~~~~~IMPORTANT SANDYBRIDGE OC INFO: Voltages & OC Guide!!~~~~~

[PU7E]

No sorry as those kits are older IC's, but they were failed C8 units, so at C9 they will operate sub 1.60v which is fine for Sandybridge, but not quite sure about 1.50v.

The XMS3 however is proving excellent in our testing today, so far stable at 1.40v at rated timings.

Cheers, the C8 Dominator's are on the QVL for the UD4, I've managed to run my dominator's stable at 1.51/1066/C9 so hopefully they'll run at sub 1.6/1333/C9 until I can get either some Vengance or more XMS3 at the end of the month.

Will post my findings on wed as the UD4's still aren't in and it's 4:30, suppose good things come to those that wait though .

 

[bulldog147]

I don't suppose you've tested any 2x4gb corsair dominator kits on sandybridge?

Just sold my spare set of XMS3 yesterday

Gibbo are correct as both XMS2 (mine) and his XMS3 (stock at 1.65v but can cope well with 1.50v no problem on my side)

 

[Stripes]

I wonder if the failed SB chips are down to the MOBO rather than the chips themselves being weak. Many of the reviews indicate that the BIOS on some LGA1155 boards are somewhat flaky, and I'm almost positive that I saw a Linus Tech Tips vid where the 'OC Genie' switch upped the BCLK as well as voltages to reach its' 'stock overclock'.

Whatever reason, awesome Customer Service to honour warranties on products possibly damaged by dodgy overclocks.

 

[FMTopfan]

....

The instant no no seems to be BCLK that seems to kill them real quick, hence why its advisable to manually set it too 100MHz.

If you auto-tune using Asus P8P67 DELUXE EFI BIOS (OC Tuner), does this alter BCLK ? What I had in mind was running it in auto to see what was possible then manually fine-tuning in Advanced to recommended settings.

Also, the CPU PLL can wonder a bit and 1.8 seems a good spot for that mobo (1.8125 according to bit-tech). Their guide is good enough to get you started at what maybe possible. Search google for "How to Overclock the Asus P8P67 Deluxe"

If you want actual approved memory Corsair Vengeance is certified.

That's very good to hear. Been looking at the Corsair Vengeance 1866MHz today since 2000MHz memory runs at this speed - it's an issue with the CPU. Thanks for the additional testing information which states the memory config I hope it runs fine at 1866MHz with XMP after overclocking to 4.6GHz.

 

[bulldog147]

Right guys, I had a budget of £3,500 in my hand, shall I order i7 2600K bundles or go for ocuk custom watercooling set up with i7 2600k with sli graphic's setup, or shall I wait for AMD Bulldozer ?

 

[Gibbo]

HI there

Well over 48hrs of prime with memory at 1.65v and no problems, so now its time to try too much voltage in the CPU. Currently priming at 4.8GHz with 1.45v, see how it copes.

So far 6hrs stable and peaking at 78c.

 

[zAndy1]

Should get my 2500k tomorrow and will then go about building, should the first thing I do when the PC posts is to go into the BIOS and set the relevant settings manually i.e. Vcore about 1.3v, RAM volts 1.5V, BLLK 100, multi probably start with 42 or should I try and let it boot up without going into the BIOS? Gonna try just using my current Win7 HDD and see if it works (at least it's currently an Intel rig I've got), I know I'll have to use the driver disc that comes with the motherboard but apart from that it should work shouldn't it? Worth a try anyway I guess.. apart from all this the only doubt I've got in my mind is how to apply the thermal paste to the CPU and cooler (Akasa Venom) but I guess that's a question for the cooling forum....

 

[DrSteve]

Watching this with interest.
Mine is sitting in the DPD hub and will hopefully be here tomorrow. Just a pity I'm working till 11pm tomorrow.
Looks like they run pretty cool even with a big overclock. Makes me wonder if the watercooling will let me push it any further.

 

[bulldog147]

HI there

Well over 48hrs of prime with memory at 1.65v and no problems, so now its time to try too much voltage in the CPU. Currently priming at 4.8GHz with 1.45v, see how it copes.

So far 6hrs stable and peaking at 78c.

Is that including 1.65v in ram ? (4.8Ghz at 1.45v)

 

[Gibbo]

Is that including 1.65v in ram ? (4.8Ghz at 1.45v)

Nope, back to 1.40v otherwise if the CPU failed we'd not know if it died from too much Vcore or a combination of too much Vcore and too much Vdimm.

If its still priming in the morning, next step is 1.52v and see how it goes. If it survives at 1.52v I think we can rule vcore and vdimm out as the issue. Then we shall move too running both high vcore and high vdimm.

But this CPU does not seem that delicate which right now is really pointing towards the issues people have had to be teething issues and not that sandybridge is unreliable or fragile, time will tell.

 

[chippy08]

What cpu you using in your test 2500k or 2600k ?

 

[FMTopfan]

Nope, back to 1.40v otherwise if the CPU failed we'd not know if it died from too much Vcore or a combination of too much Vcore and too much Vdimm.

If its still priming in the morning, next step is 1.52v and see how it goes. If it survives at 1.52v I think we can rule vcore and vdimm out as the issue. Then we shall move too running both high vcore and high vdimm.

But this CPU does not seem that delicate which right now is really pointing towards the issues people have had to be teething issues and not that sandybridge is unreliable or fragile, time will tell.

Would like to know if these volts applies to both 2500k and 2600k?

Also - in your experience from extensive testing - which mobo manufacturers would you say is the ideal combination for stability when overclocking?
I ask because mobo is the next weakest link, followed by RAM, then PSU which covers them all. I've read very good review in regards of (1st) Asus, (2nd) Gigabyte, and (3rd) MSI. Premium mobos with power designs of 16+2 are great for oc'ing for increased stability.

 

[FMTopfan]

Right guys, I had a budget of £3,500 in my hand, shall I order i7 2600K bundles or go for ocuk custom watercooling set up with i7 2600k with sli graphic's setup, or shall I wait for AMD Bulldozer ?

I've got a budget of £3,500 but only in my head My real one is only £1,500.
This really is off-topic bulldog147 so create a new one to get more replies and I can help you further. You really don't need to spend that much with Sandy Bridge and your spend shouldn't come to more than £1.5-£2k including 2x 580GTX. Otherwise you paying too much for similar performance.

 

[Teggsy]

Why is a 2nd wave of Mobo's being released Q2?
Is it just because the onboard graphics won't work when over clocked or is there an issue with the first wave of Mobo's for SB?
(Guess i mean i read a new chip set)

 

[FMTopfan]

Why is a 2nd wave of Mobo's being released Q2?
Is it just because the onboard graphics won't work when over clocked or is there an issue with the first wave of Mobo's for SB?
(Guess i mean i read a new chip set)

As for issues: It could be because with the P-series of boards it disables Intel's GPU for Sandy Bridge, which is why you need the H-series of mobos. P-series is for overclockers wanting the best performance. Even still, I don't see why they would need to release new mobos unless enough people complained that they can't use dedicated GPU for gaming and Intel's GPU (QuickSync) for video encoding at really fast speeds with P-series. Being able to use/switch to Intel's GPU outside of graphic intensive programs would save a lot of power and makes so much sense its daft not to. It reminds me of mobos that couldn't do both CFX or SLI but they can now, finally.

Also if it was a BCLK issue killing CPUs, then a simple BIOS update would fix that, or add a few big red warnings on trying to change it above 100.

 

[NathWraith]

Right guys, I had a budget of £3,500 in my hand, shall I order i7 2600K bundles or go for ocuk custom watercooling set up with i7 2600k with sli graphic's setup, or shall I wait for AMD Bulldozer ?

Hi bulldog,

£3500 is a little excessive for Sandybridge but it depdns what you want to do with it. Full watercooling, SSD RAID, Tri SLI? The options go on.

If you want help with a custom system spec, send me an email as I specify all the systems here at OcUK and I can get hold of any components you need/want for your build.

Hope this helps

 

[Boostjunky]

If its any help I have a i5 2500k and an msi p67 gd55.

The motherboard came installed with the 1.4 bios, I experienced some of the instability problems people are reporting. If left at stock settings it was fine but any attempt to overclock resulted in high instability and the processer refusing to post. I had to clear the cmos just to get the processor to post again.

I upgraded the bios to 1.6 and it was stable, it also put extra options in the overclocking menu. I'm now running 4.6ghz at 1.32 vcore, 1.8 PLL and 1.5 vdimm.

 

[shotgunshand]

if you want to push more voltage through your CPU's then just be aware they could die on you. Your warranty is un-affected and we will honor any CPU's that die, we just won't ask questions as to how you killed them.

Absolute legends

 

[Shetlander]

@Gibbo

Is that warranty for 1 or 3 years with the retail chips?

 

[bulldog147]

Hi bulldog,

£3500 is a little excessive for Sandybridge but it depdns what you want to do with it. Full watercooling, SSD RAID, Tri SLI? The options go on.

If you want help with a custom system spec, send me an email as I specify all the systems here at OcUK and I can get hold of any components you need/want for your build.

Hope this helps

I will think again twices. Because I probably kept my current i7 920 but change new case, new quieter power supply (1200W) and 3 x graphic cards (GTX 480 SC) and not sure if ocuk will built a custom watercooling in a new case with my current spec of cpu, motherboard, ram and Raid0 SSD.

Will let you know end of this month with my decision.