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HRM
God Bless America
Premium,MVM
join:2002-02-03
Darien, CT
clubs:  
| My OC experience with i7, MSI and EIST.
I decided to get a new system and ended up with a i7 system running Win7 ultimate. Sure I don't need the performance now, but my last system was over 6 years old and I could still play most new video games with it by upgrading everything as needed. This newer chip has a good chance of lasting as long for me only upgrading the drives, RAM, CPU and video card as time passes. It is a spend now to save later mindset.
I intend to run RAID 5 as the bigger drives come down in price, but a net backup will do for now. I don't feel like spending the money on the drives availble now, but January is usually a good time to buy tech so that is the plan as of now.
CPU Intel Core i7-920 Quad Core 2.66GHz,8MB,4.8GT/s, Tri-Channel (DO core)
CPU Cooler Coolermaster V8 Ultimate Cooler w/8 Heatpipes for Core i7 1366
Memory OCZ DDR3 PC3-12800 Platinum 6GB 1600MHz Kit
Motherboard MSI X58 Pro (Intel X58,CrossfireX,Tri-Channel DDR3, 3XPCI-E2.0)
Hard Drive Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 SATA II NCQ 500GB 32MB
Optical Drive LG 22X GH22NS30 DVD+/-RW Dual Layer SATA Rewriter (Black)
Video Card ATI Radeon HD 4890 1GB GDDR5 PCI-E 2.0 2XDVI HDTV
Audio Onboard 8-Channel High Definition Audio
Network Card Onboard PCIe Gigabit LAN controller featuring AI NET2
Case NZXT LEXA BLACKLINE Classic Series Performance Midtower
Power Supply PC POWER&COOLING Silencer 610W PSU (EPS12V)
Knowing what I known now, I would have gotten a case where the board side either had a hole were the heatsink is, or at least was removable to facilitate changing the heatsink.
Other than that, I'm happy. I clocked it at 3.6 (20 x 180) at stock voltages and burned it in, then I activated the EIST letting the board manage the energy use. This part is interesting. Not only did it use less than a third of the power at idle, it increased the clock to 3.8 when needed (21x180) automatically raising the voltage to 1.26v when needed, but reduced it to .94 for most of the time...still rock solid.
Core temps are in the low 40C generally (30's sometimes depending on ambient temp) high range up to 58C -64C again depending on if the local conditions.
Since this is my main machine, and I don't really feel like doing much more, I intend to leave it as is so I don't know the limit, but a 42% OC that is so efficient most of the time is very appealing to me.
I am using the free trial of HW monitor pro to log temps to the old machine so I can see as I play were temps and voltages are so there are missing data nags, but the screen shot is after benching with Sandra lite this morning. Believe it or not, CPU voltage stays a .94 most of the time in Wolfenstien, but left4dead it cranks to 1.26v. Without EIST it stayed at 1.16v all the time. Core bandwidth is 43.911 Ghz, getting 83.55 GOPS in arithmetic. I'm very happy with the mix of efficiency and performance.
Keep in mind the voltages were rock solid before enabling EIST in bios, all fluctuations are controlled by the machine. The northbridge was at 86C at idle when I got the thing. I pried off the two (attached by a heat pipe) heatsinks, removed the bubblegum and applied AS. After reseating the temps were 94C (oops) at idle. Turns out I had not totally straightened the pipe between the two sinks, so one wasn't lying flat. Just wiggle pushing them while still installed ont e board got it to where it is now (65C idle mid 70C working).
*Today is very cool out an a door/window breeze is keeping the temps a bit lower than my "normal". Also the stress tests today didn't even use all the cores it seems, but the results are about the same though the cores are more consistant temp wise. One core must have better airflow since it is always cooler by a good amount. I may experiment with a spotcool fan to see if I can get a breeze on the other side too.
The board temp reading can be seen as TMPIN0, 1 and 2. They are board, NB and CPU. You can see how different MB temp readings are from the core temps.
Conclusion: For me and my needs EIST seems to be the best of both worlds. It enhances my OC when needed and greatly reduces temps and power usage for most of the day. As long as it stays stable, I will be keeping it enabled. | |
sltrhouse
join:2009-09-08
Hanover, PA
| u mean a backhole like this?
that made my coolermaster hyper HS go on easy as cake  also it helps with heat from it as well.
i have the coolermaster haf932 case, id really recommend grabbing it if your looking for a mod friendly case. | |
HRM
God Bless America
Premium,MVM
join:2002-02-03
Darien, CT
clubs:
1 edit | reply to HRM
Yup, that is the way to go with these monster heatsinks (or any that need access to the back. I am happy with the case otherwise, but if I wasn't in such a rush, I would have just cut the bastard a new HS hole. I couldn't wait though.
The case looks good and get oohhs and aahhs from "normal" people, though it isn't really anything special in the mod world. It has a great clean look though, a nice door that is large enough to let CF cards stay in the reader and pretty lights. PPPPTTTT, still I will rather it ugly with a hole next time I have to remove the heatsink.
| |
danielk
join:2009-02-01
Wichita, KS
 ·Cox HSI
| reply to HRM
Never did like that case from NZXT. FUGLY imo.
The HAF932 however is def going in my next build, large, roomy, love those holes for wire management, plus the 3 or 4 (forgot) 230mm fans has cooling taken care of. Not to mention it's pretty sharp. | |
Thislilfishy
join:2008-10-28
Orangeville, ON
 ·TekSavvy Solutions..
| said by danielk  :Never did like that case from NZXT. FUGLY imo. The HAF932 however is def going in my next build, large, roomy, love those holes for wire management, plus the 3 or 4 (forgot) 230mm fans has cooling taken care of. Not to mention it's pretty sharp. Just switched over to the HAF 932 they're on sale at Tiger Direct for $145Can right now. I had extreme air movement in my last case (Raidmax cheapy with 9 fans!) so I don't see a big temp improvement. What I do see is a much easier case to work with, lots of room for my 6 hard drives and dual GTX260's and a massive heatsink. Also the tooless drive bays are genious. The plastic card holder dealies suck though.
Ian | |
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