New work machine...

[molbjerg]

'Sup.

So, I'm a 3D 'artist', and I just got a new machine for work....

Core i7 920 @ 2.6ghz
3gb RAM (only 1333hz) - Up to 6 (1666hz) when Windows 7 comes out
10,000RPM HDD system drive, unfortunately not SSD.....

The rest of the system is fairly uninteresting, but I just had to say... My god this overclocks fucking well.
Got the i7 running at 3.7ghz at 85C full load... On stock cooling. If temps were less of an issue I don't suppose 4.3ghz would be unattainable. Tightened the RAM timings and basically everything is instant...

Given a head to head against an identical system that wasn't overclocked, real world rendering tests were coming in with a 33% improvement...

I suppose this isn't really interesting....

[Lupin]

3 gigs of RAM is low for content creation in my opinion. Hope you bump your RAM from 3 to 12 (or higher) when possible.

[molbjerg]

Well, given that Vista sucks monkey balls and Windows 7 isn't officially released yet, atm there would be no point in more, 32 bit addressing allows for 3.25GB.....

The trouble with having 12GB RAM would be that I'd have to significantly lower the overclock so as not to toast the north bridge (the more RAM slots filled the more heat it generates). I don't REALLY know how much use that extra 6GB over 6 would be compared to 0.5-1ghz practical clock difference...

[Lupin]

Ah, you didn't mention you were using 32 bit.

Having more RAM allows you to have more programs residing in your memory which reduces swapping. You may have a higher clock when OCing but that won't help you when you have memory-hogging apps (e.g. photoshop) swapping every now and then. There, it's your hard drive that will be the bottleneck. More RAM will make your programs snappier.

[Tatsujin]

3 gigs of RAM is low for content creation in my opinion. Hope you bump your RAM from 3 to 12 (or higher) when possible.

Agree.

[Xtras]

Well, if you decide that mobo with a 6gb ram limit isn't for you...I'd be happy to take it off your hands 

I kid of course.

[erious]

That really isn't true. While 3 gigs is a bit low, there's absolutely no need for more then 6, unless you use a lot of memory hogging applications at once.
The PC I use for digital graphics and DTP at work has 3 gigs of RAM, and it's almost enough. I feel more annoyed by the outdated CPU in it, if anything.

[molbjerg]

Ah, you didn't mention you were using 32 bit.

Having more RAM allows you to have more programs residing in your memory which reduces swapping. You may have a higher clock when OCing but that won't help you when you have memory-hogging apps (e.g. photoshop) swapping every now and then. There, it's your hard drive that will be the bottleneck. More RAM will make your programs snappier.

Figured it was obvious since I said I was upgrading the RAM when Windows 7 comes out. Should have mentioned.

As far as memory hogging apps, yeah, photoshop is about as bad as they get, and is a worst case scenario. For example there will be little swapping when 3D modelling/rendering/compiling.


Tatsujin - We all know you don't know anything about computers

Xtras - The mobo limit would be 24GB I think - with 6*4GB chips, but as I mentioned I don't want to fill all of the RAM slots as that significantly lowers the overclock, as the heat generated with all slots full and the overclock would smell like north bridge computer death. So if anything I could get 3*4GB for 12, but could use the price for 4GB chips to fall a bit before that.

Erious, nice to see someone who understands ...