3DCGdesign

Thanks waco and master blinky, I will try with the power saving settings - if I can find them. I tried already with c-state several times, no dice.

What happened? After upgrading my BIOS so that I can run my 12Gbs of RAM, now it has locked me out of the voltages, I can't overclock?! I am only allowed to change the Bclock ( for instance, it will let me go from 133 to 150... but not 185 - unstable) it won't let me touch the multiplier anymore, and it keeps all voltages grayed out, so I can't boost power to anything. Anyone know what I should do? I've searched MSI website for a user manual for the BIOS but I can't find it. Maybe it's there, and I'm just not finding it?

Thank you d6bmg and medbor for your posts, well, better late than never. I appreciate all advice. I did install the RAM, but not without challenges. The main one is that the system is not very stable now, crashed a minute ago even while just writing this post to overclockersclub I used MSI Live Update to update the BIOS to the latest and greatest. Then I had to update the sound drivers. I had to start in basically safe mode with one stick, and switch the RAM profile to "Profile 1" which I have no idea what it is, but that worked, and let my RAM be recognized at 1600. I then, after successful boot to windows and seeing that the 4Gb was working ok, seen at 1600, and I was able to render something in my 3D rendering program, I shut down and added the other 2 sticks of 4 each. Upon reboot, it failed. Then I shut it down manually, rebooted... and it just worked. I have no idea why. Now I have temporarily switched the little "Easy OC" switch to "on" on my MSI x58 board to get a little overclock until I can dig around in the BIOS and try to get this thing clocked right. It "easy" clocked it from 2.66 up to an underwhelming 2.78. But perhaps this is why the RAM is faulting/unstable? I am aiming for a stable 4Ghz. I've been at 3.62 for a long time now. I wonder if 4 is too much to ask? I needed more RAM anyway, so was hoping faster RAM would help me get this oc'd up to 4... any advice overclocking this RAM on my board is appreciated.

guess I'll get them. hope they work!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145235

A year overclocked at 3.62Ghz, and still going strong! 2-3 years ago, when I bought this machine, DDR3 RAM was so expensive, but today I can get 12Gb of DDR3 1600 for cheap! It's now 2012, and my 3Gb of slow RAM are just not cutting it. (they were ok for a while) So, my mobo is: msi x58 Platinum = http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/msi_x58_platinum/8.htm MSI specs say I read in some forums that this mobo only recognizes 8Gb is that true? I was going to buy CORSAIR XMS3 12GB (6 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) can I overclock this RAM? is there any reason you know of I should not get this, but would advise using some other RAM? (90$ on NewEgg)

Thanks for the help, foks, that makes sense, I guess. Except that, for me, it's difficult to actually read these reviews keeping in mind that my i7920 is currently running at 3.62 instead of stock 2.66... so when I see the i7 just barely loosing to another cpu like the i7 860, which is running at 2.8, makes me wonder if I can read reviews at all anymore... or maybe I need a tutorial on how to read reviews. (I understand very little about L1,L2,L3 cache for instance) I read this benchmarkreview, and found it most helpful with a somewhat unique? cost/value comparison: After running a benchmark, he then makes a ratio of the cost per score like this... Maybe if it were in a easy-to-compare chart it would be much handier in a review like this to find the best value: CPU | Price per multi-core score point | Price per frame of OpenGL Performance (Presuming a $300 MSRP) AMD Phenom-II X6-1090T..$63.97|$5.06 Intel Core i7-920.............. $72.35|$4.97 AMD X4-965 ....................$61.39|$3.16 Intel Core i7-980X ..........$138.89|$17.14 I also liked this comparison chart which combines power, speed, # of threads!!!, and cost: Processor Clock Speed Cores / Threads Maximum Single Core Turbo Frequency TDP Price Intel Core i7-975 Extreme 3.33GHz 4 / 8 3.60GHz 130W $999 Intel Core i7 965 Extreme 3.20GHz 4 / 8 3.46GHz 130W $999 Intel Core i7 940 2.93GHz 4 / 8 3.20GHz 130W $562 Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz 4 / 8 2.93GHz 130W $284 Intel Core i7 870 2.93GHz 4 / 8 3.60GHz 95W $562 Intel Core i7 860 2.80GHz 4 / 8 3.46GHz 95W $284 Intel Core i5 750 2.66GHz 4 / 4 3.20GHz 95W $196

Didn't seem to be running that hot to begin with... at full load with stock cooler mine was running at 82C :shock:... that's why I bought the D-14, I couldn't even overclock w/out it. I'm at 68C fully loaded now... pretty much run it 12-14hrs a day like that.

Does anyone know why they test CPUs at different clock speeds against one another? I see it in almost all reviews I read. Isn't it a bit like testing a horse's speed against a camel? :roll: It seems to me if all CPUs were at the same clock speed, then you could actually see which performs better... I mean of course a 3.2Ghz is faster than a 2.66, duh!? http://www.anandtech.com/show/2839/5

fix that noisy fan in 10 mins... After only a few days of owning it a year ago, my GeForce 9500 GT card's fan started to make a HUGE sound like it was about to explode or die... a wailing banshee - really! I had no idea what the sound was at the time... but it went away after the computer 'warmed up' a minute or two... so I learned to live with it. fast forward a year... I now overclocked my i7, and bought the new Noctua D14 quiet cooling and new Corsair "super quiet" power source (replacing EXTREMELY noisy cheapo power source), but all was for naught as my GeFORCE 9500 GT noisy fan was killing all enjoyment... it had now taken to making noise almost all the time... and stopped being quiet even after 10mins or more. I read around everywhere about fixing and everyone says to buy a new one. finally found one good tut showing me how to fix it. whew! So, I had some "mulit-use spinning grease" on hand (the lable is in italian and some other languages, but it says that in English.) I bought this higher-end spray for spinning motor parts a while back... it is most definitely NOT grease, but a special synthetic oil made to grease and "stick" to spinning motor parts. I imagine the little tube of oil I have for our hair clipping shears would work just as well... I've read also that "sewing machine oil" works ... but have nowhere to get that stuff where I live. All I can say is DO NOT use WD-40... it may remove warts, but is not made for computer fans. anyway - long story short... shut off machine detach monitor cord remove graphics card from mobo unscrew 4 spring loaded screws on back of graphics card on back of fan there is a round sticker. with a very fine-pointed flathead screw driver (in computer tool kit) very carefully peel back, but do no damage and do not remove sticker! now you can see the tip of the fan shaft using my same fine-tip flathead screwdriver (it's clean) I spray my spray onto the tip of the screwdriver (into the garbage) now a drop hangs from the tip of the screwdriver, and I very carefully drop it onto the tip of the fan shaft. repeat 3 times as the drops are quite small. carefully replace sticker very well (yeah... just a sticker covering the oil point... I wonder why it's so noisy!?) give the fan a few spins gently by hand to work the oil in... AND!... the funny part - the sticker says "low noise long lasting" HA HA HA!... forgot to laugh. now, the gunk on the back of the fan that's supposed to help conduct heat from the card's chip to the fan cooling block is just a mess... what to do? I'm sure it's not actually cooling like it should, and it's running 24/7... grr.. 4 q-tips. 1, with dishsoap and a drop of water on each end (wash) 1 with drop of water on each end (rinse) 2 to dry perfect. now one teensy drop of the same cooling paste that came with the Noctua D14 I installed a couple weeks ago... and voila... done. screw it back together. install card into mobo attach cord power up. silence... time for a cold one and something graphic intensive... :thumbs-up:

thanks wevsspot, I'm on Vista 64bit... perhaps it is as you say... and perhaps related to the "64bit" part of the OS?

:thumbs-up: OK... RESULTS ARE IN!!! i7's kickin' some tail! got the i7 at 3.62Ghz (stuck here I'm afraid due to low-end ram limitations) I think there were a few errors in the i5 render times before... these are much more like what I expected. I had my friend re-run the tests again 3 times each to verify the numbers. This o.c. for the i7 also shaved off some more seconds. B:) >>>Temps on i7o.c. never above 70*C for these test<<< (was running at 82*C at stock before installing Noctua D14 cooler) Two machines rendering same scene: CPU Clock(GHz) Cores Threads Scene Render Time (m:s) "<-" signifies "winner" i5 2.67 GHz 4 4 A 0:46 i7 2.67 Ghz 4 8 A 0:41 11% faster than i5stock i7oc 3.62 Ghz 4 8 A 0:30<- 34.8% faster than i5 27% faster than i7stock i5 2.67 GHz 4 4 B 2:23 i7 2.67 Ghz 4 8 B 2:08 10.5% faster than i5stock i7oc 3.62 Ghz 4 8 B 1:29<- 37.8% faster than i5 30% faster than i7stock i5 2.67 GHz 4 4 C 4:23 i7 2.67 Ghz 4 8 C 3:42 10% faster than i5stock i7oc 3.62 Ghz 4 8 C 2:35<- 41.1% faster than i5 30% faster than i7stock i5 2.67 GHz 4 4 D 0:34 i7 2.67 Ghz 4 8 D 0:29 15% faster than i5stock i7oc 3.62 Ghz 4 8 D 0:19<- 44.2% faster than i5 34.5% faster than i7stock i5 2.67 GHz 4 4 E 5:59 i7 2.67 Ghz 4 8 E 5:00 16.4% faster than i5stock i7oc 3.62 Ghz 4 8 E 3:39<-- 39% faster than i5 27% faster than i7stock Average speed increase of overclocked i7 vs core i5 2.66 stock is 39.4% speed increase for render times. NOT as good as I expected, but still very satisfying. When I get better RAM, should be able to push this puppy to 4 or more.

Ha! Whatever! does the 43% shown mean that 4 is 43% faster than the stock 2.6?

OK! Results are in... (sort of... I still can't go to sleep mode w/out crash. grr... ) But - important thing is at full render for 8 hrs on 8 threads I never hit 70* now. 8) I'll post the BIOS screenshot soon. my memory I change from default 8 8 8 21 to 7 7 7 20 and as I mentioned, volts at 1.6 now. :wall: seems much more stable in function and multi tasking... but the stupid thing won't wake up from sleep mode... I loved sleep mode... normally wakes up in 5 secs.

I made a mistake... I hadn't set v up from 1.5 on dram to be 1.6 because of my ram I have to use a bit diff. settings... think I may have found one... will test more, and post results.... when they are solid. thanks for the link to the oc tutorial... was the 4th I read but was helpful, indeed! wish I had the BIOS they show.