BenchZowner

You guys are either bad overclockers or just went through a batch Intel planned to send to me initially

I might be a tad late to the party, but I ensure you that it definitely is read-worthy for everyone, the average joe, the budget overclocker and well... the extreme overclocker too. I just finished and published the review of the newest mainstream Dual-Core processor from Intel, the Core i3 540. Some quotes from the review: To read the full review, just click here! The Extreme Overclocking page should be filled with contents this weekend, I'm getting ready to test the i3 540 and an i5 670 on LN2 ( might have a live stream as well )

We're ok man We all get a bit over our heads sometimes, it just happens

Not too shabby. Wish I could find at least a similar chip

I certainly hope to see some good batches or a better revision on the shelves, but I can't see that happening soon. Unless the shops start to throw 980X's to the garbage bins, for the time being I can only find 3003B chips.

I don't know about the rest ( and I'm fine with ESs being allowed as long as the retails can hit similar frequencies ) but I'm fine with people handpicking processors.

The same can be said about the Core 2 Extreme X6800 and their ES's, the retails were better, only difference being it wasn't illegal or that much of a risk to buy a perfectly legal and backed by a warranty chip What's unique in this case is... the gap that separates the retail and the ES processors this time. With the 670 ES & retails ( where the ESs are once again better ) the difference isn't that big, yet if you want a top spot you need an ES again. But the gap between the 980X retail and 980X ESs is abysmal. We're talking about several hundreds of MHz. Pi 1M ? 6745MHz vs 6153MHz Pi 32M ? 6587MHz vs 6091MHz 3D Mark06 ? 6358MHz vs 6089MHz 3D Mark Vantage ? 6090MHz vs 5700ish MHz AquaMark 3 ? 6485MHz vs 6161MHz

Sorry, I didn't see anyone mentioning your name Andre. What you said is partially true though. You have or had results posted with a processor that you didn't pay for yourself or belonged to you.

Their longevity at those voltages is doubtable for sure. The retail ones though die harder ( some refuse to die too ) but it doesn't really matter because no matter how much voltage you punch through them they don't clock anywhere near the average Q3FE & Q3QP ES do. On the other hand, you have a warranty and that makes a big difference, especially for the people who are... well... not rich. Only a selected few can splash out 5k$ just to buy 5 CPUs and have some fun with them and don't give a f* when they die. Getting them for free makes this even harder for the ones on the outside ( being on the outside doesn't mean that you're not worth of being inside, you just need to get there, nobody started at the very top level and had the right connections from day 1 ).

Normally I would just ignore this post, because I said that I'll ignore you, but to this I really have to reply No. It's not even remotely close to 1.85V. Q3QP's can die at 1.75V, yeah, but not every single one. But 1.85V and 1.95V+ that we need to apply for 6.3GHz+ are in a league of their own. Pushing 1.85V or 1.9V for 3-5 hours or so is enough to kill most Q3FEs & Q3QPs. Sure a few CPUs might last a bit longer or die at 1.95V, but the sad truth is that most of them do die after a few hours of extreme overclocking at any voltages starting from 1.85V and on.

I don't see where I talked about your extreme overclocking knowledge or experience, all I said was that you seem to ignore than during extreme overclocking you pump in way higher voltages than you do yourself, and that those can kill your CPU even instantly. If you want to continue suggesting people to buy those CPUs and punch such high voltages to get the desired clock frequencies good for you, but I'm not the hypocrite in this case. Now feel free to bitch at me, I really, honestly do not care.

Then what the heck are you doing talking here about extreme overclocking ? You can choose to ignore or play the dumb, but you do realize that if you're an extreme overclocker who wants to compete at the very top... or heck, the top 40 which now thanks to this situation requires the user to have a Q3QP or Q3FE ES under his possession, and when you want to compete you have to go LN2 and to hit those frequencies you need to punch in 1.85V +... and that voltage is a killer with those chips. Now don't play the smart-ass and the I can do that, I did that, I would do that, when it's not you who'll be the one to spend his so hard worked cash to get a chip that might be... a different stepping! a bad overclocker! a chip that will die in a few minutes, leaving you with a few good scores, a few mediocre scores or with no scores at all! and you'll have to spend another grand or so to buy another one with the same risks once again. It's easier to say "Jump from an airplane" to another person and you feel like doing it when you're not the one jumping, isn't it ?

And they can die in the blink of an eye too. You keep saying buy an ES, do that and that. They're cheaper ( yeah... 750-850$ vs 999$... no warranty vs warranty... )... Why don't you overclock your ES with dry ice or liquid nitrogen and use the necessary voltage to hit the clock frequencies required to compete at the top level ? Come on, aren't you the brave one who bought an ES and keep encouraging the people to buy and overclock ESs ?

Let's turn benching in "We go to Asus's HQ, test 20 Q3FE's find the best one and publish various scores with it". Soon some people will be running 980X ESs @ 6.5GHz Vantage and the ones with or without money will be forced to running Vantage at... 5.6 or 5.8GHz at best... Guess we can tell people to go buy 50 illegal ES's from ebay if they want to have a chance at competing...

Along with hundreds of edited screenshots ?

time maybe ?

Are you trying to convince yourself or the audience ? Because I can't see myself taking part in this conversation anymore.

Are you using a modified Windows XP installation Kenny ? If yes, there you have it. Looks like the new patch brings new file/service dependencies and maybe you have removed those components. It happens to me too under Windows XP & Windows 2003 Server. But doesn't happen in Windows Vista & Win 7. I just need to try it with a normal Windows XP installation to verify that this is the case.

Come on man, time to rise up

Can't believe people submit those results...

omg wtf.

Looks ok now

I submitted some scores 2 hours or so ago and still didn't get any HWpoints for them ( they still say "waiting for calculation" ).

Hacked or bugged validations ( both can be done and get through the validation system's check )

I wonder what you'd be saying if you were scammed by a seller on ebay/craigslist/etc...