# i7 2600k (stock intel cooler) overclock?



## twicksisted (Jun 13, 2011)

My new i7 arrives tomorrow and i have no experience with them execpt in having used them in some recent builds ive done for people. 
For now I could only afford the i7 CPU, Ram & Mobo so the aftermarket cooler will have to wait till next month. (I'm likely to go for the Corsair H100/H80 next month as they look pretty good and should cool better than the H70).

Few questions:

- What safe level could i overclock the 2600k to with the stock intel cooler?
- What safe voltage (if any) can i use with the stock cooler?
- What average speed do people get with the i7 2600k overclocking with no voltage increase?

By safe level I mean safe maximum load temps in prime95


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## twicksisted (Jun 13, 2011)

no one?

Well i guess ill have it in my grubby hands tomorrow so i can see for myself. I'm happy with around 70c load temps (prime95) with stock cooler, so i guess that will be the answer to my overclock question till i get a decent cooler for it


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## LordJummy (Jun 13, 2011)

All that matters are the temps. However, the stock intel coolers are somewhat unreliable. Their plastic push-pins aren't the most secure thing in the world. I've seen their heatsinks come loose because the pins popped them selves out!

Just make sure it's very secure and you should be fine as long as you have temps under control 

Remember; it is not recommended. You could easily overheat your proc if something goes wrong. There are some $20 air coolers out there that will work much much better. I would just wait to OC it until you have the money to get a legit cooler. *I know what it's like though. I am very impatient*


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## mlee49 (Jun 13, 2011)

Start here:
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=137670

I want a report on my desk by Friday.


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## bogmali (Jun 13, 2011)

Stock cooler should be good up to 4Ghz (YMMV), anything higher would require aftermarket air cooler, all in one self-contained loop, or custom water setup.


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## Crap Daddy (Jun 13, 2011)

I would not recommend at all to overclock with the stock cooler on SB. Try first to run prime with intel heatsink at stock clocks, auto voltage. You'll be shocked.


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## Widjaja (Jun 13, 2011)

LordJummy said:


> All that matters are the temps. However, the stock intel coolers are somewhat unreliable. Their plastic push-pins aren't the most secure thing in the world. I've seen their heatsinks come loose because the pins popped them selves out!



Had my experiences with this situation.

Had people come in to work wondering why their computer shuts down shortly after loading, only to find the cooler had popped off in transit from source to destination.

In some of these situations I ave found the seller has installed the CPU cooler hastily and bent back one of the pins which lock the CPU cooler in place.

While it appears secure, it still is likely to drop off.


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## RejZoR (Jun 13, 2011)

Not worth it as it will be hitting 90°C quickly and it will sound like a jet engine. Any kind of aftermarket cooler will be better. Stock coolers are really made for factory frequency only. And even that is done on the limit of "good enough".


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## LordJummy (Jun 13, 2011)

Widjaja said:


> Had my experiences with this situation.
> 
> Had people come in to work wondering why their computer shuts down shortly after loading, only to find the cooler had popped off in transit from source to destination.
> 
> ...



I used to run two datacenters, and one had well over 3500 servers live at any given moment with approximately 10-100 added each week. During the 6 years managing the place I had countless servers overheat from techs who did poor build jobs. Often times the intel heat sinks were not installed correctly, and one of the clips would pop out. The other main point of failure was the techs not applying the tim compound properly, or not at all in some cases.

Human error accounts for most of the problems, but then again I've had an intel stock heatsink pop a clip or two on me for no reason on a stationary home server. I just don't trust a plastic clip that can easily be damaged or come undone. I don't know why anyone thinks it's okay to use that to protect their several hundred dollar processor. 

TLDR; get a good CPU cooler XD


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## Sasqui (Jun 13, 2011)

LordJummy said:


> All that matters are the temps. However, the stock intel coolers are somewhat unreliable. Their plastic push-pins aren't the most secure thing in the world. I've seen their heatsinks come loose because the pins popped them selves out!



Yea, like others say, it's hit or miss.  The most important thing to check is that the white outer parts of the pins to the lip, are all the way through the back of the board, then press the inner lock pin and make sure they are all the way through and secure.


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## Widjaja (Jun 13, 2011)

LordJummy said:


> I used to run two datacenters, and one had well over 3500 servers live at any given moment with approximately 10-100 added each week. During the 6 years managing the place I had countless servers overheat from techs who did poor build jobs. Often times the intel heat sinks were not installed correctly, and one of the clips would pop out. The other main point of failure was the techs not applying the tim compound properly, or not at all in some cases.
> 
> Human error accounts for most of the problems, but then again I've had an intel stock heatsink pop a clip or two on me for no reason on a stationary home server. I just don't trust a plastic clip that can easily be damaged or come undone. I don't know why anyone thinks it's okay to use that to protect their several hundred dollar processor.
> 
> TLDR; get a good CPU cooler XD



Yeah I agree.
Even techs who have been formally trained in IT yet have not worked with the horrible push pin CPU coolers can poorly install these.

I still remember my first time installing one of these without taking a close look at the mechanism.
Pressing down hard on the CPU cooler wondering why the **** the cooler isn't clicking place!
Thumbs going red, bending on a 90deg shaking away. 

Jut have to make sure each clip mechanism on the CPU cooler has been set to clip over the hinge on the white part of each pin before installing the cooler so it will lock in place otherwise you will be in my situation.

So when uninstalling twist across, pull up, and then make sure you twist back the mechanism so the cooler will lock in place again. 

Another thing I have noticed with Intel's stock heat sinks is how much shorter they had become since their first release.
I suppose they have been designed this way for ITX and other cases with minimal space.


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## LordJummy (Jun 13, 2011)

Widjaja said:


> Yeah I agree.
> Even techs who have been formally trained in IT yet have not worked with the horrible push pin CPU coolers can poorly install these.
> 
> I still remember my first time installing one of these without taking a close look at the mechanism.
> ...



You would be seriously amazed at what some of my techs managed to screw up during my time at that particular company. I now work with much more informed techs in my new business, thank god.

At one point we were re-cabling the entire DC. That included the fiber running from our core routers to all of the switches throughout the DC under the floor tiles. This was a live environment so we had to cut the old fiber and hook in the new fiber within seconds. This also had to be done all at once, and very late at night, or early in the morning. One of the techs who was there had only one job: to cut the old fiber when it was time to put in the new fiber. He did as he was told throughout most of the job and everything went fine. Well at one point I guess he was getting delirious or something and when I told him to cut the fiber he cut the WRONG fiber. He cut a 10Gigabit fiber uplink from our upstream provider as well as several fiber uplinks that were still live to our VIP racks. That single cut cost several hundred thousand dollars in SLA fees.

I know this is off topic, but I just wanted to point out how human error happens all the time. The results can be disastrous.

Oh, and he was fired immediately. 2 months later I got a call from a company who he applied for asking me if he was a competent employee. He had also lied to them and said he quit. He still had the nerve to use me as a reference...


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## Crap Daddy (Jun 13, 2011)

Well, due to the fact that I was dissapointed with what the intel heatsink was capable in terms of cooling under turbo circumstances - didn't plan to overclock and the stock was quiet and easy to install - I decided to go with an aftermarket one. Wasn't too keen to get down the board for backplates so I got a CM Hyper TX3 from a PC shop which happened to be on my way to a certain meeting. Now this cooler has the infamous push pins. To cut the long story short, everything went like a dream, now I have 28 C at desktop 1600 MHz and did a mild overclock - could not restrain myself - to 4200 MHz and after half an hour of handbrake encoding - 100% load - the temps barely reach 60 with the cooler fan at 60%. Amazing.

Oh, before with stock intel heatsink, no OC - same handbrake encoding the temps went quite above 80C and while at idle I had 32 C


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## RejZoR (Jun 13, 2011)

Bolt through attach kits with backplate are the only way to go imo. It's not like you change the coolers all the time once you buy a good one. Same reason why i stick with Thermalright AXP-140 for so long. Sure its one of the rare low profile coolers but the attaching mechanism is great. Or the one on Akasa Evo Blue cooler. Everything screwed together. No push pin nonsense or fancy clips. This way you can get great pressure force and 100% stability.


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## twicksisted (Jun 13, 2011)

thanks guys... I have my eye on the new Corsair H100 or H80 self contained wc kits but will have to wait till ive sold my current mobo, chip, cooler to buy that... 

tomorrow the new i7 arrives and and im itching to play with it a bit.

On my old Q6600 G0 i overclocked safely to 3ghz on the stock cooler when i first got it the temps in prime95 were totally fine... just wanted a rough idea of where i could go with it as I heard that 4ghz with stock voltage is pretty much safe.


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## twicksisted (Jun 15, 2011)

Thought id post up some pics of the upgrade... (good excuse to post some piccies of my new fave toy lol)



























Excuse the bad cabling and dust in the last pic... im not going to cable tidy till i got my H100 cooler... so today was a wuick 20 min install


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