So I got a new toy today. The CoolIT Boreas MTEC cooler. I had NO idea how big this thing was, but I’ll definitely find some room for it on my test bench over the next few weeks. I want to test it in a variety of different configurations as follows:

Bone Stock
Stock with better CPU block
Stock with better pump & bigger tubing

I borrowed a kill-a-watt thing from work today to find out if I even have room in my build for this monster (power wise) and it looks like I’m going to be pushing my system to the max. Load readings for my system while running Prime95 and playing Batman Arkham Asylum peaked at around 710W. Once I add the Boreas I’ll be sitting at 850W of power consumption under load from my system. At 85% loading, many PSUs lose their efficiency and quiet operation, so we’ll see how well the HX1000 holds up to the task. Since the HX1000 is a multi-rail PSU, I’ll also have to consider the implications of which plug I put it into.

I’m thinking i5 is probably the platform most people are interested in, but I’m also curious to see how it stacks up against my current water cooling solution, in which case I would need to throw it on the i7… I’ll decide that later. Here are some pics for scale of this thing. I can’t think of a case anywhere you could actually mount this thing in. Not even the Corsair Obsidian 800D!

More to come.

I have to confess that doing a follow up to one of my most watched episodes ever was a bit of a daunting task. I’ve slaved away at this guide since I’ve had my hands on the appropriate hardware, and I think that it’s worlds better than the first one. We give some real settings that people can dial in and use as a starting point for their own overclocking efforts, and I think we’ve done a better job of keeping things accessible for people who are just starting out.

I really hope you enjoy the Core i5 P55 overclocking guide!

It’s been an AMD sorta week in the Tech Tips lab! We covered how to unlock your Phenom II X3 710 or 720 Black edition and turn it into a quad core.

We’ve had a lot of comments about this video from people concerned about the legal ramifications of this video. All I have to say is this: Don’t worry about it.

This is no different from overclocking a 2.8GHz processor and turning it into a 3.6GHz processor (something we’re going to cover very shortly). It’s also no different from unlocking “pipes” on older generation graphics cards before the manufacturers took that option away from us.

It’s not a guarantee, but if you get one that unlocks, it’s a terrific value

I’ve been asked by some of the fellows over at XS to provide proof of my overclocking results with an undisclosed processor (original blog post here), so I thought what better way to launch my new video blog!

Enjoy.

I’ve had a chance to play around with a new processor from an undisclosed vendor, and there might be some other results on the web about these chips doing crazy LN2 and DICE clocks, but what it really comes down to for the end user is what performance HE can actually get out of a chip.

With modest air cooling (TRUE + random fan) 3.6GHz was doable easily with 8 hour quad Prime95 stability, and more than that with the water cooling setup featured above. We don’t know the prices of these new processors (though my crystal ball says they should weigh in under $400CAD).

Processor price is obviously not the only factor. I remember the good ‘ol days when a premium AMD motherboard cost 1/2 of an equivalent Intel one, and that’s what made it such a good value.

Well the new NCIX Tech Tips is here. We didn’t have any samples to work with until only a few days before the retail launch, so we’ve spent a lot of time playing with these chips, researching online, and putting together this overclocking guide for the Core i7.

It’s not as in-depth as I would necessarily like, but at 8 minutes long it’s already a bit of a heavyweight. The white board I had in front of me looked like some of my calculus lectures!

Well I had a chance to play with an engineering sample Core i7 with a Gigabyte EX58-EXTREME motherboard and 12GB of Aeneon DDR3-1333 C8 memory for an upcoming NCIX Tech Tips, and I’m actually very impressed with the platform.

I’ve mellowed out in the last couple years going from balls to the walls overclocking (think E6600 @ 4.0GHz 24/7 with a custom -25C chiller under my tower) to being more concerned with overall platform stability and maturity (while also loving speed).

On another note, I have a confession to make. My name is Linus and I have a memory addiction. I don’t need lots of memory. Frequently with 8GB in my system I was looking at up to 7GB of “cached” memory under Vista only being used to store frequently used programs. That didn’t stop me from salivating when I saw that high end X58 motherboards were going to feature 6 RAM slots. Naturally the first thing I did was load each slot up with 2GB of RAM.

Here’s a shot of the test bench I used including the less-than-stellar stock heatsink from Intel (got an APOGEE GTZ hold down en route from Swiftech), a 6800GT that has served me well over the years, and my ghetto sleeved OCZ GameXSTream 600W (also present in the top picture with my chiller). I will be doing a complete overclocking walk through for Nehalem on NCIX Tech Tips, but I wanted to share my initial impressions with a dog CPU, all 6 RAM slots loaded up (far more stress on the memory controller), and terrible stock cooling:

- 200x base clock multiplier without much fuss
- 1480MHz C8 @ 1.66V on this random set of 3 dual channel kits of memory primed for 12 passes overnight.
- QPI speed of over 1700Mhz without much trouble
- 3.7GHz on the CPU before running into what I think was a combination of a thermal limitation (80+C under load) and having a less than steller overclocking chip

For a terrific beginner’s guide on overclocking see this thread on www.xtremesystems.org

Intel’s first 45nm “Pentium” chip showed up quietly in the last week or two and there doesn’t seem to be much buzz about it, but I decided to take it for a spin to see what kind of overclocking results I could get out of it. I don’t know if the one that I have is exceptional or not, and bear in mind this IS a suicide run, but I think what you’re about to see may shock you.

Will update later with pics of the water cooled test bench as well.

Okay here’s my update with pictures of the test bench. I’m using a Maximus Formula X38 motherboard with OCZ Reaper PC2-8500 C5 RAM modules, a Corsair 750W power supply and a GTX 280 video card.

I’ve also included a photo of the box from the CPU I used. This is a regular retail sample. No cherry picking going on here. this is one cool chip