Tag: Intel

So, what’s this new Intel X79 you speak of?

Last week was the official launch of the Intel X79 platform from Intel, featuring the new LGA-2011 CPU socket. This is the new “enthusiast” platform taking over for LGA-1366.

If you want to learn more about the new Intel X79 platform, Sandy Bridge-E and LGA-2011 socket from Intel, and maybe learn a bit about overclocking with this new hardware, check out this webinar posted by Corsair (of course biased towards Corsair’s own products, but I’m not at all ashamed to say I’m a fan of their products):

Cougar Point Reloaded for Sandy Bridge

Sandy Bridge 2500k S-1155 Unlocked (box shot)The new Cougar Point chipsets for Sandy Bridge are now in production, fixing the over-voltage error that would inevitabely kill all SATA 3 Gbit/s ports in most P67 and H67 boards, originally released mid January.

Bringing AMD unexpected extra business as a side-effect, the new chips will take a while to reach stores as part of a mainboard sold over the counter, as things such as logistics and production time are accounted for, as well as high demand amongst prioritized system building vendors. Expect to see the new boards in stock sometime in April at the earliest.

As a sidenote, system building vendors have been given permission to use the crippled versions of the P67 and H67 mainboards in systems where the two functioning 6 Gbit/s ports will suffice, e.g. in miniature systems with limited space for expansions.

Make Your Own TRIM for SSDs in RAID Mode

A driver that finally enables TRIM support for Intel SDDs in RAID mode?

Sadly, the news were too good to be true. The latest Intel driver was incorrectly reported (techPowerUp!) to enable TRIM for SSDs in all RAID modes except for RAID5. However, this was bogus information from Intel. The correction came shortly thereafter, that support is ONLY for single disks and not while in RAID arrays.

Intel X25-V SSD - Still not getting its daily TRIM

Intel X25-V SSD - no TRIM for you!

The truth is that the new driver allows single disks that are connected while running the storage controller in RAID mode to receive the TRIM command.

It seems passing the TRIM command to SSDs in a RAID array is not a simple case with current chipsets and drivers.

The recommended workaround:
Yes, there’s actually a workaround! Just leave some 15-20% free, unformatted, unallocated space when formatting your RAID array of SSDs, seen as a single disk during OS install. The SSD controller will use this as “scratch space”. Also, do note that the much talked about performance loss over time that occurs with SSDs – is much less of an issue when in a RAID.

But what if I already formatted and used my drives?
No worries! You can still perform a Secure Erase (ata.wiki.kernel.org) to bring them back to basics. The same procedure can also be performed every 1-2 years if you experience noticeable loss of performance. But by then, maybe they will have conjured up some magical new drivers? Only time will tell …

Oh, almost forgot; for those “I run my single disk SSDs while in RAID mode” kind of guys:

Click here to get the latest Intel® Rapid Storage Technology Driver for Intel Desktop Boards.
Select your OS, then “Driver”.

Overclocking Tools

Overclocking Tools

When getting into overclocking your rig – whether you just want more frames per second out of your old 6600 GT in Call of Duty 4, or to be able to brag about a score above 20k in 3DMark06 – you’ll need the right tools for the job.

Here’s an introduction to some of the most used overclocking and monitoring tools!

RivaTuner

Windows 98 / ME / 2000 / 2003 / XP / Vista / Windows 7
This application lets you overclock your NVIDIA graphics card. It was originally just a registry tweaking application for NVIDIAs old Riva TNT graphics card, but has since evolved into a much more useful tool. The most common use of RivaTuner is to set higher clock speeds on the core, shaders and memory of your graphics card(s), as well as letting you control fan thresholds and other settings. The registry tweaking is still an option however, shall you feel tempted.

ATITool

Windows XP / 2003 / 2000 (incl. 64-bit)
You guessed it – ATITool was made to overclock your ATI graphics card. However, today this application also works with NVIDIA graphics cards. If you have problems with RivaTuner, try this little bugger instead.

Prime95

Windows (incl. Windows 3.1) | Linux | FreeBSD | OS/2
This number crunching application lets you push your CPU to its limit of stability. The latest version supports multi-core processors using multiple threads. Tip: If you want to test only your CPU for stability, choose the “Small TTFs” torture test, and select “Round off checking” under the “Advanced” menu. This test uses the least amount of system memory, reducing the likelihood of your RAM being the culprit in case of failure, (but it will still be a factor).

External link: Guide to using Prime95 effectively.

SpeedFan

Windows 9x / NT / 2000 / 2003 / XP (incl. 64-bit) / Vista / Windows 7
This handy tool lets you monitor temperatures, voltages and fan speeds, and can even monitor hard disks with S.M.A.R.T. enabled. As a bonus feature it can adjust the FSB speed on some motherboards, but primarily I use SpeedFan to monitor the temperatures and voltages when overclocking. Tip: Disable SpeedStep (Intel) or Cool’n’Quiet (AMD) features in the BIOS to get accurate readings after OC’ing.

Core Temp

Windows 2000 / XP / 2003 / Vista / Windows 7
A simple, yet useful utility that lets you monitor the temperatures of your processor cores. A nice feature of Core Temp is that all CPU core temperatures can be displayed in your system tray at all times.

CPU-Z

Windows
One of the most widely used tools for overclockers. CPU-Z gathers information about your CPU, motherboard and memory timings (including SPD values).

GPU-Z

Windows 2000 / XP / Vista / Windows 7
As the name suggests, this tool is much like CPU-Z, only for graphics cards. GPU-Z gives you detailed information about your accelerator card, from make and model to clock speed and driver version. If you click the “Sensors” tab, you can handily monitor the GPU and PCB temperatures, fan speed (in per cent and RPM), and current core and memory clock speeds.