Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners anyone up on the latest computer hardware?

Chesseroo: the new Core i7 and Core i5 are NOT the next generation...they are the mainstream versions of the more high-end (read:older) Core i7 LGA1366. Intel has not changed socket types at all, they have simply introduced a new socket for more of the average Joe. They have every intention of supporting the LGA1366 for many more chips to come.

Why they have designated some LGA1156 as Core i7's and some as Core i5's, I don't know. They decided to drop back down to dual-channel memory because the performance benefits of triple-channel vs dual-channel are negligable.

From what I understand, the LGA1366 Core i7's will continue to be on the bleeding-edge of technology (future 8-core chips, etc) while the LGA1156 will always be marketed more mainstream. With future upgrades, we may see the triple-channel memory controller become more useful.

Zarak: One good thing about the LGA1156 is that it will run cooler than the 130W Core i7's. Let me tell you, the older i7's can really heat up a room!

As far as your lack of desire to overclock, I have to ask :)...why the heck not?!?! That is what these processor are made for! If you were to purchase the i7 920, you would be able to surpass 3.0GHz with no effort whatsoever...the i7 860, I'm sure, would also be able to achieve much higher clock speeds with ease.

Of course, if you are not comfortable with overclocking that is perfectly fine...I just hate to see you spend so much money on a processor and not even begin to tap its full potential, especially when it is so easy to do.

Hi Brandon,

I've had some trouble pushing my 920 past 3.6GHz, at least when I'm doing my testing with Linpack. Did you use that, or did you use Prime95? Linpack's supposed to be the most brutal thing possible.

The 860 has a great turbo boost feature, so I don't know if I would OC that one, and risk losing that. The 920? Absolutely.

I guess I'm not planning to OC because I haven't looked into it recently. I remember hearing stories early on of people killing their chips by trying to get too much out of them. Another concern is heat. I assume an OC chip runs hotter. We are likely getting a new desk for the office where the computer will basically site inside of a storage cabinet in the desk to "hide" it for WAF. While it might look nicer, part of my concern with a new machine is it running cool enough that being in tucked away instead of open won't be an issue for it.

If I could OC easily, without additional risk of damage or increased heat concerns, then I'd consider it. Processor also doesn't seem to be the bottleneck on my things, which is another reason I've steered away. It seems like RAM and the video card hit their limits before the proc does.

You definitely have increased heat output, but if you do it sanely, you don't really risk component damage. What you want to avoid is pushing the voltage too high. With the Core i5s and i7s, you can generally get a few hundred out of it without even moving the voltage.

If the computer case must be put inside a cabinet, then heat will be a major concern. I might lean towards the i7 860...running at 90W (I believe) as opposed to 130W will be very helpful.

However, I also agree with kcarlile...you can get a few to several hundred MHz just on stock voltage. In fact, with my i7 920, I was able to run overclocked from 2.67GHz to 3.2GHz with my CPU UNDERVOLTED by 0.1V. Now, when I tried to push above 3.2, it really REALLY required the juice.

Every chip is different, see what yours is capable of. Like kcarlile said, you are not going to kill your chip right off the bat as long as you approach your overclocking slowly and carefully. Remember, increasing the speed of the CPU will damage nothing...the worst that will happen is your PC will BSOD and you will have to lower your clock speeds. What damages your chips is voltage, and ultimately, heat. Having said that, you would really need to do some crazy, stupid voltages to destroy one of these new processors...they have built in thermal protection to turn themselves off before they give up the ghost.

kcarlile: I'm sending you a personal message concerning the finer details of OCing...I don't want to seem like I'm hogging this thread with techno mumbo-jumbo

Along with the 860 due to cooling are there other things I might be able to do? I'd say extra fans, but if just ends up blowing out into an enclosed area that's no good.

I'm trying to find a desk that has good wire management without the computer being in a cabinet so this is not a concern. The current desk has no wire management AND there is an opening of about a foot at the bottom so you can see in where all the wires are as you walk into the office.

I know water cooling exists, but I don't think I need to go that far.

Yeah, I agree, unsightly wires are no good...I wish you luck in finding a new desk.

I'm still not ready to make the jump to water cooling either...something about water inside the computer case that just scares me!

Unless you can move the heat somewhere outside the desk (ie, with water cooling with the radiator outside the desk or something) more fans will do you no good--remember that they're just moving heat, not actually removing it. Same with a large heatsink--it's moving heat off of the CPU, but that heat's still in the case and outside the exhaust ports on the case.

Yup...I'd like to keep the computer out of a cabinet for just that reason. I'm hoping to find a good desk that hides wires but doesn't have a PC cabinet.

Been looking at monitors tonight mostly. I'm thinking the Dell sp2309w. I considered the Samsung 2343bwx as well, but the Dell is 2ms response time vs. 5 and the Dell also has HDMI.

I looked at the Samsung 2232bw a while back, which I believe was replaced by the 2253bw, which has now also been replaced, I think by the samsung I'm looking at, but can't confirm that.

I've not been particularly impressed by the low response time monitors; they generally have poor viewing angles and color reproduction. I'd look at the Dell Ultrasharps; they're more expensive, but generally higher quality.