OCing Question - VCore Voltage

[The__Malteser]

Some of you may have seen many threads by me regarding CPU OCing, but after a bit, I had removed it. Now I want to OC again, to try and maybe get a BIT more from BF3. Even if its 1FPS, its going to be worth it.

I'm using the system you see in my sig, with stock cooling. Last time I had gone up to 2.9GHz, but lack of actual playing time made me put it back to 2.5. I've put it back to 2.9, and 4 1/2 hours of Prime and its stable. Last time, I don't think I played too much with the VCore Voltage, and now I'm asking myself if I should maybe alter that.

Atm, VCore is set to 1.28V according to CPU-Z, which from what I read, is a good amount. Do you think putting it to 1.35V (which from what I read, is still a good VCore, but can get a bit more power out of CPU) will let me push to at least 3GHz, which is my target.

Should get a good gaming PC in a year, so if the 20 year life is shortened to 10 because of it, no worries

I'm running on air btw, but temps on RealTemp are 65 and 63 at max (whilst Prime 95).

Opinions please

yeah, know, its a bad mobo for OCing, and a bad CPU, but as I said, will upgrade next year, as funds are tight now.

 

[The__Malteser]

Played a bit of BF3, already got an increase of 6-7 fps on average

As I said, would be great if I can push a bit more

 

[The__Malteser]

nobody?

 

[SpoonedurI]

Do you really want to increase the vcore for an extra 100mhz? If nothing else, it's worth a shot but don't forget that this will also increase your temp and power consumption.

 

[SlugForAButt]

1.35v is a bit of a hike from 1.28v and will most likely see your temps rocket into the stratosphere as your temps aren't too low already.
Just try upping the OC 100Mhz at a time and run prime95 for a few mins after each tweak. Obvously, when the machine bums out under stress testing it's time to feed it another .02v or so and try again.
Watch your temps!

And if it bums out in BF you probably need a little more vcore.

Do you really want to increase the vcore for an extra 100mhz? If nothing else, it's worth a shot but don't forget that this will also increase your temp and power consumption.

Maybe you've come to the wrong site mate.

 

[The__Malteser]

I'm obviously not going STRAIGHT to 1.35, but gradually lol.

And 3GHz is a milestone I want to reach, but if I get 3.2 its even better

Just want to know the limit I should go really, and what is safe and what not.

 

[SlugForAButt]

Iirc you are looking at max 1.4v & 70ish under load.

 

[andy_mk3]

I noticed you said you have stock cooling, I would strongly recommend that you use a better cooler as the standard intel cooler isn't too great, especially for overclocking.

Something like this: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-035-AR&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395

It can be had cheaper if you look around, keeps my Q6600 at a max of 65c running at 3.4GHz, so it should be fine at keeping your chip cool with a modest overclock.

Best way to do it is up the FSB a bit at a time, and when you find that the system becomes unstable (crashes, fails to boot, BSOD etc), then up the vcore a notch at a time until it's stable, then up the FSB again, repeat until you are happy with the clock speed. Also keep an eye on the temperatures too, 70c is the max you want to see under load really.