Introduction

It seems like in recent times not many good economical gaming mice have entered the market with something fresh and exciting on the table apart from the MX518 refresh aka G400 !

It seems CM decided to change that and so I present to you one of the most promising and VFM gaming mice , the CM Storm Recon “White Edition” (Long story we’ll talk about it later 😉 )

There is a twist here though, CM Storm Recon is only available in Black/gunmetal grey color, while we have got our hands on the upcoming white edition which was earlier to be a assassins creed limited edition mouse !

Spec sheet wise this mouse does impress but let’s hold our judgments till we take the mouse for a ride , Lately CM seems to be stepping up their game so let’s find out if this mouse really holds its own against its competitors like Razor DA and G400!

The post CM Storm RECON Gaming Mouse Review appeared first on OCFreaks!.

Introduction

Spec Ops series of games have been previously made in the 90’s and early 20’s but they met with not so good reception and any further development on them was halted, later on around 2005 it was said to be in development under rockstar banner but then again went on hiatus, and finally saw the light of day under 2k’s publication in 2012.

So let’s get down and see if this game hits the mark or fails to impress.

The post Spec Ops : The Line Review appeared first on OCFreaks!.

The post Alan Wake Game Review – PC appeared first on OCFreaks!.

LGA1156 Platform was released way back in 2009 just 1 year after the release of LGA1366 Platform.

The main differences between lga1156 and lga1366 are as follows:

1. Elimination of northbridge in lga 1156.
2. Only dual channel memory support.
3. Better turbo mode on lga1156.
4. Lower tdp of i7’s on lga1156(95watt opposed to 130 watt in 1366).

This the list of cpu’s that belong to this platform

Core i3(Clarkdale)Dual cores with ht but no turbo:

• -i3 530
• -i3 540

Core i5(Clarkdale) Dual cores with HT and turbo:

• -i5 650
• -i5 660
• -i5 661
• -i5 670

Core i5(Lynfield) Quad cores with turbo but no HT:

• -i5 750
• -i5 750

Core i7(Lynfield) Quad cores with ht and turbo:

• -i7 860
• -i7 870
• -i7 875k
• -i7 880

The chipsets supported are:

• P55–Mainly for core i7 and i5 lynfield versions,although you could run i3 and other i5’s too but you won’t be able to utilize the on cpu graphics unit.
• H55–Mainly for non lynfield i5’s and i3’s as it supports on cpu graphics unit.
• Two More chipsets are available but they are not much different,H57 and Q57.

This concludes the intro.

Setting Up Your System

1. Goto bios(Press F10/Del/F2 at startup) and set everything at default then restart your pc.
2. Again goto bios and disable all power saving features,c-states etc ,.. then set all voltages from auto to normal in the bios except the PCH(discussed later), save settings and exit bios.
3. Disable or remove any unnecessary usb devices PNP devices that you don’t need.
4. Make sure you have adequate cooling and a good cpu cooler(advisable for system safety not mandatory).
5. Make sure you have a good cpu cooler installed before going for heavy overclocking(Eg. cooler master hyper 212+ evo)

Softwares/Utilities Required

1) Core Temp–Used to measure CPU temps.

http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

2) HWMonitor–This gives temp and voltage info for the whole system including motherboard PCH temp.

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

3) CPU-Z–Used for getting memory and cpu specific detailed info.

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html

4) Prime95–A time tested and very good stability tester for cpu’s of any make and brand.

http://www.overclock.net/t/137251/prime95

5) IBT(Intel Burn Test)–Includes linpack test which is apparently used by intel too for testing the processors.

This is better than Prime 95 as it takes much less time to find stability issues in the system.

http://downloads.guru3d.com/IntelBur…load-2047.html

6) MEMTEST86+–Used to test the memory stability.

http://www.memtest.org/

Well established safe limits–Its better to leave this at auto.(This setting can easily damage your board and components and do very less for ocing so its better left on at auto,sometimes when ocing beyond 4ghz+ and if your cpu is not stable this might help,no guarantees though).

1) Don’t set a target in mind,ocing is a recursive process,there is no guarantee you will achieve your desired overclock.

2) If you know your mother board is weak then don’t take the bclk too high,rather increase CPU multiplier as much as you can to achieve the desired overclock.

3) If you know your mother board can take the heat then its always better for stability reasons to decrease your CPU multiplier as low as you can and increase the bclk to achieve ocing.

4) Before increasing the bclk set the CPU multiplier as low as possible and set the PCI frequency as auto.

5) Decrease the memory multiplier before hand too because when you start ocing through bclk every other clocks/frequencies in the system will also rise.

Finally Overclocking

1) After reading the previously mentioned rules and setting up the bios multipliers and frequencies, goto Bios and start increasing bclk in steps of 5 or 10(if you are confident).Save settings then again enter bios.

2) Now after reentering bios check 3 frequencies every time you increase the bclk:

1. CPU Frequency.
2. Memory Frequency.
3. PCI Frequency(although it is set to auto,doesn’t hurt to check for yourself to be extra sure).

If everything is fine then move on to next step.

3) Save bios settings and exit then boot up windows,start cpuz and core temp and hwmonitor,let them run in the background.

4) Start Prime95 or IBT whichever you trust or like(imo ibt/linx are better):

1. Run it for at least 6 hours and check for errors or bsod’s or any decripency in system behaviour.
2. If you get any error/bsod then you might need to review your bios setting and try increasing vcore/qpi voltage a bit.
3. If you did not get any error then congratulations you have done your first successfull overclock.

1. Set the run times to 20(even 10 will do,but to be extra sure),and run it and then see for any errors bsod’s and any decripency in system behaviour.
2. If you get any error/bsod then you might need to review your bios setting and try increasing vcore/qpi voltage a bit.
3. If you did not get any error then congratulations you have done your first successfull overclock.

5) Do steps 1-4 again and again till you stabilize the system(keeping voltage under safe range as stated by me in voltage section) and achieve your desired overclock.

6) In case your pc stops booting reset cmos by removing the battery in the motherboard and keep it out for 5 minutes and then put it back in and reboot.If your system still does not start it means something has gone kaput.

7) If you encounter step 6,its highly likely that either your power supply or motherboard were not upto the task or you have been overenthusiastic and pushed your system too hard.

This concludes ocing section.

End Notes

This concludes the guide.

The post Overclocking Guide for Intel LGA1156 Platform CPUs appeared first on OCFreaks!.

Introduction

The fermi architecture was reavealed by Nvidia way back in 2009 and the first Nvidia GPU series to be based on that architecture was the GTX 4XX series.The first card to be released was the GTX 480,and later on various other cards were released.Then the GTX 5XX series was released not too long ago with the first card being the GTX 580.

Major differences Between previous gen GPU’s like GTX 2XX and the new fermi architecture are as follows :

1. Fermi based cards have GDDR5 memory modules with ECC(Error Correction) capabilities while the older architectures had GDDR3 non ECC modules.
2. Fermi based cards had core clock and shader clock speeds interlocked in the ratio 1:2 while the older architectures need not be so.
3. Fermi based cards were the first ones to support OpenGL4 and DirectX11 API’S(Application Programming Interface).
4. Fermi based cards had tessellation units specifically for its hardware based implementation while the older architectures lacked it.

Well there are many more differences but for the sake of simplicity these are the most important ones to be concerned about.

List of GPU’s based on the Fermi architecture:

1. Dual GPU : GTX 590
2. High End : GTX 580,GTX 480,GTX 570,GTX 470
3. Mid End : GTX 560 TI,GTX 560,GTX 460,GTX 465,GTX 550 TI,GTS 450
4. Low End : GT 545,GT 440,GT 530,GT 430,GT 520,GT 510

Setting Up Your System :

1. Firstly no BIOS adjustments required for the GPU OC unless you have changed your PCI bus frequency,if yes then change the PCI frequency to default.
2. Now login to windows and install some essential Softwares/Utilities(Discussed later on in the next section).
3. Now set all your card Frequencies to default/stock.

Softwares/Utilities Required:

1) Geforce GPU Drivers–Do we need an explanation here .

Download–http://www.geforce.com/Drivers

2) MSI Afterburner–“The” best and “The” most user friendly OC’ing app available on earth.

Download–http://downloads.guru3d.com/MSI-Afte…load-2850.html

3)Unigine Heaven–A very good benchmark for DX11 Tessellation enabled GPU’s.

Download–http://unigine.com/products/heaven/download/

4)OCCT–A gem among stress testing apps,a very versatile GPU testing/stressing Tool.

Download–http://www.ocbase.com/perestroika_en/index.php?Download

5) 3DMark11–A very Good DX11 GPU/CPU stresser.

Download–http://www.3dmark.com/3dmark11/download/

6) GPU-Z–GPU monitoring Tool.

Download–http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/SysInfo/GPU-Z/

Understanding Some Basic Stuff :

Important Voltages

GPU VCORE : Its the amount of volts fed into the GPU’s core,its the most Important voltage for OC’ing GPU’s.

Safe Limit : Stock – 1.1Volts

Mem Volt-Important for OC’ing memory.

PLL Volt-Its just a gimmick by the manufacturers ,till now there has been no evidence of the card being able to OC higher and be stable by increasing the PLL Voltage.

Some Basic Rules Before Moving On

1. Don’t set a target in mind,OC’ing is a recursive process,there is no guarantee you will achieve your desired overclock.
2. Make sure your GPU temps are within 85C before any overclock @ stock,because if your cards already above 85C at stock,there won’t be much overclock headroom available to you,it does not mean your card can’t overclock,but it means that its not too safe to run your GPU at 90-100C 24X7.
3. Make sure your GPU is dust free as dust will add in to the temps of your GPU.

Finally Overclocking

—–Without Messing With The Voltages

• 1) After booting into windows start GPU-Z and Afterburner,close any unnecessary applications,verify your cards stock clocks and voltage.Also update your GPU drivers.

• 2) Now to start OCing bring afterburner into view and you will see 4 sliders by defaults namely

Here our aim will be to stabilize all the clocks one by one.We start with core clock(core and shader clocks are linked so essentially you will be increasing both automatically if you increase any one of those).

• 3) Start raising the core clock speed 10 MHz at a time(you can also increase more if you are feeling adventurous but increasing in lower steps ensure that you will find more stable and safer highest frequency).After each increment run 2 loops of unigine heaven and 3dmark vantage/11 benchmarks,as these will immediately show the stability of your GPU OC by either crashing/slowing down/texture corruption or any graphical anomalies.

• 4) Repeat the above step till you GPU OC passes all the tests without any problem,after you start getting problem reduce the core clock in increments of 5 MHz and again run 2 loops of unigine and 3dmark benchmarks each,and keep decrementing till your card becomes stable and stops artifacting or giving any problem.

• 5) Through the last step we have now successfully found out our stable and highest core clock ceiling.So now in a way we have isolated the core clock from memory clock as memory clock have been untouched till now.So now start incrementing memory clock in increments of 10 MHz(Please don’t be over adventurous with memory like with core clock,memory is the component which can be easily destroyed by the slightest of mistake).Now repeat the same benchmark runs and strategy followed for core clock in earlier steps and you would have found out your memory clock ceiling too.

• 6) Congratulations! you have achieved a stable OC on your GPU without messing with voltages.Now to keep these settings click “Apply Overclocking At Startup” in afterburner,and save the OC settings in a profile represented in afterburner as numbers at the bottom.

—–With Messing With The Voltages

• 1) Here we follow the above 6 steps word to word and follow up from there.Now that we have got stable OC without increasing voltages,and if we need even higher OC then we need to up the voltage in small increments.

• 2) Now for this we need to make some changes in the options of afterburner,click options in afterburner and then under the generals tab check the “unlock voltage and enable voltage monitoring options”.

• 3) After setting up afterburner increase the core clock by 10 MHz again and again benchmark it and see if it crashes,if it does increase the voltage in increments of 5 mV and then again benchmark and see if the card has stabilized or not.

• 4) Repeat the procedure given above till either you reach your desired OC or you reach 1.1 V.

• 5) Once you reach the max possible OC apart from running the benchmarks also run OCCT GPU test for at least 30 minutes and check the stability of the card,if it survives well you have achieved a successful Overclock,if it does not decrement the core clocks by 5 MHz and keep doing this till your GPU is stable.

• 6) Final step enjoy gaming with increased performance .

The post Nvidia Geforce Fermi GPU Overclocking Guide appeared first on OCFreaks!.

Introduction
So here’s a game which has been based on a well selling comic book series known as the darkness and written by David Wohl, Mark Silvestri and Garth Ennis.

Now lets start the review of this wonderful game which has been a breadth of fresh air to the fps genre in a long time.

Players who are worried about playing the first game to follow up the story need not worry as this game packs in a recap of sorts at the start of a new game so you will come to know the story of the first game.

The post Darkness 2 Game Review appeared first on OCFreaks!.

Hello Guys…I think this will help a lot of guys in their pc buying decisions.

So i will start off with the Gaming Section :

1) Low budget Gaming PC(30-35k)

2) Medium Budget Gaming PC(55-60k)

3) High Budget Gaming PC(80-90k)

AMD alternatives for those who like to play with the RED team :

1) Medium Budget Gaming PC(AMD Version)(55-60k)

2) High Budget Gaming PC(AMD Version) (80-90k)

Here starts the all Other Types of PC Configuration Section :

HTPC(Multimedia)

HTPC(Multimedia) (AMD Version)

HTPC(Multimedia) (Cheap Liano AMD HDTV Version)

By Jaskanwar Singh

PC For Office Use

The post PC Buying Guide for Q1 2012 appeared first on OCFreaks!.

HyperThreading.. What is it?

Basically, HyperThreading is just Intel’s marketing term for their implementation of Simultaneous Multi-Threading (SMT, for short)…..SMT literally means executing two threads simultaneously on a single processing core…..In reality, the name SMT is used mostly for historical reasons as two threads never actually execute simultaneously on the same hardware.. However, HyperThreading (referred to as HT from here on) will switch between threads quickly enough that the illusion is that they are running at the same time..

Virtually there are no drawbacks of HT but its applicability and effectiveness can vary depending on these following factors:

• Operating system/Operating environment.
• Application’s way of handling threads.
• CPU architecture’s maturity.

Now i would explain the phenomenon in an analogous manner taking the following example:

Take a highway(single lane) as an example.. this highway is your processor pipeline.The vehicles(cars for simplicity) are the data/instructions being executed.
Now taking these 2 assumptions in mind.. we see that if we add another lane here..although still keeping the total width of road same(its analogous to same core but 2 threads)it will then optimize the traffic and allow more cars comparatively to pass through it…but of course it wont be as effective as adding a full fledged lane by doubling road width.

I hope I was able to convey the message to all in an easily understandable way.

That sums it up(forgive me if I left anything.. you guys are free to suggest any left out point).

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