Tech Link (Industry): Performance Tuning Protection Plan by Intel®

Intel released a very nice plan for CPU enthusiasts that is sure to be a hit for extreme overclockers. With plan selling for as low as $20, and $35 as the highest, enthusiasts that can buy $900 will be happy to have that extra protection.

The plan covers processors with "K" and "X" suffix and falls on Intel® 2nd Generation Core™ processors based on LGA2011 platform. Note that while Intel offers this plan, Intel is still playing it safe and not "endorsing" overclocking.

For the typical overclockers, this option is, just that, an option. What this plan really applies to is when enthusiasts starts pushing volts way beyond specification using exotic coolers. Of course, even casual overclockers using stock aircooler can avail of this, if only to get that secure feeling and guilt-free conscience if and when you break your CPU.

Here's the breakdown:

•  Intel® Core™ i5 2500K= $20
•  Intel® Core™ i7 2600K= $25
•  Intel® Core™ i7 2700K= $25
•  Intel® Core™ i7 3930K= $35
•  Intel® Core™ i7 3960X= $35

Tech Link (Industry):2011 XtremeSystems CES Party

With such a beauty benching and overclocking in the event, I don't think I can concentrate. However, the XS team seems hellbent with tweaking and stuff so they are able to do what they do best: overclock!

Misc: Shoutout to my friend bartman of OCXPH

I just want to wish my friend bartman of OCXPH goodluck and more power. I lend him a few of my golden babies, and last time we chat, he had a good run =). Here's hoping you get to show them OCers who's the bad ass of OCXPH, good luck with Gigabyte Open Overclocking Championship 2010 competition!

Misc: Intel® Desktop Board DH55TC can overclock!

I was doing some trivial testing with Windows 7 with a typical Intel board (Intel® Desktop Board DH55TC) and I decided to change something in the BIOS. Something caught my eye and decided to play around with it. That something is about changing Host Clock Frequency.

I thought it's probably because my board is an engineering sample, so I never really give it much thought. I know Intel is adding overclock options, but more on their so called "Extreme Series" board. So I did a quick BIOS update, since I'm using a Beta BIOS, just to check if that BIOS option will go away. But surprise, it stuck up. So the next thing to do is to see if it works!


And another surprise, it does work. It's rather limited, but the thing is, it works!!! I will try to play around with it more and see if I can run a few benchmarks too. It's probably be interesting for those who are looking for a decently price board from Intel but still longing for overclock.

Brag: Intel® Xeon® Processor W3520 overclocked to 4GHz

I am just too itchy to get myself rolling back to the picture again. You know, my Blog, I'm trying to make it active. And what's the best way to get your Blog active? Well, post your hobbies and things that you like.

And this time around, I pushed an Intel® Xeon® Processor to a blazing fast 4GHz processor! I love how this processor overclock so easily, considering my board isn't the best overclocking board out there. Well, I almost gave up when I can't even bring Host Frequency a wee bit pass 160Mhz but nevertheless, I found what's holding me back and zoom, 4GHz is achieved!

I'll probably try and post a benchmark as well as my OC experience, but don't hold your breath for that. The keyword here is "try" =). Fanboy out!

Misc: Breaking 4GHz with Intel® Core™ i7-920 Processor

I played around with this process for some time and overclocked it a bit. I had a lot of fun and interesting experience pushing this processor to 4GHz. I would have posted a review, but there are a lot of reviews about this processor already so I never made one. Besides, almost every enthusiasts, except those AMDroids, will be very familiar of how this processor performs.

If I got some time, I'll post some benchmark results and some settings I used to achieve this overclock. I did encounter a few hiccups along the way, but nothing mind boggling or out of the ordinary.

So how's your 920's overclock experience? If you have anything to share or ask, just hit the comments section!

Tech Link(Motherboard): ASUS P5K3 Deluxe

HardOCP has a new motherboard review up for your scrutiny. This bad ass motherboard sports the latest chipset from Intel and supports the latest Intel processor and can overclock well too. It didn't get the highest Gold honor, but still, a pretty cool board if you're a kind of geek who always wanted to try things out first thing they came out on the stor. Expand to read the conclusion...

The Bottom Line

The ASUS P5K3 proves to be another motherboard founded on stellar engineering culminating in great stability, excellent performance, and solid overclocking prowess. This is an expensive motherboard however and once you factor in the cost of DDR3 modules you are going to find yourself easily above a $600 upgrade investment.


Had we seen it outpace other motherboards in top end CPU bus overclocking it certainly would have been worthy of a Gold [H] Award. Still the levels of overclocking shown on the P5K3 are nothing short of awesome and will likely fill the needs of any overclocker other than the super-hardcore.

Source:ASUS P5K3 Deluxe

Tech Link (Event): XtremeSystems @ Computex

Looks like there will be lots of overclocking session in the upcoming Computex 2007 event. I am looking forward to seeing new innovative products from different vendors, from the typical to the extra ordinary. Anyway, I am getting a bit carried away, XS team is invited and will be at the site for some live demonstration power of overclocking. Check out the thread at XS.

Brag: Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q6600 Overclock (Stock Cooler)

It seems that I am really lagging behind posting some items on my Blog. Anyway, I just want to share the 50% overclock of the quad core Kenstfield under the Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q6600 branding. At this speed, all I can say is that it's awesome and the CPU fan is silent even at full load.

Don't expect any benchmark, I have posted several benchmarks on the Intel® Core™ 2 QX Extreme Edition series as well as on the Intel® Xeon® X32xx series. What I just wanted to share here is how easy it is to overclock the quad core on the current i965P platform. If you are looking for a brand spanking new system, I suggest you go and get a quad-core based system. You may click on the CPU-Z for the validation...

Tech Link (Motherboard): abit AB9 QuadGT

HardOCP has an article posted about Abit*'s motherboard. The QuadGT is not something I can call new, as it's been out in the market for quite some time. Check it out...

Conclusion

Morry's Thoughts:
abit has done it again with the AB9 QuadGT motherboard. They’ve successfully delivered a high performance, high stability solution pushing the technological envelopes as well. The board comes standard with high performance all metal-solid state capacitors, as well as digital power regulation circuitry for the CPU. The board layout and heat pipe design were well thought out as well, with the rear panel CMOS switch, onboard power and reset buttons, and 2-digit diagnostic display as added in gravy.

My only complaint with the board – not being able to make the 500MHz overclock club with it. I tried my best and came as close as possible. However, a 475MHz overclock is in no way anything to be shunned, especially given the fact that that FSB speed forces the CPU to run at almost 2x its rated speed.

What more can I say here? It appears that for all intents and purposes that abit is back ladies and gentlemen, and they are gunning for the top spot as always. The AB9 QuadGT hails to the glory days of abit, and is definitely not a board to be passed up. Give this one a good hard look it you’re looking to upgrade…

Kyle's Thoughts:
abit was the company that got me into the hardware review business so many years ago, so they have always been one of my favorite motherboard builders over the years. That is not to say they did not miss the mark a couple of times in the last decade, but in the recent past they have somewhat fallen off of the enthusiast radar, including my own. With the new Universal abit company formed we were promised motherboards that were engineered like abit motherboards of the past, but until now Universal abit has pulled up short. The AB9 QuadGT is the best true enthusiast motherboard that abit has made in a long time. Hopefully the QuadGT will pave the way for more quality enthusiast motherboards behind it.

The Bottom Line
The abit AB9 QuadGT is a Core 2 Quad ready enthusiast motherboard that is truly worthy of the abit legacy. It has a tremendously stable and solid build and is a motherboard that we would not hesitate to use ourselves. All but the most hardcore overclockers are going to be very satisfied with this motherboard.

Source:abit AB9 QuadGT

Tech Link (Overclock): Overclocking at Intel

Who would have thought that Intel will be more accepting of the overclocking community? In the past, Intel has made a very strong stance against overclocking, and I believe they still are not that "open" when it comes to this field but they are more and more more open at supporting ad-hoc extreme tests. FUGGER of XS has a sticky thread over at XS about the XUG with which Intel invited known enthusiasts and discussed about overclocking and technology that goes with it.

While I don't see Intel becoming more relax with dead processors due to overclocking, I see Intel taking advantage of the expertise of the enthusiasts and get an "outsiders' point of view" with how the processors perform, under extreme conditions. Anyway, enough of my ranting, check out the article over at NordicHardware or expand the news post for an excerpt of the article.

Introduction

At the launch of Intel's first Quad-core processor Core 2 Extreme QX6700 we decided to take a closer look at it. That was far from everything we wanted to do with it though, and in the true spirit of NordicHardware we decided that to do things a bit more unorthodox. Robert 'crotale' Kihlberg and Marcus 'Kinc' Hultin are both famous for their overclocking skills and numerous worlds. Accompanied by ex-overclocker and assisting editor in chief Andreas 'Delph1' Galistel they would test Intel's new processor under completely different circumstances, but not at the homes of any of the X-legends but Intel's very own labs.

Source:Overclocking at Intel

Article: The Journey with Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E6320, The Last Ditch Effort for 100% overclock (Part IV)

Being the fourth and final installment of the article, I will share my benchmarks and notes about my attempt to bring this processor to new overclocking heights on air. If you haven't read up on it yet, make sure to check out the previous installments here (3rd), then here (2nd), and first installment here. Expand to read the continuation...

The 500MHz wall has been breached already, and at this kind of overclocking, there's no other way but up. The motherboard, processor, and memory are all operating way beyond their stock settings, and at the brink of hitting the wall. But this is not an excuse to stop, as I have stated from the start that I will push the processor farther than my earlier attempt. I am now focusing my attention of breaching 100% overclock. It's daunting to say the least, unless I use better aftermarket cooling device, this is looking more and more impossible. As much as I am a chicken in overclocking, I have just got to try it this time.

::Overclocking and Benchmarking Notes::
Reaching for 100% overclock is certainly not easy, specially with a freaky ambient temperature of 36c, an old unlapped overused Thermalright* XP-90, unmodded Asus* {5B Deluxe and a mere OCZ* DDR2-800MHz Platinum Rev2 memory. The processor and motherboard chipset are both overclocked at ~95% while the memory hits a good 30% overclock at CL5-5-5-15. The processor needed massive voltage of 1.6v just to make it post at 532MHz. After tweaking other settings, 100% overclock is breached! Click on the image for the validation.



However, at 100% overclock, I can't complete any kind of 3D benchmarks save for Aquamark 3, only 2D benchmarks are working fine. After several tweaking hours, like lowering the multi and loosening RAM timing, or bumping the NB and SB voltage, I gave up and pushed down the overclock to just 520MHz. At this clock speed, it is rock solid, and no benchmark can bring it to a halt. I have added a link to FutureMark ORB for all the 3D benchmarks run as well as PCMark05 for comparison and proof of testament to its rock stability. Click on any of the 3DMark and PCMark05 benchmark to visit the ORB compare link.

::Benchmarks::
Gaming:
Doom3: Low Quality-640x480


3DMark Benchmarks:
3DMark01: Overall


3DMark03: CPU


3DMark05: CPU


3DMark06: CPU


Aquamark03: CPU


Multimedia/Multitasking/Multithreading Benchmarks:
Cinebench: Render Score


Cinebench: Render Time


PCMark05: Overall


SANDRA: CPU


SANDRA: Multimedia


wPrime: 32M


SuperPi: 1M


Memory Benchmarks:
SANDRA: RAM Bandwidth


Others:
WinRAR


Temperature


::Concluding Thoughts on Overclocking Experience::With this final installment, it is clear that the new breed of processor, Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E6320, is overclocking nicely compared to its younger brother Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E6300. The additional 2MB of L2 cache didn't pose any threat to overclockability, but instead helped boost scores by a noticeable margin when benchmarking.

While I am not able to find the maximum clock frequency that the processor can achieve due to limitation, I am quite sure that enthusiats who have more money to burn for better cooling, memory, and motherboard can achieve much higher. Given the problems I encountered with overclocking, I can only conclude that the motherboard and temperature are the two primary culprits that has prevented me from reaching rock stability with 100% overclock.

The Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E6320 is an overclocking king like the original Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E6300, FSB wise and clock frequency wise. Till next, I hope you have enjoyed reading and learning from this article like I have enjoyed testing and tweaking it. FanBoy out...

Tech Link (Utility): CPU-Z has been has been updated to the version 1.40

A new version of the popular CPU utility has been released. As is usual and expected from the developer, there are a bunch of updates. The most noticeable though is the new icon. Expand to read what's new on the software...

* VIA P4M800CE chipset support.
* Preliminary support for Intel Penryn CPUs family (45 nm).
* Intel Core 2 Duo E6x20, Pentium E2140/2160 processors recognition.
* Intel P35, G33, G31, Q35, Q33, X38 chipsets support.
* Intel GL960/GM965/PM965 chipsets support.
* AMD Athlon 64 "Lima" processor support.
* AMD Geode LX processor support.
* NVIDIA nForce 520 chipset support.
* New parameter "-console" to generate output in a command prompt (Windows XP only).
* New icon, courtesy of Techlogica

Source:CPU-Z has been has been updated to the version 1.40

Tech Link (Memory): OC Report :: OCZ Reaper HPC 2x1GB PC9200 C5

3oh6 of XS has posted a nice OC report of one of the newest memory from OCZ*. And this memory is none other than the nice lookin' Reaper series. Better check it out for the full scoop. Expand to read more...

OCZ is not going to be a stranger to anyone reading this but these new modules that I am reporting on today may not have crossed everyones eyes. The Reaper HPC series is OCZ Technologies latest line of performance memory with an enhanced heatsink to help keep the memory running cool. The OCZ Reaper HPC comes in four flavours at the time of writing this report...2x1gb PC6400, 2x1gb PC6400 EB Edition, 2x1gb PC8500 and 2x1GB PC9200 kits. I will be clocking the PC9200 2GB kit.

I believe in full disclosure so I won't be hiding the fact that these modules are a review sample sent to me from OCZ. I have never been sent anything but random samples equating to average end-user results in the past and believe in the results as a single sample out of many. Here is a brief look at the specifications of the all black modules.

Source:OC Report :: OCZ Reaper HPC 2x1GB PC9200 C5

Article: The Journey with Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E6320, Breaking The Norm (Part III)

This is the third part of the article about overclocking the Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E6320, and it picks up where the the second part left off. If you haven't seen it yet, you may also want to check out the first part of the article. Expand to read the continuation...

After the successful 75% overclock, which translates to 465MHz from the stock of 266MHz, I decided to try and see if I can still push the system. At this overclock of the motherboard, and processor, I am also overclocking the memory for about 16%. System memory aren't really known to overclock beyond 10%, but this is no ordinary memory, and I will rely on this memory to help me push my overclock further. With the limitations at hand, the processor and motherboard at 75% overclock, RAM at 16%, I set my eyes to reaching the coveted 500MHz. At this settings, the overclock will hit an astounding 88% for the processor and motherboard, and it will be 25% overclock on the system memory.

::Overclocking and Benchmarking Notes::
At this settings, the RAM can not work with full stability if the voltage is not set to 2.3vDIMM. I also have to loosen the timings to CL5. I know that this will significantly increase latency, and may affect benchmark scores. However, I am not after an improved benchmark score in terms of effiency, but more of how far I can push the processor before it bends on its knees.

At first, 500MHz which translates to 3.5GHz and DDR2-100MHz, it would seem really impossible. I am against all odds with such a limited parts in my arsenal, an unmodded motherboard, a RAM that runs at DDR2-800MHz and an aging Thermalright XP90. Couple that with an ambient temperature hovering at 35c to 36c, I am just pushing this baby with mere guts and passion for overclock. Like what I mentioned on the first part of the article, I am changing my stance now and ready to give this processor all that I've got.

While I push the FSB 10MHz at a time, I eventually reach 500MHz. But this doesn't come without a price, 1.38vCore is needed to make it fully stable. While it doesn't seem like a whole lots of voltage, the impact on the core temperature is overwhelming. The system is now idling at 44c, and full load at 67c, my Thermalright is working at full speed, and I can feel all of its four heatpipes brimming with heat. Adding a fan to cool these heatpipes did helped, but there's only so much that this solution could work. But luckily, the system held well, and unbelievably, completed all benchmarks like its nothing. The memory, processor, and motherboard are all working fine and dandy. As such, I can now show more benchmarks and results. Check them out...

::Benchmarks::
Gaming:
Doom3: Low Quality-640x480


3DMark Benchmarks:
3DMark01: Overall


3DMark03: CPU


3DMark05: CPU


3DMark06: CPU


Aquamark03: CPU


Multimedia/Multitasking/Multithreading Benchmarks:
Cinebench: Render Score


Cinebench: Render Time


PCMark05: Overall


SANDRA: CPU


SANDRA: Multimedia


wPrime: 32M


SuperPi: 1M


Memory Benchmarks:
SANDRA: RAM Bandwidth


Others:
WinRAR


Temperature


Loaded Temperature Screenshot


::Closing Thoughts with 88% Overclock::With how things are going, I know that it won't be long till hit the ceiling. Whether it's the processor, memory, or motherboard, I still have yet to see. For now, things are going well, but a little over the edge already. If you plan on overclocking your system at this settings, a good aftermarket cooler can really help. I still plan to overclock it even further, and I hope you'll come back again to accompany me with my journey. Till next...