i7 Overclock Check

Daaaveee · 2 Feb 2010 at 18:54

Hi all,

So I've overclocked my i7 to 4ghz and through fiddling with the voltage a little got it stable on Prime95 and hopefully at a not too excessive just hitting 80c maximum at full load?

The thing is, there are a lot of other settings in the BIOS which is really don't know about, so I need them checking out to see if anything is wrong, please?

Also, I am unsure about the RAM settings and frequency, do the RAM settings look okay or should I alter something to get more performance from it?

Specs are:

i7 920 D0 Stepping
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2
Asus P6T SE
Corsair XMS3 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 (1600MHz)

Here are pics of my BIOS and CPU-Z:

paradisiac · 2 Feb 2010 at 19:12

how long did you run prime for?

Ricardox1 · 2 Feb 2010 at 19:13

80c is rarther hot what paste do you use?

paradisiac · 2 Feb 2010 at 19:23

i thought 80 was about normal on air cooling :confused:

Nocky24 · 2 Feb 2010 at 19:29

Could do with knowing how long you ran prime for and if it was a blend test or small fft. Also room temp and which tim.

Like my i7 (with H50 + MX3+ push/pull scythes@1650rpm) gets to 74c max with a 19c-20c room temp and just over 3 hours of prime blend- not exactly impressive in my opinion

vcore is at 1.3 in bios (only stable at this) and 1.295 qpi/vtt. Everything else stock volts or auto.

Ricardox1 · 2 Feb 2010 at 19:30

80 is higher than most people, what thermal paste did you use and how much?
a grain of rice is the best amount and the cooler will spread it out once its fitted back onto the cpu

Daaaveee · 2 Feb 2010 at 20:15

CPU came with it pre-applied so I didn't use any, also bought some http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-001-AK&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=27 just in case. I've always made a mess with paste in the past (I know :rolleyes:

).

I ran Prime95 for 1 hour, as I don't think I would ever stress the CPU that much for that long?

How is the RAM frequency looking?

Cheers for the posts so far

JeffyB · 2 Feb 2010 at 20:19

Your vcore seems a bit high for 4ghz, try 1.25v. Heres my 4ghz settings on the very similar p6t deluxe v2

Not all d0's are created equal so you may need a touch more or less vcore than me if your lucky. Everything else i have left on auto except loadline calibration with is enabled. I found qpi voltage to be the key as auto tended to give me instability.

Your cpu cooler is not the beefiest either, i7 under full load kick out a fair amount of heat. If its definately seated properly and you cannot reduce your vcore then you'll either need a better heatsink or lower your oc.

Daaaveee · 2 Feb 2010 at 21:36

Cheers Jeffy will try out some other settings

Yeah I bought the Freezer Pro assuming the Rev 2 would be as legendary as the old one but I guess its not.

Nocky24 · 2 Feb 2010 at 22:05

What temps do you get with that vcore JeffyB? Mine pretty much insists on 1.3, which is pretty annoying. Not sure whether its something to do with the mobo or if its definitely the chip itself. qpi/vtt is set to 1.295 and everything else stock or auto.

It maxs out at 74c after a 3 hour blend test and 74c again after a 16 minute small fft test. I can get it down to around 69c if i crank up my fans to just over 2100rpm, but its a bit too loud for my liking. This is all with a 23c room temp.

Daaaveee · 2 Feb 2010 at 22:19

Yeah I should add all fans are on lowest setting in my 902, want to keep it quiet. Room temp 22-23.

JeffyB · 2 Feb 2010 at 22:37

Nocky24 said:
What temps do you get with that vcore JeffyB?

Usually around the low 60's when running linx or prime. My tuniq's fan is on silent so it's very quiet as well. I crank it upto 1.3v and turn the fans on full for benching which get me to 4.3ghz

setter · 2 Feb 2010 at 22:59

Nice low voltage for 4ghz jeffyB. 1.2750 here at 4ghz.

Nocky24 · 2 Feb 2010 at 23:02

JeffyB said:
Usually around the low 60's when running linx or prime. My tuniq's fan is on silent so it's very quiet as well. I crank it upto 1.3v and turn the fans on full for benching which get me to 4.3ghz

Very nice mate

what room temp is that at?

Daaaveee · 2 Feb 2010 at 23:05

Well been trying but still can't get lower than 1.29375 and stable, at least my RAM frequency is up so that has to be worth something?!

Cheers for the help guys, I'll have to be happy with that and a toasty 80 degrees unless I got for a new cooler

Ricardox1 · 2 Feb 2010 at 23:17

Keep tinkering with it mate you could get a better overclock just like I did when messing with some settings

Nocky24 · 3 Feb 2010 at 00:16

Ricardox1 said:
Keep tinkering with it mate you could get a better overclock just like I did when messing with some settings

any ideas what i can do though? (Sorry i don't want to hijack your thread btw aha its just that im in a similar situation). I tried 1.25 vcore for a laugh and i wasn't surprised- 124 bsod error after 3 seconds of prime blend

I've tried messing with IOH and ICH volts and CPU PLL (lowering and increasing- nothing helps). Same with the QPI/vtt volts, which have been up and down all week. So i'm back to 1.3 again.

Nocky24 · 3 Feb 2010 at 00:16

deleted

Daaaveee · 3 Feb 2010 at 10:26

Same here, needs 1.3 vcore to be stable at 4ghz, but it just runs too hot for comfort really. Decided to back down to 3.8ghz for the moment which is stable at 1.25v and running mid to high 70s. At least I have the RAM at 800mhz now so thanks for help with that