putting it the wrong way around. I shall continue updating as soon as I'm done hitting my head on the wall.

Motherboard installed on Test bench:






*Batch number: L040B705*

Processor installed on motherboard:






Processor unboxed:






The part of the socket on the motherboard that holds the processor down applies way too much pressure!






Everything out together, just before 1st boot:







Great. Tried booting in a couple of times but got BSODs. Possibly Windows doesn't play nice with  switching to SB. Reinstalling now.

The BIOS:






PS - Love the mouse support in BIOS

Reinstalling Windows solved the BSOD problems. Posting this fro the SB build. Screenshots coming soon.

Prime95 Torture Test w/ everything at Stock. TIM used was AS5, so temps should drop a few degrees once it cures.






Calling it a day for today. OC'ing will start tomorrow.

*End of Installation / Assembly. Some interesting things I noted : *
1. BIOS is beautiful. Mouse support is great. The whole new layout will take some getting used to, though.
2. My Win 7 Ultimate x64 would not boot and gave BSODs. Re-installing windows fixed the proble.
3. LAN/Internet did not work by itself (like it usually does in Win 7). had to install Chipset and LAN drivers.


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## xbonez (Jan 15, 2011)

*Benchmarks at Stock Settings*
(RAM timed to 1600Mhz, Intel Speedstep turned off)

*Before running every test, I reset the min/max temps on RealTemp*

*1. Intel Burn Test (Standard, 10 passes)*






*2. Pi Calculation to 4M*






*3. Performance Test CPU Mark*






*4. Cinebench *
(According to Cinebench's comparison, the 2600K scored 1.22 points more than an i7 960 @ 3.2Ghz)







____________________________________________________________________________

*Benchmarks at Overclocked Settings*

So, after hours of tweaking int the BIOS, restarts and BSODs, I believe I have reached the maximum stable OC I am comfortable with, for now. 

Since there aren't any official Intel specs out yet, I wasn't entirely sure how far to push the processor. This is what some online research revealed:

1. For CPU VCore voltage, most people seem to agree that *1.35V* is the max you should go with an aftermarket air cooler, while *1.4V* being the safe limit for watercooling. Some people have posted that Intel's spec sheet for the Sandy Bridge architecture specifies the max voltage limit to be *1.52V*.
However, not being able to find these Intel sheets myself anywhere, *I decided to limit myself under 1.4V*

2. As for temperatures, again opinions vary. The more conservative say early 70s is about as high as you should push it, while some believe late 70s to early 80s is acceptable. 
*Once again, I decided to play it safe and attempt not to go beyond 70.* 

3. *Load Line Calibration (VDroop)*: LLC comes in a number of flavors in my board (possibly all P67 chipsets) : None, Low, Medium, High, Ultra High and Extreme. I initially tried using Extreme, but at that mode, the board overcompensates for VDroop and was providing the chip with more voltage than I had specified or the chip needed. When I had VCore set at 1.38 in my board and LLC at Extreme, the chip would often be receiving 1.40V, or 1.41V. Changing LLC to Ultra High fixed that. The chip no longer gets a higher VCore than what I have specified in the BIOS. Makes it a lot safer for a 24x7 OC, and also brough temps down by a good 5 degrees.

So, my final stable overclock that I settled at is:

*4800 Mhz (100 x 48) @ 1.38V. My RAM is rated at 1.65V, but is running just fine at 1.60V @ 1600Mhz. Temperatures do not go beyond 68 degrees under Prime 95 or IBT, but for the most part stay at around 66, and that is my hottest core (Core 3). Other cores do not break 65 under any condition.

I believe with an aggressive overclock, possibly at about 1.425 - 1.43 V, I could find stability at 5Ghz, but until Intel reveals some official figures, that will wait.*

I'm going to start posting some benchmarks now:

*1. Intel Burn Test (Standard, 10 passes)*






*2. Pi Calculation to 4M*






*3. Performance Test CPU Mark*






*4. Cinebench *







*For all those interested in Folding benchmarks, I will now start a -bigadv WU and report back with screenshots of HFM.NET in an hour. *


*Folding bigadv*

here's the processor doing a 2684 WU. For comparison, a i7 920 @ 4.0Ghz gets a TPF of about 45:??.







*__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________*

*UPDATE*

Added some higher quality pics of the final build

 Water Cooled, Sandy Bridge 2600K


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Jan 15, 2011)

I'd expect 44c load temps even with an overclock, watch the idle temps though. Don't think they boot below 20c and with all the fancy power saving features it might just get that low.


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## xbonez (Jan 15, 2011)

LAN_deRf_HA said:


> I'd expect 44c load temps even with an overclock, watch the idle temps though. Don't think they boot below 20c and with all the fancy power saving features it might just get that low.



Ambient is about 24, so it shouldn't be a problem.


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## TeXBill (Jan 15, 2011)

Lets see some bench marks,OC's and PPD numbers please. Why did you pick the Asus board over the sexy gigabyte board?

Edit also in the specs you have 3 cards listed but only 2 slots to put them in. LOL now i'm nit picking. Sorry


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## Wetbehindtheears (Jan 15, 2011)

Drool..... 

me wants.....

me can't afford.....

bummer!


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## theonedub (Jan 15, 2011)

Im guessing MC combo deal? 

It says TPU right under the SB/PCH heatsink, coincidence?


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## TeXBill (Jan 15, 2011)

Ahhh yep your right Dub brain is fried today. Thanks


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## jellyrole (Jan 15, 2011)

theonedub said:


> Im guessing MC combo deal?
> 
> It says TPU right under the SB/PCH heatsink, coincidence?



lulz nice spot!


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## Deleted member 74752 (Jan 15, 2011)

I love these guinea pigs...takes some of the guesswork out later.  We had proven mb's with the X58, but now have to take a leap of faith with the new crop.


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## xbonez (Jan 15, 2011)

TeXBill said:


> Lets see some bench marks,OC's and PPD numbers please. Why did you pick the Asus board over the sexy gigabyte board?
> 
> Edit also in the specs you have 3 cards listed but only 2 slots to put them in. LOL now i'm nit picking. Sorry



The Gigabyte motherboards at the same price point have either only 1 PCI-E, or two (but with one at x4).

Yup, I didn't realize this motherboard only had 2 PCIe slots. No biggie, one of my 8800s will go in my main rig. I have 2 free slots in that.

The 2600K is idling at 29-32 degrees. Considering my ambient is about 25 and the AS5 hasn't cured yet, I'd say its pretty decent. From what I've heard, I should be able to hit 4.5ish without touching voltages.
Still need to figure out whats the max safe temp to run the chip at 24x7.


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## TeXBill (Jan 15, 2011)

> The Gigabyte motherboards at the same price point have either only 1 PCI-E, or two (but with one at x4).


The Asus is the same way the second slot only runs @ X4 also. It's a nice board, I just like the Gigabyte board. The cooler on the chipset look like they would do a better job. I hope that Sandy OC's pretty good. Like to see some numbers hopefully tomorrow. 
Good luck


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## xbonez (Jan 15, 2011)

Yup, definitely tomorrow.

I wasnt aware the second slot runs at x4. I should have researched more, but it seems at this price point, its all I would get.
Would a card running at x4 greatly affect my PPD?


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## theonedub (Jan 15, 2011)

xbonez said:


> Yup, definitely tomorrow.
> 
> I wasnt aware the second slot runs at x4. I should have researched more, but it seems at this price point, its all I would get.
> Would a card running at x4 greatly affect my PPD?



4x has no effect on PPD, just ask my 450


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## TeXBill (Jan 15, 2011)

Exactly no it will not affect PPD in folding. I've been doing some research on this and the only board that does come with both x16 slots at a cheaper price is the MSI P67-GD65, cost is 179.99 @ the egg. So for a little over $510.99 with cpu included you can have a nice folding & SLI gaming rig also. Not bad...Lets see some numbers tomorrow


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## HammerON (Jan 15, 2011)

Subscribed
Can't wait to see some overclocking


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Jan 15, 2011)

The asus was a nice choice. They usually perform slightly better in memory tests, and they're the only ones with a decent efi. I think msi's is buggy and I don't think gigabyte even has one yet.


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## BUCK NASTY (Jan 15, 2011)

xbonez said:


> Yup, definitely tomorrow.
> 
> I wasnt aware the second slot runs at x4. I should have researched more, but it seems at this price point, its all I would get.
> Would a card running at x4 greatly affect my PPD?



As Texbill stated, the x4 slot will not affect ppd. F@H uses very little PCI bandwidth. Gotta admit i'm phsyced to see one of our own putting a 2600K through it's paces for F@H. Not to put any pressure on you, but alot of future F@H hardware upgrades will be based upon your findings.


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## TeXBill (Jan 15, 2011)

> The asus was a nice choice. They usually perform slightly better in memory tests, and they're the only ones with a decent efi. I think msi's is buggy and I don't think gigabyte even has one yet.


Yes the Asus might have the better EFI BIOS now, Gigabyte states they will have one in the future bios updates. Yes MSI's bios is a bit buggy so far, but I'm sure with BIOS updates they will all be a whole lot better. I just like the way Gigabyte does the chipset coolers on their boards. It's just my opinion and most likely does not make a difference one way or another.


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## overclocking101 (Jan 15, 2011)

asus and msi have eufi bios at launch and nobody else that speaks volumes to me


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## xbonez (Jan 15, 2011)

Will be resuming in a few hours.


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## Deleted member 74752 (Jan 15, 2011)

overclocking101 said:


> asus and msi have eufi bios at launch and nobody else that speaks volumes to me



What about Evga? They don't even have a board out yet...


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## xbonez (Jan 15, 2011)

AFAIK they don't have a board out yet.


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## johnnyfiive (Jan 15, 2011)

ooooo cant wait to see the numbers!


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## NdMk2o1o (Jan 15, 2011)

If you want to compare how they perform clock for clock compared to 1155/1366 let me know, we both have Asus GTX 470 and similar ram so if you overclocked to 4ghz without ht it would be a nice comparison


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## xbonez (Jan 15, 2011)

Back on my desktop. Gonna run some tests before beginning to OC.


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## TeXBill (Jan 15, 2011)

Let's see some numbers!


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## xbonez (Jan 15, 2011)

Started adding benchmarks


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## msgclb (Jan 15, 2011)

Are you ready for a movie?

Newegg TV: Sandy Bridge Overclocking & UEFI Demo on ASUS P8P67 P67 1155


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## Deleted member 74752 (Jan 15, 2011)

A well done little guide by Clunk... http://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/overclocking/39184-p67-sandy-bridge-overclocking-guide-beginners.html


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## LGV (Jan 15, 2011)

subbed, i hope you gona be happy with thet board.


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## xbonez (Jan 16, 2011)

Since I made my last post of the benchmarks at stock, I have been OC'ing the chip. I believe I have reached the max OC I am comfortable with, for now. Details will be posted shortly. Currently, I'm working on minimizing the voltage at which I can run my OC.


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## xbonez (Jan 16, 2011)

OC complete, posted benchmarks. Have a look, tell me what you guys think.

(Sorry for double post. Just wanted to make sure all who're waiting are notified).


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Jan 16, 2011)

Surprised the temps aren't lower.


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## Deleted member 74752 (Jan 16, 2011)

No one uses SPI 4M...If you want to compare with others use 1M or 32M.  (I see you have speedstep enabled...that will impact benchmarks.)


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## xbonez (Jan 16, 2011)

rickss69 said:


> No one uses SPI 4M...If you want to compare with others use 1M or 32M.



Alright, I'll benchmark those too. I just really wanted to compare stock vs OC, so I didn't think too much before picking up 4M.


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## xbonez (Jan 16, 2011)

msgclb said:


> Are you ready for a movie?
> 
> Newegg TV: Sandy Bridge Overclocking & UEFI Demo on ASUS P8P67 P67 1155



Whats interesting is, the Asus guy, when overclocking, says "a moderate voltage of 1.4". Intel really needs to release specs. Some people say 1.4 is as high as you should go, while some believe 1,4 is moderate.


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Jan 16, 2011)

I'd consider 1.4v as the highest 99.9% safe voltage. People have gone to 1.7 or more in stressing, heard of one guy running 1.6v 24/7. I think if it takes you 1.5v to do 5ghz you'd be safe doing that if you just put it on speed step so it's not running maxed like that at all times. Also worth noting is there seems to be errors with voltage reporting in some programs with certain boards. So technically there's some vagary right now about what voltages people are actually running.


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## xbonez (Jan 16, 2011)

LAN_deRf_HA said:


> I'd consider 1.4v as the highest 99.9% safe voltage. People have gone to 1.7 or more in stressing, heard of one guy running 1.6v 24/7. I think if it takes you 1.5v to do 5ghz you'd be safe doing that if you just put it on speed step so it's not running maxed like that at all times. Also worth noting is there seems to be errors with voltage reporting in some programs with certain boards. So technically there's some vagary right now about what voltages people are actually running.



Yeah, apparently CPU-Z (the regular ver.) doesn't report correct. The beta version does. I tried running both and get the same reading.

As for having speedstep and 1.5V, it won't do much for me coz its going to be a dedicated folding rig, so t'll be at 100% load 24/7. hence, I'm not crossing 1.4V for now.


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## [H]@RD5TUFF (Jan 18, 2011)

Wow sexy, needs more photo's though!


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## xbonez (Jan 18, 2011)

[H]@RD5TUFF said:


> Wow sexy, needs more photo's though!



I agree, but not the terrible quality I've been posting.

I miss my DSLR I sold off a month ago coz I wasn't using it anymore, but I just bought a Canon Point&Shoot. Once I get that, I'll post more pics.


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## [H]@RD5TUFF (Jan 24, 2011)

xbonez said:


> I agree, but not the terrible quality I've been posting.
> 
> I miss my DSLR I sold off a month ago coz I wasn't using it anymore, but I just bought a Canon Point&Shoot. Once I get that, I'll post more pics.



Any updates ?


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## xbonez (Jan 24, 2011)

Got the camera, but no cable or card reader...lol. Ordered from Amazon, card reader will be here on Tue


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## [H]@RD5TUFF (Jan 24, 2011)

xbonez said:


> Got the camera, but no cable or card reader...lol. Ordered from Amazon, card reader will be here on Tue





No best buy to grab a 10 dollar reader at ?


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## xbonez (Jan 24, 2011)

Without a car, Amazon is my best bet than the nearest best buy which isn't that close


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## mATrIxLord (Jan 25, 2011)

awesome build!!


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## Josh154 (Jan 25, 2011)

It's tuesday so i expect to seem some better pics later! Check out this thread once after you get your camera  Do you happen to have a tripod? Thats all im needing now for some good pics!


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## xbonez (Jan 25, 2011)

Not anymore . I used to have an awesome 600 dollar DSLR and tripod, but I got rid of them a little while ago. And amazon just emailed saying they cancelled the card reader order because they are out of stock.....sigh


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## Josh154 (Jan 25, 2011)

xbonez said:


> Not anymore . I used to have an awesome 600 dollar DSLR and tripod, but I got rid of them a little while ago. And amazon just emailed saying they cancelled the card reader order because they are out of stock.....sigh



 That sucks man! Shoulda ordered off the egg. They get stuff to you super quick anyways don't they?


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## xbonez (Jan 25, 2011)

Yup, doing that now. Should be here soon.


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## Thatguy (Jan 25, 2011)

Nice build and great results !


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## xbonez (Jan 27, 2011)

*Finally received my card reader, so as promised, here are more and better quality pics:*


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## Josh154 (Jan 27, 2011)

Look's great man!


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## AnomalouS (Jan 27, 2011)

LAN_deRf_HA said:


> Don't think they boot below 20c and with all the fancy power saving features it might just get that low.



I personally can tell you that they will boot below 20c.


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Jan 27, 2011)

Since saying that I've seen lower, but I know there was one person who couldn't get it to boot lower than 20c. I think now that might have been a bios bug.


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