i7 core
 

I just upgraded my quadcore Q6600 and I can see a big difference. I bought it used from craigslist for $500 and looks brand new to me, not a dust or scratch. Here's the spec:

Specifications:
Antec 900 Gaming Tower
700W Rocketfish PSU
EVGA 3x-SLI Motherboard
Intel Core i7 2.66 GHz processor
Corsair Dominator 6 GB Gaming RAM
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit installed (32-bit also available)
LG Super Multi DVD-RW Drive
Western Digital 500 GB Hard Drive
BFG Tech 1GB nVidia 9800 GTX+ OC graphics card
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Extreme Audio audio card
Netgear Wireless G PCI card

I added 3 x 1TB and a pioneer BDR203 burner and good to go HD!!!

That was a crazy good deal.

And those Core i7 CPUs handle overclocking very very well.

Andrew

I'm still planning to replace the stock CPU Heatsink fan. It's really hot when I render an H.264, about 60-70 degrees, but idles at 35 degrees.

Jun

I just pick up a Zalman CNPS9900LED and my CPU temperature has dropped down by 25 degrees.

Intel Stock:
Idle: 35 degrees 50% Load: 69 degrees 90% Load: 87 degrees

CNPS9900LED:
Idle: 25 degrees 50% Load: 43 degrees 90% Load: 57 degrees

It's a little bit hard to install since you have to pull out the motherboard to mount since you have to put screw at the back of the motherboard but it's worth. I re-assembled and re-route all the cables in one direction and now no more tangled wires, very clean. I'm very happy with the result.

Jun

Another great move. I had to a Zalman cooling fan on my P4 or it would cook itself.

Well, I have overclocked a little bit (3.2GHz) and looks like it's very stable. I encoded an H.264 blu ray 1920x1080 (about 2 hours 20 min.) and it takes 7 hours 19 min., not overclock is 9 hours 45 min. Mpeg blu ray 1920x1080 takes about 1 hour 17 min, not overclock is about 1 hour 40 min. Load is 50 t0 70 percent, CPU Temp is 41 degrees, Core Temp is between 50-60 degrees.

Jun

I never heard of "Rocketfish" power supplies. I suggest you replace it with a Corsair power supply. Cheap PSUs (and a lot that aren't even cheap in price) can (and will) come back to haunt you. Corsair builds excellent quality PSUs, and the prices on them are very good for the quality you get.

I got the core i7 920 back in April for about $142USD through a special employee discount purchase program. Got 12GB DDR3 memory, Vista64 and 6TB was ready to rock. This was upgrading a system from Core 2 Duo, 4GB, XP32, 2TB. Talk about huge performance leap especially with video editing. I've been able to overclock to 4Ghz but opted to keep it steady at 3.7GHz for power/performance/stability efficiency. You gotta love the hyperthreading especially during encodes and renders if your app can utilize it.

Probably very good advice. I've been an Enermax man in the past but am sure there are lot of good (and not so good) PSU's out there.

For now I will keep this power supply since it's not giving me any problem. Here's a review of the Rocketfish power supply.
Rocketfish 700 W Power Supply Review | Hardware Secrets

Jun

That's not a very impressive review - sounds like a pretty run-of-the-mill PSU. I sure wouldn't put one of those in a computer I built, other than perhaps a cheap computer for my grandkids to beat on. PSUs are probably the most overlooked and unappreciated component in a computer system. Using anything less than a top notch quality PSU essentially risks the reliability and lifespan of every other component in the system. It's well worth it to spend an extra few dollars to get a well built PSU (you save in the long run - both in headaches and repair costs).

Things change quickly in the computer industry and there are certainly other manufacturers making top notch power supplies. That said, presently I don't think any other manufacturer matches the quality offered by Corsair, across their entire line of PSUs. If you look at feedback on Newegg's site, you'll see that every single power supply from Corsair, without exception, receives downright excellent feedback (no other manufacturer is currently nearly that consistent, across their entire lineup). Pricing is currently very competitive also. You can easily spend quite a bit more, yet wind up with an inferior PSU.

Thanks for the suggestions. I also see some topnotch corsair power supply review at newegg that after 3 months it's dead or getting noisy, or DOA. I still keep the RF, not giving me any problem and it's very cool even in a full load of my system, very quiete too. I 'm not telling you that this is a good psu, but i will monitor how it performs and will inform you.

Jun

Obviously, there's no such thing as a zero failure rate, but with power supplies it's a good idea to get as close as you can to that (within reason). When most computer components malfunction, damage is almost always limited to the malfunctioning component. That's not true with power supplies. When a power supply malfunctions, it can (and often does) damage just about any other component(s) in the system (often without warning). Also, a marginal power supply can imitate other problems. For example, if you experience occasional crashes that might seem like software glitches, it can often simply be due to a marginal power supply.