Overclock advice, 2600K i7

Priori

Hi guys,

I think I'm going to go ahead with the below build. I've been told this is safe to overclock, increasing performance by about 30%. Have I a sufficient cooler? What I know about overclocking you could scribble on a post-it, so sorry if I start asking silly questions.

Any idea how far I could overclock this without meddling with the voltage? I'd be a bit nervous of that tbh. Here's the build anyway:

Item|Price
2 x 8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€67.30
Crucial M4 64GB SSD 6,4cm (2,5")|€93.44
Samsung SH-222AB bare schwarz SATA|€16.79
Antec BasiQ VP350|€33.67
Intel Core i7-2600K Box, LGA1155|€284.19
ASRock Z68 Pro3 (B3), Sockel 1155, ATX|€93.99
LogiLink Wireless LAN 300 Mbps PCI Karte 802.11n 2T2R|€17.25
BitFenix Shinobi Midi-Tower black, ohne Netzteil|€48.64

stevenf17

Priori wrote: »

Hi guys,

I think I'm going to go ahead with the below build. I've been told this is safe to overclock, increasing performance by about 30%. Have I a sufficient cooler? What I know about overclocking you could scribble on a post-it, so sorry if I start asking silly questions.

Any idea how far I could overclock this without meddling with the voltage? I'd be a bit nervous of that tbh. Here's the build anyway:

Item|Price
2 x 8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€67.30
Crucial M4 64GB SSD 6,4cm (2,5")|€93.44
Samsung SH-222AB bare schwarz SATA|€16.79
Antec BasiQ VP350|€33.67
Intel Core i7-2600K Box, LGA1155|€284.19
ASRock Z68 Pro3 (B3), Sockel 1155, ATX|€93.99
LogiLink Wireless LAN 300 Mbps PCI Karte 802.11n 2T2R|€17.25
BitFenix Shinobi Midi-Tower black, ohne Netzteil|€48.64

Firstly, I'm just wondering why your spending so much on a 2600k an so little on the rest of your parts. Seems like Overkill to me getting a 2600k.
You might be better off with a 2500k and save your self the few quid! Really just depends on what your going to be doing with it!
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=41224&agid=1617

On the overclocking side your not going to get very far with the stock cooler. You better get something descent if your planning on overclocking it by 30%. I've managed to get mine up to 4.6(got 4.8 but wasn't stable) with a Corsair h60. Runs about 28-29 on idle and up to about 65 when under full load.(fully stress tested with prime95)
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=48794&agid=669

I'd also recommend getting some 1600mhz ram instead of the 1333Mhz, it'll give you increased performance especially if your going to be overclocking (I've got 1866mhz on mine)
http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=48886&agid=1193

In terms of actually over clocking the 2600K its easy as pie. That's the great thing about having the multiplier unlocked on the K chips. (The multiplier used to be locked on most chips so it meant you had to mess around with the base clock and that could make things quite messy. It also meant your RAM could limit the amount you overclock, as the CPU and RAM run off the same base clock of FSB, but enough about that.)

To overclock it You just go into the bios and increase the multiplier. On the stock chip out of the box it has a base clock of 100Mhz and a multiplier of 34 which gives you 3.4Ghz. So for example on mine I just gradually increased the multiplier up to 46 and tested it after each increase until I found 4.6 was my sweet spot!
Oh and I didn't do anything with the voltage!

One thing I will note to you is, I hope your not planning on Gaming with those integrated graphics!

Serephucus

He's not, it's a music production machine.

@OP, some of the above post is, well, wrong. (Be careful about the advice you give, stevenf17!) The 2600K was a much better buy for your needs, so don't mind that. 1600HMz will not make the slightest bit of difference, and would probably hinder your overclocking as it would put additional stress on the memory controller which happens to be sitting on the CPU die.

Steve is right though in that you'll want something better than the stock cooler. If you give me an idea of what you're willing to spend on it, I can help you find a good one for the money (minimum of about €20, and can go up to €100+).

He's also right in the basics of overclocking as well. I've actually written an overclocking guide already, that will become part of a much larger information thread in the future. Maybe have a read of the CPU overclocking section to familiarise yourself? Linkie.

stevenf17

Ahh my bad, didn't know it was for music production as it didn't state it in the origional post.
and the the shiz about the RAM.... ya seem to know your stuff so I'm gonna trust you on that one, Sorry OP!

least I got somethings right!
I'm only 21 btw nd still in college so lotsa stuff yet to learn. Appreciate you letting me know where I was wrong though. Only way I'm going to get better is to learn from my mistakes.

Priori

Hi guys, appreciate the pointers. The H60 seems like a good cooler - is it definitely compatible with the case? And is there a less expensive alternative that would do the job just as well?

I was considering going for a laptop but have changed my mind - I think I'll go ahead with the above build. However, I've now sold on my previous machine which included a 1TB internal HD, so would be looking to get that replaced (I had hoped to keep this, but turned out it was a dealbreaker for the guy who bought my machine). I also included Windows 7, so need to source this too. I assume there's no real point buying anything but an OEM version? (I'm hoping this machine will last me quite a few years)


Could you recommend an internal HD for me? Had been looking at this.

Serephucus

stevenf17 wrote: »

I'm only 21 btw nd still in college so lotsa stuff yet to learn. Appreciate you letting me know where I was wrong though. Only way I'm going to get better is to learn from my mistakes.

I'm 22.

Priori wrote: »

Hi guys, appreciate the pointers. The H60 seems like a good cooler - is it definitely compatible with the case? And is there a less expensive alternative that would do the job just as well?

[... schtuff ... ]


Could you recommend an internal HD for me? Had been looking at this.

The H60 will work with any case that has at least one 120mm fan, so basically any case on the market. If you want something a bit cheaper, the NH-UB9 is an excellent air cooler from Noctua, but you'll want to double check that it fits in your case and doesn't block RAM slots, etc.

That 2TB drive you've selected is fine (for those having trouble with link, remove "h" at end) but it'll be slow as a boot drive. If you're going for the above with the 64GB M4, then ignore this.

frozenfrozen

Bleh all this age stuff; I'm 16.

OP since you mentioned you need windows 7, buy it from here for 45euro but this deal is ending on the 31st of this month so make sure you order before then or have to face the full price.

Since it's a music production machine you should look at getting a dedicated sound card, I've heard great things about the Xonar DX Also make absolute sure that you use a good sound setup, you can have the best rig in the world but if you aren't hearing what you're actually making there's just no point. It would definitely be worth shaving money off your build to put towards monitoring headphones unless you've already got them.

Priori

Thanks frozenfrozen, I don't think an upgrade version will work for me though, as I'm not currently in possession of any Windows operating system.

frozenfrozen wrote:

make absolute sure that you use a good sound setup, you can have the best rig in the world but if you aren't hearing what you're actually making there's just no point.

You're absolutely right there. I have all the sound stuff sorted though (been in the writing-music-scene for a bit now - link), so no worries there. If you're interested, I use an Edirol USB soundcard, have Sennheiser HD650 headphones and a pair of Yamaha HS50M monitors. Use a Yamaha P140 as my main keyboard/piano, and am also about to buy the Novation Impulse 49. It looks fantastic.

Priori

Serephucus wrote: »

The H60 will work with any case that has at least one 120mm fan, so basically any case on the market. If you want something a bit cheaper, the NH-UB9 is an excellent air cooler from Noctua, but you'll want to double check that it fits in your case and doesn't block RAM slots, etc.

This is the case I'm going with - you don't know if it would fit it by any chance?

frozenfrozen

Priori wrote: »

Thanks frozenfrozen, I don't think an upgrade version will work for me though, as I'm not currently in possession of any Windows operating system.



You're absolutely right there. I have all the sound stuff sorted though (been in the writing-music-scene for a bit now - link), so no worries there. If you're interested, I use an Edirol USB soundcard, have Sennheiser HD650 headphones and a pair of Yamaha HS50M monitors. Use a Yamaha P140 as my main keyboard/piano, and am also about to buy the Novation Impulse 49. It looks fantastic.

If you once had a computer with windows xp that isn't used now, you can be effectively upgrading that system, just completely, and microsoft are ok with it as long as you don't use the old version again. But to clarify, you don't need to have a version of windows installed to install an upgrade version of windows 7.

You sound like you know your stuff about peripherals so I'll let you to it :P

deceit

Priori wrote: »

This is the case I'm going with - you don't know if it would fit it by any chance?

Both of the coolers with fit in that case.