Project Reality Forums

Hey, im going to do some Christmas upgrades to my gaming PC and im planning on overclocking a quad core, as im not making the mistake of buying a higher clock speed possessor(E8400) Anyway, im planning on swapping my E8400 and stock cooler for a Q9400 quad, and the cooling will be a CORSAIR Cooling Hydro Series CWCH50-1. My mid-tower PC does not have space for a complete water cooling setup, so a self contained version is probably the best i can get for the available space in my tower. Anyone have any experience with overclocking the CPU or with the cooling im going to use?


Links:
Quad core
Newegg.com - Intel Core2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

Cooling
Newegg.com - CORSAIR Cooling Hydro Series CWCH50-1 120mm High Performance CPU Cooler - CPU Fans & Heatsinks

Im also buying some high(weapons lol) grade thermal paste:
Newegg.com - ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound - Thermal Compound / Grease

I am open to sugjestions on the thermal paste, as i used the paste on the E8400 when i built the PC.



Later,

Andrewthecool

What sort of advice are you looking for Andrew? What motherboard is it all running on too, and RAM etc?

I have a PC gamer mag where it talked about all sorts of ways to cool you computer heres one of the batshit ways you can cool it.
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could help to provide system specs, also when people think of performance now adays, people are misled at times.

have you truly the need for a more powerful CPU? most of the time its the ram that limits people or an old harddrive that slow the computer down.

try looking into your task manager "ctrl+alt+del" and check the performance graphs.

reason why im asking you to do this is b/c you don't want to chance that overclocking when it can decrease the life of your processor and also possibly cause damage to your system (personal experience)


just some advice, but mainly when overclocking you need to adjust voltage and other little things.
or use "riva tuner master overclocking" - very easy to use, overclocks graphics card/cpu and i think ram too. It has built in presets that can kinda guide you on what you need to know about the balance.

My system specs are on my PR profile page.


I have a good gaming rig, heres the specs:

Core 2 Duo E8400 3.00Ghz (stock cooler)

Fatal1ty 4GB ram(it was only 50 bucks, and a sick heatsink )

GTX 260 (216 core edition) (overclocked slightly)

and a EVGA 750i SLI FTW motherboard

and for the quad core, i was only thinking of overclocking it to like 3.0 -> 3.5 range, depending on temp and the liquid cooling.

My youtube has a vid of the parts, all in detail, when i built the PC
cant get the links atm, youtube is banned at school...
but heres my profile page(i think)

http://youtube.com/12354573


anyway im wanting a upgrade because my current CPU (E8400) is bottlenecking my graphics card, which is not enjoyable, because i want to play crysis on all uberhigh, which my graphics card can do, but not when the CPU bottlenecks it.

Whats wrong with putting the radiator outside the case ?

So oliveoil does not conduct electricity ?

i think not only CPU is your bottleneck but also your ram and possible Mobo fsb (possible)
google "CPUZ' and use that program to get your operating specs (speed and such) you have to check ram divider ratio in your bios.

but thats IF you are very crazy about having the optimal performance. but other then that, CPU upgrade can be very helpful, might as well go with a Q9550 and use a simple air cooled heatsink. Intel Socket 775 CPU Fans, CPU Coolers, and Heatsinks at Xoxide.com

not only you get better performance out of the box without overclocking, but having the possibility for an upgrade in the future especially if you want to do 2x SLI for your graphics in the future plus the added bonus of having a processor that lasts long
That watercool rig even though "simple" can be a hassle in the long run. also cooling efficiency degrades over time with more use during the day due to the small radiator.

dont worry too much about the "i7, i5" or the latest greatest, the gaming market is not current with the hardware as of now.

sorry trying to compress alot of what i know down and i can be wrong.
Your fine with what you have once you upgrade that processor.

I dont have the money for a Q9550...

Im pretty sure its not the ram... its at 1066 speed


the new i5 and i7s wont work on my box without a complete redo of my motherboard. 2x SLI is probably not going to happen for a while, as the GTX 260 is like a air cooling blocker, as it barly fits in my case, with only a CM to spare.

Well up to you, sorry for the delay (forgot about this)
but yea, you cannot go wrong on what you decided on.

Cassius wrote:Whats wrong with putting the radiator outside the case ?

So oliveoil does not conduct electricity ?

You could put Rad outside, alot of peeps do, and Veg oil doesnt conduct elec, but it also doesnt disperse heat properly either :/