Posts by wiredmarlin5

fadedorca66 said:It’s honestly kind of ridiculous when you think about it, because all those tech magazines and websites constantly rave about how there aren't any "unnecessary cables" cluttering things up, but really, it's just the exact same old mess... I mean, wouldn't it be better if you could just buy specific cables, like maybe just a single one for a hard drive if you actually needed it?

By the way, my power supply puts out a total of 25A across both ATX 12V rails 🤣

Look, I get it... sure, it's an advantage, but it isn't nearly as big of a deal as people make it out to be (at least, not in my book)...

As far as I know, you can't even go out and buy individual modular cables separately 😉

I am genuinely looking forward to putting this thing through its paces and seeing how it handles a heavy load... 😁

What kind of power supply are you running?

Just think about the logic of it all for a second... almost everything is already plugged in and branching out—like, you have one single cable splitting into six different connectors—and there I am just needing one specific connection... but the catch is that all six have to stay connected because they're part of the same chain, so even though I really only need one PCI-E, I'm stuck having two because that's just how these things are built...

If you take a look at the second photo, it’ll all start to make sense to you...

The power supply itself is honestly a stroke of genius, but those modular cables? They aren't quite the massive advantage everyone makes them out to be...🙂

fadedorca66 said:Man, what a total disaster...

So, I thought I’d share a few thoughts regarding my new power supply, along with some snapshots of the setup:

I finally bit the bullet and swapped out that pathetic, unstable 500W BlueStorm unit...

I ended up settling on a SilverStone based on some insights from Linus Tech Tips...

It's modular, it packs plenty of punch, and it stays remarkably quiet

The whole thing arrives in a standard cardboard box without any of those overly fancy extra flourishes... essentially, you just get the PSU with the modular cables already attached, the AC power cord, the manual, and that's really it...

At first glance, the unit looks solid, the build quality seems perfectly fine, and I haven't spotted anything negative so far... though it's a bit heavy at 3 kg according to the specs... much like my old BlueStorm...

I don't really feel like listing every single cable right now because there are honestly quite a lot of them... my only minor gripe is that the SATA connectors are all bunched up on the same cable... there are six of them, which feels a little awkward if you're only running a single hard drive...

It struck me as a bit peculiar that it features four PCI-E connectors when there are only two outputs coming from the unit that branch out into those four... It's not necessarily a flaw, just a strange design choice, especially since two are labeled +12V rail3 and the other two say +12V rail4...

The unit delivers 54 A on the +12V rails... which is certainly impressive, even if it's a fair bit lower compared to the Zeus series...

Installing the power supply went pretty smoothly, I didn't even have to pull the motherboard out, though I did struggle just a tiny bit trying to line up the 8-pin connector...

In the end, I have to agree with Linus Tech Tips and his point about how quiet and cool this thing runs, although I've realized the modular cables aren't quite the massive advantage I initially imagined they would be...

At a price point of around $160, it isn't exactly a bargain... especially when you realize it only comes with a one-year warranty...

My rating is an 8.5/10 (so far, based on first impressions)...

northerncrane33 said:Hey, just let me know once you get it... 😁

So, my new power supply finally arrived in the mail today! I've been checking the tracking number like a crazy person all morning, and seeing that delivery truck pull up was honestly the highlight of my entire week... it's finally here! 😁 I’ve been spending quite a bit of time lately pondering my power supply situation, specifically looking at that EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G5... it really makes you think about how much stability matters when you're building out a rig, doesn't it? It's one of those components where you just want to set it, forget it, and move on to more exciting things like overclocking or cable management, though I always find myself getting lost in the wires anyway... turns out, having a reliable unit can make all the difference in the world when everything else is humming along perfectly!

I was just sitting here thinking about that deep dive over at Linus Tech Tips regarding the EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G5, and honestly, it really got me wondering about how much we actually pay attention to the guts of our rigs versus just looking at the flashy RGB lighting on the case... because if you look closely at the teardown, there's a whole world of engineering happening under the hood that most people just breeze right past! It’s quite fascinating how they managed to pack all that efficiency into such a compact footprint, especially when you consider how much space you save for cable management in those smaller mid-tower builds... though, I suppose if you have a massive full tower, you might not feel the squeeze as much, but still, every inch counts when you're trying to achieve that perfect, clean aesthetic we all strive for... Anyway, I was reading through some of the community feedback on the thread, and it seems like northerncrane33 had some pretty interesting thoughts on the ripple suppression, which is such a critical factor if you're running high-end components that don't exactly love voltage fluctuations... it makes you realize that choosing a power supply isn't just about hitting a certain wattage number on a sticker, it's about the quality of the delivery and the stability of the rails over time... which leads me down a bit of a rabbit hole regarding how different brands approach capacitor selection, but I digress! It really makes me appreciate the work being done to push the boundaries of what a standard ATX 12V unit can do these days... it's a brave new world of power delivery, and I find myself getting more excited about these incremental improvements every single year... even if it means spending a little extra time researching whether a modular setup is truly worth the premium for my specific build needs... but hey, that's half the fun of this hobby, isn't it? Just endlessly tweaking and perfecting until everything is absolutely seamless...

I didn't quite manage to get everything assembled in time today, but if I can find the momentum tomorrow, I'll be sure to post some impressions and a few photos for you all...

I am still on the hunt for an 8800 GTS to set up an SLI configuration... if anyone happens to have one they'd be willing to lend me, we could team up and see if we can really push some massive numbers on 3DMark 06 over on the PC Enthusiast forums... 😬

northerncrane33 said:Oh, come on now, why make it such a huge ordeal??? Just grab one of those Zalman fans or maybe a Papst and call it a day... 🙂

A buddy of mine picked up some Zalman fans over at Best Buy—two 80mm ones and two 120mm ones—and honestly, they’re pretty loud...

Now, those Papst fans are just way too pricey for what they are... 🙄

Another friend mentioned he's using a Glacialtech Silent Blade and thinks it's doing alright...

But if you ask me, when you're looking at this budget tier, it all feels like the same old junk...

Roger Wright94 said:I managed to hit 485, which is about 3880 MHz... I even touched 490 for a second, but then PCMark05 just totally crashed on me after about 10 minutes of running. I usually run that one during a quick break just to see if things are holding steady.
I haven't been able to dip below 13 seconds yet using Super PI (hitting 13.109)...

The voltages are looking like this:

CPU 1.55
Mem 2.20
fsb 1.40
NB 1.45
SB 1.8
SB 1.15

Should we push it further? 😁 I'm feeling a little winded from all this...

Of course, I should probably mention that I haven't actually run any real stability tests yet... up until now, I've really just been chasing those extra MHz...

You might want to check Everest to see what your actual CPU voltage is, because the motherboard is likely dropping some juice due to Vdrop... if the BIOS says 1.55, you're probably seeing closer to 1.5125V or something along those lines in reality... definitely double-check that.

You could always bump the FSB up to 1.5 and the CPU to 1.6 just for testing purposes...

But hey, don't do it if you're nervous; those extra 100MHz you might squeeze out probably aren't worth the stress anyway...

fadedorca66 said:Come on, give me a break... I swear, the girls are practically drooling over this stuff... meanwhile, I’m sitting here struggling to even hit 1700 on my D3 Mark, let alone squeeze out an extra zero...🤣

I should hopefully have some more specific details coming my way tomorrow, though I’m really holding out hope that the full testing phase will be ready to go by next Monday at the latest... It would be absolutely incredible if I could finally get everything running in SLI and actually see if I can push Crysis up to high settings without any hiccups! 🙄

northerncrane33 said:Wait, what kind of power supply are we talking about here?
I am seriously counting down the days until this arrives...

It’s probably going to be a Corsair Vengeance HX 520... though I should probably shoot you a direct message tomorrow with all those specific details you're looking for regarding where I grabbed it and how, since you know how I am with the details 🙂...

Honestly, the specific model isn't my biggest concern, as long as it's got enough juice to handle the load, everything else is pretty much secondary to me.

And man, looking at those sockets, I can already see myself hitting somewhere around 17,000 on 3DMark 06 😁

Peter Young said:hey wiredmarlin5...
why am I seeing this in Everest??

CPU Speed 1002.3 MHz (original: 2100 MHz)

You've actually got a whole bunch of different options tucked away in your BIOS for tweaking things like voltage, multipliers, and all sorts of other little settings designed to shave down power consumption while the PC is just sitting there idling... so don't you worry one bit, everything should be performing exactly how it ought to when you're actually putting it under a heavy load 🙂

EDIT: Just wanted to share some exciting news, because if God wills it, my new power supply and a second 8800GTS 320 are arriving next week, so please stay tuned for some testing on those 8800 GTS 320 cards, maybe even running them both at once so we can finally see firsthand just how much of a difference SLI really makes... 🙂

Roger Wright94 said:Man, you’re really rubbing it in with that Nvidia talk, aren't you? And honestly, I can't even blame you! Since I'm running OCZ memory, I'm hoping that won't be the thing that holds me back...

I've always been a huge fan of Nvidia boards, though I suppose that might just be because I'm already running one myself...

That said, Intel's boards—or more specifically their chipsets—really do tend to perform better when you start pushing the overclocking limits, so you might actually find that going with Intel over Nvidia is the smarter play here...😉

Which OCZ kit are we talking about exactly? If it's the Gold or Platinum series rated at 800MHz, you should realistically be able to push that memory up toward 1050MHz, maybe even higher if you're feeling lucky... you could try bumping it up to 2.4V and just see how far it carries you...

All things considered, you've got a fantastic rig for overclocking, and I truly believe you could probably hit somewhere in the ballpark of 3.9 to 4.0GHz...

As far as I can tell... Nvidia boards usually offer an unlinked option for the 🙂

The memory is Kingmax, right?

If you decide to throw on a Thermalright cooler along with an extra fan up top... then for testing purposes, you could definitely push the voltages to something like this 🙂

CPU - 1.6V max - though if you're seeing a significant vdrop, you might want to bump that up to 1.625 (personally, I've even gone as high as 1.675 🙂)

Front Side Bus - 1.5V

Memory - 2.2V for the Kingmax / or just generally for any memory where the default is 1.8V

I'd suggest bumping those other voltages up to about 60% of their maximum, which would be roughly 0.3V higher than the factory defaults.

That Kingmax memory might actually be capable of hitting 1000MHz, but that doesn't necessarily mean you'll be able to squeeze anything out of it beyond 920MHz...

The motherboard should easily handle a Front Side Bus over 500 MHz, and the processor likely will too... but the memory might end up being your bottleneck unless you can find some tighter timings or perhaps a newer BIOS?

When you're running tests, temperatures might climb north of 70 degrees, but if you're looking at 24/7 stability, you really shouldn't let it get any higher than 61 under load...

I honestly don't have a clue when it comes to the rest of this...

ASUS AI Suite is honestly such a fantastic little tool 🙂

When you're working with Core 2 Duo processors, it gives you the most spot-on core temperature readings out there... though I can't say the same for AMD systems, as I haven't really tested them enough to be sure...

If you get the hang of overclocking and decide to pick up a beefier new heatsink... you could realistically push that processor up to 3 GHz... maybe even squeeze out a few extra megahertz beyond that if you're feeling lucky...

I honestly wouldn't advise pushing those frequencies any higher while you're still running that stock cooler... it just seems like asking for trouble...

plus, there's a pretty decent chance those temperature readings aren't even giving you the full story... you might want to do a little digging online to see which monitoring software is actually considered the gold standard for tracking temps on AM2 processors... just to be safe...

Personally, I wouldn't push it any further if I were you, though you might want to head into the BIOS and tweak that ratio so the memory runs at a slightly lower frequency instead...

Are you keeping a close eye on your temperatures?

Honestly, you aren't going to get anywhere if you try to overclock directly through the BIOS... because Windows just won't want to boot up properly, and even if you attempt to push it using ASUS AI Suite—well, the whole system will likely just freeze right up on you...

And then, after you restart the machine twice, everything just resets itself back to those boring original factory settings...🙂

Peter Young said:So, does that mean I can just push my setup all the way up to 950MHz?

Well, you might as well run it as far as it’ll go... technically anything from 920 MHz up to a 1000MHz ceiling is on the table, though I suppose the real question is just how much stress your specific gear can actually handle before things get interesting...🙂

It can actually get even more intense than that, because once you hit the absolute limit on your RAM, you’ll find yourself diving straight into the BIOS just to manually tweak the memory multiplier and the FSB ratios...

In the BIOS, they’re likely already set to 5-5-5-18 by default, so you probably won't even need to touch a single thing...

Bump the voltage from 1.25V up to about 1.45V, then take that 1.8V and push it toward 2.1V, and once you've done all that, you can start nudging the FSB up by maybe 20 or 30 points... just make sure you don't let the memory climb past 950MHz while keeping those timings tight at 5-5-5-15...