i7 920 overclocking thread

[nyder]

So far i'm totally impressed with the OCing of my 920.



thats on air, haven't even replaced the fan in the V8 yet with a better one that i bought.

and thats just raising the bclk, haven't even had to try to do anything more sophisticated. =)

[Extreme Newbie]

Originally Posted by nyder

So far i'm totally impressed with the OCing of my 920.



thats on air, haven't even replaced the fan in the V8 yet with a better one that i bought.

and thats just raising the bclk, haven't even had to try to do anything more sophisticated. =)

What kind of load temps are you getting and what voltage are you using?

[NOS KIA]

If I go with my other cooler choice, the CoolIT Domino A.L.C., would I get better performance than with my TRUE un-lapped?
I have heard of people getting 4Ghz on the A.L.C.
-Thanks

[Extreme Newbie]

Originally Posted by NOS KIA

If I go with my other cooler choice, the CoolIT Domino A.L.C., would I get better performance than with my TRUE un-lapped?
I have heard of people getting 4Ghz on the A.L.C.
-Thanks

Looks like the TRUE beats it by a couple degrees.

http://www.overclockersclub.com/revi...ominoalc/5.htm

[NOS KIA]

Originally Posted by Extreme Newbie

Looks like the TRUE beats it by a couple degrees.

http://www.overclockersclub.com/revi...ominoalc/5.htm

Is that Lapped or not? I couldn't find that info.

Also they were not using the i7. It might be different, but thank you for searching for that review for me. I believe I have exhausted all the reviews on both. So I bought both of them. Can't wait to start my build.

Also! A newb question of sorts:
Do you need to do an initial 8 hr. burn in with stock fan/cpu/clock to kinda seat the new build?

Thanks again guys.

[dejanh]

Originally Posted by NOS KIA

Is that Lapped or not? I couldn't find that info.

Also they were not using the i7. It might be different, but thank you for searching for that review for me. I believe I have exhausted all the reviews on both. So I bought both of them. Can't wait to start my build.

Also! A newb question of sorts:
Do you need to do an initial 8 hr. burn in with stock fan/cpu/clock to kinda seat the new build?

Thanks again guys.

Burn in is a myth. Plug in and OC

[nyder]

Originally Posted by Extreme Newbie

What kind of load temps are you getting and what voltage are you using?

Well, running Vantage and having speedfan keep the cpu temp chart going, I tend to be at 120f for most stuff, then jumped up to the mid 140's with 148f being top twice during the cpu tests.

Normal voltage, haven't dwelved into that yet.

Thats all good right? Looks like a got a good cpu?

I am considering going water cooling because I get a lot of dust and cat hair in my apartment and hate having to clean fans out every month.

I have been running my computer at 3.87ghz for the last couple days and it's been running great. Idle/normal cpu temp is around 100f

Vid cards are up at 160f though, not sure if thats normal, but short of a watercooler, not much i can probably do about that.

Because I'm above I-5, I have a lot of noise in my place, so having a noisey computer doesn't overly matter. so i was considering replacing the case fans with something that pushes air out a little faster.

It's not that i have to have the fastest computer on like orb, it's just I feel i should be able to pull closer to it's cpu score at least (have to get a couple 295's for the vid score probably, lol).

[ricsim78]

Overclocking a 920/940/965 a few things to keep in mind:

1.5 Volts is the MAX CPU Voltage you can run the Core i7 at without degrading it's life or damaging it immediately. Without good cooling (good water cooling, TEC, etc.) I would not exceed 1.45 Volts (even with a good air cooler) but the lower the better. You may not directly damage your chip immediately but you will shorten it's life span. You generally do not want the Core i7 CPU continually hitting over 70C on an overclock (during stress testing) or you are hurting it's life span and risking damage. The chip can live with up to 100c but you want to be generally 40% or more away from this most of the time for chip safety.

You generally want the QPI voltage to start at 1.3 for an overclock. You should keep the QPI around the same as your CPU Voltage or slightly higher. You do not want to turn this up too much, either. This can damage your CPU and/or board overdoing this. Actually, sometimes raising this to 1.3 and not touching your CPU Voltage will allow you to do a mild overclock.

You must pay attention to your DRAM Voltage and generally you do not want to exceed 1.66 for voltage.

Just remember, the goal behind overclocking is basically free speed for no extra cost. You must keep a few things in mind: Cooling must be adequate, you want your overclock to give you more performance, and you do not want to fry your CPU (or other stuff) while doing this.

Good case flow, an adequate power supply, and knowledge of the limits of your gear are essential to an overclock.

I have come to the best compromise I could find for performance vs heat on mine.

I have the Vcore at 1.3, QPI at 1.3. and my chip running at 3.6 with Turbo on. This has proven to be faster than my former 3.8 and 4.0 Overclock and temps stay good. I keep speed step on, turbo on, and keep thermal protection, C-state, C1E, and everything on. Runs cool when idle and runs cooler when at load. Completely stable with stress testing, normal usage, and no hiccups yet.

With my lapped TRUE and lapped Core i7 Idle is generally 32-20-29-30 and at game load, it's around 45-53c during Crysis, and 60-65 (occasional spikes of 70-72) with stress testing.

[speedy2721]

Doesn't running a chip over the max vid degrade the chips life faster then normal? I don't think that the max is 1.5 since that is around the max of the 65nm chips; but I could be wrong.

[ricsim78]

Originally Posted by speedy2721

Doesn't running a chip over the max vid degrade the chips life faster then normal? I don't think that the max is 1.5 since that is around the max of the 65nm chips; but I could be wrong.

Any overclocking shortens a chips life, you are running it faster than it was intended to be ran. More voltage, more heat = shorter life. As long as you keep it cool it will probably last almost as long as stock but generally temps will be much higher because people push it as far as it is stable in general. This may take a month of life, or even a few years depending on that chip or how hard you push it on a sustained basis. It's hard to say because each chip is the same but different, some will live longer than spec pushed way over limit but those chips are very rare.

According to Intel, the max is 1.5 for Core i7's as well as the 65nm chips. Not that some people will not exceed that anyhow, but according to Intel 1.5 is the terminal velocity. With the heat, it makes sense because even at 1.35 you can still exceed 80c with decent air cooling. Before lapping I hit nearly 80C at 1.35 Vcore with my TRUE and it is considered one of the best coolers. That is only 20C from the thermal limit. This is inside of a well ventilated Antec 1200 case. Imagine a cramped case with no cable management.