Well yeah anything will be an upgrade then. You could get an ATI 5770 for under $150 but i'd spend the extra $20-30 and find a good 460. Although if iRacing is all you're playing just go for something cheaper unless you think you're going to be playing anything in the near future.

9/9/2010 4:29:24 PM

so http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130562 would be a good one to go with? It seems damn quiet compared to a lot of other cards.

9/9/2010 4:45:43 PM

^ i've got the gtx 260, it's a beast.

9/9/2010 4:52:29 PM

Not anymore!! 460 is now the midrange king!!

9/9/2010 5:02:31 PM

^.

Loving my 1GB 460

9/10/2010 12:05:54 PM

Yeah just got my SSD in today. Going to hopefully put everything together after work or tomorrow. The 460 is so small compared to my 8800gtx!

9/10/2010 12:15:05 PM

Just put everything together yesterday. Finally got it mostly up and running. SSD for Windows 7 and essential programs and the two raptors in RAID0 for additional games/applications. I'm really amazed at how fast it starts up and things launch. Don't know how many of you run 3Dmark vantage but here's my small e-peen until I get a second 460:

Overall:
17187
GPU Score:
14183
CPU Score:
47121

Pretty happy with that. Although I don't know how my CPU score is so high. These guys are getting only around 32000 with a i7 980x:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-460-gf104-fermi,2684-6.html

9/12/2010 10:28:51 PM

Turn off physx and run it again.

9/13/2010 12:24:49 AM

^Thanks! I knew I was missing something. Just saw that. I'll run it again when I get home after work.

On a side note does Speedstep do anything to regular OS performance? I know the time it takes to bounce back to it's active C0 state is like nano seconds but it's just weird seeing my processor knocking down the multiplier and running at 1600mhz all the time. I guess it saves power. But by like what? 5 watts?

Also I had to do a bunch of SATA re-arranging to get my RAID0 to work on the raptors. I'd never really hooked up a motherboard RAID before so I didn't realize that 6 of the SATA ports were on the RAID controller and the other 2 were on the regular controller. For it to work I had to have the raptors on the RAID controller obviously but I had to have my OS (SSD) SATA on the non-RAID controller. It was giving me BSOD's if I had my OS boot drive plugged into one of the RAID controller SATA ports. The manual didn't really mention this, and I assumed it wouldn't matter because all my other storage drives were fine plugged into RAID controller ports even if they weren't within a RAID configuration.

But wow. The RAID0 array with the two Raptors is fast. I already notice a big difference in installing/loading games and opening larger files compared to just one Raptor. I'm glad I ended up doing it.

9/13/2010 9:08:25 AM

don't look:
http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/39099

9/13/2010 10:58:23 PM

haha yeah I saw that. FUCK. It's alright. I'm fine putting games on the RAID0 setup for the time being. I'll pick up another 60GB SSD and do those in RAID0 eventually.

That is a sweet deal though. $210 for a quality 120GB SSD is pretty good. Damn.

9/14/2010 9:25:36 AM

Need quick feedback, TWW!

According to RealTemp, I absolutely need some third party cooling, pronto. The reviews on this mother look solid:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103055

(Got a Bloomfield Core i7 2.8 GHz....want to go to 4 GHz)

edit

Hmmmm...my case might not be big enough....
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066&cm_re=antec_case-_-11-129-066-_-Product


[Edited on September 14, 2010 at 10:00 AM. Reason : ]

9/14/2010 9:55:06 AM

unless airflow is boned in your case, stock cooling should be more than enough to handle your CPU at stock speeds.


[Edited on September 14, 2010 at 10:01 AM. Reason : nevermind, you're OCing. hurr durr im a dumb cant read]

9/14/2010 10:01:08 AM

I need to get a CPU cooler. I miss my LGA 775 Zalman. My 950 gets a little hot when it's running turbo at 3.2. Peaking around 55c on stock cooling. Just haven't used a stock heat sink in a while. Used to sub 40c temps even when OC'd.

9/14/2010 10:04:21 AM

My idle with the stock cooling at stock speed is around 48 C. Still a bit high.

The reports I've read on that V8 not fitting specified which cases they had...I looked at them, and they're all less width than my case, which is 8.1".

I'm going for it. Will report on performance next week.

9/14/2010 10:09:11 AM

Quote :

"My idle with the stock cooling at stock speed is around 48 C. Still a bit high."

That is pretty high. I'm idling around 30c with stock cooling. That's with Speedstep enabled though so that's at 1600mhz. When it goes up to 3.2 it goes past 50c.

9/14/2010 10:14:25 AM

Quote :

"158mm"

that's TALL! about as tall as the 'ol Thermalright 120.... which reminds me, I SO want this cooler: http://www.svc.com/trueblack-rev-c.html

i've heard good things about the Thermalright Venomous-X too

[Edited on September 14, 2010 at 11:40 AM. Reason : .]

9/14/2010 11:30:57 AM

I like the Prolimatech Megalehem cooler as well as the Noctua NH-D14. They are the best because they are the biggest heat sinks available. As such, they have motherboard compatibility issues with the ram, NB & mosfets. If they fit they are king. http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/noctua_nhd14/4.htm

Give me a couple of days to get a stable overclock and I will give an update for a Corsair H70. On an i7 950 at 3.6Ghz with ~1.3V, idle = 31C. load = ????

9/14/2010 3:33:24 PM

glad I waited to order until yesterday. price drop plus rebate got me down in my price range and got the good card. stuff should be in tomorrow night, thursday at the latest. It's already unloaded in g-boro from as of a few minutes ago so that usually means it'll make it out to Manteo in time for the morning truck.

9/14/2010 3:48:23 PM

^awesome.

^^what motherboard are you using? I'm going to OC my 950 once I pick a cooler. Let me know what you think about the Corsair H70. Do you guys leave Speedstep on? Never really noticed but aside from turning it on/off in the bios changing the power options to "performance" mode will also turn off speedstep. I think i'll just leave it on though.

9/14/2010 5:08:21 PM

I am using an EVGA X58 3X SLI. I did have to modify the mosfet heatpipes because the internal fan on the H70 was hitting it. I just bent the heat pipe and all is good now. Just check that

Im folding so I assume that is 100% load and my temps using Realtemp 3.40 are 60/59/62/60 after 24Hrs. I have both corsair fans on high (2000rpm) push/pull. I am exhausting the air out the back but I dont have a door on so its like venting into the case. When I had the case door on the cpu was still fine at 66/65/67/64 but the gtx465 with 75% fan went from 72C to 95C before I took the door back off.

9/15/2010 8:43:29 AM

How is the H70? Those temps seem a little warm. I used to have a compact water cooler like that but ended up replacing it for a Zalman which did a better job of cooling it. Still undecided which one to get. I'm just dreading having to take out the motherboard again to mount the bottom bracket. All my wires are so nice and clean right now. grr.

9/15/2010 9:26:47 AM

I should have clarified that the temps given above are with the H70. I do think my temps could be better if I reverse the airflow since I am pulling warm air from the top of the graphics card and over the ram. My whole case location is horrible for airflow since its under the desk, against the wall and in the corner.

My only personal comparison is to the stock heatsink unfortunately.
STOCK COOLER 3.0Ghz auto volt settings = ~1.25vcore gave idle 41/39/40/39 & load 61/60/61/57
H70 with an OC 3.6Ghz volt set manually = 1.30Vcore gives idle 31/30/31/30 & load 60/59/62/60


[Edited on September 15, 2010 at 12:16 PM. Reason : :/]

9/15/2010 11:56:58 AM

Gotcha. Makes sense.

Ok this is kind of a stupid question but I haven't really thought about it since using the Speedstep function. How would the idle temps vary depending on if you use it or not? I'm assuming with Speedstep idle temps would be a lot lower than if Speedstep was turned off and it was running at it's stock frequency.

Like if a CPU is running at 3.2ghz aren't the temperatures going to be similar whether it's load or idle? When most people compare idle temps to load temps they have Speedstep on and they're really just giving you a idle temp based upon a really low clock.

For example on my 950 with the stock cooler it idles at like 29 but that's at 1600mhz when the multiplier gets knocked down. Once it gets above 10% utilization it'll kick back up to 3.2ghz and get up to 50-55c load.

9/15/2010 12:19:06 PM

Usually people turn off speed-step for overclocking, not really sure why. There's a HUGE difference between idle temps (idling at 3.2 in your case) and full load. Download Prime95 and run the blend test to see how hot you'll really be running in the worst case (well, I guess Intel Burn Test for the worst case, but I've never seen something stress a CPU so hard).

edit: to answer your question, yes, at the same clock speed, a loaded CPU will run hotter and use more power than an idle CPU.

edit2: also, this difference in energy dissipation is much smaller than the difference of energy dissipated between an idle GPU and a loaded GPU. I guess you could leave speed step on and underclock your video card's 2D clocks really low if you really want to save on power costs.

[Edited on September 15, 2010 at 2:14 PM. Reason : .]

9/15/2010 2:08:52 PM

I was thinking more along the lines of how much Speedstep reduces the vcore and thus reduces temps. My idle at 1.6 and idle at 3.2 are quite different. I'm not really concerned with power consumption. I guess there's no reason to have Speedstep on though.

Yeah energy dissipated via the GPU at load is a bit more. Not concerned with that. I've ran prime95 etc to get the varying temps. I guess I'm just wondering when people say "idle" it's implied that that is idle with Speedstep off and at max clock? That would make more sense as 1600mhz barely gets it a few degrees higher than ambient.

Maybe I'm just paranoid but it seems that applications launch slightly slower with EIST on than when it's off. I know it bumps the multiplier up instantly but I can't help but think there's a noticeable lag compared to when starting at the C0 state.

9/15/2010 2:41:14 PM

yea, idle usually refers to max clock state.

9/15/2010 3:07:27 PM

I have achieved 4.0 GHz with the V8. Idle is about 46 (average of four cores), full load is 81.

9/15/2010 8:11:16 PM

Thats pretty good for air cooling. What voltage are you using to get 4.0ghz stable with those temps? Also what fans are you using on the cooler?

9/15/2010 10:01:43 PM

1.3 vcore. 1.7 DIMM.

The cooler comes with two fans sandwiched inside it. Google image for Cooler Master V8, you'll see.

I tried some Starcraft 2 and Bioshock - max temp was around 60. Not nearly as taxing as the Prime95 torture test that ripped up to 81. I think I'll be safe and stable right here.

9/15/2010 10:05:41 PM

E8400 installed along with the GTX 460. Haven't messed with any overclocking yet but one thing surprised me in a not good way. My old HSF from the E6400 (or whatever the 2.16ghz C2D was) is taller, has copper, and a hell of a lot more mass than the new one that came with the E8400. I know it's a smaller die size and shit, but I was very tempted to leave the old one installed.

About to run some laps and see what's going on with the frame rates.

9/15/2010 10:26:18 PM

damn i shoulda waited around for one of these:

http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/17/photofasts-powerdrive-lsi-pcie-ssd-screams-past-the-competition/

haha. 1.4GB/s read and 1.5GB/s write. jeez.

9/17/2010 9:01:02 AM

why lose a PCIe slot to a harddrive?

9/17/2010 9:48:48 AM

Quote :

"One word: unaffordable."

9/17/2010 10:24:42 AM

^^well if you have 3-4 PCI-e slots and only 1-2 video cards I think you can sacrifice one. Plus PCI-E has higher bandwidth than Sata 3. Not that any of us would need those speeds. Be cool to boot up in like 5 seconds though.

^seriously.

9/17/2010 10:37:36 AM

For all you power supply folks.....
Guess what the actual IDLE and LOAD power draw for my computer is (according to the lcd display of the APC Back-UPS)

i7 950 at 4.0 with vcore 1.33v
two gtx 465s overclocked to 775core/1550shaders/1700mem no voltage tweaks
6Gb memory at 1.5v
H70 with 2 fans 12v
ssd hdd
Corsair 750TX (>80% efficiency)

Watts = ?

9/20/2010 9:09:30 AM

I would guess around 600 watts? Load?

9/20/2010 9:55:26 AM

Well take all the fun out of it why dont you! Load was 610w and idle is 260w.

9/20/2010 10:39:41 AM

really? only 610? that's pretty good for 2 cards and heavy OC. Makes me wonder what my real wattage at load is at.

9/20/2010 1:10:30 PM

^newer chips are a lot more efficient than older ones.

9/20/2010 1:22:09 PM

Thought they still pulled like around 230-250 per card on the 460 series?

Odd... Says 349 for one...

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3745/nvidias-geforce-gtx-465/14

[Edited on September 20, 2010 at 1:27 PM. Reason : ]

9/20/2010 1:24:05 PM

Yeah the 465's get hot and pull alot. The 460 is a different story. Much much better. The 465 is like the retarded child that shouldn't have happened. No reason to buy one now that the 460 is out.

9/20/2010 1:31:26 PM

yea, 460's are down in the 290W peak... about 60W more efficient per card (not to mention faster)

[Edited on September 20, 2010 at 1:41 PM. Reason : .]

9/20/2010 1:41:12 PM

My old e6600 and gtx275 both stock were pulling 425w. Adding two more cores with a jump from 2.4Ghz to 4 plus another graphics card is under 200W less...so yea way more efficent.

^^^ the 349w number is for the whole computer. Idle the computer was 172w and loading the gpu only was 349w. The 177w difference was from the gpu alone. So adding another gpu will be roughly 200W total, making the 349w closer to 549w. Which is getting close to my 610w peak. The difference is there i7 920 is at 3.33Ghz (probably stock volts) where im overclocked.

^^Yea I should have got the 460s but the 465s were only 5$ more and came with 3 free games when I got them. Im happy with how the system works but my power bill will easily overtake the cost of the 3 free games.

9/20/2010 4:38:50 PM

Ordered a second evga 460.

9/21/2010 2:29:03 PM

Since you got a second 460 I added some SLI folding installation instructions. All you people with new hardware need to check out folding@home. Its for a good cause with some healthy competition. http://www.brentroad.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=118820&page=79

9/21/2010 9:23:52 PM

Just got the second 460 installed.

haha evga sent me a "GTX 400 GPUS" bumper sticker.

-ok in speed fan it's saying one GPU is 39c and one is 57c. I'm assuming because the one that is 57c is blocked and so close to the other one. But those are the two x16 slots. Would it make a different if I moved one to an x8 slot? So they'd be further apart and the hot one would actually cool? 57c just seems kind of a hot idle. Although I hear in SLI setups once card is typically hotter anyway.

--running vantage. The cooler card seems to heat up once things get going. Now at load one is at 70 and the other is at 62. I guess that's acceptable. 70c for an OC'd GPU is nothing.

---79/71 now at load.

[Edited on September 23, 2010 at 6:47 PM. Reason : s]

9/23/2010 6:26:40 PM

Im pretty sure you will never notice the difference in the x8 vs x16 slot in gaming or folding. It really only matters with benchmarking. Even then its only worth a few points. So if moving the card down nets a cooler temp I think its well worth it.

Also load evga precision to manually adjust the fan to 60-65%. That keeps my OC gtx465 around 70C when fully loaded.

9/24/2010 8:39:03 AM

^yeah I finally downloaded EVGA precision. The fans automatically adjust up to 55-60% when loaded so I guess they'll keep uping the rpm if need be. They're just so damn loud past like 50%. Luckily that only happens when I'm playing a game so I can't hear them.

Installed Crysis Warhead. Forgot how much fun Crysis is. Runs maxed out (no AA). Stays above 30fps most of the time. Decreasing the motion blur seemed to speed up the mouse response time.

9/24/2010 9:05:04 AM

http://www.guru3d.com/article/evga-classified-sr2-review/13

drool. chick pouring liquid nitrogen over an SR-2 Quad 480gtx Dual Xeons at 5500mhz.

9/24/2010 9:48:14 AM