Asus/NCIX Competition - HEADALA

[headala]

Hey, guys, I'm entering in as well. I doubt I will win, but maybe someone will have mercy on my crappy setup and post thousands of times in support of me

max bclk
so far 222, but as others report only verifies 220.8.



max CPU 4.6GHZ



max mem clock 2135MHz


max mem bandwidth 21608


System specs:
Core i7 920 3841A580
Asus Rampage II Extreme
OCZ Platinum 1600 3GB
EVGA 8800 GTX 768
Raptor 74GB

Cooling: Stock cooler, Xigmatek S963, custom ghetto WC'ing

Validations coming...

[V2-V3]

What system specs do you have?

What motherboard are you using?

[headala]

Sorry, still editing the first post as I have the validations, etc. It's coming. Thanks!

[dejanh]

Good luck in the competition!

[headala]

Thanks, Dejanh, you too!

[RAID]

We have another one. Good luck man!

[Mpetrosino]

Hows the setup coming? any bigger and better oc's?

[headala]

We have another one. Good luck man!

Thanks, RAID!

Hows the setup coming? any bigger and better oc's?

Thanks for asking; I'll have a post ready later tonight about my new "ghetto hanger fan" to help out with excessive temps on my setup. I've got some interesting pics to show!

[Mpetrosino]

Thanks, RAID!


Thanks for asking; I'll have a post ready later tonight about my new "ghetto hanger fan" to help out with excessive temps on my setup. I've got some interesting pics to show!

Lol I cant wait to see this, its fun to see the mods people come up with.

[headala]

Oh, and as far as OC'ing goes, not too well. I spent 4 hours late last night trying to get over 222 bclk, and all I got to show for it was more 222 and a migraine this morning! I think I'll have to give up on the bclk, and move on to the cpu clock. But, since I'm only running a 920, I'm not sure I have much of a chance with the limited multipliers. Wish me luck!

[Mpetrosino]

Wish I could help but i have no experience with an i7 setup. Next week im gonna go visit my friend who has i7 so hopefully i'll learn more about it. Keep us up to date and good luck!

[headala]

Hey, everyone, I have a quick update and tutorial for you!

Here's where I have everything set up (a WIP pic); it's in the upstairs den at my folks' house - we are staying with them for a while :


And here's my setup:


During my base clock overclocking, I was noticing the NB/SB & QPI getting WAY too hot, so I decided to do something about it. Of course, I needed a fan, but since I don't have a case (my vidcards are even only supported by the PCI-E slot! Eek! ), there's nothing to support a fan.

So, I made this (yeah, it's a really bad pic):


I call it my "grizzly ghetto hanging flying freaking fan".

Just in case you're interested, I whipped up a tutorial for your viewing pleasure. With skill, hard work, endurance, a coat hangar, and 2 arduous minutes of your time, I'm sure you can triumph over adversity and build one yourself

You need a coat hangar. Thin wire, no cardboard.


Stretch out the bottom like so:


Then bend the hook down so it's perpendicular to the plane of the 'loop' of the hangar:



Then bend the 'loop' part of the hangar so it will fit over a bookend/side of your case/shelf, etc. It can bend over most anything. I did mine to fit over the back board of the desk like so (just a mockup so you can see):



Then insert one mounting hole of the fan through the hook, and ziptie/twistie the diagonal hole to the body of the loop:


Hang it over/on your shelf, adjust the height (and maybe spread out the loop a little for better support), plug it in, and you're done (the pic makes it look like it's touching the card, but it's not):


Here are some parting shots (I know you guys like lots of pics!):
Good clearance:









I really liked doing this since it's quick, easy, cheap, doesn't touch the computer at all (well wires maybe), and the coat hanger actually isolates the vibrations from the fan!

Do you like it? Hate it? Think I'm crazy? Post away!

[shazza]

Good luck in the competition!!!! That hangar mod outta be worth a few extra points!

[V2-V3]

i see your Bclk wall is the same as my chip

I cant seem to figure out how to raise the Bclk any more than 222MHz

I have seen some other overclockers get up to 240MHz on their i7 920's

what is the magic?

[headala]

Good luck in the competition!!!! That hangar mod outta be worth a few extra points!

Thanks for the help and encouragement, Sharon!

i see your Bclk wall is the same as my chip

I cant seem to figure out how to raise the Bclk any more than 222MHz

I have seen some other overclockers get up to 240MHz on their i7 920's

what is the magic?

Yep, there is NOTHING I could do to get past that wall. I raised the voltages to pretty crazy levels, played around with EVERY setting like clock skews and spread spectrums, etc. and nothing helped.

Were the others with 240MHz bclocks running Engineering Samples, or retail chips? Gotta be something fundamentally different about theirs, or maybe a different mobo.

[570091D]

Thanks for the help and encouragement, Sharon!



Yep, there is NOTHING I could do to get past that wall. I raised the voltages to pretty crazy levels, played around with EVERY setting like clock skews and spread spectrums, etc. and nothing helped.

Were the others with 240MHz bclocks running Engineering Samples, or retail chips? Gotta be something fundamentally different about theirs, or maybe a different mobo.

what batch is your 920? that could have a lot to do with the base clock...

love the "home depot performance" mod!!! best of luck with the competition!

[headala]

what batch is your 920? that could have a lot to do with the base clock...

love the "home depot performance" mod!!! best of luck with the competition!

My batch is 3841A580; maybe it's bad in regard to bclk? I think maybe the mobo can make a difference too.

About the mod, thanks! I'm working on another "home depot/old Dell" mod update right now; I hope you all like it!

[Splave]

locked @ 222 here as well, as soon as I setfsb 222.3 whammy its toasted lol
Sucks that ES samples dont hit this problem, bit unfair if you ask me.

+1 for your mom's (i think) hair-do!

Hope the ram is still treating you well

[headala]

locked @ 222 here as well, as soon as I setfsb 222.3 whammy its toasted lol
Sucks that ES samples dont hit this problem, bit unfair if you ask me.

+1 for your mom's (i think) hair-do!

Hope the ram is still treating you well

Ram is next in line for OC'ing; I'm looking forward to it as I think it will clock well.

And about my mom's hair: , that's a pic from ~1985. Big hair and big earrings, and it all comes back around!

[headala]

Here's another "ghetto home depot" mod. My air cooling was not cutting it for this competition, so i had to go a bit more Xtreme. Now, most of my WC'ing stuff is over in Asia, so I really had to raid the closet and come up with some 'franken-cooling'.

Since I don't have my system mounted in a case (see above), I needed something to mount the rads in so that they won't flop around. Please be mindful that this is temporary, quick-and-dirty cooling and will not be permanent or even last much more than a couple of weeks!

First of all, my best helper with our primary victim: an old Dell Pentium 100.


And my second best helper, Bear, the 10 year old 120 pound baby.


And check out the vid card out of the Dell: An old Number Nine S3 Virge! Blast from the past!


Originally, I planned on just gutting the Dell and mounting everything in the empty case, but I found that there was too much existing structure inside. I was looking to do this in an hour or two on a Saturday afternoon, so i didn't have a ton of time to cut lots of holes, etc. So I was looking at the side panel, and had a moment of brilliance!


It has a metal plate (EMF shielding I guess) mounted to the heavy plastic panel. So, we decided to just make a bunch of U-shaped cuts facing each other, bend them up vertical, drill a hole in each, and mount the rads to that. It worked! Had to use a bunch of spare screws and washers to make it all fit together:



And here it all is mounted on the panel: A TFC 120 rad with Slow speed Yate, a BI Stealth with a San Ace, a D5 pump with Detroit top, and the Dell 200 W PSU.
*Don't worry, he won't be playing with that San Ace when it's running*


It took forever to figure out how to jumper the Dell PSU with its proprietary wiring (no green and purple in the wrong spot!), but I eventually succeeded:


And here it is, with its $5 for 10 feet Home Depot crappy tubing (super stiff and leaky on barbs). Also, BA sold me his GTZ for a good price (Thanks!).


I shoved the whole shebang into the shelf below my system on the desk:


Again, this is only CPU and only temporary as I have a FC block for my 8800 GTX and a NB block in waiting.

So, hopefully this will help me to get a competitive CPU OC for the competition!

What do you guys (and gal) think of my ghetto setup?!

A few last pics:

[headala]

Here's what I've been working on...I know it's pitiful but it's all I can do locked in at a x21 multi




I went all the way up to 1.55 could never get the bclk up another notch. Any ideas?

[headala]

I wanted to get a quick post in here to let you know what's going on. I got a new delivery on Tuesday afternoon, and so I haven't had much time for anything else:

Our 2nd child!



[I think my wife looks pretty good for having just been in labor!]

My wife went into labor Monday night while we were watching '24'.
Our daughter was born Tuesday afternoon, 7lb 5oz...a good size. Not too small, but can still carry her like a football!

So, this means a couple of things:
1) I won't be updating my project thread (or really hanging out in here) much for the next couple of weeks. In fact, tonight is really my only night 'free' since I brought my son back to where we're living right now while my wife and daughter are still at the hospital. Sorry!

2) I've got to finish off my entry into the OC'ing competition tonight, since I probably won't get another chance. San Ace's @12V do not promote an environment suitable for infant slumber!

Hopefully I will be able to polish off a respectable entry into the competition tonight. Wish me luck!

[dejanh]

I wanted to get a quick post in here to let you know what's going on. I got a new delivery on Tuesday afternoon, and so I haven't had much time for anything else:

Our 2nd child!



[I think my wife looks pretty good for having just been in labor!]

My wife went into labor Monday night while we were watching '24'.
Our daughter was born Tuesday afternoon, 7lb 5oz...a good size. Not too small, but can still carry her like a football!

So, this means a couple of things:
1) I won't be updating my project thread (or really hanging out in here) much for the next couple of weeks. In fact, tonight is really my only night 'free' since I brought my son back to where we're living right now while my wife and daughter are still at the hospital. Sorry!

2) I've got to finish off my entry into the OC'ing competition tonight, since I probably won't get another chance. San Ace's @12V do not promote an environment suitable for infant slumber!

Hopefully I will be able to polish off a respectable entry into the competition tonight. Wish me luck!

Congratulations on the addition to the family and definitely good luck in the rest of the competition!

[headala]

Here are the settings for Max BClock:

[headala]

The settings for the max cpu are the same as above, except:
219bclk x 21 multi, CPU volts was 1.55, qpi was 1.53