PCIe SSD

[Sliceback55]

On a sidenote (since my topic sorta got taken over by Drark and Tim. ): I have to admit that my core i5 is overloaded at some points with 5 WoW clients after taking a closer look at CPU load during play.

Major cities put usually around 80% load on it, and it easily jumps to 100% when I move around. I'll try and see if overclocking will help the problem since my CPU is still running at stock speed.

Cheers!

[Tim]

Yea the i5 really isn't that fast of a processor. Intel basically took a new line of processors, and made the sub par ones not as fast as the prior line of processors.

Do you have a second gen i5? If so, put a 2600k in there (double check it will go in). The 2600k is a BEAST of a CPU, way way way way faster than the i5.

[Sliceback55]

Ofc a 2600k CPU would be nice, but before spending money I'd prefer to see how far I can push what I already have

I overclocked the i5 to 3.5 Ghz and it already runs much much smoother now, even the 100% load spikes are practically gone. I can't tell how stable it will turn out in the long run, but I played for 2 hours with this clock speed now and everything seems fine.

I also plan to upgrade to an OCZ SSD this week. Is there a major difference between the Agility and Vertex 2 series?

Cheers!

[Tim]

Just curious, when you OC'd your i5, did you have to change your cooling, or was the stock cooler ok? Did you experience any crashes on the OC or is it pretty stable?

[Sliceback55]

Originally Posted by Tim

Just curious, when you OC'd your i5, did you have to change your cooling, or was the stock cooler ok? Did you experience any crashes on the OC or is it pretty stable?

i5 is running on a Noctua NH-U9B cooler, which keeps it around 54-57° Celsius during multiboxing. The RAM (2x2GB Corsair XMS3 8-8-8-24 1600Mhz @1.65V) caused some crashes at the beginning, but the problem was gone when I turned them down to 1333Mhz. Other than that, everything has been running stable since yesterday, despite having 5 WoW windows and lots of other programs (paint.net, Firefox, OpenOffice, Media Player etc.) running at the same time.

Today I ordered a Vertex 2 SSD along with a Corsair RAM cooler, hopefully it will help with overclocking the RAM since the airflow around the sticks isn't very good with the CPU cooler I have and they get so hot you can barely keep your fingers on them.

I'll let you know how it turned out, still hoping to reach the 4Ghz mark once the RAM cooler is installed.

[Sliceback55]

Here's a pic of my system. Everything is running on five Coolink fans (800 rpm, 60.4m3/h, 8.5 dBA), the fans on the 9800GT are two Scythe Slipstream fans (500 rpm, 40m3/h, 7.5dBA).

I'm kinda obsessed with silent fans, but they still do a decent job.

[Tim]

That looks pretty badass for sure.

I take it you have a nice RAID array going on there?

I have one of those corsair RAM coolers. I also have that Corsair Dominator RAM, the stuff with those GIGANTIC heatsinks w/watercooling fins, but none of that seemed to make a difference much. I almost think that cooling ram is more a marketing gimmick than being useful, or does it really matter?

[Sliceback55]

I take it you have a nice RAID array going on there?

The hard drives are for storage only (1x500GB for the OS, 2x1TB for movies n stuff and 1x2TB as backup), no raid going on there.

I have one of those corsair RAM coolers. I also have that Corsair Dominator RAM, the stuff with those GIGANTIC heatsinks w/watercooling fins, but none of that seemed to make a difference much. I almost think that cooling ram is more a marketing gimmick than being useful, or does it really matter?

I think it highly depends on your case and CPU cooler. My RAMs have a very low profile, so the CPU cooler literally burries them and no fresh air can get down there, so it really helped in my case.

I'm also running WoW from a OCZ Vertex 2 60GB SSD now which also helped improve the performance.
However, as it turned out, the real problem is that my 4GB RAM aren't enough to handle 5 WoW clients at once. 4 clients already take up to 3,7 GB RAM together with the OS, and after playing with 4 clients in Alterac Valley I'm pretty sure I need to upgrade my RAM aswell since I didnt have a single freeze or lag at all.

[Tim]

Oh yea, 4GB with Cataclysm is really low. 6GB will be fine though.