Overclocking old i7-930 and it's getting hot

Triggaaar · 21 Jan 2019 at 18:43

I've got an i7-930, which I've had from new (when they were out). My cooler is the Corsair Hydro H50 (fitted since new).
I had overclocked it in the past, but after installing some dodgy memory many years ago, I left it at stock after I removed the memory (as I needed stability more than speed). Now I'd like a bit more speed, so I've been running tests again, following the handy guides I used before.

To start with I set it to 21 * 160 BCLK = 3.36 GHz, with a voltage of 1.1
According to the guide, running Prime95 should give temps around 60 to 65c. I was at 80c after 20 minutes (using RealTemp 3.7).

Regardless, I did some other test: 3.8GHz, 1.2125 V, getting temps up to 96. I got a BSOD before I cancelled the test.

I'm now at 3.57 GHz, 1.15625 V (I haven't tweaked it, I just tried that) and got temps of up to 90 after 1 hour of Prime95.

Is the problem most likely to be:
a) a malfunctioning cooler
b) just the way it goes with an old CPU
c) a poor connection between the CPU and cooler (due to age)
d) something else

Other info:
Windows 10
Motherboard = Asus p6x58d-e
Case = CM 690 II Advanced
Fans = quite a few 120mm, all seem to be working
GC = RX 580
RAM = 18gb corsair DDR3
PSU = Super Flower Golden Green 650W '80 plus gold'

Thanks

mattyfez · 21 Jan 2019 at 19:29

Prime is pretty stressful, it's a very unnatural and prolonged load ... what temps do you reach with cinebench and realbench out of curiosity?

Triggaaar · 21 Jan 2019 at 19:34

Thanks for the reply.

mattyfez said:
Prime is pretty stressful, what temps do you reach with cinebench and realbench?

Er, never heard of them

Which should I try first?

Even though Prime might be a bit much, I know the temps weren't like that when I went to 4GHz some years ago, so something isn't performing as it should. Not that I want to spend too much time or money sorting it out

mattyfez · 21 Jan 2019 at 19:39

I'd run both cinebench (the CPU test within it) and Asus realbench and see what your max temps are.

If max temps when running those are better, I wouldn't worry too much.

If it's still too hot then the next step would be to remove the cooler and put new paste on.

Randomface74 · 21 Jan 2019 at 19:42

Check your voltages with CPU-Z are actually the voltages you expect them to be.

Pick a voltage based on your cooler's ability to keep it below a temperature you find comfortable.
Then get the best performance you can for that voltage.

Triggaaar · 21 Jan 2019 at 19:42

mattyfez said:
I'd run both cinebench (the CPU test within it) and Asus realbench and see what your max temps are.

If max temps when running those are better, I wouldn't worry too much.

If it's still too hot then the next step would be to remove the cooler and put new paste on.

Thank you!

Triggaaar · 21 Jan 2019 at 19:44

billysielu said:
Check your voltages with CPU-Z are actually the voltages you expect them to be.

They're not, they're lower. According to my notes, CPU-Z always reports a little lower than I set in the Bios. Which is accurate?

Regardless, that doesn't help my high temps (requiring new paste would I guess).

DarkHorizon472 · 21 Jan 2019 at 19:47

You are looking at the right things, another one to consider is how much dust is in your case while this affects air coolers more it does cause hot spots to form where the dust is. In my old machine blasting the case out with compressed air (a lot of dust in there) dropped the CPU temps by about 15C on the air cooler. I would check your H50 is working properly but first try new paste.

Triggaaar · 21 Jan 2019 at 19:52

DarkHorizon472 said:
You are looking at the right things, another one to consider is how much dust is in your case while this affects air coolers more it does cause hot spots to form where the dust is. In my old machine blasting the case out with compressed air (a lot of dust in there) dropped the CPU temps by about 15C on the air cooler.

It certainly was mighty dusty, but I had a reasonable go at it with a hand air pump thing (rocket blower), and a hoover running next to the case (I don't let it too close). I don't have compressed air.

I would check your H50 is working properly but first try new paste.

Not sure how to check the H50?

Thanks

Randomface74 · 21 Jan 2019 at 19:57

One test you can do is to see how quick the temps come down when you stop prime, shouldn't take long to return to idle temps.

mattyfez · 21 Jan 2019 at 19:59

Just don't use prime it's pointless.

Triggaaar · 21 Jan 2019 at 20:13

billysielu said:
One test you can do is to see how quick the temps come down when you stop prime, shouldn't take long to return to idle temps.

I haven't timed it, but it comes down reasonably well.

mattyfez said:
Just don't use prime it's pointless.

Oh. How come so many guides used it in the past? Was there just nothing better before?

mattyfez · 21 Jan 2019 at 20:20

Triggaaar said:
Oh. How come so many guides used it in the past? Was there just nothing better before?

Basically yes, it's an artifical 'tourture test'.

Your PC will never see that kind of load unless you're doing something extreme.

Triggaaar · 21 Jan 2019 at 20:48

mattyfez said:
Basically yes, it's an artifical 'tourture test'.

Your PC will never see that kind of load unless you're doing something extreme.

Thanks. I've just run CineBench, and got 552 cb, with temps of 63 to 66 c (across the 4 cores). The test didn't last long though.
I did an OpenGL test, which was unsurprisingly better, giving 64 fps.

I'm just downloading Asus RealBench.

From further reading I see that later versions of Prime95 (26.6 on) were resulting in very high temperatures (maybe an AVX problem), but my version was only 25.11, so I'm not sure that's the cause yet.

Randomface74 · 21 Jan 2019 at 20:53

Yeah actually, looking back at my old i7 920 overclocking thread, I used these settings:
CPU: 166 x 20 = 3.320 GHz @ 1.14v
And that was about 65C in prime with a crap cooler.

So your initial settings seem quite reasonable:
21 * 160 BCLK = 3.36 GHz, with a voltage of 1.1

Really don't know what the 80C is about tho...

mattyfez · 21 Jan 2019 at 21:09

Good results. Run real bench too, if you still get good results then sorted..

As I said, prime tests are a bit esoteric.

Triggaaar · 21 Jan 2019 at 21:49

mattyfez said:
Good results.

It would be if my OC was more than 3.57 GHz

Run real bench too, if you still get good results then sorted..

As I said, prime tests are a bit esoteric.

I've run RealBench - 15 minutes, using 16gb of RAM (I have 18, I wasn't sure what to set it to). Temps reached 80, 80, 82, 80.

I think that's a bit much for 3.57 GHz. I'll see if I can knock the voltage down a notch, but otherwise I'll stick with this until I can get some paste and re-fit the cooler.

Thanks all for your help, much appreciated