Any Core I7 users yet?

Norm Rehm · March 13th, 2009, 02:02 PM

Jeff, Nice price but that is in store only!

Jeff Harper · March 13th, 2009, 04:54 PM

Sounds like you don't have a Microcenter where you live Norm, but I bet if you keep your eye out it will pop up like that somewhere else.

Also, late this year a whole new architecture is coming that may cause i7 to look pretty anemic, so if you end up waiting, you'll probably be glad you did! I read an article that explained that the i7 is a "tock" (as in tick-tock) architecture. In other words, the i7 is merely the continuation of an already existing technology. The next major release will be all new technology.

I just bought a fan for my procesor, the Thermaltake V7. This thing is huge.

My temps when rendering HD were running about 75-80c, so I figured I needed extra cooling.

Jeff Harper · March 14th, 2009, 02:05 PM

For those overclocking: I was running stock cooling at 3.8, my temps were running up to 83C when rendering HD avi file.

I installed a Thermaltake V1 and my temps under load dropped 30 degrees and actually cut my render time in half.

I find it hard to believe that rendering speed increased, it is remarkable. Best $50 I ever spent.

What is funny is that idle temps remained the same, 31C. But under load, what a difference in performance.

Norm Rehm · March 14th, 2009, 02:16 PM

Jeff, your correct, there is no Microcenter only a Best Buy. In fact, there are several stores that have gone or are going to go out of business.

Where can I read about this new architecture that is coming? Did they give any indication about when it will arrive?

What do you think of the Thermaltake V7? Did it interfere in any way with your motherboard or case? How much did it drop the temperatures?

Norm Rehm · March 14th, 2009, 02:19 PM

Sorry Jeff, I guess you beat me to the trigger about the Thermaltake.

Jeff Harper · March 14th, 2009, 03:00 PM

Well Norm, needless to say I'm very happy with it. It fit in my case with room to spare, but my case is a decent size.

My rendering speeds were taking longer than I expected for some reason, and now I know that just because I was running under the max temp for the processor, the high temps were still interfering with the speed of the processor. Also, I was finding that mulitasking during rendering was also a bit bumpy at times. It all seems to have smoothed out now.

Yesterday I was tweaking a project, re-rendering and uploading all day to show previews to a corporate client. Having had this fan would have saved me valuable time, possibly up to an hour or more out of my day.

Andy Todzia · March 14th, 2009, 09:05 PM

Jeff,

I ended up lowering my overclock to 3.8 GHz, and lowering some of my voltage settings. I was running fine at 3.9 until I was doing a render in Vegas and burning a Blu-ray and I got a BSOD. It seems to be stable at 3.8 . I think there is more involved than just a low CPU temp because I wasn't going over 70C.

I installed Vegas 8.0c because I was trying NeoScene and it is 32bit and not compatible with Vegas 64 bit. Now I have a problem with DVD Architecture making Blu-ray images. I get an "external renderer not working" message. It worked fine on my 32 bit Vista PC. I am not sure what external renderer means.

Jeff Harper · March 14th, 2009, 11:09 PM

I understand Andy. I can't run over 3.8 for any length of time. I am not into tweaking enough to find out the issue. I would love to run at 4.0 though, that is kind of the magic number to me. When I do the speed increase is certainly noticeable, until I crash.

I tried it today after adding the fan, and it ran at 4.0 and almost rendered a complete project until it froze 3/4 the way through.

I haven't tried burning Blu-Ray, so I can't help you there. I don't know what external renderer is either. Maybe you should start a thread. I'm sure you're not the only one who has had that happen to.

Gary Bettan · March 15th, 2009, 09:17 AM

Heat is the enemy! You have to provide adequate cooling and airflow. In the long term heat will shorten the life of all your components. It will also effect the reliability and operation of your system.

We are not against over-clocking. It's a cool way to get more performance out of your system. You must be careful. Gradually overclock. Run for a day or so, see how the system is handling, monitor temperatures. Then try pushing it some more. repeat process. If you see any instability or quirky behavior, take it back down a notch. If you plan on overclocking get a big case with at least 3 fans in it to move the air around. If you dare, go water cooling.

BTW - we run all our DIY machines at factory pre-sets for our articles. Eventually I end up taking the machine home, or deciding it's time to have more fun with it. Then I'll overclock and experiment.

Gary

Jeff Harper · March 15th, 2009, 10:16 PM

Well, my temps are back up again, higher than before. I can't imagine why.

The temps are running now 10c higher at stock CPU speeds then they were running when OCing. The only thing I can imagine is the fan has lost perfect contact with the CPU plate.

Under full load overclocking I hit 90c, which is very undesirable, of course. I may uninstall and reseat the fan and see what happens.

Edit: I have just lowered my temps somewhat by doing the opposite of what you would expect. I actually lowered the CPU fan speed to lowest speed, and disconnected the side fan on my case, which apparently has improved the airflow dynamics. Temps are OK, but still too high, as I'm still peaking in the upper 70s. I also removed the RAM cooling fan.I must say my case is so quiet now I cannot even hear it.

Apparently too many fans /or CPU fan set too high can create a pocket where air becomes trapped as the CPU fan can push more air than can leave the case. So if the CPU fan is moving air at a faster rate than the air is being removed from the case then you can have an issue, which apparently I had, and didn't know it. This is NOT the cause of my temps being too high, but it is good to know that I was running two fans unnecessarily, which lowers the power demands on my PSU, which is always a good thing.

Jeff Harper · March 15th, 2009, 11:55 PM

Ok, cause of rising temps found, I think.

When I was at Microcenter talking to the salesman about CPU fans, he said he isn't a fan of CPU fans than mount with clips (as opposed to the kind you have to mount with nut on the underside of the MB). I told him I wasn't looking to uninstall my MOBO to mount a cooling fan, and he said fine.

Well today, the day after I installed the fan, my temps went up. Why? I think because the fan is heavy and tall, and gravity is pulling on it, lessening the contact with the CPU backplate.

Edit: I've removed and reinstalled fan, and temps are better. Leaving case lying on its side till I find better cooling solution.

Andy Todzia · March 16th, 2009, 04:13 AM

Those after market I7 motherboard CPU Fans/coolers are huge. I was surprised when I received my Monsoon but ordered it at the same time of the motherboard because of the back plate that had to be installed. I can't imagine having that tugging at the motherboard without a back plate. You probably want to get one with a back plate and install it sometime when you are in the mood for taking your motherboard out of your case.

Ken Steadman · March 16th, 2009, 09:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Harper

Ok, cause of rising temps found, I think.

When I was at Microcenter talking to the salesman about CPU fans, he said he isn't a fan of CPU fans than mount with clips (as opposed to the kind you have to mount with nut on the underside of the MB). I told him I wasn't looking to uninstall my MOBO to mount a cooling fan, and he said fine.

Well today, the day after I installed the fan, my temps went up. Why? I think because the fan is heavy and tall, and gravity is pulling on it, lessening the contact with the CPU backplate.

Edit: I've removed and reinstalled fan, and temps are better. Leaving case lying on its side till I find better cooling solution.

Jeff

I'm using a Noctua cooler NH-U12P SE1366 I like it a lot it is big though but it came with a nice backplate

Jeff Harper · March 17th, 2009, 08:23 AM

I might replace mine with yours Ken, it seems like the best option out there, unless I can find a way to "brace my fan" to support it.

Terry Esslinger · March 17th, 2009, 02:21 PM

Just tried my eSATA port on my 435 the other day and apparently it does not work. Would not recognize the HD connected to it. Rechecked connections, same problem. HD will also connect via FW and connects fine thast way, but I would like the eSATA to be working.
Several; calls with Dell supportand we made numerous changes in BIOS etc all to now avail. BIOS says eSATA device is not detected. After reversing all the changes we made they suggested that I try a different eSATA HD, that perhaps the problem was with the HD (Seagate). However I have no other eSATA device. They suggested I go out and BUY another HD and try it. If that does not work I can return the second HD to the store (they'll love that) and I THINK DEll said that they may have to replace the MoBo. This call will be tonight. They have been good about getting back to me when they say they will. WEnt out and bought a WD drive to try tonight. Not sure whether I hope it works or not???

March 15th, 2009, 09:17 AM	#234
Gary Bettan Sponsor: Electronic Mailbox Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Glen Cove, NY Posts: 758	Heat is the enemy! You have to provide adequate cooling and airflow. In the long term heat will shorten the life of all your components. It will also effect the reliability and operation of your system. We are not against over-clocking. It's a cool way to get more performance out of your system. You must be careful. Gradually overclock. Run for a day or so, see how the system is handling, monitor temperatures. Then try pushing it some more. repeat process. If you see any instability or quirky behavior, take it back down a notch. If you plan on overclocking get a big case with at least 3 fans in it to move the air around. If you dare, go water cooling. BTW - we run all our DIY machines at factory pre-sets for our articles. Eventually I end up taking the machine home, or deciding it's time to have more fun with it. Then I'll overclock and experiment. Gary __________________ Check out http://www.videoguys.com 800 323-2325 We are the video editing and live video production experts! DV InfoNet members save 5%! Use Coupon Code DVINFO5OFF

March 15th, 2009, 10:16 PM	#235
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	Well, my temps are back up again, higher than before. I can't imagine why. The temps are running now 10c higher at stock CPU speeds then they were running when OCing. The only thing I can imagine is the fan has lost perfect contact with the CPU plate. Under full load overclocking I hit 90c, which is very undesirable, of course. I may uninstall and reseat the fan and see what happens. Edit: I have just lowered my temps somewhat by doing the opposite of what you would expect. I actually lowered the CPU fan speed to lowest speed, and disconnected the side fan on my case, which apparently has improved the airflow dynamics. Temps are OK, but still too high, as I'm still peaking in the upper 70s. I also removed the RAM cooling fan.I must say my case is so quiet now I cannot even hear it. Apparently too many fans /or CPU fan set too high can create a pocket where air becomes trapped as the CPU fan can push more air than can leave the case. So if the CPU fan is moving air at a faster rate than the air is being removed from the case then you can have an issue, which apparently I had, and didn't know it. This is NOT the cause of my temps being too high, but it is good to know that I was running two fans unnecessarily, which lowers the power demands on my PSU, which is always a good thing. Last edited by Jeff Harper; March 15th, 2009 at 11:22 PM.

March 15th, 2009, 11:55 PM	#236
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	Ok, cause of rising temps found, I think. When I was at Microcenter talking to the salesman about CPU fans, he said he isn't a fan of CPU fans than mount with clips (as opposed to the kind you have to mount with nut on the underside of the MB). I told him I wasn't looking to uninstall my MOBO to mount a cooling fan, and he said fine. Well today, the day after I installed the fan, my temps went up. Why? I think because the fan is heavy and tall, and gravity is pulling on it, lessening the contact with the CPU backplate. Edit: I've removed and reinstalled fan, and temps are better. Leaving case lying on its side till I find better cooling solution. Last edited by Jeff Harper; March 16th, 2009 at 03:00 AM.

March 17th, 2009, 02:21 PM	#240
Terry Esslinger Major Player Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Sacramento, Elk Grove. Calif Posts: 306	Another eSATA problem Just tried my eSATA port on my 435 the other day and apparently it does not work. Would not recognize the HD connected to it. Rechecked connections, same problem. HD will also connect via FW and connects fine thast way, but I would like the eSATA to be working. Several; calls with Dell supportand we made numerous changes in BIOS etc all to now avail. BIOS says eSATA device is not detected. After reversing all the changes we made they suggested that I try a different eSATA HD, that perhaps the problem was with the HD (Seagate). However I have no other eSATA device. They suggested I go out and BUY another HD and try it. If that does not work I can return the second HD to the store (they'll love that) and I THINK DEll said that they may have to replace the MoBo. This call will be tonight. They have been good about getting back to me when they say they will. WEnt out and bought a WD drive to try tonight. Not sure whether I hope it works or not??? __________________ Puttin the wet stuff on the red stuff!

March 13th, 2009, 02:02 PM	#226
Norm Rehm Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Keizer, OR Posts: 66	Jeff, Nice price but that is in store only!

March 13th, 2009, 04:54 PM	#227
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	Sounds like you don't have a Microcenter where you live Norm, but I bet if you keep your eye out it will pop up like that somewhere else. Also, late this year a whole new architecture is coming that may cause i7 to look pretty anemic, so if you end up waiting, you'll probably be glad you did! I read an article that explained that the i7 is a "tock" (as in tick-tock) architecture. In other words, the i7 is merely the continuation of an already existing technology. The next major release will be all new technology. I just bought a fan for my procesor, the Thermaltake V7. This thing is huge. My temps when rendering HD were running about 75-80c, so I figured I needed extra cooling.

March 14th, 2009, 02:05 PM	#228
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	For those overclocking: I was running stock cooling at 3.8, my temps were running up to 83C when rendering HD avi file. I installed a Thermaltake V1 and my temps under load dropped 30 degrees and actually cut my render time in half. I find it hard to believe that rendering speed increased, it is remarkable. Best $50 I ever spent. What is funny is that idle temps remained the same, 31C. But under load, what a difference in performance.

March 14th, 2009, 02:16 PM	#229
Norm Rehm Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Keizer, OR Posts: 66	Jeff, your correct, there is no Microcenter only a Best Buy. In fact, there are several stores that have gone or are going to go out of business. Where can I read about this new architecture that is coming? Did they give any indication about when it will arrive? What do you think of the Thermaltake V7? Did it interfere in any way with your motherboard or case? How much did it drop the temperatures?

March 14th, 2009, 02:19 PM	#230
Norm Rehm Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Keizer, OR Posts: 66	Sorry Jeff, I guess you beat me to the trigger about the Thermaltake.

March 14th, 2009, 03:00 PM	#231
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	Well Norm, needless to say I'm very happy with it. It fit in my case with room to spare, but my case is a decent size. My rendering speeds were taking longer than I expected for some reason, and now I know that just because I was running under the max temp for the processor, the high temps were still interfering with the speed of the processor. Also, I was finding that mulitasking during rendering was also a bit bumpy at times. It all seems to have smoothed out now. Yesterday I was tweaking a project, re-rendering and uploading all day to show previews to a corporate client. Having had this fan would have saved me valuable time, possibly up to an hour or more out of my day.

March 14th, 2009, 09:05 PM	#232
Andy Todzia Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Enfield, CT Posts: 34	Jeff, I ended up lowering my overclock to 3.8 GHz, and lowering some of my voltage settings. I was running fine at 3.9 until I was doing a render in Vegas and burning a Blu-ray and I got a BSOD. It seems to be stable at 3.8 . I think there is more involved than just a low CPU temp because I wasn't going over 70C. I installed Vegas 8.0c because I was trying NeoScene and it is 32bit and not compatible with Vegas 64 bit. Now I have a problem with DVD Architecture making Blu-ray images. I get an "external renderer not working" message. It worked fine on my 32 bit Vista PC. I am not sure what external renderer means.

March 14th, 2009, 11:09 PM	#233
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	I understand Andy. I can't run over 3.8 for any length of time. I am not into tweaking enough to find out the issue. I would love to run at 4.0 though, that is kind of the magic number to me. When I do the speed increase is certainly noticeable, until I crash. I tried it today after adding the fan, and it ran at 4.0 and almost rendered a complete project until it froze 3/4 the way through. I haven't tried burning Blu-Ray, so I can't help you there. I don't know what external renderer is either. Maybe you should start a thread. I'm sure you're not the only one who has had that happen to.

March 16th, 2009, 04:13 AM	#237
Andy Todzia Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Enfield, CT Posts: 34	Those after market I7 motherboard CPU Fans/coolers are huge. I was surprised when I received my Monsoon but ordered it at the same time of the motherboard because of the back plate that had to be installed. I can't imagine having that tugging at the motherboard without a back plate. You probably want to get one with a back plate and install it sometime when you are in the mood for taking your motherboard out of your case.

March 17th, 2009, 08:23 AM	#239
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	I might replace mine with yours Ken, it seems like the best option out there, unless I can find a way to "brace my fan" to support it.