# Overclocking Xeon 2690(v2)



## ExalyThor (Apr 22, 2020)

Hello! I was thinking about building a x79 system (don't ask me why) and as you know you are limited on that platform to only 6 cores... with i7s. Xeons can go higher. The 2690 sandy 8c and 2690v2 ivy 10c seem like the best options... But how to oc them? Can the i7 3820 trick be used for these cpus as well?


----------



## Zyll Goliat (Apr 22, 2020)

You can OC via BCLK IF you have decent X79 motherboard I am running my Xeon 2650 V2 OC on 3,4Ghz(all cores)+ turbo 3860Ghz.....





This Xeon 2650 V2 stocked clock is 2,6Ghz turbo boost 3,4 so I managed to rise the BCLK/Bus speed on 113.5 here bellow is how much more points making in CPU-z benchmark compared to the stocked CPU


----------



## ExalyThor (Apr 22, 2020)

Zyll Goliath said:


> You can OC via BCLK IF you have decent X79 motherboard I am running my Xeon 2650 V2 OC on 3,4Ghz(all cores)+ turbo 3860Ghz.....
> 
> View attachment 152443


Nice... But you can't run 125 baseclock and a random multiplier? How the 3820 could be overclocked was that the bclk would only affect the clock speed if you selected the 100, 125, 166 and 250 options.


----------



## Zyll Goliat (Apr 22, 2020)

ExalyThor said:


> Nice... But you can't run 125 baseclock and a random multiplier? How the 3820 could be overclocked was that the bclk would only affect the clock speed if you selected the 100, 125, 166 and 250 options.


No can't work like with I7 3820....This Xeons are locked so you can't change the multiplier you can only rise BCLK...If you want unlocked Xeons then go for 16xx series...the BEST option is 1680 V2 it's still a BEAST but that piece of silicon is not yet cheap.......


----------



## ExalyThor (Apr 22, 2020)

Sad. But a friend told me the e5 16xx family exists. The 1680v2 a fully unlocked 8 core ivy. I would have loved to have the 10 core... but the 8 core will do just fine.


----------



## Zyll Goliat (Apr 22, 2020)

ExalyThor said:


> Sad. But a friend told me the e5 16xx family exists. The 1680v2 a fully unlocked 8 core ivy. I would have loved to have the 10 core... but the 8 core will do just fine.


It is what it is.........depend what is the main purpose of your build is it just for gaming.....what GPU you planing to put in that RIG?


----------



## ExalyThor (Apr 22, 2020)

Honestly I just want something to play with without throwing it in the bin after I'm done.


----------



## guidoferreira (Jun 24, 2020)

Zyll Goliath said:


> You can OC via BCLK IF you have decent X79 motherboard I am running my Xeon 2650 V2 OC on 3,4Ghz(all cores)+ turbo 3860Ghz.....
> 
> View attachment 152443
> This Xeon 2650 V2 stocked clock is 2,6Ghz turbo boost 3,4 so I managed to rise the BCLK/Bus speed on 113.5 here bellow is how much more points making in CPU-z benchmark compared to the stocked CPU
> View attachment 152444



Greetings from Brazil, i have a XEON 2650v2 STOCK runing on a KLLISRE x79 and i need to know how to change BCLK, my motherboard dont show this option to me.
And, what motherboard are you using?


----------



## Zyll Goliat (Jun 24, 2020)

guidoferreira said:


> Greetings from Brazil, i have a XEON 2650v2 STOCK runing on a KLLISRE x79 and i need to know how to change BCLK, my motherboard dont show this option to me.
> And, what motherboard are you using?


Unfortunately I am afraid you can't do that on those Chinese or certain server motherboards you need some "branded" X79 motherboard with proper bios tweaking/options and those used boards are probably still very expensive........GL


----------



## weesok (Aug 7, 2020)

guidoferreira said:


> Greetings from Brazil, i have a XEON 2650v2 STOCK runing on a KLLISRE x79 and i need to know how to change BCLK, my motherboard dont show this option to me.
> And, what motherboard are you using?


 Actually you can overclock BUS on these motherboards


----------



## storm-chaser (Aug 9, 2020)

ExalyThor said:


> Honestly I just want something to play with without throwing it in the bin after I'm done.


If you want something fun yet still very powerful and affordable, you might consider a dual socket HP z820 workstation. This was HP's high end business offering back in 2012-2013 and with the right chips (which are relatively cheap on ebay at this point) they are still a force to be reckoned with. *This machine does not have much in the way of competition. Even now, most state of the art rigs dont even come close to matching it in memory bandwidth...or CPU power for that matter. Obviously it needs to have both sockets populated to achieve this. 




*

In order to

It was pretty much the cream of the crop for a number of years when it first hit the market. Dell has their own workstation equivalent, but is nowhere near as aesthetically pleasing on the eyes as the 820. In fact, I don't like the dell styling at all.











The computer is innovative and even groundbreaking in a number of respects. First of all, it's a 100% tool free design. Meaning everything locks or snaps into place and you can essentially disassemble the entire rig without the use of a Philips head screwdriver, or any other tool for that matter. This makes upgrading hardware, or troubleshooting a problem a real breeze. For example. It literally takes about one second to remove the CPU cooler hood that sits atop the sockets. And don't think for one second that HP was cutting corners by having "snap on" components. No, this is very high level stuff operating at a very high level of performance.

Speaking of air flow, the z820 also has one of the best cooling systems ever put to use in a workstation computer and includes active cooling on all 16 ram slots plus a high quality 80mm PWM fan above each CPU. As you probably know, many servers in the wild use segregated channels to route fresh air through specific "corridors" within the chassis...and the cooling potential is very good so long as you can keep a steady rate of fresh air coming in. It's more or less the same in the z820, only it's much more quiet than a server. And in point of fact, quieter than most desktops as well...

z820 CPU channel and hood:


In addition to that, and to give you a complete understanding of the level of performance of this cooler, you can completely lose a 80mm fan (and I'm talking about the fans that sit directly above the CPUs here) and you can still use the machine aggressively. For example, my testing revealed that after multiple CB 15/20 runs, the chip with no active cooling amazingly holds at about 165*F. Still well below the 212*F ceiling. How can this be possible, you might be asking yourself...? And it's simple. The CPUs and their associated heatsinks sit directly in the path of an airflow channel;. Starts in the 5.25" drive bay area by pulling fresh air through the front bezel, then the air flows over both CPU coolers (which are offset) and subsequently exhausts via the two 80 mm PWM fans at the back of the case, In other words, HP has built redundancy into an already exceptionally high performance, balanced cooling solution. *This is not something you see every day.* So you have near perfect airflow in this case, which is another thing to add to the pros list. One other thing. it has a 1125w (up to 1250w) PSU, and lots of PCIe expansion shots to allow for upgrades and modifications down the road. Had no problem putting my massive 5700 XT in there, with room to spare.






And you wouldn't know by using it that the case actually contains six 80 mm fans. To give you an example of the supreme operational quietness of the z820, I can run CB extreme or CB R20 and in many cases the fans dont even move from idle. It's pretty crazy. *I've never seen anything like that, ever.* In fact the most I've seen out of the fans is about 20%, and even then the fan noise is still pretty faint. You also have options in the BIOS to ramp up your fans a little quicker if you are really hammering it.

Leading to the radiators. Yes the machine had a factory watercooling option, which makes it a very unique kind of machine with a significant place in the histories of technology. Plus the rig caught my eye with it's beautiful brushed aluminum finish and I immediately knew I had to get one and put in my computer collection. So I bought two of them! lol

Surprisingly, these little 80 mm coolers have huge capacity for heat dissipation. Even with the power hungry  Xeon 150w E5 2687w ( Intel's fastest 8 core Ivy bridge) you still cant hit the ceiling. Very robust, to say the least. That's essentially 300 watts of heat being dissipated by a mere 160 mm worth of radiator. See for yourself:






I will be back later to fill you in on my CPU recommendations.

Hint:
OEM Ivy Bridge > RETAIL Ivy Bridge


I am running the E5 2673 v











2696 v2





But short answer to your question? No, cant do much in the way of overclocking on these Xeons as already mentioned (at least on a z820. Although, if we pool our money together I'm sure we could have someone over at bios-mods.com help us out with custom BIOS or something like that. Seeing how CPU cooler itself is almost perfectly designed for pretty serious overclocking, that would be a thrilling upgrade.

Due to the fact you have limited headroom to OC, it's important to select CPUs that will compensate for that lost potential. What I mean is you want to get a CPU with a relatively high turbo or base clock for optimal results. You probably already know this, but I just wanted to put it out there. 

Okay, I will take off my sell-you-a-z820 hat now


----------

