Building a Super Computer
After about 6 months of deal shopping for some of the best components I could find at a the best price possible, I finally got everything I needed to put together my dream PC. It is completely built now but I have not fired it up yet as I am waiting for a Gateway 23 HD monitor to arrive on Wednesday and will move my older monitor down to th
e workbench for the over-clocking and boot up stuff.
If I like the Gateway monitor, I’ll get two more so I can run 3 monitors in Eyefinity mode.
Anyway, this will be the first attempt at overclocking a computer (assuming it fires up when I plug it in and turn it on). With 8 or 10 never tested components and with my generally bad luck, something will be DOA.
I have been reading the OC sticky notes and can see once I start digging in I’ll have a few questions over the next few weeks. Here is my setup:
- EVGA X58 3X SLI Classified A760
- i7 920
- Radeon ATI 5970
- CorsairDominator 12 GB 6 x 2 GB 1600MHz
- 2x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1 TB (Raid 1)
- OCZ Z-Series GOLD OCZ-Z1000 1000W
- Cooler Master V8 Core i7 1366 CPU Cooler
- Cooler Master ATCS 840 Full Tower Case
I am debating moving my Creative Labs PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Sound Card over from my current computer or going with the on-board classified sound.
Anyway, my goal is to get the CPU at a stable 4.2 MHz – up from 2.66 MHz stock. If possible, I would want to overclock my memory. Then after this is done, I’ll be going over to the ATI forum to figure out how to overclock my 5970 to 1000 MHz.
Looks like I have lots of fun ahead of me.
Category: Electronics
gaming computers should have multiple cpu cores and a lot of memory to support those heavy graphics `–
i am also not a fan of overclocking personal computers, if done incorrectly, it could permanently damage your system.-:
The first time that i tried overcloking over a year ago, my CPU got overheated and got fried..’”
I found the i7 920 very overclockable. You need the right motherboard, a decent CPU fan and case and you should not have problems.
Update: I got the i7 920 Overclocked to 4.035. With a lot more fiddling I could probably get it up a bit higher but to me it is not worth the time. The computer is already lighting fast.
I now have to replace my current computer with the super computer which will take some office rearranging because I will be running 3 Gateway 23 inch monitors in Eyefinity mode. This will involve reconfiguring my desk as it has three levels now and I need one big flat desk top to make everything work.
It is the weekend so I can shut get away from the business and work on getting this all set up today. However, it is SO nice outside….
Your goal is to get the CPU at a stable 4.2 MHz ? up from 2.66 MHz stock.
My goal is get CPU 3.00 MHz 555++ only play games.
Thank you informations.
I didn’t hit 4.2 but decided 4.035 was good enough.
I wish I can have a comp like what you are building. Hopefully I will get one in the near future when i can generate enough $$ from niche websites I build now. Some of the articles in your blog does help, and your godaddy codes are great. But why dont you get their resellers plan and make more money with it + save even more money. I see that you do have quite a few frequent browsers. Just a thought. Anyways, its great to follow an IM whom has obtained higher education from reputable Universities.
Computer fired up just fine. I am now have over-clocked it to 4.01 Mhz. I learned since I have 12 Gig of RAM that getting much higher would be very difficult. Apparently, it is easier to keep a computer stable at OC speeds with 6 Gig RAM.
Currently, I am in the process of stress testing the computer, which involves trying to run a program called Prime95 for 24 hours without a crash. Prime95 maxes out all of the CPU cores with prime number calculations. The theory is that if you can stress test at max for 24 hours, the computer should take any thing I throw at it.
If it crashes before 24 hours I will have to adjust some core voltages and start the test again. I am halfway there, so I am hoping this is the final stress test.