My Next PC - Setup and Overclocking

This is the third part in a series of articles documenting my new PC build. I suggest you check out my previous two articles "Building My Next PC - Intel Ivy Bridge" and "My Next PC - The Build" before proceeding.

The final phase of the build process is setup and overclocking. When it comes to overclocking I am always interested in finding the best 24x7 settings that balance performance, temperature and sound. It's always great fun trying to find the maximum achievable performance for each component, but if the system is only stable for a few minutes, or sounds like a hair dryer, then in my opinion it's already a failure.

I don't intend for this article to be an overclocking guide, but I will share any rules that I follow, including any tips and tricks that I have picked up along the way. A great starting point is research, specifically to understand the limits of each of your components. For example, what is the maximum recommended power and heat specification for each component you intend to overclock? The best way to find this information is to head over to the manufacturers website or community forums. You can see the details for my new system below:

This information is critical when overcloking as it sets your limits to ensure you don't damage any of your components. It should be noted that the information above is for air cooling, therefore if you have high end water cooling or are using liquid nitrogen (some people do), then you will likely have a different set of limits (due to the lower temperatures).

The next step is to start the testing process. For this I make sure I test each component individually (with all other components at default) to find the maximum value for each. I normally start with the processor, moving to the memory and finally the graphics card, however this is personal preference.

To guarantee a component is stable I normally run a batch of tests that aim to push the system to 100% utilisation (essentially a stress test). Throughout the entire testing process I carefully monitor the voltage and temperature using CPUID HWMonitor and GPU-Z, as well as look for any unusual behavior (display artifacts, software errors, etc). In my opinion, if a component can pass each test without breaching any of the previously mentioned limits (for example temperature) then it can be considered stable. The batch of tests I complete are:

• Prime95 (1 hour)
• SuperPi (32M)
• 3DMARK 11 (Performance Mode)
• PCMARK 7

The entire test process takes approximately 2 hours, which can be a pain but is a necessary evil to ensure the system is stable. Once I have found the maximum stable performance / voltage / temperature ratio I normally scale back a touch for my 24x7 settings. At this point I reset to default and move on to the next component. Only once I have data for all the components do I combine the configuration.

Now you know my process, let's dive into the overclocking results. Firstly the max stable overclock results, which can be seen in the table below:

One issue with using cutting edge components is that the software is not mature, which unfortunately resulted in an issue with memory compatibility, meaning the system refused to POST at anything above 1600MHz (11-11-11-28 2N). This is disappointing and will probably result in a 5-10% performance impact (when compared to the sweet spot - 2133MHz). I have spoken with MSI regarding the challenge and they expect to have a BIOS update available soon to resolve the issue.

With that said, the processor and graphics card both achieved very good results. With a 32% increase for the processor and a 33% increase for the graphics card. It should also be noted that the Sapphire HD 7950 OC comes pre-overclocked by 100MHz and therefore this new overclock value can actually be considered a 50% increase over a stock 7950! The load temperatures (Prime95) are a little high for my liking, but the system remained stable and within specification.

The next set of results show my 24x7 settings. Again the memory remains stock, but the processor and graphics cards see a decent increase, with acceptable temperatures.

Overall this is a 26% increase for the processor and a 22% increase for the graphics card (or 37% increase over a stock 7950). This puts the graphics card above AMD's current flagship (Radeon HD 7970), which has a default clock speed of 1050MHz and would cost an additional £100.

For those who are interested I have included screenshots of the BIOS setup and graphics card overclock settings below. It's key to remember that every component is different and therefore simply copying my configuration may not achieve the same results.

The first screenshot shows the "Overclocking Setting" page of MSI's UEFI BIOS. Personally I disable the majority of Intel's power saving features such as EIST, however you should be able to keep these enabled without impacting your overclock.

The second half of the "Overclocking Setting" shows the voltages, that are all set to "Auto" except the VCore which is manually set to 1.250v.

Finally the "CPU Features" page, which are primarily set to "Disabled". Again this is personal preference, as I am happy to run my system at 100% 24x7, without Intel's C-State power saving features kicking in.

Moving on to the graphics card. Although it's possible to overclock using the AMD Catalyst Control Center, you don't get access to the voltages, which is critical if you want to hit the high numbers! This is where the Sapphire proprietary software "TRIXX" comes into play. You can also use Afterburner which is popular tool from MSI that can also be used with other manufacturers graphics cards.

MSI also have a piece of software called "ClickBIOS II" that allows you to modify BIOS settings from within Windows. This apparently works very well, however I'm "old school" and prefer to make my changes directly from the BIOS.

Benchmark Results

There is a good chance you skipped straight to this section. The benchmark results below show my 24x7 settings (outlined above) compared against my old system.

As you can see from the results, the performance increase across the board are quite dramatic. With SuperPi coming in under 8 minutes and a 3DMARK 11 score of 8769! Even the solid sate drives running in RAID0 have shown an impressive increase over the single drive, however without TRIM support it will be interesting to see if this level of performance lasts. For a full breakdown of the results head over to the image gallery.

That's it! Overall my new Ivy Bridge PC has been a pleasure to build and I will continue to tweak the setup over the next few months. My hope is that once the platform matures (new BIOS updates and drivers) I will be able to push it a little harder and get even better results, but even now it's a monster!

My Next PC - The Build

Anyone who follows LifeinTECH will know that I'm currently in the process of building a new PC. I've been eagerly anticipating the release of Intel's new Ivy Bridge architecture, specifically the Core i5 3570K processor (the successor to the very popular 2500K Sandy Bridge part). A reminder of the specification can be seen below:

• MSI Z77A-GD65 Intel Z77
• Intel Core i5 3570K (Malaysia, Batch L208B089) + Noctua NH-D14
• Samsung Green 16GB DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz 30nm
• Sapphire HD 7950 OC 3072MB
• Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D PCI-E
• 2x Intel X25-M (G2) 160GB SSD - RAID 0
• Samsung SH-B123L/BSBP Blu-Ray
• OCZ ModXStream Pro 700w Modular PSU
• Lian Li V1000 Case
• Microsoft 3000 V2 Keyboard and Logitech Nano VX Mouse
• Samsung S27A950D 27" 120Hz 3D

With Ivy Bridge becoming officially available in the UK last Sunday (29-APR-2012), I immediately placed my order, which arrived on Wednesday. Since then I have building, overclocking and testing.

This article aims to provide an overview of the build process, which you can also follow in my step by step gallery. So let's get started!

Firstly, the MSI Z77A-GD65 motherboard, utilising Intel's new Z77 Panther Point chipset. It includes the standard LGA1155 socket, three PCI-E 3.0 x16 slots and native USB 3.0. For overclockers the Z77A-GD65 includes onboard power, reset, O/C Genie control buttons, as well as a handy CLR_CMOS button on the I/O panel. The Z77A-GD65 also includes a two-digit diagnostics display, line voltage detection points, and a dual-BIOS switch.

This is my first MSI motherboard (I normally use Asus or Gigabyte), however I have to admit the build quality and feature set is excellent. It’s also worth noting that MSI are using a 10 + 2 phase power design, with two large heatsinks to cover the MOSFETs (connected by a single heatpipe). These heatsinks are significantly larger than what other vendors have used, again demonstrating MSI's commitment to quality components. 

Next up are the Samsung Green memory sticks. The first thing you will notice is their tiny height, which makes them look more like laptop memory (especially when compared to my existing Corsair XMS2 sticks). I was lucky enough to get 16GB (4x4GB) of this new 30nm memory for just £77, however it has since gone up to £101 (memory prices are notoriously turbulent, so I recommend buy as much as you can while it's cheap).

Like all memory it was very simple to install, however I do recommend doing so before attaching your CPU cooler (you'll see why in a second).

Regarding CPU cooler, meet the monstrous Noctua NH-D14 which I hope will keep my new Ivy Bridge processor in check while overclocking. Although it's big (160mm high and 1240g) the installation process is very simple and Noctua even include two high performance fans (NF-P14 and NF-P12) and their award winning NT-H1 TIM.

Although there are many techniques to applying TIM, I personally use the "grain of rice" approach, which is also recommended by Noctua (see the gallery for more details). The cooler itself has good clearance over the MOSFETs and even provides access to the memory if you remove the outside 120mm fan. With that said, unless you're buying the Samsung Green, I still recommend you check your memory module height before buying.

It's only after the motherboard, CPU and memory are installed that you realise just how big the "dual radiator" Noctua NH-D14 really is (taking up nearly half the motherboard).

At this point I have also installed the two Intel X25-M (G2) solid state drives, which are mounted in the center of the case to a 5.25" bracket from Lian Li (the BZ-B25A to be exact). I'm also pleased that due to the side mounted ports on the Z77A-GD65 that most of the SATA and power cables can be hidden behind the motherboard tray.

The final components are the Sapphire HD 9750 OC graphics card and the less exciting Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D (recycled from my previous system). The HD 9750 is a full length PCI-E 3.0 x16 card that requires 2x6-pin power leads. It includes a custom dual fan cooler and dual BIOS, which has been pre-programmed with a high voltage and more aggressive fan profile. To switch the BIOS you simply move the tiny switch on the top of the card to point "2", as shown in the image gallery.

The installation of the 9750 is very simple, although as you can see from the final photo it does sit very close to the Noctua NH-D14 (approximately 10mm clearance).

The system is now fully built, which includes the addition of two Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm (1850RPM) fans at the front and as an exhaust.

That's it for "the build", but make sure you check out my full photo gallery (which includes additional notes). The next part will outline the setup and overclocking process. I will also include full benchmark results, comparing them against my previous system.

Building My Next PC - Intel Ivy Bridge

Once every few years I give my primary Windows PC a full overhaul. The last time I completed this process was in July 2006, where I was lucky enough to receive an engineering sample of Intel's legendary "Conroe" architecture. It's now nearly six years later and although my system has had a number of incremental upgrades (memory and graphics) the primary architecture has remained the same, based around Intel's 975X chipset and a Core 2 Duo E6700ES.

Like any hardware enthusiast, I enjoy the process of designing and building a new system, especially the challenge of overclocking. I have never documented a build before, but thought the information I gather could prove useful to others and therefore I plan to write a number articles, starting with the design, followed by the build and finally the overclock configuration. So let's get started...

Current System

Before starting a new build it's important to benchmark your current system, this helps get a baseline that can be used later to measure your new systems performance. My current systems specification can be found below:

• ASUS P5W DH Deluxe Motherboard (Intel 975x Chipset)
• Intel Core 2 Duo E6700ES @ 3.0GHz + Scythe Ninja
• 6GB DDR2 Corsair Memory (PC2-6400, 4-4-4-12)
• AMD Radeon HD 5850 1GB GDDR5
• Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D PCI-E
• Intel X25-M (G2) 160GB SSD
• Plextor PX-755A DVD+-RW (SATA)
• OCZ ModXStream Pro 700w Modular PSU
• Lian Li V1000 Case
• Microsoft 3000 V2 Keyboard and Logitech Nano VX Mouse 
• LG 22" L226WTQ Display (1680x1050)

As you can see from the above specification, my current system still holds its own. I am able to play the majority of modern games set to "medium" or "high" at the monitors native resolution, with acceptable frame rates. For example, Skyrim with the High Resolution Texture Pack installed is perfectly playable at "High" settings with 4x Antialiasing and 8x Anisotropic Filtering. This is obviously helped a lot by the AMD Radeon 5850, but it's still not bad for a dual core processor that was released in 2006.

So let's get some benchmark results:

• Windows Experience Score = 6.4 (Full Results)
• 3DMARK 11 = P3018 (Full Results)
• PCMARK 7 = 3067 (Full Results)
• SuperPi (32M) = 18m 34s (Full Results)
• CrystalDiskMark Seq Read / Seq Write = 264.3MBs / 111.9MBs (Full Results)
• Alien VS Predator D3D11 Benchmark Average FPS = 48.3 (Full Results)

These numbers will be used as a baseline to calculate the performance increase of the new system.

Future System

The specification below outlines my new system, it is based around Intel's next generation architecture, known as Ivy Bridge. The items marked with a star are new, with all other components being recycled from my current system.

• * MSI Z77A-GD65 (Intel Z77 Chipset)
• * Intel Core i5 3570K + Noctua NH-D14
• * 16GB DDR3 Samsung Green (PC3-12800C11, 30nm)
• * Sapphire HD 7950 OC 3072MB GDDR5
• Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D PCI-E
• * 2x Intel X25-M (G2) 160GB SSD (RAID 0)
• * Samsung SH-B123L/BSBP Blu-Ray
• OCZ ModXStream Pro 700w Modular PSU
• Lian Li V1000 Case
• * Samsung S27A950D 27" 120Hz 3D (1920x1080)

So why have I made these choices? Let's jump into the details of the key components:

Motherboard:

As with all computer components (especially first generation parts) there is often not a lot to differentiate between the different vendors. This is the case with Intel's latest Z77 chipset, where all the main vendors have a full range of boards, of which any one would likely meet your needs. Personally I have chosen the MSI Z77A-GD65, which is their current flagship Z77 motherboard. It includes all the expected "bells and whistles", for example native USB 3.0 support, PCI Express 3.0 (3x PCI-E 16x) as well as MSI's Military Class components, which is their guarantee of stability and long life. The motherboard can be seen below:

The MSI Z77 board may not be the fastest on the market (only 1% or so behind the Asus Z77 boards), but in my opinion it is important to balance performance with stability, as the motherboard is the backbone of the entire system and anyone that has ever worked with an unstable board will know that it can be very frustrating when attempting to achieve a maximum stable overclock.

Processor:

There has been a lot of talk on the Internet comparing Intel's older Sandy Bridge architecture to their new Ivy Bridge architecture. The primary differences between the two are that Ivy Bridge is built around the 22nm fabrication process and includes enhanced integrated graphics (HD4000) and PCI Express 3.0 support. The downside is that due to the maturity of Sandy Bridge, early signs show that the older chip overclockers better, with the current fan favourite (Intel Core i5 2500K) easily achieving 4.8GHz on air.

Considering I will be using a single dedicated graphics card it is likely that the improved integrated graphics and PCI Express 3.0 will offer little, to no advantage (as a current generation dedicated graphics card would not be bandwidth limited by PCI Express 2.0). However, as I plan to build a system that will see me through the best part of five years, I want to ensure my future options are open, as well as the fact I like a good challenge and am keen to see what I can get out of Intel's latest and greatest architecture. As a result I went with the likely 2500K replacement, the Intel Core i5 3750K, clocked at 3.8GHz (stock). It's important to note that the "K" signifies that the chip is multiplier unlocked, therefore providing easy access to overclocking.

Although this is my choice, it should be noted that if you are looking for the maximum RAW MHz today, then I suggest you continue to look at the older Sandy Bridge architecture, specifically the Intel Core i5 2500K. At least until the Ivy Bridge manufacturing process has matured.

For more details of the Intel i5 3750K attached tot he MSI Z77A GD65 I recommend you check out the Vortex review.

Memory:

When it comes to memory there is currently only one choice, not Corsair, or Crucial, it's Samsung! The Samsung Green memory is simply outstanding, delivering the first memory modules to utilise a 30nm process that results in 1600MHz DDR3 at an insanely low 1.25v (compared to the industry standard 1.65v). What this means is that the Samsung memory has crazy overclocking potential, with the community easily hitting 2400MHz (11-11-11-28 2N) at just 1.50v.

The other great thing is that because these chips use the 30nm process they are both tiny (half the size of standard memory) which is great for systems with large CPU coolers and cheaper, where you can currently get 16GB for just £70!

Although you could argue that anything above 16000MHz is a waste and I personally still believe 8GB is the sweet spot for consumer systems, however with this incredible overclocking potential and knowing that memory prices can fluctuate a lot, I recommend grabbing 16GB immediately.

Graphics:

This is always a tough one, do you go NVIDIA or AMD? Generally this comes back to personal preference and sometimes loyalty (although I have used cards from both manufactures in the past). As it stands today the NVIDIA GeForce 680 holds the performance crown (until tomorrow when NVIDIA will likely announce the GeForce 690). Unfortunately the GeForce 680 does not come cheap (£450+), therefore I am looking for a card that is still high end, has plenty of overclocking potential, but can be picked up for around £300. This led me to the AMD 7950 overlcocked edition from Sapphire. In my opinion this is the current king of overclocking, with a chip that is essentially identical to the 7970 (AMD's flagship), including the same GPU and 3GB GDDR5 memory (384 bit memory width). The only difference between the two are the clock speeds and the 7950 has less "Stream Processors" enabled.

However, it is with Sapphires custom dual fan cooler (which is also very quite) where the magic happens as this card can easily surpass a stock 7970 with a simple overclock, which puts it in the same ballpark as the NVIDIA 680 when looking at real world results. Not bad for a £150+ saving (which essentially pays for the processor). The Sapphire HD 7950 OC can be seen below:

I recommend you check out the Anandtech review for more details.

Storage:

The final upgrade is storage, where for obvious reasons (check my previous article) I will be sticking with Solid State Storage. However this time I will be installing two Intel X25M G2 Solid State Drives running in RAID 0. To be honest this is a bit of an experiment. The reason I am going RAID is that I happen to have two identical Intel drives recycled from other systems. Although RAID 0 should theoretically offer better performance, unfortunately TRIM is not currently supported by this type of setup, therefore although the drives will start fast (very fast) the performance could degrade over time. A lot of this will depend on how well the Intel controllers do with their garbage collection (an unknown at this point). As a result I plan to start in RAID 0 and if performance becomes unacceptable I will switch to a simple JBOD configuration.

Conclusion:

That's it! That's my new system. I have already placed the order and am simply waiting for delivery. As soon as it all arrives (expected on Wednesday) I will post a follow-up article outlining the build process.

iPad 2, MacBook Pro & Light Peak!

It was just over one year ago that Apple introduced the world to the iPad. Today Apple announced a media event scheduled for 2nd March and if the invitations are anything to go by, I think it's safe to assume we will get our first glimpse of the next generation iPad! 

It's actually been a busy couple of weeks for Apple rumors as most of the industry experts are predicting an imminent update to the MacBook Pro range, which could include a new I/O port known as Light Peak.

It's common knowledge that Intel and Apple have been developing a new optical cable interface that would aim to be a single universal replacement for current buses such as USB, FireWire, SATA, PCI Express and Display Port. This is possible due to the predicted ultra high bandwidth, starting at 10Gb/s, with the potential to scale to 100Gb/s over the next decade.

The current rumors are that Apple will merge a copper version of Light Peak (also known as Thunderbolt) with Display Port across the entire MacBook Pro range. This would leave existing ports such as USB and Firewire untouched, but offer Apple notebooks compatibility with the future standard. I wouldn't normally post about rumors, but this is backed up by the fact that Intel are also prepping for an announcement tomorrow, which many believe will be Light Peak focused. If this is all true it is possible that the iPad 2 could take advantage of this new I/O, offering a single high bandwidth port, that could also be used to drive a display.

I expect to see the official MacBook Pro and Light Peak announcement on the Apple website as early as tomorrow.

Intel, Modern Day Rock Stars

A new advert from Intel tries to prove that geeks are modern day rock stars.