Potentially idiotic questions about overclocking...

ralv585

ralv585

ralv585

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Hey guys, just wanted to know your thoughts about my overclocking logic.

Can i assume that the less voltage you put on the cpu, means that it will run cooler?

So that the cpu is taking in less poewer to run and thus is cooler?

Also, i'm on an i7 920 @3.6ghz 1.3v prime stable

i can get it up to 3.8ghz with 1.34v, but fails prime, the chip just runs too hot
- 95c

my thinking is that there really isn't an application that runs at 100% anyway.

i've run vantage, played crysis and everything is fine, the temps won't get nowhere near as high as prime.

so is it safe to continue with these settings, even though it fails prime, but runs everything else well?

i'm running it on a rampage 2 extreme, with noctua hsf

cheers
 
what temps is it usually under gaming, as long as temps are less than 70 then it should be fine i think but that voltage is getting towards the high end for 45nm
 
more volts = more heat
less = less

your second question that gets asks many times - personally is it fails prime/other burn software it's unstable and bios tweeks or extra cooling are required. No if's no but's it's unstable.

Personally I'd never run an unstable pc, but many members here do as they will never fully max out the cpu.

The third question is do you notice a differance between 3.6 and 3.8? (not talking benchies but actually usage)
 
Thanks for the response guys :)

i'm running 1.34v, but taking it down by 0.2 volts each time, so next time, i'll hope i can boot, and run a gaming benchmark or vantage, then lower it again.

it idles around 44-47c @3.6 with 1.3v

I'm not too sure what the temps are like under gaming, as soon as i quit out, the temps drop to around 50c immediatley, i'll have to run them in windowed mode to check, but i'd guess no more than 70c?

concerning stability, hopefully i'll be able to lower the voltages to a point where prime can run mid to high 80's as it fails around 95-100c

@3.6 ghz, it runs prime fine for hours at 87c max

i know it sounds shallow, but 3.8 sounds better than 3.6 doesn't it :)
there's no real difference i can see yet, only done a few vantage runs, but i'd like to have a manly overclock, not some pansie 3.6 haha
 
I recon that you could have a stable overclock at 3.8ghz and less temperature, especially with a i7 aftermarket cooler like the noctua. I would have expected 85c max with 1.34v. Something must be wrong... Have you tried reseating the heatsink to see if that would lower temprature from 95c? The first time i installed my heatsink i was getting temps of 90c with the same voltage that i have now and it took 3 or four tries reseating the heatsink until temperatures lowered. The absolute worst my temps get is 80c now and i am running 1.36v -just a thought
 
Yeah i'll try to reseat it later tonight, see if that works.
I'm looking at 80c max, and try to lower idle temps to 40c

What thermal paste are you using, i'm using the one supplied with the noctua

got 6 120mm fans and 1 200mm fans cooling everything, cable management is pristine, so the airflow cannot be a reason why its running hot

my specs are in my sig now
 
with that many fans I'd echo chiLLZ try reseating the cooler - when you remove the HS have a look at the pattern of the TIM (take a photo and post here is possable) for clues on how well it's making contact. Try not to twist it when taking it off as that can 'confuse' the patturn, if that makes any sence
 
i've managed to get it to 3.9ghz at 1.29v :)

disabled HT and temps are now 70c under prime
only ran it for about 10mins, will do a longer run when i get home
 
still on 3.9ghz, had to up the voltage to 1.36v, 77c under load, prime stable for an hour :)

Gonna bring it down to 1.34v, and stress that again, hopefully around 1.32 - 1.34 is the sweet spot.

Once i get that, i'll be chasing that 4ghz baby!

Another question, does turning off hyper threading make any real difference?
it lowers temps, but only 4 cores show instead of the 8.

did a quick crysis benchmark and got slightly more than at 3.6, so i can't really see a difference
 
ravl585 said:
Another question, does turning off hyper threading make any real difference?
it lowers temps, but only 4 cores show instead of the 8.
Click to expand...

I leave it enabled, but just because i want to keep all of the i7 features. Some people turn it off for overclocking stability. It might help to have it enabled for multitasking programs that use more resources. I dont think it makes a huge difference if you run a game alone but if your tabbing out into other programs at the same time it may help.
 
yeah, it seems so much more stable and the temps are 10-15c lower when overclocking, though idle they remain similar.

How long would you run prime typically for?
when i got it to 3.6, i ran it for 5 hours

also, is it better undervolting then working your way up, or giving it more than enough, then working down?

thanks again :)
 
I run prime for about two hours, here's a screenie of my last run.
last.jpg



ravl585 said:
also, is it better undervolting then working your way up, or giving it more than enough, then working down?
Click to expand...

I usually look around at what the consensus is for a safe voltage and set it to that and maybe go a bit over if its still unstable but the temps are ok. I started at 1.35v and it needed a litle more for 4.0ghz. The conventional way i think is to overclock slowly until instability and then increase voltage slightly if thempratures are ok.
 
Do you also do a memtest?

mine is rated at 1600mhz, its currently at 1593mhz or there abouts, it should be stable, only when its over then instability can kick in?

i've always been used to lowering it to what its rated, this is the first time i've had memory close to its rating

uncore and qpi is on auto
 
yes I ran prime 95 on "Blend" that tests some memory, I am not sure which test is the best one to run, I chose blend because it said it tests some of everything. My ram is underclocked because i need to upgrade it as its not triple channel and is running below its rated voltage.
 
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