[Jonesey I7]

As we're all new to these chips, and probably following one of the 4-5 guides out there on overclocking them, I figured I'd share something I've found to help stability and really helped me get my prime stable voltage down.

Lowering cpu pll down to 1.76-1.74 from 1.8 helped me out SUBSTANTIALLY!! Don't confuse this with internal cpu pll overvoltage, as I still have that on, but lowering the actual cpu pll voltage helped me out a bunch, dropped .03v off of my vcore needed for stability, and knocked 2c off max temps after 1hr prime. Your mileage may very, but thought if it only helped one of you, well then it was worth the time to write.

UPDATE I've been told intel spec is 1.71-1.89, so I'm putting mine at 1.72v to be safe, although I did have it down to 1.6v with stability.

 

[AtomicFrost]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonesey I7;12038273
As we're all new to these chips, and probably following one of the 4-5 guides out there on overclocking them, I figured I'd share something I've found to help stability and really helped me get my prime stable voltage down.

Lowering cpu pll down to 1.76-1.74 from 1.8 helped me out SUBSTANTIALLY!! Don't confuse this with internal cpu pll overvoltage, as I still have that on, but lowering the actual cpu pll voltage helped me out a bunch, dropped .03v off of my vcore needed for stability, and knocked 2c off max temps after 1hr prime. Your mileage may very, but thought if it only helped one of you, well then it was worth the time to write.

This is very interesting. I wonder why that helps?

 

[i_hax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AtomicFrost;12038321
This is very interesting. I wonder why that helps?

I'd like to know too... but I'm far more interested in how much it helps rather than why.

Looks like it's time for some more BIOS meddling...

 

[Jonesey I7]

Have no idea why or how it works, I just know that it DOES help me. For 4.8ghz stable on this chip, it was taking me 1.42v under load. With it lowered, it only takes 1.39v under load, 1 1/2hr prime stable.

I originally started with a much higher pll than stock like it was for my i7 920. I started at 1.88, and went through so many stability issues. Out of pure luck, I lowered this by accident back down to stock and suddenly I was more stable. Went into bios to see what I changed, and it ended up being this voltage. I then lowered it past stock, and was COMPLETELY stable. For me, 1.76 is the sweet spot. It was better than 1.8 at 1.74, but not as good as 1.76.

 

[GeforceGTS]

it's the same for 1156 apparently, seen a lot of people say lowering PLL may help a little.

 

[ugotd8]

As it was for the 1366 as well. I usually save it for last to see if it helps, I'm thinking I'll get on it now instead. Good call there Jonesey.

 

[cmeeks]

Jonesey, I haven't tried this yet, but you already deserve massive reps. Here's one from me

 

[rmp459]

Im testing this out ri ght now, ive been flirting with stability all day with mine. I just wish i had a better cooler. This venx hits 70 on 1.34v. Nothing helps. Remounted like 10 times.

Til i plan out some water im just gonna keep running it with the window slightly cracked to bring my ambient down a few degrees

 

[SovereigN7]

Will try this out definitely.

Also, should load line calibration set to ultra high or extreme? I followed a newegg youtube overclocking steps and had it set to ultra high ever since.

 

[Jonesey I7]

HOLY CRAP!! The service pack really does make a biggggggg difference too. Not just in linx where I now get 120 gflops, but the next thing I have certainly noticed is boot times. Before the sp, when starting windows came up the four colors would make their swirl and as soon as they touched, I'd be in. NNNOOOWWW I don't even see the colors at all!!!! Just starting windows for approx 1.5secs and BOOM, loaded. This avx instruction set in miraculous.

 

[Jonesey I7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SovereigN7;12039313
Will try this out definitely.

Also, should load line calibration set to ultra high or extreme? I followed a newegg youtube overclocking steps and had it set to ultra high ever since.

My board only has enabled or disabled. Which is fine for me, as it eliminates vdroop and vdrop only occurs by about .01v down at load, which is also perfect for me. So I would set yours for the lowest setting and set vcore accordingly to avoid massive spikes of voltage.

 

[cmeeks]

Look at what I have in progress

Currently 2 hrs into prime 95 with 4.6GHz at 1.32v. I have it set to 1.28v in the BIOS. We'll see how long this lasts... I'm liking my new hardware more and more!

 

[Jonesey I7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rmp459;12039288
Im testing this out ri ght now, ive been flirting with stability all day with mine. I just wish i had a better cooler. This venx hits 70 on 1.34v. Nothing helps. Remounted like 10 times.

Til i plan out some water im just gonna keep running it with the window slightly cracked to bring my ambient down a few degrees

Bro, don't sweat those temps so much AT ALL. People are confusing the max temps on these as 72c, which is soooooo far from true. The TCASE on these is 72c, not max temps. To put it into perspective, on the i7 920, tcase was 68c. And it's common knowledge that you should just keep your temps under 85c for that processor. So apply that to this.... 4c higher tcase, keep your temps 90c or under.

 

[SovereigN7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonesey I7;12039325
My board only has enabled or disabled. Which is fine for me, as it eliminates vdroop and vdrop only occurs by about .01v down at load, which is also perfect for me. So I would set yours for the lowest setting and set vcore accordingly to avoid massive spikes of voltage.

Lowest settings as in disable or to extreme

?

 

[Jonesey I7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SovereigN7;12039351
Lowest settings as in disable or to extreme? I dont understand how LCC exactly works, but something to do with vdrop and vdroop

what are your options? like low, medium, ultra high, and extreme? If these were your options, I'd personally pick low or medium and just set my vcore a tad bit higher in bios. LLC raises your vcore under load to eliminate vdroop and vdrop. BUT, llc also has spikes that occur, that you don't see with monitoring software, as they only happen for milliseconds. Say you have your vcore set at 1.4v, and under load llc raises it to 1.42v. That's fine, but what you don't see is that for microseconds, it may raise to 1.46-1.48v. which is also ok, AS LONG AS your vcore isn't set anywhere close to the max voltage for the chip.

 

[LethalRise750]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonesey I7;12039347
Bro, don't sweat those temps so much AT ALL. People are confusing the max temps on these as 72c, which is soooooo far from true. The TCASE on these is 72c, not max temps. To put it into perspective, on the i7 920, tcase was 68c. And it's common knowledge that you should just keep your temps under 85c for that processor. So apply that to this.... 4c higher tcase, keep your temps 90c or under.

To add to this, Sandybridge begins throttling around 95-98C, which further facilitates the fact of how high you really can go. So I'd agree with this in saying under 85-90C is ideal temperatures for Sandybridge.

 

[SovereigN7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonesey I7;12039361
what are your options? like low, medium, ultra high, and extreme? If these were your options, I'd personally pick low or medium and just set my vcore a tad bit higher in bios.

I believe it's like low, medium, high, ultra high, extreme.

Ultra high is at 75 percent or 100 percent, not exactly sure until I can check after checking your CPU PLL theory

EDIT: my vcore is set to 1.30 and probably another 0.005 later down for stability.

 

[LethalRise750]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SovereigN7;12039376
I believe it's like low, medium, high, ultra high, extreme.

Ultra high is at 75 percent or 100 percent, not exactly sure until I can check after checking your CPU PLL theory

I have my LLC on Extreme and my VRM Phase on Optimized, then I just set the voltage 0.05 lower than what I intend for and LLC takes it from there.

But all of us have our different methods

 

[Jonesey I7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SovereigN7;12039376
I believe it's like low, medium, high, ultra high, extreme.

Ultra high is at 75 percent or 100 percent, not exactly sure until I can check after checking your CPU PLL theory

I'd go with low, or medium.

 

[Jonesey I7]

Really hope this helps some that were having issues, and even some that weren't lol. Good night OCN.