Q6600 to 2500K for BF3?

[Smartazz]

Yo wont notice jack of difference if your LGA 775 was OCed to 3.6 or above. My BF3 1080ps 8xCSAA 16xAF high detail, vsync on , game details Ultra tweaked, FPS is locked @ 60fps never goes down below 55fps ,,, once in a while goes to 51 percent for a split second,,,,,,,,

The CPU usage is 65 percent AVG.

The CPU usage on a Sandy would be 35 percent.

Pointless upgrade... Wait until a 8 core 16 thread desktop comes out man your fine.....gl

If you're talking about single player frame rates, then I nor do most of us really care. The multiplayer portion of the game is very CPU demanding in large servers.

 

[suklee]

Just picked up an intel 320 series 120gb ssd. Now to reinstall the whole vista os again.

Shop only had the cooler master 212 plus in stock so will pick up the Evo after the new year.

 

[suklee]

I managed to snag a 212 Evo today. Had a lot of fun putting it in

It's been amazing so far. Played half a round of Metro, and my temps went from (a maximum of) 75 to 56C. Is it abnormal to see such a large drop, or is it really this much better than the stock heatsink? I wouldn't doubt that it is, since it's HUGE compared to the stock heatsink. My GPU is also runnning a few degrees cooler as a result. :thumbsup:

Here's the chart, you can clearly see the difference after I installed the 212 Evo:

 

[Smartazz]

What clockspeed/voltage are you running the 2500k at? My H80 keeps the one in my sig at around 50C under load so yes, aftermarket cooling is THAT much better.

 

[suklee]

Same as yours I believe, 4.5 ghz with 1.33v setting in bios. Haven't tweaked anything else... Way too many options in there!

 

[Smartazz]

Heh, these CPUs are so easy to be overclock though. I just set the voltage to 1.3v then raised the multiplier until it couldn't pass Intel Burn Test at 4.7GHz. Then I backed off to 4.5GHz for rock solid stability. A bit too easy heh.

 

[suklee]

Do you usually do 10 passes of IBT v2.5.3, on standard stress level? Just ran it and the temps seem about the same or lower than in BF3. Will try overclocking a bit more to see if my chip can go higher.

 

[Smartazz]

I usually do 30 passes on high. What are your GFLOPS rating? If it isn't near 100GFLOPS, you're not running AVX extensions in IBT.

 

[Bill Brasky]

You did a fresh OS install and didn't upgrade to windows 7?

 

[suklee]

You did a fresh OS install and didn't upgrade to windows 7?

Nah, didn't want to fork out more $ for it, unless there is a sweet deal on an upgrade from retail box vista. Besides pretty much all I am doing on this machine is bf3 so vista is more than adequate.

 

[eternalone]

You can run Dual core on 32 player servers with good ping, but you get a big drop in performance when you you get into the 64 player servers you need at least a X4 or its basically unplayable very choppy.

 

[suklee]

You can run Dual core on 32 player servers with good ping, but you get a big drop in performance when you you get into the 64 player servers you need at least a X4 or its basically unplayable very choppy.

Yep, this is right on as I've discovered. my quad q6600 was getting choppy in areas of intense action, even in 32 player games, let alone 64. The game is much smoother overall now, thanks to the 2500k. :thumbsup:

I usually do 30 passes on high. What are your GFLOPS rating? If it isn't near 100GFLOPS, you're not running AVX extensions in IBT.

I did 20 on high, GFLOPS are about 62. Not sure what AVX is and how it benefits? Is this what you are referring to?

 

[Smartazz]

AVX extensions will make the test more demanding. Im not sure if only Windows 7 supports it though.

 

[suklee]

What version number is your AVX? Mine is 2.53...

 

[suklee]

When I am running IBT I noticed Core Temp reports my VID as 1.4061V. Is this accurate? Hardware Monitor and TouchBIOS shows 1.33V. Which is correct? In BIOS My CPU Vcore is set at 1.3V.

I'm trying to optimize my voltages to the lowest possible, but I've read a few threads/articles on offset/dynamic voltage and still not 100% sure what to do...

 

[Smartazz]

I use IBT 2.51, I didn't realize a newer release was out. What does CPU-Z display your voltage as?

 

[suklee]

cpu-z 1.59 gives me 1.044v, but I've read it's an incompatibility with gigabyte mobos...

 

[suklee]

Not sure if I should start a new thread, but my PC won't POST anymore all of a sudden, after I turned it off last night. (don't remember if it was a full shutdown or just sleep).

Here's a video... it just keeps doing this over and over. I tried unplugging the power cord for 30 secs. What should I try next?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNhnFnV8af0

EDIT: clearing CMOS jumper seems to have worked. I am back on default 3.3GHz. Is it an overclock issue? Power supply? Anyone seen anything like this before?
Now that I think about it, the PC might have crashed last night as I was trying to stream a video from it...

 

[Smartazz]

Sounds like it may not have been a stable overclock. I've heard reports of Sandy Bridges passing IBT/Linx for many passes, then crash doing something much lighter. Try using Prime 95?

 

[suklee]

Used Prime 95, passed 10+ tests but crashed after I fired up NBA.tv (uses Flash).

I also just discovered, I only get a max of 1.33V going to my CPU even though I've upped it to 1.34V in BIOS.

When priming it drops down from 1.33/1.32 to 1.28/1.27 at load.

What are your voltage settings like? Do you use 'offset'?

 

[Smartazz]

Voltages drop when the CPU is under load. I have 1.3v set in the BIOS and CPU-Z reads 1.224v under load.

 

[fastamdman]

Voltages drop for a few reasons. It's called vdrop/vdroop and due to how much load is actually on the processor / eist and other power saving features.

If you run intel burn test or linx *i favor LinX personally*, and you BSOD it means you are unstable. You need to run a MINIMUM of 25 tests os maximum settings. This will ensure your system is fairly stable if it passes.

If you get a bsod, simply raise your vcore. Some cpu's take anywhere from 1.3 vcore to 1.4 vcore to get 4.5ghz stable.

Just to be clear, prime95 is NOT a good test of stability anymore when it comes to SB based cpu's. It was great back in the day, but now LinX/IBT are kings.

Edit: Oh and as far as temps go, yes the stock intel hsf is crap. The hyper 212+ and evo's are much much better coolers. Also expect your temps to be roughly 10c higher in linx/ibt over prime95. This is another reason why linx/ibt are TRUE testers of stability . I know a lot of systems that can pass 12hrs+ of p95 but fail instantly with linx

 

[Panopticon]

not 100% sure but you may have just encountered the endless boot loop issue associated with some gigabyte z68 boards. Make sure you have the newest bios installed. For some people this has been a cause for rma, for others its an occasional minor annoyance. I just got the ud3 z68 and have not had this issue so far. Also there are two ud3 z68 boards available right now, the older version seems more susceptible to this issue.

 

[fastamdman]

The "boot loop issue" is generally only seen with unstable overclocks and or when there is a corrupted bios. Also sometimes it's not infinite like people think, if you let it go to the 3rd/4th/5th restart it will actually post Just depends on what the issue really is.

I also have a ud3 z68 board, rev 1.0. Once you are stable though, there are no issues, period.

 

[suklee]

not 100% sure but you may have just encountered the endless boot loop issue associated with some gigabyte z68 boards. Make sure you have the newest bios installed. For some people this has been a cause for rma, for others its an occasional minor annoyance. I just got the ud3 z68 and have not had this issue so far. Also there are two ud3 z68 boards available right now, the older version seems more susceptible to this issue.

Was what I experienced in my video the 'cold boot' loop issue? It turns on for not even 1 second before rebooting. I did already have the latest BIOS (F8) on rev 1.3 of the board, so hopefully won't see this again.

Edit: Oh and as far as temps go, yes the stock intel hsf is crap. The hyper 212+ and evo's are much much better coolers. Also expect your temps to be roughly 10c higher in linx/ibt over prime95. This is another reason why linx/ibt are TRUE testers of stability . I know a lot of systems that can pass 12hrs+ of p95 but fail instantly with linx

For me, I haven't seen as large as a 10c difference between IBT and P95 - maybe 5C MAX? And yep, I now concur, the stock hsf is crap... in case you missed it, I got a healthy drop in temps after installing the 212 Evo:

If you get a bsod, simply raise your vcore. Some cpu's take anywhere from 1.3 vcore to 1.4 vcore to get 4.5ghz stable.

As a test, I tried upping the vcore even higher to 1.345v in BIOS, but hardware monitor still shows 1.33v. Is this some sort of automatic safety limit imposed by the motherboard/CPU?

edit: setting BIOS to 1.385v now gives me a reading of 1.37/1.38. I guess the questions as usual are:

(1) what is a safe voltage to run the 2500k at for my gaming sessions, or more importantly;
(2) what is the sweet spot for BF3 GHz performance (vs the amount of voltage increase)