What should I expect?

SS-89 · 5 Sep 2011 at 18:01

Well I was long overdue an upgrade so I purchased a used i7 920 D0 and 580GTX. After struggling to get a decent x58 board without paying new z68 prices I then decided that I would rather go Sandybridge. So here I am after dropping a not so insignificant amount on a SB setup.

My change:
Q6600 --> i5 2500k
P5ke --> Z68XP-UD4
4GB 800mhz DDR2 --> 8GB 1600mhz DDR3
GTX 470 --> GTX580 DCUII
Tuniq Tower 120 --> Noctua D14

I'm pleased! I bet you couldn't tell

Anyway enough background and to the question at hand. I've read some sandybridge OCing guides and I know 4.3-4.5GHZ is considered pretty standard overclock from even an average chip but realistically lets say I get a decent chip. What is the maximum overclock I should really consider based on my cooler? Also, again if I get a decent processor what ballpark figures for Vcore would you consider to be representative of a very good clocker? I.e. is 1.3v at a stable 4.8GHZ considered good? Apologies for the noob like questions but I've only ever overclocked on older generation intel cpus and it seems to be a completely different ball game with sandybridge.

Boiled down to one succint sentence: How do I know if I have a good chip?

setter · 5 Sep 2011 at 18:16

You will only find out how good it is once you start overclocking it. Purely luck of the draw how any cpu will oc, the exception being if you buy one secondhand that is proven to be a good clocker.

SS-89 · 5 Sep 2011 at 18:23

I obviously undertand that but what is the measurement of a good clocker? like I said is there a standard voltage and OC that people agree is representative of a good chip? For example do average 2500k's get to 4.5GHZ @ 1.35v but good clockers get to 4.5GHZ @ 1.25v?

buzzlightweight · 5 Sep 2011 at 18:43

SS-89 said:
I obviously undertand that but what is the measurement of a good clocker? like I said is there a standard voltage and OC that people agree is representative of a good chip? For example do average 2500k's get to 4.5GHZ @ 1.35v but good clockers get to 4.5GHZ @ 1.25v?

its all dependant on your chip i have got my i7 2600k (with HT switched off, basiclly and i5) to 5GHz @ 1.39v and 4.7GHz @ 1.31v

its luck of the draw mate

SS-89 · 5 Sep 2011 at 18:53

Thanks as I said I know it is luck of the draw but I just wanted a rough estimate of what is considered good so I know how to measure if I have a decent clocker. I now have something to aim for so I think if I can get 4.6 @1.3v I would be pretty happy.

ukbilleh · 6 Sep 2011 at 00:35

Very much so luck of the draw cpu / board etc etc relative.

To give you an idea I have a p8p67 m-pro and i5 2500k oc @ 4.7Ghz @ 1.4v vcore to keep it stable. Yes it runs quite hot but my cooling isn't great with an artic freezer 13 and a small fractal 1000 case. In prime it can get up to 89c/90c max. I think I could get more out of the multiplier alone but I'll leave it till I get some better cooling.

Hope that helps anyway.