Kenjineering

Gday Guys!

First of all let's establish one thing: I am crap.

My Specifications:
Core i7 920 @ 3.5Ghz (Turbo + Hyperthreading Enabled)<-This is the OC I would like a comment on.
Stock Cooling
6GB (1333Mhz) Kingston RAM
Intel DX58SO (Smack Over)
2x GTX280s SLI
1000W PSU

Context:
I do not want a big OC.
I only have stock cooling, therefore I thought it best for me to avoid changing any setting that would increase the temperature.
I read somewhere that changing the voltage is what leads to problems with meltdowns.
I have read a few articles and watched a few OC videos, but it seems that the instructions in these things are aimed at those who want to do OCing in the order of 4Ghz (this is not me).

What I Did:
1) Entered into the BIOS.
2) Changed the Host Clock Frequency from 133 to 165 or something.
3) I noticed that my RAM speed automatically updated. (and I made sure it was under 1333Mhz (its rated speed)) It's voltage did not change also.
Both Hyperthreading and Turbo are Enabled.
Everything is stable.

I do not know if what I have done is bad for my CPU and need advice on it. My OC is waaaay too simple and I think there must be some other factor that I haven't considered which will come to bite me in the bum

I have done three Prime95 tests (uncalibrated) from Stock settings (with Turbo Enabled) up to 3.33 Mhz.
The max temp at CPU usage of 100% was around 84degC in ALL cases.

The temperature relationships and magnitudes from the Prime95 Tests are pretty much identical. I have not included the results of my 3.5Ghz.

2800Mhz


3031Mhz


3382Mhz


After playing ARMA2, my max temperature was recorded around 64degC. But this was the same for both stock and OC.

My 3Dmarks went up about 5000marks to around 21000.

Questions:
Because I havn't mucked around with memory multipliers and all that other business, am I damaging my system? (I mean is there something I am missing that, when ignored, is detrimental to my system?)
Since the temperature relationships between stock and overclocked settings are the same, does it mean that I have made a safe OC?

JonnyMark

Here is what you should do, if you are going to run prime95 run it under blend settings, for 1 or 2 hours that means it stable. Your temps are over 85C on hottest core that means you shouldn't overclock anything, 85C is the highest you want the cores to ever get.

So far so good nothing I can see you did wrong expect back off the overclock to keep sub 85C on hottest core.

Blameless

I would argue that 2 hours of Prime 95 blend doesn't really say much about stability.

That said, it's perfectly possible that this OC is stable, but some serious stress testing should be done to be sure.

As for damaging components, increased frequency does draw more current, and does raise temperatures. Both of these will accelerate electromigration, even without touching the voltages. That said, electromigration will likely take a very long time to do any appreciable damage to your chip at stock voltages.

One other thing you should be wary of is that many motherboards will overvolt components when OCed and left to AUTO.

Kenjineering

I am glad I came to this forum. Thank you very much for your reply.
So 85degC was the max for the stock aswell as the overclock. Is this why overclockers first suggest to turn off HT and Turbo, in order to have a -10degC or so margin to play with?
So it doesn't really mean anything that stock temps behave (well I havnt done prime95 in blend mode yet) very similar to the OC?

Please catch me out if I am saying nonsense.

Kenjineering

Thank you a lot for your response!

I checked to see if any voltage settings updated when I was in the bios and to my knowledge none did. However, I am unaware if they dynamically change when I am in windows messing around.

Search is my friend. I guess I better study how each setting on "auto" or "dynamic whatevers" behave when my system is under load.

JonnyMark

You got a i7, you keep HT on, if you want to get lower temps get a True or Megahalems.

Turbo always on since its adds x1 to your multi and increases your max overclock.

I personally use Prime95 Blend for hours, either overnight or while I am out, want a quick stability test, LinX 0.6.0 is what I use 20 passes with ALL clicked, and you should be good.

I use LinX for spot overclocking, 1-3 passes then increase the baseclock.

LinX 0.6.0 Download.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=201670

kajjot

I runn my 920 on stock cooling and it runns stable @3.35GHz without too much heat
But a cooler upgrade is a must for any OC.