Doxy, yes I switched to XMP profile. Also, I maybe a little rusty at overclocking, but I do know what I'm doing. I have been overclocking processors since the day of dip switches on mobos. =P In addition, it looks like the Sabertooth Z77 board does have auto oc features. You just have to install the software that came with the board..AsusAI suit, if I recall correctly. Thanks for posting your settings. I will use it as a reference. (*Update* I may have spoken too soon. I just installed that AsusAI suit and I don't see the auto-tuning application. Maybe they got rid of it recently? No biggie, I have been manually over clocking from the BIOS. =P ) Enigma, thanks for all your input! Fliggen, I upgraded my system because my old system was around 4 years old and I installed some recent games that did not perform as well as I wanted to on my old system. I plan to play PS2 but I have been having slow connection issues since May. Apparently my ISP over subscribed in my area and during peak usage hours I get as low as 0.3Mbps. Unfortunately, my ISP is the only option for broadband in my area. They expect to upgrade their equipment by first quarter of 2013, but I'm not counting on that to happen. Ryld, thanks for posting that video link! I'm in the process of overclocking my system as I type this out. =) BTW, do you guys leave the Intel Speed Step option enabled in BIOS?
The auto OC was never an option on the Z77 board. If you went with an ROG board it would have come packaged with it. Not sure why this decision was made but OCing the CPU with TurboVevo is pretty simple so I'm not too bothered by it. Using PRime95 and Cinebench alongside AIsuite makes for a quick process if you just slowly step it up until it crashes and then start backing off.
Thanks for the heads up Proxi. So, today I finished putting together my hardware and making my windows boot disk, and I ended up having the exact same two problems you're having - and yes, I'm using the same Mobo and cooler combo. My CPU fan speed is hovering somewhere around 560 RPM and a chassis fan is also reading marginally low (can't remember the speed). After re-reading your post I took a small sigh of relief, but when I look at the actual CPU fan spinning in my rig it just feels like it should be spinning faster, even if it is just during boot. The chassis fan concerns me less because I probably have its switch in the case set to low, but I still feel like the CPU fan should be spinning faster. Is 560 RPM a reasonable speed for POST? Also, since I'll want to monitor the fan speed once I log in to windows, so which program would help me do that? (I have a list here of potential benchmark/monitoring programs: HW Monitor, CPU-z, Prime95, and RealTemp) BY the way, the default minimum fan warning speed is 600 RPM. Anyway, my primary concern is the fan not speeding up once the CPU starts to elevate in temperature. I've been reading some threads online where this happens, even with the Fan speed set to Turbo in BIOS. Strangely, one guy fixed it by simply reinstalling the entire cooler: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1693463
Sabertooth boards come with ASUS' AI Suite, which will show you all sorts of voltages, core speeds, and fan speeds in its monitor area Not that it matters since I have a different CPU cooler, but mine has four fans at 2000rpm's. Under 600rpm is pretty low, but if it spins up faster in Windows then it shouldnt matter. I wonder if some Q-Fan setting in your bios is causing such a low speed?
Enigma, it did not speed up once Windows started. I changed the CPU fan alarm threshold to 400 but there was no change. Then I switched the CPU fan's connector from CPU_FAN to CPU_FAN OPT, but still no change. After that I disabled the Q-Fan in BIOS and THAT worked - it ran at around 1850 RPM. Immediately after I did the same thing to all 4 chassis fans and they've each doubled in speed. I'm not sure exactly how Q-Fan operates (Ive heard that it increases or decreases fan speed based upon the load on the system) but I did not see any option in UEFI BIOS (dled latest version) to do anything to Q-Fan other than turn it on or off. I dunno, mebe I'm missing something. Is it wise to run a gaming rig without a utility like Q-Fan? I guess I should first ask this question: do fans typically run at maximum RPMs when not under PWM? Plus, PWM is a nice feature, and if it doesn't work I may consider RMAing the board. To make matters worse, now Windows won't recognize my network, even with the latest chipset drivers. I have no clue on how to approach that one. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.
You need LAN drivers to make the network chipset work, it isnt part of the normal chipset drivers at all. Those should be on the install CD that comes with the motherboard though Or you turned off your network chipset by accident in the bios
Fliggen, default q-fan settings works fine for me. Generally, my fan spins around 630rpm after my system first loads up and cpu temp is around 25-28c. I have ran stress tests on my cpu and ram and I have confirmed that the auto-fan controls do work. I used Prime95 for the stress testing and the AIsuite software that came with my mobo for cpu fan and cpu temp monitoring. I hope it all works out for you!
Updating my rig. Is the information suggested on the first page still accurate? Don't need the PSU or Case
This was my final build Kyoji. I still have yet to attempt an overclock so I haven't updated this thread yet. I've been busy with school stuff. This was my final build, though. CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($215.99 @ NCIX US) CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($27.98 @ NCIX US) Motherboard: Asus SABERTOOTH Z77 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($239.99 @ Newegg) Memory: Mushkin Redline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($54.99 @ Newegg) Storage: Samsung 830 Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($198.83 @ Amazon) Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card ($369.99 @ Newegg)
^^^^^ All that still looks like a very good computer to me. There hasnt been any new hardware to come out yet, but AMD and Nvidia are expected to launch their new graphics cards *soon*. Whether you want to pay for the new top end card or not is up to you. Normally the top end is all that releases right away, with midrange and lower end coming up after a few more months.
I like that hardware in general but I really don't recommend spending so much on a motherboard. You can get the same chipset at half that still high-quality ASUS. If you're not buying two video cards now, forget SLI support. Upgrading to a current-gen single card down the line may not reach the pure performance levels of doubling up but it will have and be made with all the current technology, you'll be a gen or two behind. Plus you don't have to worry about all the compatibility issues. Another example: You don't need more SATA 6gb/s ports than you have SSDs. same goes for USB3.0 ports and so on. You save a lot of money and get the same important bits of silicon (That Z77 chip or whatever). I also wouldn't go over DDR3 1600, frame rate gains from OC Ram are minimal. "Future proofing" is pretty much a fool's errand if you're looking for value. Current hardware in the mid range will leave you with a better playing continuous playing experience than buying the top end and upgrading half as often. As far as hardware releases...if you want or need to upgrade now the i5 + 670 is the sweet spot IMO (at 1080p resolution or better, below that a 660 will be more than adequate). If you're getting along OK and want to wait until mid-spring the new Intel chips will be coming along. Those are a new architecture so it's likely it'll be a bigger bump than Sandybridge to Ivy but who knows - lots of the focus is on power efficiency(A read: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6355/intels-haswell-architecture/). Probably also the new high-end ($500 or greater) GPUs. Mid-range 670-like parts will be a while longer (mid-late summer, even). Plus everything current will be cheaper. Oh yeah, factory overclocked 600-series cards are of dubious value. They automatically overclock themselves to a specific thermal output...often reaching the OC cards' rates. Getting a card with a good non-reference cooler, on the other hand, makes that built-in OC even better. My opinions pretty much come from a bang-for-the-buck and efficiency standpoint for us poorer types. If you're flush with cash and want to go balls to the wall, more power too ya.
A lot of the value of a Sabertooth boards comes from better VRM over the lower boards (which means less heat and more headroom), bios stability, 5 year warranty if anything goes wrong, and being able to see sensors for lots of different parts on the motherboard to be warned if there is a problem (so it doesnt kill some other part) or let you know if you need to add more cooling. The extra USB3 or SATA ports it may have are just a little bit extra value for the money you are paying to get the more important parts. Having owned over 10 ASUS boards I have had the personal experience to see the inferior quality of the cheaper boards, and numerous small and odd bugs in the bios when trying to overclock. But thats just my on the matter
Is it better to get the i7 3.5 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116501 or the i5 3.4? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504
For just gaming the i5 is better. In *some* games the hyper threading can actually hurt frames per second (very few though). It is mostly for people who do video encoding or other tasks that require a lot of processing threads. Some games can use the additional threads provided by the i7, and in the future more and more games will. However even with 4 threads, the i5 will be a great performer in gaming for many years to come. The additional threads in the i7 are not even full cores, just extensions of the real cores to pick up some slack should the primary's ever be waiting on some other resource. With an i7 you are paying 50% more price for about 25% more performance. You are far better served spending that extra $100 on a Corsair H100i and overclocking to above 4.5GHz. This increase in core speed would give better performance than the additional threads in nearly all situations.