i7 920 at 3.8GHZ is this stable?

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Hello All,

After hours and hours of tweaking and fine tuning I have managed to get my new i7 920 2.66GHZ satble (I HOPE :)) with my Gigabyte EX58 UD5 mobo and 6GB corsair 1600MHZ RAM..

Please advise me if you can see anything wrong or any hig voltages please.. thanks:

1 - Reset my bios settings to default
2 - Turned off all the power saving modes off (Disabled)
3 - Upped the Cpu Multiplier from 20 to 21x
4 - Changed the BCLK from 133 to 181 to get 3.80 GHZ in CPU speed.
5 - I set my Ram timings to 9-9-9-24 as stated on the Ram sticker, Ram now showing from 1500 something :)
6 - I then upped the vcore (cpu volt) 1.1v - 1.26250 and managed to get it stable at 1.26250 and the dram volt to 1.66 I left the QPI voltage and the rest on Auto (is this correct?) I then dropped the dram volt to 1.5 and ran Prime 95 for 4 hrs no errors..

Is this ok? How are my Voltages: Vcore: 1.26250, QPI:Auto and Dram Volts: 1.5

Is this ok to run on a day to day usage (photoshop , internet browsing, downloading.. mainly pc is on for 15-20 hrs a day.. ) or is this too dangerous and risky?

Thank you .. :)
 
qpi on auto is a bad call, better to set it manually. You probably want around 1.25V.

Why are you asking us if it's stable? Run prime95 for ages, ibt on maximum memory for ages, and then use it normally for a while. If it passes prime & ibt, then never crashes in general use, assume it's stable. We can't tell you as we don't have your computer here to run stress tests on.
 
qpi on auto is a bad call, better to set it manually. You probably want around 1.25V.

Why are you asking us if it's stable? Run prime95 for ages, ibt on maximum memory for ages, and then use it normally for a while. If it passes prime & ibt, then never crashes in general use, assume it's stable. We can't tell you as we don't have your computer here to run stress tests on.

Thanks for reply Prime 95 has been stable with no errors but I was wondering ig my voltages were too high and dangerous or if they are good? my idle temp is 32-40 and load never exceeds 65 degrees.

In a guide I read that QPI on auto is ok unless you want 4.0GHZ and over.. is this not true?
 
Also just a quick question in the CPU Feature settings for the Gigabyte UD5 should the settings be like this :

CPU ENHANCE HALT (C1E) - ENABLED
C3/C6/C7 STATE SUPPORT - DISABLED
CPU THERMAL MONITOR - ENABLED
CPU EIST FUNCTION - ENABLED
BI-DIRECTIONAL PROCHOT - ENABLED
VIRTULIZATION TECHNOLOGY - ENABLED

or shall all the above be DISABLED?
 
I've no idea how qpi scales when set to "auto" as I haven't taken a multimeter to my board yet. At present it's a voltage you don't know, so were it dangerously high you'd be none the wiser. As it happens, it's unlikely to be a problem on auto. I suppose I have an inherent mistrust of anything I don't know.

The voltages you've stated are on the low side of conservative, they're definitely fine.

Prime by itself isn't a particularly reliable test, even when run for 8 hours or so. That said, it's quite possible to be stable in intel burn test and unstable in prime95, and that still works out as unstable overall. It's also possible to pass both and crash in normal use, I hope for your sake you don't encounter that as it's driving me mad.

Best thing you can do regarding each of the above settings is to Google them in turn and decide if you like the sound of it or not. I've got the top four disabled and the bottom two enabled, but this isn't ideal for a computer that isn't folding all the time as it would be wasteful of electricity.
 
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I've no idea how qpi scales when set to "auto" as I haven't taken a multimeter to my board yet. At present it's a voltage you don't know, so were it dangerously high you'd be none the wiser. As it happens, it's unlikely to be a problem on auto. I suppose I have an inherent mistrust of anything I don't know.

The voltages you've stated are on the low side of conservative, they're definitely fine.

Prime by itself isn't a particularly reliable test, even when run for 8 hours or so. That said, it's quite possible to be stable in intel burn test and unstable in prime95, and that still works out as unstable overall. It's also possible to pass both and crash in normal use, I hope for your sake you don't encounter that as it's driving me mad.

Best thing you can do regarding each of the above settings is to Google them in turn and decide if you like the sound of it or not. I've got the top four disabled and the bottom two enabled, but this isn't ideal for a computer that isn't folding all the time as it would be wasteful of electricity.

hmmm do you think I should revert back to 2.66GHZ in that case ? or maybe a more moderate 3.36 GHZ which I had stable running on vcore 1.15 and qpi : auto and ram voltage at 1.5
 
I've got the top four disabled and the bottom two enabled, but this isn't ideal for a computer that isn't folding all the time as it would be wasteful of electricity.


Did you mean not being ideal for a computer that isn't folding .. as in having it run at 3.8ghz or you mean having those settings as disabled other than the bottom 2?

Thanks :)
 
Nah, I think you should set qpi to something manually and thoroughly stability test it at 3.8ghz. Almost all of these systems will do 4ghz stable on low voltages, so that's what I suggest you aim for, then decrease voltages as much as possible before stability is compromised. If you have no need of the performance at 4ghz then I suppose a different option is to run at 3ghz undervolted, but that's not really in line with the ethos of this site :)

If you use the same settings I am it'll run flat out all the time, with no regard for electricity bills or temperatures. Turning the thermal monitor off may mean my processor will cook itself if the cooling fails, I'm not sure about that. I also don't know what BI-DIRECTIONAL PROCHOT is, so that's enabled as that's default.

Voltages are a lot less scary than popular knowledge would suggest. Processors tend to survive pretty much anything people throw at them, ram doesn't like overvoltage much, and motherboards will occasionally expire if pushing very high voltages through the processor. Below 1.4V on vcore and on qpi is the limit I'm working to, assuming temperatures never go over 70 centigrade. This is pretty arbitrary though, I think most people on air work to 1.35V max on qpi and vcore, and temps below 80.
 
Nah, I think you should set qpi to something manually and thoroughly stability test it at 3.8ghz. Almost all of these systems will do 4ghz stable on low voltages, so that's what I suggest you aim for, then decrease voltages as much as possible before stability is compromised. If you have no need of the performance at 4ghz then I suppose a different option is to run at 3ghz undervolted, but that's not really in line with the ethos of this site :)

If you use the same settings I am it'll run flat out all the time, with no regard for electricity bills or temperatures. Turning the thermal monitor off may mean my processor will cook itself if the cooling fails, I'm not sure about that. I also don't know what BI-DIRECTIONAL PROCHOT is, so that's enabled as that's default.

Voltages are a lot less scary than popular knowledge would suggest. Processors tend to survive pretty much anything people throw at them, ram doesn't like overvoltage much, and motherboards will occasionally expire if pushing very high voltages through the processor. Below 1.4V on vcore and on qpi is the limit I'm working to, assuming temperatures never go over 70 centigrade. This is pretty arbitrary though, I think most people on air work to 1.35V max on qpi and vcore, and temps below 80.

Thanks I just did another prime 95 test for another 3 hrs and 3 workers stopped :( after 2 hrs.. but rest were still working and no restart) what do you think the cause of this could be?
 
Hey I finally got a good stable overclock at 3.8 I think (After 4 hrs of Prime 95)

Upped to the latest bioes F9m
Cpu Multi - x21
Qpi - Auto
Bclk - 181 (cpu speed 3.80)
Standard Mode
Set all my Ram dimmings to 9-9-9-24
Advanced cpu features:
Clock ratio 21
Turbo enabled
Cores enabled all
Multi-threading enabled
Enhanced halt (C1E) enabled
C3/C6/C7 state support disabled
CPU thermal monitor enabled
CPU eist function enabled
Virtualization tech enabled
Bi-directional prochot enabled

Advanced voltage control:
Load-line calibration enabled
CPU vcore 1.3500
QPI/VTT voltage :Auto
IOH core: Auto
DRAM voltage 1.66


The Rest of the settings left as Auto


Do these settings and volts look ok to you guys? I hope I am not in the danger zone..

Also why does the windows 7 64Bit (View basic information about your pc still show my cpu running as 2.66?) CPU eist function enabled which is good for me as I do not want the cpu to run at 3.8 all the time only when it needs that push.. as most the time when I leave the pc for downloads there is no point for it to run at 3.8

CPU-Z reports the cpu volt at 1.328 thats why I put my vcore to 1.35 which I think and hope is ok :)

Ran Prime 95 for 4-5 hrs overnight and no errors .. seems to be running stable..

My temps are : 30-38 in idle and when full load it can reach upto 73-75

Please can I have some feedback if things are ok so I can now finally after a week of messing around sit back and enjoy my New Rig :) lol

Thanks for all your help ad support guys ..
 
Try and lower your voltages a little.
My CPU will run 1.25V @ 3.8GHz with QPI at 1.175V
You will find that your temps will drop as you lower your voltages.
I have TRUE on mine Prime 95 tops out at 67C.

Matt
 
I loweredmy cpu volt to 1.26250 and qpi is auto shall I set that to 1.175v ? What are the advantages and disadvanteges of leaving on auto or setting a figure?

Also shall I leave my vdimm at 1.66 or lower that too? my max ram settings stated on the ram sticker is 9-9-9-24 at 1.65v

Ps. from time to time my mouse freezes for a second and then continues to move.. I am not sure if this has something to do with the overclocking or if its simply because I haven't installed my mouse drivers?
 
Yes try 1.175 as auto tends to over volt. Run prime for an hour or two and see how you go. Ram @ 1.64 should be fine also.
Is your ram running at, 1444Mhz? If so run it in turbo mode, or try 8,8,8,22 timings.
WRT your mouse try the correct drivers but I doubt thats the fix.

Matt
 
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I also don't know what BI-DIRECTIONAL PROCHOT is

it's a system to reduce qpi and Vcore if the processor or mobo get too hot; if it's bi directional, either getting hot will cause them to drop, with it disabled (unidirectional) only the cpu getting hot will cause reductions
 
well thanks guys I did a test with 8-8-8-22 timings and vdimm at 1.64 , vcore 1.27500 it ran prime 95 for 5 hrs on the 4th hour one core stop working so jus went back to the original 9-9-9-24 at 1.66v and vcore at 1.27500 and its running smoother.. and the mouse is not freezing either I think I am stiking with this.. already saved the bios.. :)

Thanks for all your help.. No more prime 95 just gonna enjoy it now at 3.8 :)
 
At 3.8 GHZ my pc on cold start would attempt to start 3 times and actually load up on the third time.. and then when it did It would go into the original bios settings (stock load at 2.66 bclck 133)

So I figured the safest option was to run these settings:

multiplier 21 x
bclck 160 running cpu at 3.36 GHZ
Ram settings on auto

cpu vcore 1.30000
dimm voltage 1.500

on cold and reboots starts up with no problems.. so I think I will be sticking with these settings .. everything else is on auto..

I would love to lower the cpu vcore volt but anything else seems to be unstable and doesn't boot first time ..
 
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