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135299
CPU: i7-4790K
Cooler: Corsair H100i (with Noctua fans)
Mobo: Asus Maximus VI Gene (mATX)
RAM: 8GB G.Skill Ripjaws X (2133MHz)
SSD: Intel 730 Series 240GB
HDD: Two (2) 3TB Seagate Barracudas in RAID1
PSU: Corsair CS550M (80+ gold)
Video Card: GTX 750Ti EVGA Superclocked edition
(all other parts are irrelevant)
My experience with this chip has been nothing but fantastic from the beginning. I have been stress testing my chip for a few days at varying frequencies, and my results were almost unbelievable. I was able to achieve 5.1GHz with my voltage set on auto. I used both P95 and AIDA64 in my testing, both of which my CPU passed with flying colors after a 4 hour burn in. However, I was not able to make it to 5.2GHz since my PC blue screened after 5 minutes of Prime95.
All of this is extremely surprising since I've seen numerous reviews raving that this chip is a bad overclocker. So I've narrowed my possibilities down to three reasons. One, The reviewers who had overheating issues had a bad cooling system; two, they're very bad at using the BIOS; three, I must have the most golden 4790K to hit the shelves. Whichever is the case, I feel I have a great CPU and one that overclocks like a boss. If you don't believe me, I have the CPUID screenshot on my desktop for bragging rights.
If you're looking for a great Haswell refresh chip, look no further. This is a phenomenal processor. Or maybe I'm just excited to be upgrading from an AMD Phenom build that I've had since 2008.
MSI Z97M
,
16 GB of Kingston 2400 Mhz RAM
, a
Hyper 212 EVO
along with a
SanDisk Extreme Pro SSD
among all the rest of it. It may be time to remove that credit card information, so I have to enter it to make a purchase.I spent $1050 using a
Cooler Master N200 case
and an
Antec High Current 620W
, case fan and wireless along with what I mentioned earlier, which altogether might be $50 cheaper today, you know how that goes. I already had the video card and I'm skipping the optical drive, I'll go external for storage, not wanting the extra heat.I was overclocking back when we used aquarium pumps and chests full of ice water for cooling our CPU's, strange days, but I haven't been for about a decade, so call me an old newb (on second thought, don't ever call anybody that), but I've tried to catch up with LOTS of research.I wanted to be reasonable and still end up with something that would humiliate the 3.4/up to 3.9 GHz 4770 plus SSD I'm using with a GTX 660 Ti. That upgrade did little to impress me over Sandy bridge, in all this recent research that I've done, I found out that the 4770 and 4770K only run 3.7 GHz on all four cores according to Intel. But the 4790K's turbo runs two cores at 4.4 GHz, four cores at 4.2 GHz and all four can be clocked 4.4 or higher, like the four barrel and four speed in a Olds 442. Face it guys, if we could drive our computers to the local drive in, park and open the hood like it was the 1960's, we would.Enough silly nostalgic similes, I want to tell you what happened!I received a recent creation being batch # L419B650 or Malay/2014/week 19/B650. Using it the first day I left it stock and it was weird to be shutting down my computer, but I believe a proper break in requires allowing it to cool and run at operating temperature. Then I did the full burn in and all my heatsinks are sunk. Speaking of heatsinks, this does come with one, that's not designed for overclocking.I first used just the auto overclock and it was stable at 4.5 GHz, I didn't expect the top overclock using a mid priced micro and air. I would of used water cooling if needed, but if the temps are better with this chip and they seem to be, then maybe it's not, it is one of it's selling points after all. After just a little adjusting I'm seeing 4.7 GHz on all 4 cores, a 44x cache with improved RAM timings and I feel like I got a free NOS kit. That's 500 MHz over stock and a 21% faster clock speed than a 4770 and add in the faster RAM and faster SSD and...BAM, I've kicked it up a notch. Remember that on four cores you're starting at 4.2, not 4.4 GHz. It will run Sandra's burn in over and over and Intel's ETU stress test, so I feel it's stable.That Intel Extreme Tuning Utility is really something, you can start playing after dinner and the next thing you know, you smell breakfast cooking. You will want to save your profile in the BIOS anyway, but it shows default and your changes highlighted in an easy to see way.I think I might hit 4.8 with some more time, but maybe not, trying is the fun part after all and I've only restarted it 60 or 70 times. The temps are okay at 80 degrees max and I haven't tried anything to lower them yet so I can up the voltage beyond 1.26, my room is a cool 70.5 degrees F. I've found that just re-installing the heatsink a few times might lo
My bike will go 170 MPH, my car will do 0-60 in 3 seconds, my girl will,...ah,..um,...my processor is a 4790K.
I've said before that I'm out of the overclocking business. I mean, I kicked the habit, but like a junkie I started reading the articles and I see the higher base clock and smoother power delivery, improved thermal interface material and lower temps and in a dream state, I placed an order. Through the gauzy haze of the evening sky, one dusty footstep succeeding the next, I entered,...The Devil's Canyon. Did your lights just flicker too?
Next thing I know I have packages arriving and out pops a MSI Z97M,16 GB of Kingston 2400 Mhz RAM, a Hyper 212 EVO along with a SanDisk Extreme Pro SSD among all the rest of it. It may be time to remove that credit card information, so I have to enter it to make a purchase.
I spent $1050 using a Cooler Master N200 case and an Antec High Current 620W, case fan and wireless along with what I mentioned earlier, which altogether might be $50 cheaper today, you know how that goes. I already had the video card and I'm skipping the optical drive, I'll go external for storage, not wanting the extra heat.
I was overclocking back when we used aquarium pumps and chests full of ice water for cooling our CPU's, strange days, but I haven't been for about a decade, so call me an old newb (on second thought, don't ever call anybody that), but I've tried to catch up with LOTS of research.
I wanted to be reasonable and still end up with something that would humiliate the 3.4/up to 3.9 GHz 4770 plus SSD I'm using with a GTX 660 Ti. That upgrade did little to impress me over Sandy bridge, in all this recent research that I've done, I found out that the 4770 and 4770K only run 3.7 GHz on all four cores according to Intel. But the 4790K's turbo runs two cores at 4.4 GHz, four cores at 4.2 GHz and all four can be clocked 4.4 or higher, like the four barrel and four speed in a Olds 442. Face it guys, if we could drive our computers to the local drive in, park and open the hood like it was the 1960's, we would.
Enough silly nostalgic similes, I want to tell you what happened!
I received a recent creation being batch # L419B650 or Malay/2014/week 19/B650. Using it the first day I left it stock and it was weird to be shutting down my computer, but I believe a proper break in requires allowing it to cool and run at operating temperature. Then I did the full burn in and all my heatsinks are sunk. Speaking of heatsinks, this does come with one, that's not designed for overclocking.
I first used just the auto overclock and it was stable at 4.5 GHz, I didn't expect the top overclock using a mid priced micro and air. I would of used water cooling if needed, but if the temps are better with this chip and they seem to be, then maybe it's not, it is one of it's selling points after all. After just a little adjusting I'm seeing 4.7 GHz on all 4 cores, a 44x cache with improved RAM timings and I feel like I got a free NOS kit. That's 500 MHz over stock and a 21% faster clock speed than a 4770 and add in the faster RAM and faster SSD and...BAM, I've kicked it up a notch. Remember that on four cores you're starting at 4.2, not 4.4 GHz. It will run Sandra's burn in over and over and Intel's ETU stress test, so I feel it's stable.
That Intel Extreme Tuning Utility is really something, you can start playing after dinner and the next thing you know, you smell breakfast cooking. You will want to save your profile in the BIOS anyway, but it shows default and your changes highlighted in an easy to see way.
I think I might hit 4.8 with some more time, but maybe not, trying is the fun part after all and I've only restarted it 60 or 70 times. The temps are okay at 80 degrees max and I haven't tried anything to lower them yet so I can up the voltage beyond 1.26, my room is a cool 70.5 degrees F. I've found that just re-installing the heatsink a few times might lower them 5 degrees, because the best install is rarely the first try. Maybe I'll try a second fan on that big ol' rad he ate her. The rated max te
Before I upgraded my build I ran a set of 3D Mark benchmarks and here is the list of components I used and the numbers I got after running the Benchmarks.
CPU: AMD A10-6800K
Motherboard: MSI FM2-A75IA-E53 Mini ITX FM2
GPU: Gigabyte Radeon R9 290X 4GB Windforce
RAM: 16GB (2x 8GB) AMD Radeon Gamer Series
PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 750W
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Seidon 120XL Liquid CPU Cooler
SSD: OCZ Agility 3 120GB
Case: Cooler Master Elite 130
Cloud Gate - 11074
Sky Diver - 16252
Fire Strike - 6692
Ice Storm - 70872
And here are the numbers after I upgraded the CPU to the Intel Core i7-4790K, Motherboard to the ASUS Z97I-PLUS, and added the M.2 SSD, All of the other components are the same.
Cloud Gate - 28209
Sky Diver - 28163
Fire Strike - 10133
Ice Storm - 159277
I am very happy that I made the decision to get the 4790k to replace my A10 because now paired with my R9 290x I can play Battlefield 4 at over 100FPS at 1920x1080 with the default settings making me play on Ultra everything. If you are wanting to upgrade to a nice top of the line CPU and have the cash to spare, I recommend this 100%!