Water Cooled, Sandy Bridge 2600K

[xbonez]

Having sold my dedicated folding i7 920 D0 rig (which never got around to folding at all, but thats a different story), I have received my Sandy Bridge build, and I'm putting it together right now.

Jusst a bunch of pictures an possibly benchmarks for anyone curious / interested in Sandy Bridge.

If you want any particular benchmarks, feel free to ask.

Specifications:

Intel i7 2600K
Asus P8P67 motherboard
ASUS GTX 470 + 8800 GS + 8800 GT
Silverstone 1000W PSU
2 x 2 GB Corsair XMS3 CL7 1600Mhz RAM
XSPC Rasa RS240 Water Cooling
Open test bench.

I'll keep updating this thread with pics and info.

Oh, great. My Rasa 1156 backplate won't sit nice on my motherboard. Its because the CPU socket is rather thick on the underside of the motherboard. Lets see what I can do.

Edit: Disregard the update about the backplate incompatibility. I was putting it the wrong way around. I shall continue updating as soon as I'm done hitting my head on the wall.

Motherboard installed on Test bench:

Batch number: L040B705

Processor installed on motherboard:

Processor unboxed:

The part of the socket on the motherboard that holds the processor down applies way too much pressure!

Everything out together, just before 1st boot:

Great. Tried booting in a couple of times but got BSODs. Possibly Windows doesn't play nice with switching to SB. Reinstalling now.

The BIOS:

PS - Love the mouse support in BIOS

Reinstalling Windows solved the BSOD problems. Posting this fro the SB build. Screenshots coming soon.

Prime95 Torture Test w/ everything at Stock. TIM used was AS5, so temps should drop a few degrees once it cures.

Calling it a day for today. OC'ing will start tomorrow.

End of Installation / Assembly. Some interesting things I noted :
1. BIOS is beautiful. Mouse support is great. The whole new layout will take some getting used to, though.
2. My Win 7 Ultimate x64 would not boot and gave BSODs. Re-installing windows fixed the proble.
3. LAN/Internet did not work by itself (like it usually does in Win 7). had to install Chipset and LAN drivers.

 

[xbonez]

Benchmarks at Stock Settings
(RAM timed to 1600Mhz, Intel Speedstep turned off)

Before running every test, I reset the min/max temps on RealTemp

1. Intel Burn Test (Standard, 10 passes)

2. Pi Calculation to 4M

3. Performance Test CPU Mark

4. Cinebench
(According to Cinebench's comparison, the 2600K scored 1.22 points more than an i7 960 @ 3.2Ghz)

____________________________________________________________________________

Benchmarks at Overclocked Settings

So, after hours of tweaking int the BIOS, restarts and BSODs, I believe I have reached the maximum stable OC I am comfortable with, for now.

Since there aren't any official Intel specs out yet, I wasn't entirely sure how far to push the processor. This is what some online research revealed:

1. For CPU VCore voltage, most people seem to agree that 1.35V is the max you should go with an aftermarket air cooler, while 1.4V being the safe limit for watercooling. Some people have posted that Intel's spec sheet for the Sandy Bridge architecture specifies the max voltage limit to be 1.52V.
However, not being able to find these Intel sheets myself anywhere, I decided to limit myself under 1.4V

2. As for temperatures, again opinions vary. The more conservative say early 70s is about as high as you should push it, while some believe late 70s to early 80s is acceptable.
Once again, I decided to play it safe and attempt not to go beyond 70.

3. Load Line Calibration (VDroop): LLC comes in a number of flavors in my board (possibly all P67 chipsets) : None, Low, Medium, High, Ultra High and Extreme. I initially tried using Extreme, but at that mode, the board overcompensates for VDroop and was providing the chip with more voltage than I had specified or the chip needed. When I had VCore set at 1.38 in my board and LLC at Extreme, the chip would often be receiving 1.40V, or 1.41V. Changing LLC to Ultra High fixed that. The chip no longer gets a higher VCore than what I have specified in the BIOS. Makes it a lot safer for a 24x7 OC, and also brough temps down by a good 5 degrees.

So, my final stable overclock that I settled at is:

4800 Mhz (100 x 48) @ 1.38V. My RAM is rated at 1.65V, but is running just fine at 1.60V @ 1600Mhz. Temperatures do not go beyond 68 degrees under Prime 95 or IBT, but for the most part stay at around 66, and that is my hottest core (Core 3). Other cores do not break 65 under any condition.

I believe with an aggressive overclock, possibly at about 1.425 - 1.43 V, I could find stability at 5Ghz, but until Intel reveals some official figures, that will wait.

I'm going to start posting some benchmarks now:

1. Intel Burn Test (Standard, 10 passes)

2. Pi Calculation to 4M

3. Performance Test CPU Mark

4. Cinebench

For all those interested in Folding benchmarks, I will now start a -bigadv WU and report back with screenshots of HFM.NET in an hour.


Folding bigadv

here's the processor doing a 2684 WU. For comparison, a i7 920 @ 4.0Ghz gets a TPF of about 45:??.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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UPDATE

Added some higher quality pics of the final build

Water Cooled, Sandy Bridge 2600K

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

I'd expect 44c load temps even with an overclock, watch the idle temps though. Don't think they boot below 20c and with all the fancy power saving features it might just get that low.

 

[xbonez]

I'd expect 44c load temps even with an overclock, watch the idle temps though. Don't think they boot below 20c and with all the fancy power saving features it might just get that low.

Ambient is about 24, so it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[TeXBill]

Lets see some bench marks,OC's and PPD numbers please. Why did you pick the Asus board over the sexy gigabyte board?

Edit also in the specs you have 3 cards listed but only 2 slots to put them in. LOL now i'm nit picking. Sorry

 

[Wetbehindtheears]

Drool.....

me wants.....

me can't afford.....

bummer!

 

[theonedub]

Im guessing MC combo deal?

It says TPU right under the SB/PCH heatsink, coincidence?

 

[TeXBill]

Ahhh yep your right Dub brain is fried today. Thanks

 

[jellyrole]

Im guessing MC combo deal?

It says TPU right under the SB/PCH heatsink, coincidence?

lulz nice spot!

 

[Deleted member 74752]

I love these guinea pigs...takes some of the guesswork out later. We had proven mb's with the X58, but now have to take a leap of faith with the new crop.

 

[xbonez]

Lets see some bench marks,OC's and PPD numbers please. Why did you pick the Asus board over the sexy gigabyte board?

Edit also in the specs you have 3 cards listed but only 2 slots to put them in. LOL now i'm nit picking. Sorry

The Gigabyte motherboards at the same price point have either only 1 PCI-E, or two (but with one at x4).

Yup, I didn't realize this motherboard only had 2 PCIe slots. No biggie, one of my 8800s will go in my main rig. I have 2 free slots in that.

The 2600K is idling at 29-32 degrees. Considering my ambient is about 25 and the AS5 hasn't cured yet, I'd say its pretty decent. From what I've heard, I should be able to hit 4.5ish without touching voltages.
Still need to figure out whats the max safe temp to run the chip at 24x7.

 

[TeXBill]

The Gigabyte motherboards at the same price point have either only 1 PCI-E, or two (but with one at x4).

The Asus is the same way the second slot only runs @ X4 also. It's a nice board, I just like the Gigabyte board. The cooler on the chipset look like they would do a better job. I hope that Sandy OC's pretty good. Like to see some numbers hopefully tomorrow.
Good luck

 

[xbonez]

Yup, definitely tomorrow.

I wasnt aware the second slot runs at x4. I should have researched more, but it seems at this price point, its all I would get.
Would a card running at x4 greatly affect my PPD?

 

[theonedub]

Yup, definitely tomorrow.

I wasnt aware the second slot runs at x4. I should have researched more, but it seems at this price point, its all I would get.
Would a card running at x4 greatly affect my PPD?

4x has no effect on PPD, just ask my 450

 

[TeXBill]

Exactly no it will not affect PPD in folding. I've been doing some research on this and the only board that does come with both x16 slots at a cheaper price is the MSI P67-GD65, cost is 179.99 @ the egg. So for a little over $510.99 with cpu included you can have a nice folding & SLI gaming rig also. Not bad...Lets see some numbers tomorrow

 

[HammerON]

Subscribed
Can't wait to see some overclocking

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

The asus was a nice choice. They usually perform slightly better in memory tests, and they're the only ones with a decent efi. I think msi's is buggy and I don't think gigabyte even has one yet.

 

[BUCK NASTY]

Yup, definitely tomorrow.

I wasnt aware the second slot runs at x4. I should have researched more, but it seems at this price point, its all I would get.
Would a card running at x4 greatly affect my PPD?

As Texbill stated, the x4 slot will not affect ppd. F@H uses very little PCI bandwidth. Gotta admit i'm phsyced to see one of our own putting a 2600K through it's paces for F@H. Not to put any pressure on you, but alot of future F@H hardware upgrades will be based upon your findings.

 

[TeXBill]

The asus was a nice choice. They usually perform slightly better in memory tests, and they're the only ones with a decent efi. I think msi's is buggy and I don't think gigabyte even has one yet.

Yes the Asus might have the better EFI BIOS now, Gigabyte states they will have one in the future bios updates. Yes MSI's bios is a bit buggy so far, but I'm sure with BIOS updates they will all be a whole lot better. I just like the way Gigabyte does the chipset coolers on their boards. It's just my opinion and most likely does not make a difference one way or another.

 

[overclocking101]

asus and msi have eufi bios at launch and nobody else that speaks volumes to me

 

[xbonez]

Will be resuming in a few hours.

 

[Deleted member 74752]

asus and msi have eufi bios at launch and nobody else that speaks volumes to me

What about Evga? They don't even have a board out yet...

 

[xbonez]

AFAIK they don't have a board out yet.

 

[johnnyfiive]

ooooo cant wait to see the numbers!

 

[NdMk2o1o]

If you want to compare how they perform clock for clock compared to 1155/1366 let me know, we both have Asus GTX 470 and similar ram so if you overclocked to 4ghz without ht it would be a nice comparison