Corsair Blog - Overclocking

So how does a better PSU equate to a better computing experience? Consider this: If your power supply isn't doing a good job of regulating voltage and filtering ripple, what is?

The computer power supply essentially converts AC to DC. Older or more basic computer power supplies convert AC to multiple DC voltages (+12V, +5V, +3.3V) at the same time. Newer, more advanced power supplies, convert AC to +12VDC, while smaller DC to DC power supplies within the power supply's housing convert the +12V to lesser used +3.3V and +5V. The latter is more efficient because lesser used voltages are not converted unless they're required and converting DC to DC itself is more efficient than converting AC to DC as it requires fewer and smaller components.

After that voltage is converted, it's filtered with inductors and capacitors.

One of the best parts about my job at Corsair is pushing our DDR3 memory to its limits. As you may have seen in the past I set the DRAM Frequency World Record and recently pushed our new Dominator Platinum memory to 3000MHz at Computex 2012. Not everybody can overclock to 3000MHz so let’s take a look at what the 2133MHz, 2400MHz, and 2666MHz Dominator Platinum kits can achieve.

Overclocking the new AMD Bulldozer CPUs on liquid nitrogen is easy, fun and affordable even for a beginner. The new generation of Bulldozer CPUs are reaching speeds near or over 8GHz on liquid nitrogen. Along with high CPU frequencies the processors are able to run memory at high frequencies as well. In this blog I am going to show you the basic template of the settings I use to reach high core and memory frequencies on liquid nitrogen. Be careful though because overclocking on liquid nitrogen voids most warranties and can kill your hardware!

Customers have made Corsair their top choice in three major categories for the 2011 Bit-tech, Bit-gamer and Custom PC awards, awarding us Best Memory Manufacturer (for the third year in a row), Best PSU Manufacturer (continuing our five-year winning streak), and the Overclocking & Cooling Award. Of the latter, Bit-tech writes: "Corsair's new range of CPU coolers, especially its pre-filled water-cooling loops, has been especially popular."

We've created screen cast covering the basics of overclocking. This is part two which goes more in-depth on overclocking including XMP, bios settings, overclocking software, benchmarks and overclocking forums.

We've created screen cast covering the basics of overclocking. This is part one which covers why people overclock, what can be overclocked, and cooling.

Since I started working at Corsair in late 2009, one of my personal goals has been to break the memory frequency world record. I started to seriously pursue this goal in August 2010 with the launch of the CMGTX6 Dominator GT DDR3 memory. I was able to overclock one of those DIMMs to 2976MHz but was unable to go higher due to a CPU limitation. You can read about my previous world record Domintaor GT memory run in a previous post on the Corsair blog. Over the past year I have tried over 20 different processors in hopes of being able to run higher and go after the world record for memory frequency.

The AMD Bulldozer CPUs have been sold out at most places for the past couple weeks. I was lucky enough to find a FX-8150 at the local Microcenter and picked it up along with an ASUS Crosshair V Formula. Within the first 20 minutes of having the CPU under liquid nitrogen I was able to boot into windows with a memory frequency of 3156MHz!  I was shocked by the frequencies that I could achieve with this processor. Once I was in Windows I raised the FSB frequency and reached a memory frequency of 3238MHz using a single Dominator® GT CMGTX6 memory module. This is the 3rd highest memory frequency on the HWbot.org OC database. It also beat my previous personal best by over 250MHz, which is something I have been trying to beat for the past year.

I will be doing an in depth blog on overclocking the FX-8150 on liquid nitrogen and going for the maximum CPU frequency as well as going for even higher on the memory frequency as well.  So be sure to check back!

Overclocking on liquid nitrogen and pushing hardware into the danger zone can be very frustrating but can also be rewarding. We recently released an overclocking video that showed you how I prepare my motherboards to run on liquid nitrogen. I recently took the same setup from the video but with a different CPU, and tried to set the 3DMark03 world record with it.

With the availability of more affordable liquid nitrogen pots, more and more users are starting to overclock using liquid nitrogen. However there is still some mystery about how its done and how the system is prepared. In this video I will take you through the process of insulating the motherboard, and show you how to get started overclocking with LN₂.

I used the folliwing hardware when I shot this video:

• Intel® Core™ i7 990X Extreme Edition CPU
• Asus Rampage III Black Edition motherboard
• Asus ROG Xpander (allows 4-way SLI)
• NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX580 (x4)
• Corsair Dominator® GT memory (CMGTX2)
• Corsair Professional Series™ Gold AX1200 PSU (x2)
• Corsair Force Series™ SSD