QX9770, Bootleg Heatsink and Overclocking

[Mals]

Hi guys, so I have this handmedown QX9770 from my buddy's Dell XPS. It came with an nForce 790i Ultra SLI Mobo. I have a great A70 Corsair cooler, the CPU is cool as a cucumber. My problem, however, is that his system was watercooled. It came with this ridiculous system that cooled the CPU and the northbridge, and it was removed. What I have now is this odd metal bridge from the CPU to the northbridge and the top of the northbridge is a messy pile of thermal tape/paste of some sort and two screws on either side. From the looks of stock 790i's, there is normally a heatsink/fan combo for this. I also hear they are notorious for running hot.

Sadly.. my solution at the time to not having a northbridge heatsink was to buy this:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FZ1YSM/?tag=tec06d-20

Now, I overclocked my qx9770 to 3.6 by bumping up the multiplier to 9. I bumped up voltage to about 1.35. It was stable for a while, but would freeze on browsing web or gaming periodically. I am fairly convinced that the NB has to be bumped up to handle this, but I can't seem to find temp readings on HWMonitor to display how hot my Northbridge is.

Also, that Zalman heatsink is plenty hot in my case. Everything else is cool as can be. Should I just buy an aftermarket heatsink that will fit on this? Or should I just chalk it up to.. time to upgrade to i5? =P

Edit: Or should I just buy something like this and overclock the hell out of it? http://www.heatsinkfactory.com/chipset-coolers-p-1-c-323.html

 

[LDNL]

Now for the verdict. Running Crysis 2, my FPS went up ALOT ( cannot seem to get Adrenaline bench to work atm ) So just going off of fraps. I do notice FPS drop though and I'm guessing it's the Q9650. I OC'd it to 4.2 and still get the FPS drop.

BF3. Although I'm hitting well above 60 FPS @ 1980x1200 with Ultra and 4X MSAA, I get as low as 35 FPS in 64 player maps, even dropping MSAA I seen dips in Metro in the 50's.

Sad to say, I think the ol' Q9650 has to be put down, although like asinausk, I do not nessisarily want to give up my quad, looks like to get rid of those low dips, I need some processing power.

Not sure if its useful information since I don't know how different the QX is from the normal Qs but im assuming its like the other eXtreme editions

edit: and the guy was using a 670 but didnt mention which brand

 

[1freedude]

I have the 780i. It does run HAF. When I did some ocing, all multis where at 5x. Make sure those multipliers are maxed ( for NB, of course)

 

[Mals]

I have the 780i. It does run HAF. When I did some ocing, all multis where at 5x. Make sure those multipliers are maxed ( for NB, of course)

Not sure waht you mean by this. Multis were at 5x? I can't seem to find where to get a good temp reading off of the chipset so I am not sure how hot it is running.

My CPU runs super cool, it never goes above 48C in Prime95. It's just the northbridge that gets hot.

 

[Mals]

Not sure if its useful information since I don't know how different the QX is from the normal Qs but im assuming its like the other eXtreme editions

edit: and the guy was using a 670 but didnt mention which brand

Hmm... so uhh. What you're saying is you think if I were to get an i5-2500k and a new mobo I'd be getting 120 FPS on BF3? These games have FPS drops with tons of people around due to GPU use as well.. it's not just like the CPU is solely responsible for FPS dropping..

 

[LDNL]

Hmm... so uhh. What you're saying is you think if I were to get an i5-2500k and a new mobo I'd be getting 120 FPS on BF3? These games have FPS drops with tons of people around due to GPU use as well.. it's not just like the CPU is solely responsible for FPS dropping..

I'd expect it to be alot smoother because of the newer/faster architecture. But as I said take the information ive provided with a grain of salt.

edit: well I started from the point of view of gaming. what else do you do on the computer?

 

[Capitan Harlock]

i dont have try nb heatsink but i think a nb cooler like that http://www.thermalright.com/products/index.php?act=data&cat_id=8&id=106 , thermalright have 3 types of nb heatsink and i think are much efficent than the little you post from zalman

 

[Mals]

I'd expect it to be alot smoother because of the newer/faster architecture. But as I said take the information ive provided with a grain of salt.

edit: well I started from the point of view of gaming. what else do you do on the computer?

This is almost exclusively for gaming. That is the only thing I do with my computer that requires any real hardware.

 

[Mals]

http://www.enzotechnology.com/evga_790i.htm

Wouldn't something like this solve a lot of problems? I guess I really have to decide if the QX9770 is still worth it

 

[FreedomEclipse]

http://www.enzotechnology.com/evga_790i.htm

Wouldn't something like this solve a lot of problems? I guess I really have to decide if the QX9770 is still worth it

wouldnt be bad at all. make sure theres enough clearence on your board though, Notice how one of the caps in the picture come so close to the heatsink almost to the point where a slip of hand while installing could mean a lengthly RMA or a solder job if your skills are proficient.

QX9770 is still a decent CPU. you should be able to get higher then 4Ghz with that chip at least

 

[rangerone766]

the zalman will not be enough on the 790. something like this http://www.heatsinkfactory.com/deep-cool-nbridge-8.html
would work.

are you currently running under water? if so, i have a waterblock the would work for you. i have no more use for it, pay postage and it's yours.

 

[Mals]

the zalman will not be enough on the 790. something like this http://www.heatsinkfactory.com/deep-cool-nbridge-8.html
would work.

are you currently running under water? if so, i have a waterblock the would work for you. i have no more use for it, pay postage and it's yours.

I am not currently running on water. I def appreciate the offer tho. My massive corsair a70 does an exceptional job of running the thing freezing cold tho. At 3.6 idles low 20s prime95 at about 45. That passive cooler would hit my a70. Its too tall.

I'm also kind of afraid to use anything passive. The 790 are notorious for running hot. The one i posted I figure will work well if I can figure out how to secure it.

So is the consensus to wait for haswell and cool my NB?

 

[CaptainFailcon]

nforce chip-sets are known to run extremely hot and are prone to failure if not properly cooled
keep it below 60c or it will eventually melt
and the tiny ass coolers listed wont do the job you NEED active cooling
I have owned a few boards with nforce chipsets and always had problems with either it overheating/melting or lan/audio issues

 

[Mals]

nforce chip-sets are known to run extremely hot and are prone to failure if not properly cooled
keep it below 60c or it will eventually melt
and the tiny ass coolers listed wont do the job you NEED active cooling
I have owned a few boards with nforce chipsets and always had problems with either it overheating/melting or lan/audio issues

Thanks a lot. Yeah I feel like it really isn't enough to put that zalman on it.. hence the not OCing it for now.

I guess the real question now is: Should I spend $30 on a legit active heatsink or spend the $300~+ on a i5 and a Mobo? I don't know that i want to shell that much out.. but Haswell I guess is a ways away?

 

[CaptainFailcon]

Thanks a lot. Yeah I feel like it really isn't enough to put that zalman on it.. hence the not OCing it for now.

I guess the real question now is: Should I spend $30 on a legit active heatsink or spend the $300~+ on a i5 and a Mobo? I don't know that i want to shell that much out.. but Haswell I guess is a ways away?

i5 all day long a 2500k will kick that qx9700 into the dirt

 

[Mals]

i5 all day long a 2500k will kick that qx9700 into the dirt

Indeed it will. I guess my dilemma is.. I just spent a good bit on my computer. If money were not an option, sure I'd just get a 2500k. Here's the thing:
-$30 to upgrade to a legit heatsink and OC this 9770.
-Wait about.. a year? yikes, and get a Haswell for a serious upgrade and a motherboard that will last longer than a year.

Or I can spend $300+ on upgrading to an i5 now that will in all likelyhood be crapped on by the Haswell when it comes out. Is that worth it? I sorta missed the boat on the 2500k because it came out two years ago.. if I bought one 2 years ago I'd never complain, but now it might not be as good of an investment.

 

[CaptainFailcon]

Indeed it will. I guess my dilemma is.. I just spent a good bit on my computer. If money were not an option, sure I'd just get a 2500k. Here's the thing:
-$30 to upgrade to a legit heatsink and OC this 9770.
-Wait about.. a year? yikes, and get a Haswell for a serious upgrade and a motherboard that will last longer than a year.

Or I can spend $300+ on upgrading to an i5 now that will in all likelyhood be crapped on by the Haswell when it comes out. Is that worth it? I sorta missed the boat on the 2500k because it came out two years ago.. if I bought one 2 years ago I'd never complain, but now it might not be as good of an investment.

I doubt haswell will crap on a 2500k/3750k then again expect to see cpus/mobos supporting DDR4 Soon...

 

[Mals]

when you say soon you mean Haswell? =P RAM is RAM in a lot of ways.. I don't expect DDR4 to wipe the floor with DDR3 (but I'm ill informed on this)

 

[Mals]

Does anyone else have any comments on whether or not it would be worth upgrading now? Or should I be holding out for Haswell and the new Socket for longevity.

 

[NinkobEi]

Does anyone else have any comments on whether or not it would be worth upgrading now? Or should I be holding out for Haswell and the new Socket for longevity.

I'm using an E8400 @ 4ghz and games/apps run perfectly fine for me. There's no real-world performance reason to upgrade at all, at least in my opinion. Most loading times are limited by your hard drive speed anyway, not cpu speed.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Do you feel that you need to upgrade??? are there any games or programs that you cant run because its too slow?

Honestly. If you arent having any trouble running anything now then whats the point of upgrading???? Wait until Haswell is out and all the benchmarks are all over the net and if it isnt as good as you hoped it would be vs the older generation then youre in luck because the SB & IB CPUs will be a lot cheaper. As it stands, even with IB out, the 2500k is still the sweet spot as IB doesnt really overtake it by leaps and bounds.


If you really cant wait then upgrade. and if you are going to upgrade then go for a 2500k and OC it. if not then sit on your hands or feed your wallet to the dog a killer whale in seaworld that way you wont feel the urge to spend money (make sure you report your wallet eaten to the lost and found at seaworld though so they can return it after the killer whales done its business)

 

[Mals]

I guess the main game I am really concerned with is BC2. I always get FPS drop on it and I am pretty sure an i5-2500k would fix that. However, if I were to just say screw it and start playing BF3, is it my understanding that it is much less CPU dependent and i could possibly be getting normal FPS with my GTX 670 rather than the dropping FPS on BC2?

Most games I play.. run pretty damn well. BC2 particularly (which I guess is very CPU intensive) gets dropped FPS. I am trying to upgrade to BF3 soon...and I am considering SLI'ing my 670's somewhat soon, so I want to know if I am going to be running SLI 670's if my qx9770 is gonna be a huge dilemma.

I guess the real question here is: if I SLI my 670's is the qx9770 going to be a huge bottleneck?

 

[FreedomEclipse]

I think you shouldnt have that much problem playing BF3 as it loves extra cores after all. Had i still had my old Q9550 clocked at 3.9Ghz with my old 5850s im sure i would have no problem playing the game at all.

A 670 is generally said to be 15% slower a 680 so you could overclock the GPU a bit to close the gap.

as far as bottlenecking goes for SLI, I dont think there will be that much of a bottle if you OC to as close to (or beyond) 4Ghz as you can.

however a 2500k setup will really drive those graphic cards. I was still using my 5850s when i upgraded from the Q9550 to this 2500k and it was like giving my pc steriods.


Id say the extra 670 would be a waste of money for a 23" screen. but its upto you what you do with your cash.

 

[Mals]

keep in mind this is a 120hz monitor... My goal is to maintain 100+ fps as much as possible. Even at x1080 that isn't accomplished easily

 

[FreedomEclipse]

looks like you already know what you need to do then