Who's waiting to buy a new PC for SoW?

My Current liquid Cooled Rig:

Mobo: Asus Striker Extreme Rampage 11
Ram: Corsair Memory XMS3 Classic 6GB DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600)
CPU: Intel Core i7 930 (Overclocked to 4.2Ghz)
GPU's: 2 X Geforce GTX285 in SLI
PSU: Coolermaster Real Power 850 W Power Supply (Modular)
Case: Coolermaster RC-1100 V2 Black Tower Computer Case
Radiator: XSPC RX360 Black High Performance Radiator
CPU Block: APOGEEXT - Swiftech Apogee XT CPU Block
Pump: Laing DDC Pro Pump with XSPC V3 Acrylic Top
Res: EK-Multioption RES X2 - 150 Advanced Capacity 160 ml
Hard Disk: 2 X 1.5TB Western Digital SATA 3Gb/s, 7200+rpm, 64MB Cache
DVDR: 2 X Sony DRU-870s
Monitor: 27" Dell Ultrasharp Widescreen LCD, IPS panel

[Blackdog_kt]

Originally Posted by techpowerup

OK guys.. had to register just to correct all the foolishness going on



wrong, you have an intel motherboard for the last 5 years intel motherboards have supported scaling in ram, yes you can run 4 sticks of 1 gig DDR3 and still have it in triple channel, or 5 sticks even, you will see a reduction in performance... (of .01%) in other words the loss in performance is so minuscule its not even measurable, if you want 4 gigs just buy another stick and plop it in, i see this posted ALLLLL the time its highly annoying it s like the greatest urban legend of RAM.. however if you have an AMD board then you must do it the way you said

Well, thanks for the correction

So, how does it work? If i use 4x1Gb sticks, the 3 of them work in tripple channel and the last one works "on its own"? Or does it somehow "divide" the performance gains from the tripple channel sticks and have all four of them running at an in-between speed?

Also, i have another question. I have an i7 920 with the stock cooler, but i got it somewhat early (April 2009). I don't know if it's one of the D0 stepping chips that overclock better, or one of the older chips where you need to be a bit more careful.

Can i see that from the BIOS or a diagnostic tool, or do i need to open the case, disassemble the cooler and look at the actual CPU to see if anything is written on it?

I have never overclocked any of my PCs, but since i7 920 is considered so reliable i might give it a go. I have the stock cooler, an Asus P6T Deluxe V2 motherboard and a Heroichi Cougar 700W PSU. You think i could go to 3.4Ghz without any real problems?