Overclocking newbie help

Associate
Joined
27 Sep 2009
Posts
1,699
Hi all,

I am planning to follow this guide: http://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/overclocking/22106-core-i7-overclocking-guide-beginners.html

My specs are:
i7 920
Noctua U12P CPU cooler
Asus P6T
9Gb Corsair XMS3 RAM
650W be Quiet PSU
Nvidia 560 Ti
Antec P193 with 1 front fan, 2 top fans, 1 side fan and 1 rear fan.

Are my specs OK to overclock? How do i find the DRAM CAS# Latency, DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay, DRAM RAS# PRE Time and DRAM RAS# ACT Time? Could I upgrade to a 970 and would it make any difference to the OC speed?
 
Last edited:
Just tried OCing to 3.36. After BSODing a few times I found that the standard CPu voltage is not 1.1v as in the guide but 1.22v.

However my times using prime95 are hovering around 81C and with no load around 60C. is that OK?
 
I wonder why it is so high? With no OC it hovers around 40-50C. I recently fitted the Noctua U12P and new thermal paste too.
 
I think a balanced setup is key, maybe your cooler is not getting enough cooler air.
At the moment you have 1 in and 4 outs, try changing the side fan to an intake and see if there is any change to your temps. Also try to tidy and cables that maybe blocking air flow. There are plenty of tutorials on youtube if you are unsure of any of this.
 
You should bare in mind that the idle temps will very dependent on the ambient room temperature as well. If it's fairly warm in the room, or near a radiator for example and the standard room temperature is say 25-30 degrees then the temperatures on the CPU will reflect this. 10 degrees hotter in the room, at least this on the CPU.

Someone with a low room temperature, say 15 degrees would expect much better cooling. Idle temps are always a slight grey area because of variables such as this, the overclock level, the cooler and fan speeds - a lot can change to affect it. I would personally say anything below 45 degrees is acceptable, but as nick said low 30s or below are ideal.

As for high temperatures don't be too worried if you're seeing 60+ on load as they do tend to get hot when overclocked, but you want it as low as possible.

I'd personally set the side fan to be intake, I always do intake on front/side, out on the rear/top. If you have a heatsink with side mounted fans you want to keep that direction of air flow (cold in at the front, feeding the cpu and hard drives, hot out the back).
 
Back
Top Bottom