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[Fair Trial]

Yeah, they're the same kits. Also, the heatspreaders actually don't do very much. They became the rage in DDR2 days because DDR2 ran pretty hot. DDR3 does not, and more importantly, you don't overclock RAM with sandybridge. Older chipsets required a combination of BUS and Multiplier to get a good OC, so you had to have pretty nice RAM to get a solid OC.



I bought the Arc Mini, and it's incredible. Certainly the way to go if you want to watercool or consider the H100. Moves more air than any mATX case out there with a total of 6 120mm fans and 1 140mm fan.

Other SFF darlings of the OC crowd: Lian Li V600, Lian Li A04, Lian Li V354, Silverstone TJ08E, Silverstone FT-03.

Have you painted the front in white by yourself or there's a white choice?

 

[Blue Geezer]

I am doing a mini upgrade due to the need to get off my current mobo. This is what I have in mind:

Asus P8Z68-V LX Intel Z68 Socket 1155 Motherboard
Corsair Memory XMS3 Dominator 8GB DDR3 1333 Mhz CAS 9 DHX XMP Dual Channel Desktop
Intel CPU Core i5 Unlocked 2500K Sandy Bridge Quad Core Processor

this needs to work with my geforce 295 gtx and my ocz agility 256gb ssd.

This sound decent for a mini upgrade?

 

[CoolS]

Can't seem to get a break with my new PC

So apparantly, if the fps isn't the same as your monitors refresh rate, you get stuttering/juddering. I find that really annoying. I can tone down the details in games to get stable 60 fps with vsync, but then I always have to dial back the details, which sucks!

I made to videos of the problem in question:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EErxVYwbM30
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7z1MlKBwC4

My question: is that normal and do I just have to get used to it? Or is there something wrong with my monitor/GPU or something else entirely?

 

[Blue Geezer]

Can't seem to get a break with my new PC

So apparantly, if the fps isn't the same as your monitors refresh rate, you get stuttering/juddering. I find that really annoying. I can tone down the details in games to get stable 60 fps with vsync, but then I always have to dial back the details, which sucks!

I made to videos of the problem in question:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EErxVYwbM30
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7z1MlKBwC4

My question: is that normal and do I just have to get used to it? Or is there something wrong with my monitor/GPU or something else entirely?

I am sure there is fps limit programs that can cap your framerate?

edit: now that i think about it cant you lock your max framerate in game with a command to say 30 fps? that would mean less stuttering i believe.

 

[CoolS]

I am sure there is fps limit programs that can cap your framerate?

edit: now that i think about it cant you lock your max framerate in game with a command to say 30 fps? that would mean less stuttering i believe.

Ah, I actually wanted to ask that. So limiting it to 30 fps would probably make it better?

 

[Blue Geezer]

well fluctuation i believe is the issue for micro stuttering so limiting it to 30 fps which is a rate i am sure you can acheive consistently from what you have stated should help massively.

 

[MC RaZaR]

I am doing a mini upgrade due to the need to get off my current mobo. This is what I have in mind:

Asus P8Z68-V LX Intel Z68 Socket 1155 Motherboard
Corsair Memory XMS3 Dominator 8GB DDR3 1333 Mhz CAS 9 DHX XMP Dual Channel Desktop
Intel CPU Core i5 Unlocked 2500K Sandy Bridge Quad Core Processor

this needs to work with my geforce 295 gtx and my ocz agility 256gb ssd.

This sound decent for a mini upgrade?

Yeah, that's a pretty decent upgrade. Just make sure your PSU candle everything and you're good to go.

 

[Schmattakopf]

Built my PC in late June and have enjoyed it thus far, until recently it has had some issues with the blue screen of death. Seems to happen maybe once or twice a week. Happens randomly as far as I can tell; I can be browsing the web, playing a game, typing in Word, whatever, I can't find a common culprit. This may be the wrong thread for this, but can anyone perhaps diagnose this, or give me some direction, based on some cell phone pics I took?

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff178/ShockWaveTrio/IMG_0148296.jpg

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff178/ShockWaveTrio/IMG_0147297.jpg

EDIT: Come to think of it, I have my GPU and CPU overclocked, so I'm going to disable my GPU overclock for now and see if it occurs again. If it does, I'll then disable my CPU overclock and see if it occurs. If it does, then I'll have to come up with another route for investigation.

124 might mean you have to increase the Vcore.

 

[chaosblade]

Built my PC in late June and have enjoyed it thus far, until recently it has had some issues with the blue screen of death. Seems to happen maybe once or twice a week. Happens randomly as far as I can tell; I can be browsing the web, playing a game, typing in Word, whatever, I can't find a common culprit. This may be the wrong thread for this, but can anyone perhaps diagnose this, or give me some direction, based on some cell phone pics I took?

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff178/ShockWaveTrio/IMG_0148296.jpg

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff178/ShockWaveTrio/IMG_0147297.jpg

Interestingly, it always hangs at "75" when dumping physical memory. I have my OS and a couple programs on a SSD and everything else on a HDD if that is potentially related to this.

EDIT: Come to think of it, I have my GPU and CPU overclocked, so I'm going to disable my GPU overclock for now and see if it occurs again. If it does, I'll then disable my CPU overclock and see if it occurs. If it does, then I'll have to come up with another route for investigation.

Should be hardware related, voltage like Schmattakopf said is probably the culprit but it could be other things. This could be useful.

http://www.sevenforums.com/crash-lockup-debug-how/35349-stop-0x124-what-means-what-try.html

 

[mkenyon]

I am doing a mini upgrade due to the need to get off my current mobo. This is what I have in mind:

Asus P8Z68-V LX Intel Z68 Socket 1155 Motherboard
Corsair Memory XMS3 Dominator 8GB DDR3 1333 Mhz CAS 9 DHX XMP Dual Channel Desktop
Intel CPU Core i5 Unlocked 2500K Sandy Bridge Quad Core Processor

this needs to work with my geforce 295 gtx and my ocz agility 256gb ssd.

This sound decent for a mini upgrade?

Need 1.5V RAM for Sandybridge, that is 1.6V RAM.

Have you painted the front in white by yourself or there's a white choice?

Painted it white myself, same with the top grille.

What video cards are those?

MSI 560Ti's.

Built my PC in late June and have enjoyed it thus far, until recently it has had some issues with the blue screen of death. Seems to happen maybe once or twice a week. Happens randomly as far as I can tell; I can be browsing the web, playing a game, typing in Word, whatever, I can't find a common culprit. This may be the wrong thread for this, but can anyone perhaps diagnose this, or give me some direction, based on some cell phone pics I took?

Interestingly, it always hangs at "75" when dumping physical memory. I have my OS and a couple programs on a SSD and everything else on a HDD if that is potentially related to this.

EDIT: Come to think of it, I have my GPU and CPU overclocked, so I'm going to disable my GPU overclock for now and see if it occurs again. If it does, I'll then disable my CPU overclock and see if it occurs. If it does, then I'll have to come up with another route for investigation.

Download this dump analyzer and post the error codes here. We'll go from there.

 

[Celcius]

This may be helpful to others as well so I'll post it here:

BSOD Codes for i7 x58 chipset
0x101 = increase vcore
0x124 = increase/decrease QPI/VTT first, if not increase/decrease vcore...have to test to see which one it is
0x0A = unstable RAM/IMC, increase QPI first, if that doesn't work increase vcore
0x1A = Memory management error. It usually means a bad stick of Ram. Test with Memtest or whatever you prefer. Try raising your Ram voltage
0x1E = increase vcore
0x3B = increase vcore
0x3D = increase vcore
0xD1 = QPI/VTT, increase/decrease as necessary, can also be unstable Ram, raise Ram voltage
0x9C = QPI/VTT most likely, but increasing vcore has helped in some instances
0x50 = RAM timings/Frequency or uncore multi unstable, increase RAM voltage or adjust QPI/VTT, or lower uncore if you're higher than 2x
0x109 = Not enough or too Much memory voltage
0x116 = Low IOH (NB) voltage, GPU issue (most common when running multi-GPU/overclocking GPU)
0x7E = Corrupted OS file, possibly from overclocking. Run sfc /scannow and chkdsk /r

BSOD Codes for SandyBridge
0x124 = add/remove vcore or QPI/VTT voltage (usually Vcore, once it was QPI/VTT)
0x101 = add more vcore
0x50 = RAM timings/Frequency add DDR3 voltage or add QPI/VTT
0x1E = add more vcore
0x3B = add more vcore
0xD1 = add QPI/VTT voltage
0x9C = QPI/VTT most likely, but increasing vcore has helped in some instances
0X109 = add DDR3 voltage
0x0A = add QPI/VTT voltage

 

[TheExodu5]

So...my PC has been working since I switched to my new Corsair CX600. Looks like my AX850 is dying. Damn...can't believe it didn't even last a year.

It has a 7 year warranty, though, so at least I shouldn't have any troubles with an RMA. It's annoying that I'll likely have to pay $35 shipping for it to California, though. =\

 

[mkenyon]

So...my PC has been working since I switched to my new Corsair CX600. Looks like my AX850 is dying. Damn...can't believe it didn't even last a year.

It has a 7 year warranty, though, so at least I shouldn't have any troubles with an RMA. It's annoying that I'll likely have to pay $35 shipping for it to California, though. =\

Yup. It might also be cable related. In your RMA be sure to ask for a new set, since they don't test for the cables.

 

[BoobPhysics101]

So...my PC has been working since I switched to my new Corsair CX600. Looks like my AX850 is dying. Damn...can't believe it didn't even last a year.

It has a 7 year warranty, though, so at least I shouldn't have any troubles with an RMA. It's annoying that I'll likely have to pay $35 shipping for it to California, though. =\

Flat rate that bitch for $10?

 

[mkenyon]

I believe he's in Canada.

 

[Yami]

Put together a cheap pc for my pops, reusing hard drives from an old build (hdd's are expensive as hell right now!)

Intel Core i3 2100 3.10GHz Socket 1155 3MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor
Asus P8P67-M R3.0 Socket 1155 8 channel Audio ATX Motherboard
Gigabyte GTX 560 OC Edition 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI Mini HDMI PCI-E Graphics Card
Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz/PC3-12800 XMS3 i5 Memory Kit CL9(9-9-9-24) 1.65V
Antec 300 Three Hundred Case
LiteOn iHAS224 24x DVD±RW DL RAM & Lightscribe SATA Optical Drive -
Corsair 430W V2 CX Series PSU

came up to about £450. prob steal the 560 for myself and whack in my old 8800GT, muahaha.

 

[RumblingRosco]

This may be helpful to others as well so I'll post it here:

BSOD Codes for i7 x58 chipset
0x101 = increase vcore
0x124 = increase/decrease QPI/VTT first, if not increase/decrease vcore...have to test to see which one it is
0x0A = unstable RAM/IMC, increase QPI first, if that doesn't work increase vcore
0x1A = Memory management error. It usually means a bad stick of Ram. Test with Memtest or whatever you prefer. Try raising your Ram voltage
0x1E = increase vcore
0x3B = increase vcore
0x3D = increase vcore
0xD1 = QPI/VTT, increase/decrease as necessary, can also be unstable Ram, raise Ram voltage
0x9C = QPI/VTT most likely, but increasing vcore has helped in some instances
0x50 = RAM timings/Frequency or uncore multi unstable, increase RAM voltage or adjust QPI/VTT, or lower uncore if you're higher than 2x
0x109 = Not enough or too Much memory voltage
0x116 = Low IOH (NB) voltage, GPU issue (most common when running multi-GPU/overclocking GPU)
0x7E = Corrupted OS file, possibly from overclocking. Run sfc /scannow and chkdsk /r

BSOD Codes for SandyBridge
0x124 = add/remove vcore or QPI/VTT voltage (usually Vcore, once it was QPI/VTT)
0x101 = add more vcore
0x50 = RAM timings/Frequency add DDR3 voltage or add QPI/VTT
0x1E = add more vcore
0x3B = add more vcore
0xD1 = add QPI/VTT voltage
0x9C = QPI/VTT most likely, but increasing vcore has helped in some instances
0X109 = add DDR3 voltage
0x0A = add QPI/VTT voltage

Ah that's probably my issue then. I tested with Prime95 and had it stable for 20 hours, then decided to drop the voltage down by 0.005 increments every few days over the weeks after that; I think I lowered it a total .20 or so. Never had an issue and never tested with Prime95 after that. Guess I need to nudge it up a bit.

 

[mkenyon]

Put together a cheap pc for my pops, reusing hard drives from an old build (hdd's are expensive as hell right now!)

Intel Core i3 2100 3.10GHz Socket 1155 3MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor
Asus P8P67-M R3.0 Socket 1155 8 channel Audio ATX Motherboard
Gigabyte GTX 560 OC Edition 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI Mini HDMI PCI-E Graphics Card
Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz/PC3-12800 XMS3 i5 Memory Kit CL9(9-9-9-24) 1.65V
Antec 300 Three Hundred Case
LiteOn iHAS224 24x DVD±RW DL RAM & Lightscribe SATA Optical Drive -
Corsair 430W V2 CX Series PSU

came up to about £450. prob steal the 560 for myself and whack in my old 8800GT, muahaha.

That ram won't work on that board. You need 1.5V RAM for Sandybridge.

 

[Sanic]

I've decided to ask this question here, so as to get a greater amount of people to see it. Essentialy, the problem is that i'm having performance issues with my PC, specifically with games not performing to the level they should given my system. I've posted about this issue in OT1, tried a few things, and somewhat lost interest in pursuing a solution. Now that i've purchased Skyrim and am having issues, I would really like to get to the bottom of this (to see my issues with skyrim take a look here. My posts start a bit down the page, and i've posted a couple of screens to allow you to get an idea of the performance deficit i'm experiencing.) I experience similar issues with several other games (unstable framerate in TF2 when there's a heavy amount of action, generally poor performance with UE3 games. It would be quicker to mention games that don't have issues than games that do).

I can't recall everything i've tested in the past to try and find a solution, so it may be best that we start at square. What i've tried:

-Cleaning out old video drivers and installing again fresh.
-Clean install of windows.

So, i'm fairly certain it's hardware related, and anything I could try would be appreciated. I'm not sure it's related, but every couple of months i'll have an issue where, for a few days, my PC will either start bluescreening and/or fail to boot (I power on and am greeted with a black screen. Absolutely nothing happens).

My PC:
AMD Phenom II X4 840 3.2ghz
GTX 460
4GB RAM

Any other information I should provide?

 

[mkenyon]

Could be a faulty GPU.

Couple questions to think about some possibilities:

1. How are temps?

2. You have the 1GB 460?

3. Monitor resolution?

 

[·feist·]

Go away for a few weeks and the Gene-Z population more than doubles. O Z77, wherefore art thou?

Hello sirs! It's been a hwile.

I'm not dead! (but sadly my father did pass). Fell under a rock for the last 4 months and had a hard time coming back out.

Great to see people's new setups and builds, hope everyone's been doing great!

Sorry for your loss, ithorien.

The ban is removed and I am back!

It has been painful reading this thread and wanting to help without the ability to respond for two months. Ugh.

Thought you got perma'd, mkenyon.


Welcome back to both of you.

 

[Piercedveil]

Which would you guys recommend more for games, the 6950 or 560 ti? I can't decide.

 

[Corky]

That ram won't work on that board. You need 1.5V RAM for Sandybridge.

I keep hearing people saying this.

"it wont work"

I'm guessing I have somekind of supermutant 1.65v ram that is compatible with SB.

 

[MC RaZaR]

Which would you guys recommend more for games, the 6950 or 560 ti? I can't decide.

Most games are designed optimally with Nvidia graphics card in mind so most games will have less issues with Nvidia. ATI is still great in my opinion. I love my 6950. It's really down to personal preference. Somesay they had problems with ATI and went Green. The same is said for Nvidia where they've gone Red.

 

[Prelithe]

Which would you guys recommend more for games, the 6950 or 560 ti? I can't decide.

From what I've remember ages ago, the 6950 is marginally faster, but the 560 is quieter, uses less power and generates less heat. I have a 560 and I love it. I pair it with an Antec P182 and its whisper quiet. I say go for a OCed 560.

 

[Sanic]

Could be a faulty GPU.

Couple questions to think about some possibilities:

1. How are temps?

2. You have the 1GB 460?

3. Monitor resolution?

1.) Idle - 32C. Under load (20 minutes of Skyrim on high, in this case) - 56.2C avg, 67C high. Fan speed goes up to 50%, maximum memory used is 547MB. AVG GPU load is 52%, with a high of 99% which is interesting. Only half of the resources available are being used?

2.) Yes.

3.) 1080p, although when I posted of these issues earlier in the year I was running at 1366x768.

 

[Firestorm]

I'm looking to put together a video editing computer for my dad. Does anyone have some good recommendations on motherboards for that setup? Video card isn't important right?

 

[BoobPhysics101]

I keep hearing people saying this.

"it wont work"

I'm guessing I have somekind of supermutant 1.65v ram that is compatible with SB.

Intel themselves said the max RAM voltage you should run on SB CPU's is 1.575v. Anything past that has a possibility of burning out your CPU.

 

[Hazaro]

I keep hearing people saying this.

"it wont work"

I'm guessing I have somekind of supermutant 1.65v ram that is compatible with SB.

You want 1.5V, 1.65V runs but is not recommended.

I'm looking to put together a video editing computer for my dad. Does anyone have some good recommendations on motherboards for that setup? Video card isn't important right?

Fill out OP post

 

[Mr. Robot]

Intel themselves said the max RAM voltage you should run on SB CPU's is 1.575v. Anything past that has a possibility of burning out your CPU.

Maybe i'm wrong, but i have seen on newegg, many people posting negative feedback because some ram sticks need to be set to 1.65v manually, maybe the RAM set itself automatically to 1.5v at less mhz

 

[mkenyon]

I've tried this for myself with two different kits of 1.65V RAM. I can't get my system to be stable at all. I've heard similar mutterings from a lot of people as well. Two kits were Crucial Ballstix Smart Tracer 4GB and Patriot Viper Extreme 4GB. I wonder what the issue exactly is, if some are working.

 

[JJBro One]

what kind of deals should i be expecting on black friday? How was it last year? Held off on buying parts specifically for the black friday sales.

 

[BoobPhysics101]

Maybe i'm wrong, but i have seen on newegg, many people posting negative feedback because some ram sticks need to be set to 1.65v manually, maybe the RAM set itself automatically to 1.5v at less mhz

That's not the point. The point isn't what RAM needs, but what Sandy Bridge needs. And Intel's official specs say that running over 1.575 volts on the DRAM has a good chance of blowing out the CPU. 1.65v RAM is lower quality than 1.5v RAM, even with the same specs. 1.5v RAM is dirt cheap anyways.

 

[mkenyon]

That's not the point. The point isn't what RAM needs, but what Sandy Bridge needs. And Intel's official specs say that running over 1.575 volts on the DRAM has a good chance of blowing out the CPU. 1.65v RAM is lower quality than 1.5v RAM, even with the same specs. 1.5v RAM is dirt cheap anyways.

Maybe I'm mistaken here, but in the good ol' days of Nehalem/PIIx4, you needed high voltage ram in order to maintain a stable OC because of the need to OC FSB. I don't think being rated for higher volts is necessarily an indication of quality.

what kind of deals should i be expecting on black friday? How was it last year? Held off on buying parts specifically for the black friday sales.

Eh. Was okay. I got a killer deal on some budget RAM, a case, and a Crosshair IV mobo. I'm hoping for some decent SSD sales this year.

 

[Hazaro]

iirc the makers couldn't meet the 1.5V spec originally so they pumped more power into it. The original target was 1.5V and they reached at shortly after Phenom II launch?
I think Ivy supports low voltage 1.35V RAM too, so they are pushing everything towards lower power.

 

[Exuro]

Okay guys I need to start looking towards building a computer for my brother.

Basic Desktop Questions:
Your Current Specs: N/A
Budget: $600
Main Use: Gaming, Wii emulation, school work
Monitor Resolution: Currently using a 720p tv, will upgrade down the road most likely to 1080p
List SPECIFIC games that you MUST be able to play: TF2
Are reusing any parts?: N/A
When will you build?: Purchase will be made around Thanksgiving
Will you be overclocking?: Possibly

My dad gave me the budget but it seems a little high. It doesn't need to be a beast of a machine, just enough to run current games decently. At the same time I'd like for it to last him a while. I noticed the $600 build in the OP but it looks like its out of date as Newegg is showing a price of 750ish. Any basic builds or current deals that could go towards this would be great. Also wondering what I would do about the whole HDD thing going on.

 

[Hazaro]

Okay guys I need to start looking towards building a computer for my brother.

Basic Desktop Questions:
Your Current Specs: N/A
Budget: $600
Main Use: Gaming, Wii emulation, school work
Monitor Resolution: Currently using a 720p tv, will upgrade down the road most likely to 1080p
List SPECIFIC games that you MUST be able to play: TF2
Are reusing any parts?: N/A
When will you build?: Purchase will be made around Thanksgiving
Will you be overclocking?: Possibly

My dad gave me the budget but it seems a little high. It doesn't need to be a beast of a machine, just enough to run current games decently. At the same time I'd like for it to last him a while. I noticed the $600 build in the OP but it looks like its out of date as Newegg is showing a price of 750ish. Any basic builds or current deals that could go towards this would be great. Also wondering what I would do about the whole HDD thing going on.

The build is current, the HDD cost boosts the price by $110, and you pick a black or white case, removing the other one for $40.

Not much to do about it but try and find a cheap external or something at a retail store.

 

[Exuro]

Ah I see. I have a 250GB I could probably give him for now. The graphics card seems to be out of order right now as well. Going to look around.

 

[Drkirby]

Alright, I am hoping to upgrade my OS drive to a SSD within the next month (Hoping for a good Black Friday deal), what would be the easiest way to go about it?

I right now have a 250GB HDD which has my OS and some miscellaneous programs, and I am right now trimming the files down. Have it down to 90GB of used space, and I am going to try and get it to less then 64GB.

I am going to plan for a 64GB drive, so if I get the number of files down small enough, what would be the easiest way to just move everything, OS and all over? And if I can't, what would be the proper way to just move Windows without having to reinstall everything?


Also, does anything think that upgrading a Phenom II 925 (2.8 GHz, 4 core), to a Phenom II 965 (3.6 GHz, 4 core, proper overclocking support) would be worth it for Dolphin Emulation? I have been thinking of picking up a that CPU if I can get it for about $70 or so on Black Friday.

 

[gokieks]

I am going to plan for a 64GB drive, so if I get the number of files down small enough, what would be the easiest way to just move everything, OS and all over? And if I can't, what would be the proper way to just move Windows without having to reinstall everything?

Assuming your W7 install is properly installed for AHCI drives and partition alignment for SSDs, you can use the Backup and Restore feature to create a system image of your OS drive (onto another hard drive), and then use the repair option from W7 install disc (or USB drive) to restore the system image to the SSD.

 

[Hazaro]

Ah I see. I have a 250GB I could probably give him for now. The graphics card seems to be out of order right now as well. Going to look around.

Most of the GTX 460 1GB (non-SE) and 6850's are good buys.

Alright, I am hoping to upgrade my OS drive to a SSD within the next month (Hoping for a good Black Friday deal), what would be the easiest way to go about it?

I right now have a 250GB HDD which has my OS and some miscellaneous programs, and I am right now trimming the files down. Have it down to 90GB of used space, and I am going to try and get it to less then 64GB.

I am going to plan for a 64GB drive, so if I get the number of files down small enough, what would be the easiest way to just move everything, OS and all over? And if I can't, what would be the proper way to just move Windows without having to reinstall everything?


Also, does anything think that upgrading a Phenom II 925 (2.8 GHz, 4 core), to a Phenom II 965 (3.6 GHz, 4 core, proper overclocking support) would be worth it for Dolphin Emulation? I have been thinking of picking up a that CPU if I can get it for about $70 or so on Black Friday.

Fresh install is best. At least that is what everyone tells me. Some SSDs ship with transfer kits.

CPU replied in Dolphin thread.

 

[BoobPhysics101]

Maybe I'm mistaken here, but in the good ol' days of Nehalem/PIIx4, you needed high voltage ram in order to maintain a stable OC because of the need to OC FSB. I don't think being rated for higher volts is necessarily an indication of quality.

Nowadays it is.

 

[Corky]

You want 1.5V, 1.65V runs but is not recommended.

Obviously, but "wont work" and "will run" is quite different, but I digress.

 

[Hazaro]

Obviously, but "wont work" and "will run" is quite different, but I digress.

I'd suggest running them at 1.60V or 1.55V and see if they are still stable.

 

[brotkasten]

Should I still buy a Sandy Bridge CPU with Ivy Bridge around the corner?

 

[Labombadog]

How do I get Dolby Digital when I play PC games? I noticed that it is never on. When I do play DVD's that support DD it does work but it never worked for gaming.

Help? If I have to give me more details then just let me know.

 

[scorcho]

Should I still buy a Sandy Bridge CPU with Ivy Bridge around the corner?

i wouldn't unless you find a great black friday combo deal. what are you using currently?

 

[chaosblade]

Should I still buy a Sandy Bridge CPU with Ivy Bridge around the corner?

Ivy Bridge will only be about 5% faster clock for clock, but will probably have higher clock speeds at stock if Intel sticks with their original plans (~20% performance increase). It's primarily a die shrink plus a big onboard GPU upgrade.

If you're willing to OC, there isn't much reason not to get a SB CPU now. OCing with IB is still a question mark since we don't know what impacts tri-gate will have on that. At best I wouldn't expect to get much more out of them than SB regardless.

Edit: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4830/intels-ivy-bridge-architecture-exposed/2

 

[n0n44m]

How do I get Dolby Digital when I play PC games? I noticed that it is never on. When I do play DVD's that support DD it does work but it never worked for gaming.

Help? If I have to give me more details then just let me know.

you don't unless you have a soundcard that supports Dolby Digital Live

(long story short, DD is a compressed format which movie studios put on a DVD, because games have dynamic soundtracks they need to be compressed on the fly and Dolby Digital Live is the only way to do that. PS3/x360 have similar techniques built in, most PC hardware doesn't support it because only a fraction of PC users use optical and there are license costs involved)

are you using optical or HDMI? In the first case such a card is nice, with HDMI the 7.1 uncompressed your Nvidia/AMD card put out is better anyway

 

[brotkasten]

i wouldn't unless you find a great black friday combo deal. what are you using currently?

Damn, forgot to post the cfg, sorry.

I'm currently using a Q6600 @ 3.6 GHz with 4 GB RAM and an unlocked 6950 2GB.

After three years, I think, I just feel like upgrading my CPU. Also, I'm sure it's holding my performance back quite a bit, compared to the SB CPUs.

The only decision I'd have to make now is i5 with just 4 cores or an i7 with SMT.
I know SMT can't replace real cores, but it kinda makes me feel better having it, when I keep my CPU for the next three years. How much BS would that be?