Same question as Allard, what cooling soluiton are you using Stephen?

 

I use the Prolimatech Megahelems with IC 24 caret diamond paste. See link to pictures in signature. I think is the prices of the 2600K or the 2700K are close, then the extra little bit for the 2700K is likely a better choice, just because of it's lower voltage requirements. Of course a good 2600K may out perform a not so good 2700K as milage may vary between CPUs.

 

Kind regards,

Stephen, one thing I don't understand: why did you go from 2600K at 4.8 to 2700K at 4.8?

+1

 

Alejandro C.

I didn't plan on running the i7-2700K at 4.8Ghz. I was thinking more like 5.0Ghz or more. But it is in such a sweet spot at 4.8Ghz that I levelled off there. Maybe I am just getting more conservative over time!

Kind regards,

 

This is starting to tempt me now that IB looks like a big disappointment. Just need to figure out what to do w/ my rig which is still decent for many things.

 

What's the best bet for motherboards for:

• Best stability/overclockability
  
• Most tolerant of best memory
  
• PCIe3 -- confused on this as IB was supposed to bring 'native' PCIe3 however apparently there is something that can be done now?
  
• Decent onboard sound
  
• SSD w/ highest transfer rates
  

Best OS for FSX? I have Vista64 which has always worked fine for me for FSX. I will dual boot this new machine and put XP on another drive just to run some old games on, or another copy of Vista64, since I have copies of both. I am now a very happy Macbook Pro user for general computing.

 

Thanks in advance Stephen ;o)

 

Noel

PCIe3 -- confused on this as IB was supposed to bring 'native' PCIe3 however apparently there is something that can be done now?

 

What is this supposed to mean? Is SB supposed to somehow support PCIe3?

Thanks Stephen, I actually use the megahalem as well, on a i7 920, with only one fan though.

What is this supposed to mean? Is SB supposed to somehow support PCIe3?

 

I'm asking if SB based systems can utilize PCIe3 in any fashion.

I'm asking if SB based systems can utilize PCIe3 in any fashion.

 

Not a chance Noel

The 2700K is installed and running at 4.8 Ghz offset to max 1.34v, but usually hovers around 1.208v to 1.30v when running FSX.

Kind regards,

 

OK, this is where I am unsure what is happening. When I set vCore in the BIOS, as mentioned I set somewhere around 1.4125 to keep my QX9650 running over 4GHz. When I viewed Everest it would appear VID was running around 1.30 to 1.32v. My QX9650 died eventually. I had read stories of others w/ Penryn quads w/ the same result. So my question is, what does it mean to say you are setting vCore in the BIOS at x, yet it 'hovered around x'?

Its all about luck if your going to get a great 2700k chip. There is no guarantee. I've had this 2600k for 2 days and I have it stable at 4.6 with room to go up I believe. I'm surprised because with my luck I would have gotten a crap chip that was a volt hog!

The newer batches of 2700k cpus are worse than the 2600ks,I think the first batch of 2700ks were the best.

 

Not sure where you are getting this information from. - I got a 2700K nearly 2 weeks after release. Me and Stephen's chips are almost identical. We run everything the same settings and we are both perfectly stable.

I got a 2700K nearly 2 weeks after release

 

That is the old batch, the first one. Now it's nearly 7 months after release. You don't think that is the same batch, now are you?

 

But something that has been learned from the xtremesystems forums batch compares on SB, is that with SB, there are no sure batches. Inside a SB batch, some CPUs are worse, some or better. That is the old story from the times of first i7s, where you would get one particular batch and you would get a sure OCer.

You don't think that is the same batch, now are you?

 

 

There is always that chance... And remeber, the 2700K's are not a seperate chip. They are a higher binned 2600K hence the greater OC potential at low voltage.

The newer batches of 2700k cpus are worse than the 2600ks,I think the first batch of 2700ks were the best.

 

Hey Dez,

 

Haven't seen you in a long time! Where have you found that information as it sounds flawed, but interesting nevertheless.

 

My 2700K was bought last week at the Micro Center in Philadelphia. The staff had randomly picked out of a small supply they had in stock. It is made in Costa Rica, batch # 3150B882. I don't know what those numbers imply, do you?

 

My 2600K had no trouble operating in the 4.8Ghz to 5.0Ghz range at 1.42 to 1.48 v-core range. After a bios upgrade in the MB it would only reach 4.8Ghz at 1.48Ghz, but I never really experimented with the v-core to find out why for nothing else had changed.

 

With the exact same equipment and with HT turned off, this 2700K pulls 4.8 Ghz at 1.34 v-core and 5.0Ghz at 1.42Ghz while running Prime 95. It would likely do much more if I was willing to throw more power at it, but I'm not. It runs faultlessly at 4.8Ghz for FSX and default speeds for everything else.

 

If this is lower performance, I sure would like to see what a high performer would do!

 

Kind regards,