What would you do...i7-920 @3.8GHz or 3.6GHz?

vwgolfman

vwgolfman

vwgolfman

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Hi,
My i7-920 maxes out at 85°C in Prime95's SmallFFT's at 3.8GHz.

If you were me would you drop the clock to 3.6GHz in order to be able to drop the VCore a little to achieve lower temperatures?

Thanks for your advice
 
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^ sort that sig 1st mate, 4 lines max ;)

i'd reseat the cooler 1st, new TIM etc.

then see what it's like, then see if you can drop Vcore
 
Most ppl recommend below 70°C to be safe for the i7, I prefer to stay below 60°C-65°C if I can for any CPU simply because that has always been the temp where I have began to see instability when overclocked. I want 100% stability these days, too old for random crashing a data corruption hassles now!
 
My i5-750 maxes out at ~77C @ 4.1Ghz in Prime95 @ 1.36V fully stable

For 24/7 use I have dropped it to 4.0Ghz @ 1.33V where it maxes out at 70C in Prime95
 
I am sure many ppl are seeing perfectly stable configs with 80°C and up, it is just that you are far more likely to experience instability later on when the CPU is potentially damaged by electron migration. I have had a system running fine for 18 months, only to begin crashing and need to be clocked slower & have the vcore reduced to find a stable speed. It all depends whether you are happy to risk damaging and replacing the CPU within a year or two if need be.
 
^ i think that's more down to voltage; given heat increases the likelyhood of electron migration, but at the end of the day, are you going to have the same rig for more than 3/4 years? doubtful, and such effects are only going to take a year or 2 off the lifespan, which will be specced 6-10 years at the least
 
90c if fine for these chips on an 8 threaded small fft test the ht genarates a lot of extra heat,if it was only 4 cores running then that would be too hot.
mine @4.3ghz gets up to 75c when priming
 
vwgolfman said:
Hi,
My i7-920 maxes out at 85°C in Prime95's SmallFFT's at 3.8GHz.

If you were me would you drop the clock to 3.6GHz in order to be able to drop the VCore a little to achieve lower temperatures?

Thanks for your advice
Click to expand...

Something is not right with your set-up for it to be giving that much heat. Can you do the following,
1. Voltage settings
2. Case Used
3. Use HWMonitor or Everest to check if your GPU is giving too much heat
4. Try re-seating your HSF

I'm using the same HSF as you but my temp is a lot less lower than yours even on 4.2 OC.

woppy101 said:
90c if fine for these chips on an 8 threaded small fft test the ht genarates a lot of extra heat,if it was only 4 cores running then that would be too hot.
mine @4.3ghz gets up to 75c when priming
Click to expand...

You're using WC for your system which make it pointless for the OP to compare his temps with yours.
 
Heat isn't as dangerous as voltage, for an i7 I would say anything below 90C is okay.

You'll know if the temperature is a problem as it will either be unstable or throttle.
 
So long you are not running High voltages 1.30+ on a D0 or going above 80c then you are fine. It is very unlikely that you will stress all of your cores 100% to generate the high heat level you see in the stability tests anyway. Even when you are gaming you would only use about 50-60% load. The aim is to use voltages at or below 1.30v max (Unless you run watercooled setups) and reach stability at temps no greater than 80c.
 
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the thermal management of the i7 is pretty good, and if it gets to a dangerous temperature, it throttles itself. mine has all thermal settings enabled, as well as speedstep etc, and it hasn't throttled at 80+ degrees, so i feel anything up to 90 is safe tbh.
 
bulldog147 said:
No, 90C is not safe! I rather kept below 70C!
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Most i7's run over 70C with the stock cooler it's not dangerous.

They're rated at 67C surface temp by Intel, the actual sensors are inside the cores where it's damn sight hotter.

If it gets too hot it has a safety mechanism to throttle or shut down.
 
Here's a good article about the Core i7 architecture:
http://www.pugetsystems.com/blog/2009/02/26/intel-core-i7-temperatures/

What we have found is that Intel Core i7 CPUs have extremely good temperature tolerance. Not only are they made with a Hi-K silicon which is able to withstand higher temperatures, but they have very good power management. There are more transistors dedicated to power management on Core i7 CPUs than there were transistors in the original Pentium Pro CPU! What we’ve found is that the Intel Core i7 CPUs throttle down their speed starting at 100C. So, 100C is the maximum operating temperature of Intel Core i7. However, due to the great power management, we have never seen instability due to temperature. We can run full stress testing at 100C and have no errors. Of course, that’s not a good idea, but my point is that the excellent management features reduce the risk of high temperature.
Click to expand...

Since they don't throttle down until hitting 100C you can assume anything less than that is not dangerous, although as the article mentions running too close to 100C could be problematic in summer.
 
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I never knew it was safe to run up to 100C! A great management power surely could be mean a powerful 1000W power supply ?

I do remember a long while back when intel told me that the cpu temp must not go over 67C in max temp! My cpu temp never went over 60C even over 96C in core temp temperature!

Example:

Cpu temp 60C (safer)
Core temp 96C, 97C, 95C, 94C (not safer)
Intel say 67C in CPu temp is safer!
 
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mmj_uk said:
Heat isn't as dangerous as voltage, for an i7 I would say anything below 90C is okay.

You'll know if the temperature is a problem as it will either be unstable or throttle.
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^^ This.

@Bulldog, those intel recommended temps arenot the core temps that we all monitor through RealTemp, that's the CPU temp, which is read from a sensor on the socket.

You can use EasyTune6 or Everest to monitor those temps.
 
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