CPU cooling needs with XX High End

[TimDH]

I'm building a PC for the first time to allow for XXHighEnd and NOS1.  I'm planning on using a i-5 2500k CPU.  2 questions for those with more experience: a) will I get a benefit for XXHighEnd by overclocking the CPU (I assume so) and b) how much cooling do I need for the CPU?  I'm not going to use a separate graphics card, to cut down on heat and I don't need it.  And most of the time the CPU won't be doing much.  My only question is whether the CPU will be maxed out for intervals of time with XXHigh end and need more than average cooling.  Thanks very much to anyone who can help.

Tim

[PeterSt]

Hi Tim,

In Brief : Overclocking won't do much of a thing, and full power useage of the CPU only comes in very small spikes. It may rise 10 degrees (C) by a second or so.

Notice that usually the minimum power it's on will be 40% (OS impeeded). But otherwise the useage is virtually nothing.

Peter

[praphan]

Hello Tim,

I guess you are coming from a gaming world into an audiophile community. I assume that you are an experienced OCer.

Before sharing my view on OC and CPU cooling, I want to draw your attention in running your XXHE player and NOS1 on Sandy Bridge platform. If you need integrated graphic on board, then you are looking at Intel H67 chipset. I do not know of anyone in this community who run P67 or H67 chipset with NOS1. Most of us are using mobos with 1366 socket. I did have experience in running both P67 and H67 mobos with NOS1. In my case, however, I failed to run NOS1 successfuly on P67 or H67 platform. A WORD OF CAUTION ! It does not necessarily mean that NOS1 is not compatible with P67/H67 mobos. But in my particular case, I have compatibility issue.  Why is that ? Peter and I are trying to figure it out. But in the meantime, you will take your own risk in running into a compatibility problem as mine. Please read my review here.

http://www.phasure.com/index.php?topic=1636.msg16626#msg16626

Juan has written an article suggesting those who intends to build a dedicated PC for XX and NOS 1. Please click this link. His article is the most comprehensive so far.

http://www.phasure.com/index.php?topic=1673.0

To answer your questions:

Overclocking : Of course, processing speed will result in a faster music files conversion on XX application. But I don’t think you need to go all the way to OC your PC to get the speed required to run optimum XX. OCing will generate heat which requires a better cooling (which is your second question). You have no choice but to run large CPU fan at high speed. Then comes more problem : audible noise and signal noise. Please read my thread by clicking this link .

http://www.phasure.com/index.php?topic=1662.msg16787#msg16787

From 0.9z-5 onward, Peter will make use of multicore processing to improve SQ. This is the reason why some of us here still stick to 1366 socket which supports hexa core processor. With HT on, XX will benefit from up to 12 threats even with half of the speed per threat. So speed is not so important as the ability to run HT.

Last advise, use your music server as a dedicated machine. Don’t run dual boots. I cannot explain why. But don’t do it if you are going to use the music server with NOS1. That said, I doubt you really need 2500k which is an unlocking version.    

Hope this will be helpful to you.

Praphan
Mobo Geek

[TimDH]

Thanks so much for the thoughtful replies.  I had seen the thread about the compatibility problem with the p67/h67 mobos.  I wasn't sure whether it was just one particular mobo (Gigabyte) or likely extends to all the Sandy Bridge mobos?  I was thinking of the upcoming z68 chipset, which allows both overclocking and using the integrated graphics processor on the Sandy Bridge cpu (I have no need for a discrete  GPU).  Should I guess that those mobos will also have problems with NOS 1?  And yes, I will run a machine dedicated to music only- thanks.

Tim

[Suteetat]

You may want to consider underclock rather than overclock!
It seems that XXHighend does not require nor take benefit of 3+ GHz of CPU processing power but lots of cores help.
One problem is that at least theoretically, lots of internal fans may actually degrade the sound from
noise (blade as well as electrical) so the trend at least right now is fanless or close to fanless
as much as possible. Personally I underclock my CPU to 2GHz, using fanless heatsink for my CPU,
a graphic card with passive heatsink only, RAM with big heat sink and a total of one fan in the case.