re: PC Discussion - Gaming, Performance and Enthusiasts

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And the Hyper 212 is probably a mild OC option as well - I cannot praise this extreme value at ~$30 more highly

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Yeah, it's been the value leader for the past 8-9 years. The hyper 212 has been my default selection for customer builds, even if it's not an OCing machine (in which case, I set a really passive fan profile, and you can't even tell the PC is on). But I routinely got a stable and relatively quiet OC of 4.3-4.5 GHz on a 3770K/3570K. And if you add one to an FX-8320, it's basically indistinguishable from an average 8350 in terms of max OC. For a 4770K, a hyper 212 is relatively quiet and sufficient for whatever OC you can get on stock voltage.

I've seen charts where the Noctua was basically on par with an H80i or even H100, and I'm assuming they were tested in the typical 2-fan arrangement.

Other than that, if someone asked me to pick out a good air cooler, I'd be hitting the Googles to see what's been tested lately.

EDIT: Yep, take a look at this:



On par with an H100i with "maximum profile" (i.e. really friggin loud).

Let me know your thoughts on the installation process, particularly how well you think a novice could handle it, compared to a hyper 212.

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I look much more closely. In my haste I apparently grabbed a locked i7-6700.

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That sucks. Glad you're returning it though. The 6700K seems to finally be in stock at the usual places (Amazon/Egg).

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I'm not planning on deviating from auto settings

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That would be a shame considering the caliber of cooling you have, and your pre-existing hardware knowledge. I haven't used ASUS 5-way optimization, and in fact I don't use the auto-overclock profiles at all. The auto button is for noobs, which seems to be pretty much what the ASUS 5-way software is (just selecting various profiles).

I tweak everything individually. It's still easier than the old fashioned way simply because you still don't have to worry about bus frequency and RAM/PCIe ratios. You'll get better thermals and potentially higher stable overclock by finding the right voltage(s) yourself and not letting the motherboard decide that for you (it'll always be way higher than necessary).

I also recommend you use the bios, not Windows software, to apply overclocks. You'll likely be able to make finer adjustments, and it's just safer. I don't trust third-party software to manage all of the power settings of a motherboard, in which breaking shite is a real possibility, and lament having to use it for GPU overclocks (I do enjoy the fact that it's easy to mod NVIDIA bioses to change voltage tables, min/max clocks, and power targets, though).

When you get everything running, I can clue you in on what each setting does, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone on overclock.net or elsewhere publishes (or has already published) a detailed overclocking guide for Skylake, maybe even on your particular board.

ilikelsu what do you think about the Raspberry Pi 2?

They have a starter kit on Amazon for $70, seems like a cool little toy to play around with.

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I know you don't do air cooling, but should I go with their paste on their HSF, or should I stick with my AS5 and the curing period?

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I used NT-H1 on my water blocks for years. I like it.

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I probably need a handful of programs to monitor temps and performance.

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I use realtemp for temperature and CPU-Z for voltage monitoring. Those aren't the only or necessarily best programs, though.

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Do you have any preferred stability testing protocols?

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AIDA64 is good. The Prime95 blend test is fine, too. I'm not one of those overclockers who feels the need to run small TFTs for 48 hours. I run a stress test for 15-20 minutes. If it doesn't crash in that time, 99% probability it's stable. Beyond the 20-minute stress test, my stability testing is just using the PC. Once I find an overclock I like that passes Prime95 or AIDA64, I consider it done unless it one day crashes in the middle of a game (it has happened before). Then I just bump the voltage a little or whatever I think needs to be done.

Whether you "notice" it depends on what you're doing. Playing a game that's not already saturating your CPU at stock, you likely wouldn't see any frame rate boost by overclocking it. If encoding a video, it might shave a few seconds off your encoding time, or perform real-time rendering slightly faster if using a CPU-bound video editor or 3d modeling program. Mostly, we do it for fun.

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Mostly, we do it for fun.

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And to heat the house in the winter.

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Whether you "notice" it depends on what you're doing. Playing a game that's not already saturating your CPU at stock, you likely wouldn't see any frame rate boost by overclocking it. If encoding a video, it might shave a few seconds off your encoding time, or perform real-time rendering slightly faster if using a CPU-bound video editor or 3d modeling program. Mostly, we do it for fun.

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That's what I've always thought and whenever I've looked into it it seems to always boil down to that point. That's why I've never really explored it; never really had the time or interest to learn and start fiddling with stuff without it providing a tangible difference in daily performance.

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I'm happy with my Edifier Exclaim e10 - 2.0 which are right about $100.

Harmon Kardon Soundsticks get great reviews at your budget, but if you want BT connectivity, you're at almost $200.

If I were buying a 2.1 set today, it would be the Soundsticks.

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I'll check those out. I've been debating between the Logitech Z623, Klipsch ProMedia, & BOSE Companion 2 speakers.

Just want something good enough for gaming & media; I'll game with headphones but I use my PC a lot for work each day so it's nice not having to rely on headphones for that many hours.

LINK