A few computer questions

[RhombusHatesYou]

From what I have seen with IB, once you go past 4.3-4.4Ghz the heat starts to ramp up massively though you were only looking to go to 3.8Ghz so I'm sure you'd be fine with that or ~4.4Ghz like I said.

Unlocked IB CPUs can be put to 4Ghz on stock air and push past 4.5Ghz on aftermarket HSF. Hell, you can push 5Ghz without seriously compromising the lifespan of the CPU (which is pretty much a first for a consumer grade CPU).

The reason for that is that instead of pushing for maximum performance in their socket 1155 IB CPUs, Intel looked more at power effiency... so instead of a massive boost in processing power over SB CPUs, IB CPUs give a moderate increase in processing power but take much less power to do so (15W+ less on average) and, as a result also produce much less waste heat.

 

[ToastiestZombie]

Snip

You raise a good point, but the fact of the matter is that the CPU I have now is an AMD Phenom ii x6 1100t, which is not performing to what I wanted at all. I'd much rather have an Intel based system, seeing as IMO they are the better processor company. I'll probably be upgrading my GPU at Christmas, maybe to a 680. But right now I'd rather change what I'm changing.

 

[ToastiestZombie]

Snip

You raise a good point, but the fact of the matter is that the CPU I have now is an AMD Phenom ii x6 1100t, which is not performing to what I wanted at all. I'd much rather have an Intel based system, seeing as IMO they are the better processor company. I'll probably be upgrading my GPU at Christmas, maybe to a 680. But right now I'd rather change what I'm changing.

Seeing as you are only 14, this is clearly your parents money that you are spending. Do you not think it's worth getting something like a Gtx 670 which has nearly the same power as a 680 but costs about £100 less.

I know you have access to the money but there is no point in flagrantly wasting money.

To be honest your whole upgrade is a massive waste of money in my eyes and it's foolish to go ahead with it.

Actually, you raise a point. To be honest my processor is doing fine, I was way over my head. I think getting a single 670, a much better processor fan and maybe an SSD would do well. I'll also clean out my computer, and seeing as I'll be able to have my big side fan on properly most heat issues would go away. Is there any version of the 670 you would recommend?

 

[ToastiestZombie]

Snip

You raise a good point, but the fact of the matter is that the CPU I have now is an AMD Phenom ii x6 1100t, which is not performing to what I wanted at all. I'd much rather have an Intel based system, seeing as IMO they are the better processor company. I'll probably be upgrading my GPU at Christmas, maybe to a 680. But right now I'd rather change what I'm changing.

Seeing as you are only 14, this is clearly your parents money that you are spending. Do you not think it's worth getting something like a Gtx 670 which has nearly the same power as a 680 but costs about £100 less.

I know you have access to the money but there is no point in flagrantly wasting money.

To be honest your whole upgrade is a massive waste of money in my eyes and it's foolish to go ahead with it.

Also, I actually have a few friends who are wanting to get gaming PCs and they are showing interest in buying my two 560 ti cards if I do upgrade, so I reckon I would be able to gain quite a bit of the money back. What price do you reckon one of the cards would go for on a place like craiglist or eBay?

 

[ToastiestZombie]

Well cleaning is always a good idea. There is always this.

can you give the YouTube link, I'm on an iPod touch ya see.

 

[Luftwaffles]

If you want to upgrade go for the unlocked sandy bridges. Easier to OC, just by tweaking the multiplier. Ivybridge has heat dissipating problems as pointed out by matt.

If you want to spring for a closed water cooled loop dont buy Corsair ones, they have been dishing out sub par gear lately.

PSU is holywtfbbq even i dont need that much and im also running dual cards.

60gig SSD is enough for a boot drive, get a 120 if you want to put games on it. You can hotswap your mobo and cpu without reinstalling, but do it anyways coz its always a good reason to do a fresh install after long periods of time.

And i clean my pc out weekly. Paintbrush plus compressed air and a vacuum cleaner. Never had any problems with static (except that one time i zapped my ram when swapping which was totally my own fault)

 

[Laughing Man]

You raise a good point, but the fact of the matter is that the CPU I have now is an AMD Phenom ii x6 1100t, which is not performing to what I wanted at all. I'd much rather have an Intel based system, seeing as IMO they are the better processor company. I'll probably be upgrading my GPU at Christmas, maybe to a 680. But right now I'd rather change what I'm changing.

Fair enough, if you are going for a 6series GPU chances are that CPU would become a serious bottleneck. Thing is you didn't answer what you'll do about having to reinstall Windows, well reinstall isn't quite correct you can get away with not reinstalling as long as you install the new mobo drivers you should be fine but Windows will still need to be validated. Which back in the day when I swapped my old Asus Nforce 4 for a P5K Black Pearl Windows XP didn't care that it was an OEM version and just validated itself without issue, dunno if Win 7 will be as easy though.

60gig SSD is enough for a boot drive, get a 120 if you want to put games on it. You can hotswap your mobo and cpu without reinstalling, but do it anyways coz its always a good reason to do a fresh install after long periods of time.

The price of SSDs now is stupidly low you would just be better getting a 256 one. 128 is no where near enough for gaming storage my Steam Folder alone is over 200Gig

And i clean my pc out weekly. Paintbrush plus compressed air and a vacuum cleaner. Never had any problems with static (except that one time i zapped my ram when swapping which was totally my own fault)

Bad advice dude, once a week is stupidly over the top, may I suggest some dust filters on your intake fans? Also vacuum cleaners are the worse thing you can use inside a PC, the plastic nozzle combined with the air rushing over them is an ideal source for generating static discharge, the fact you haven't killed anything is more luck than anything.

 

[Nalgas D. Lemur]

And i clean my pc out weekly. Paintbrush plus compressed air and a vacuum cleaner. Never had any problems with static (except that one time i zapped my ram when swapping which was totally my own fault)

I second everything Laughing Man said. Weekly is absolutely ridiculous, as is using a vacuum cleaner. I can't even remember the last time I had to clean the inside of my case, but every time I've poked around in there this year I haven't found anything. It's not because the room it's in is particularly clean, either. I just have filters on all the intake fans and all the other openings covered. I might switch to a proper positive pressure setup some day if I can be bothered, but the way it is works so well already that I'm not sure I really need to. I just clean the air filters every now and then, and everything inside stays nearly spotless.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Go buy a can of compressed air. Also remember to hold the metal edge of your case when its open to avoid static discharge from your fingers.
I'd suggest using a new CPU that actually fits into your motherboard rather then buying a new one since a new motherboard is expensive and a pain because of the following.
You will only need to reinstall the OS if you change the motherboard (usually). Changing the CPU shouldn't be a problem.
Unless you find your computer is lagging I'd suggest not buying a new graphics card as its less expensive overall if you at least wait until yours is old before upgrading.

 

[Luftwaffles]

Yea forgot to mention that i dont exactly vacuum my electronics directly, nor do i brush my capacitors and resistors to get every single fleck off.

I do have filters plus tape over stuff. I just clean everything weekly. Coz thats what i do.