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Scrotos
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Re: What can I salvage from this Dell?

Wed Aug 22, 2012 9:10 am

jtenorj wrote:
about your current PSU... scrotos owns 2 dell i7 2600(no k?) dell systems(one with gtx460 oc( w/800+ core/1600+ shader and no overvolt has fps like gtx470 but w/ only 175w power use) and one with 6870(151w). that is all fine and dandy on a similar psu to yours, but wont cut it for oc i7 920 and oc suggested cards (save an oc 7750, but it has much too low performance for the res and settings you want"proper gaming at 1080p"). actually, the corsair cx500 should do well for now and in the future(even if later on down the road you get the most power hungry single gpu card and much faster, much lower wattage cpu). if you run your i7 920 at 4ghz which with raised clock alone might increase tdp to 150+watts, the up to 10% voltage increase(go no farther) it may take to get there would further increase your power use


Yeah, but he has a 330W and I have a 460W (or something close). I'm just sayin' the PSUs Dell uses now tend to be able to push out more than you'd think they can. I'd probably still suggest he get a new one if he wants to step up the video to something beefier.

I really disagree with the push for overclocking anything. If the dude's working on a budget, you can bet he's not dropping a few thousand for modo or Maya or Cinema4D or something like that for pro-level 3D modeling. At that point you're looking at something like a Mac Pro class workstation ( http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/08/ ... cle-ahead/ ) and a Quadro or FireGL video card, not trying to shoestring budget up an existing Dell.

That being the case where 3D is a hobby, not a job, I think overclocking is an unneeded expense to try to chase. Given the fact that the CPUs provided to OEMs like Dell are probably not the same as retail CPUs, it could be pretty hit-or-miss. Benchmarks at Tom's seems to show that 3.8 is a better overclock goal than 4.0 as in some cases 3.8 performs faster ( http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ove ... 268-8.html ). Heck, they even recommend staying at 3.66 if the OP really wants to go that route.

And the power used seems pretty harsh, too. But that's just my opinion on it. The dude's got a Dell, I can't imagine he's a hardcore homebuilder. :) I pretty much agree with MrJP though I still think he should dump in more RAM if he wants to mess with Blender or something of the sort.
 
MrJP
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Re: What can I salvage from this Dell?

Wed Aug 22, 2012 12:46 pm

Fair point on the RAM. Going to 12GB with matched DIMMs on all three memory channels could be beneficial if you are genuinely going to be working with large models. New DDR3 RAM should also carry over to any new platform in the next couple of years so isn't a dead-end investment like a new motherboard for your existing CPU would be. You just need to do some careful research on memory compatibility, though with an OEM motherboard it might be difficult to get all the necessary information.
i7-6700K ~ Asus Z170I Pro Gaming ~ 16GB Corsair DDR4-2400 ~ Radeon R9 Nano
Noctua NHU9S ~ Corsair Obsidian 250D ~ Corsair RM650X ~ Crucial MX100 512GB
SMSL M3 ~ Sennheiser HD555 ~ Logitech G500S/G910/G29 ~ LG 34UC79G

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