If reviews say its fine, then it should be fine. Once you get your overclock stable, and have some voltage settings, let me know what your idle/load temps are so you can compare it to my TRUE/ocz freeze setup.
Yes, I would say there would be a 6-8ºC delta between the coolers in the same ambient and quality mounts. Of course the TRUE needs to be lapped as well before you can use it, but that should be done on nearly any air cooler anyways.
And I consider 6-8ºC very worth it to spend $50 or so more to get a better cooler. I suppose you do not, and this is fine. But you spent money needlessly in other areas, so I assumed from that you would want the best air cooler you can get.
6-8c is def worth the extra cash. Ive also heard that these TRUE hs’s need a good lapping before used, but I decided not to do mine because I couldnt find the proper sandpaper and Im kind of lazy. It still doesnt get much more than high 60s on full load. Idle temps are in the 40s. Thats not too bad. Id only expect lapping to drop those 2-4c. Ill probably do it eventually. I do think I remember seeing 1500 and 2000 grit at napa the other day…maybe Ill swing by there again.
6-8* are not worth $50 whatsoever.
I could spend $50 putting high flow fans through out the case and reduce my temps by that much on the CPU as well as the RAM, both bridges and the GPU.
I’m not going to be on the edge of critical temps anyway, so that 8* isn’t going to matter.
I’ll gladly compare temps once it is setup. It was at my house when I got home this afternoon and it is a beautiful piece. I’ll have the new MOBO and the cooler in tomorrow at work.
Curious, where did I spend money needlessly in other areas? This is a higher end PC with lots of money spent a lot of places… most of which was unnecessary, but, nothing in particular comes to mind.
Its not just 8 degrees. Its 8 degrees celsius aka 15 degrees fahrenheit roughly. Thats a big temp difference. To anybody who is serious about overclocking on air, theres no question that the cost is well worth it. Those temps heat up the ambient temps of the case as well. It all adds up. But its your call. Just trying to provide a different perspective.
I think when he was talking about needlessly spending money, he was prob just refering to the fact that youve got 3 nice video cards. Nobody needs a 260, 295 and 285. Just pick a nice SLI setup and stick with it. Save yourself some bucks. They are all solid cards.
lol.
As far as the video cards go…
I had the 260 216 SC because my GTX 295 was on backorder.
I have a GTX 285 SSC Limited because I gave back the 260 and my GTX 295 was still on backorder.
Now, I’m returning the 285, and I’m keeping the 295 w/ backplate that is currently in the case. The 285 is going to be used for some testing once the new MOBO is in which is why I still have it…
I’m clearly not serious about overclocking… I just want to crank it up to 4, run some stuff, and then set it to 3.8. if I can’t maintain a 3.8GHz clock with this cooler in this case, I have huge problems. I’m not out to break any records here.
I will never overclock anything of mine. I’m am content with what I have and the speeds I have.
well 3.8 from 2.66 is pretty serious. Just hope that you got a good chip like mine that doesnt require tons of vcore or vtt to get there. I actually had an i7 940 that wouldnt break 3.8 without getting 1.45 vcore or higher. Even then, it wasnt stable. Then I got a chip thats $200+ less expensive (the 920), and it hits 4.2 on 1.31875vcore. Its just luck of the draw.
I realize picking up 1.2 GHz is a decent OC, but it isn’t anything compared to what is “available”.
Can I get the batch # off the box?
3841A###. The box is burried somewhere but thats the batch number basically. I actually had somebody from the EVGA forums hand pick it from a local microcenter for me when they were on sale there for $220. I just gave him an extra $20 plus shipping for the effort. They were right about that batch being one of the best. I guess most B batches do fairly well too.
TRUE’s NEED to be lapped. Some of them are acceptable, but people have noticed 6-10º temp drops from lapping! Some didnt get anything though, but youre almost guaranteed a few C. And thats well worth it to me. Its not hard, find a piece of glass you can scratch and its not a issue, and start off with 320 grit or so, some even use 200. It sounds really low, but it feels smooth on the copper. Once its even, step it up to 600 or so. Theres little need to go beyond 600 grit in terms of temps. But a mirror finish is nice. You need to remove somewhat large amounts of material here, so the 300 grit is key.
You sir, are insane.
Nah, just never really got into over clocking. Plus from what I’ve heard it shortens the life of the equipment.
Well its definitely not going to increase its life. But I get why you dont bother…
ZOMG, someone else who doesn’t OC! I do not feel the risk is worth the gains. If I want faster, ill buy faster
I love this thread…I consider my self pretty well versed in computer/technology stuff…but know nothing about OCing and everything else in here…
Well heres another way to look at it. You buy the fastest, the extreme cpu for $1000. Ill buy the base model for $250 and overclock it way past the speeds of the extreme processor for 1/4 the cost. Most people that overclock already have superior cooling and usually dont take the voltage past the manufac spec. Therefore, your life isn’t going down too much as long as voltages are low and temps are low. AND you get a cpu thats MUCH faster for 1/4 the cost. And even if the cpu dies after 2 years, its outdated anyway. That $250 chip you bought now can be had for $75-100 2 years from now. So youll still be spending only that much over the life, for a much faster chip, instead of buying an extreme chip, or even the next one in line for $550. I dont see how its even a question of risk vs gains. Gains substantially outweigh the risks imo.
Heres another way to look at it. I have no idea about cooling setups and know even less about voltages. I could take the time to learn, understand, and build a cheaper machine and bring it up to par using OCing, BUT I dont think its worth my time. I’ll drop cash down, get the speed I want, and game away care free.
Im not saying you are wrong because its all a matter of opinion. Its just an easy way to get the most out of your parts is all. Enjoy your care free gaming! lol
Everything is in. I’m just making sure everything is stable befre I do anything crazy.
That cooler clears by about 1/4 of an inch.
Still getting hesitation in COD4 with the 295. I have the most recent drivers, but haven’t played with Precision yet, since I uninstalled it.
RAID 1 is broken… so now I have a full 2TB to play with.
OC’ing is a great way of insuring your computer doesn’t last