Quick update... again!

I overclocked the 9800GTXs to 790/1866/1100 (yes, I kept the memory at stock, as I've had some trouble with memory overclocking), ran 3DMark Vantage for my one free trial run (it was kind of dumb) and did a fair bit of gaming — some Crysis Warhead, some FEAR, some UT3, some Oblivion. Everything ran just fine — no artifacts, no crashes.

Right now, I'm running Prime95 on the E8500 at 3.8ghz. I've left all the voltage settings on "auto". So far, so good. If the current test goes okay, I'll probably just keep it here. I imagine I could push it a little farther, possible to 4ghz or beyond, but given that 1) 3.8ghz is more speed than I could possibly need, and 2) I'd rather play it safe and have stability than try to milk my system for every last ounce of useless power.

Speaking of useless power, am I the only one who just totally does not care about this whole Core i7/Nehalem launch? We've got Core 2s that can push 4ghz, and pretty much no applications that can actually take much advantage of that power. Is Nehalem really going to be faster than these overclocked Core 2s, and if it is, does anyone really give a crap?

Holy update!

Man, I've really been laying off this blog. Guess I could only blog so much! But, there is some new stuff to talk about. I just hooked myself up with a nice new EVGA 750i motherboard. The Abit 680i decided to go to shit, so it was time to upgrade. I haven't done any overclocking yet; right now I'm just going through the drudgery of getting everything re-installed, because I had to re-install my operating system. Pain in the ass!

I'm also going to make a small modification to the quick connects I'm using. Right now they stick out too far, and I can't close my case because the tubing protrudes too much. But Koolance makes some female connectors that have a 90° angle on them, which would free up some room in the case. I may also replace the tubing with the appropriate sized Tygon tubing so I can use the compression fittings instead of the clamps. Using the clamps makes me just a tiny bit nervous.

I'll update soon with overclocking results with the new board, and plenty of pics of the new build once I get the new fittings installed. Peace and chicken grease!