Recent content by discordian

you should test it definitely.. but yes, overclocking is really easy once you get over the initial fear of frying something (just don't pump too much voltage)

could just be faulty, or too much voltage running through it, or even a power surge fried it possibly

You don't need more than 4gb for gaming, at least not now anyways.

hate to say this but it could be your motherboard is done for, you may need to replace it if you can

good then, if your cpu still BSODs on a long run of ibt/prime95, you might have to raise your llc to level 2-4. I had to raise mine to lvl 1, but avoid it if possible, lvl 1 llc can overvolt your CPU

Also, I have a hyper 212 evo, and I reach 4.5 ghz on my 2500k with temps around 65c on full load (prime95/IBT/folding). Ivy bridge runs a little hotter on average though.

There is no straight answer to how good of an overclock you will get (every piece of silicon is slightly different). But as for the cooler, I wouldn't recommend overclocking on the stock cooler, I don't even like running my processor at stock settings on a stock cooler.

Also, what's your LLC on?

Try lowering the PLL, that helped me immensely on mine. Mine's actually on it's lowest setting.

can you enter the BIOS?

Also, piece of advice, make sure your cooler is decent enough to handle the extra heat. If not, buy a better one. Always remember one main rule: Heat is your worst enemy. Well, besides grizzly bears.

This guide may be useful to you http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/radeon_hd_7870_overclock_guide,2.html Personally, though I own a 7870, don't assume from the guide that you can necessarily reach an overclock that high with those settings (each chip is different). Also, they raise their...

Haven't people had issues with ram on sandy bridge, with all 4 sticks as opposed to 2? I think i remember reading that somewhere.

Why do people buy alienware? It's such a ripoff. To your question: It's matter of personal opinion I guess. If you are doing heavy workloads with your CPU or have a wide array of video cards that will be easily bottlenecked , id say yes. As for your GPU, it can be, but honestly to me it isn't...