TPU's Core i7 Overclocking and Feedback

[t_ski]

A lot of the voltage settings were set manually off of what the Auto settings were reading.

And yes, this is your chip (and your ram). Binge, if you have the time, I would greatly appreciate any notes you might have on this chip and ram.

 

[Binge]

Yep, not a problem.

Genie BIOS Setting

CPU Feature
Set VR Current Limit Max: Enabled
Thermal Management Control: Disabled
EIST Function: Enabled
CxE Function: Disabled
Execute Disable Bit: Disabled
Virtualization Technology: Disabled
TDC Enable: Disabled
x TDC Limit: 0
TDP Enable: Disabled
x TDP Limit: 0

***** Logical Processor Setting *****
Intel HT Technology: Enabled
Active Processor Cores: All

DRAM Timing
Memory Control Setting: AUTO
Memory LowGap: 1536M

DRAM Command Rate: 1N
CAS Latency Time (tCL): 8
RAS# to CAS# Delay (tRCD): 8
RAS# Precharge (tRP): 8
Precharge Delay (tRAS): 21
REF to ACT Delay (tRFC): AUTO
Write to PRE Delay (tWR): AUTO
Rank Write to Read (tWTR): AUTO
ACT to ACT Delay (tRRD): AUTO
Row Cycle Time (tRC): AUTO
Read CAS# Precharge (tRTP): AUTO
Four ACT WIN Time (tFAW): AUTO

Voltage Setting
O.C. Shut Down Free: Enable O.C.S.D.F
CPU VID Control: 1.400V
CPU VID Special Add Limit: Disabled
CPU VID Special Add: Auto
Vcore Droop Control: Disabled
DRAM Bus Voltage: 1.665v
DRAM PWM Switch Frequency: Decrease 15%
DRAM PWM Phase Control: 2 Phase Operation
CPU VTT Special Add: AUTO
CPU VTT Voltage: 1.26v
VTT PWM Switch Frequency: Increase 30%
VTT PWM Phase Control: 2 Phase Operation
CPU PLL Voltage: 1.80v
IOH/ICH 1.1V Voltage: 1.21v
IOH Analog Voltage: 1.15v
ICH 1.5 Voltage: 1.7v
ICH 1.05V Voltage: 1.05v
DIMM 1/2 DQ/DQSTB Bus VREF: -00.0%
DIMM 3/4 DQ/DQSTB Bus VREF: -00.0%
DIMM 5/6 DQ/DQSTB Bus VREF: -00.0%
ADDR/CMD VREF Control: Disabled
x DIMM 1/2 ADDR/CMD Bus VREF: 110
x DIMM 3/4 ADDR/CMD Bus VREF: 110
x DIMM 5/6 ADDR/CMD Bus VREF: 110
CPU QPI Drive Strength: Normal
IOH QPI Drive Strength: Normal

Exit Setup Shut down: Mode 2
O.C. Fail Retry Counter: Enabled
O.C. Fail CMOS Reload: Disabled

PPM Function: Enabled
Turbo Mode Function: Enabled
1 core Max Turbo Ratio: 22x
2 core Max Turbo Ratio: 21x
3 core Max Turbo Ratio: 21x
4 core Max Turbo Ratio: 21x
CPU Non-Turbo Clock Ratio: 20x

* BCLK/UCLK/QPI Controller Settings *
QPI Control Settings: Enabled
QPI Link Fast Mode: Enabled
QPI Frequency: AUTO
CPU Base Clock (BCLK): 200 Mhz
Boot Up CPU Base Clock: AUTO
PCIE Clock: 100 Mhz
DRAM Frequency: 1600MHz
UnCore Frequency: 3466MHz

CPU Spread Spectrum: Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum: Disabled

You won't have to change things like PWM frequency with your board if I'm not mistaken, but those were my 24/7 settings. Any other questions you might have just shoot me a PM or contact me on MSN.

 

[Chicken Patty]

hey binge, so what stable settings did you end up with dude. I might be getting a DFI board really soon bro. Just wanna see more or less what I can expect. You've been a bit quite lately so I dont know if you've had some new results or what.

 

[Binge]

I've been without a chip for a week, soon to be two. The highest I was able to get was 4.55GHz but that was purely because of my chip and cooling.

 

[SystemViper]

I've been without a chip for a week, soon to be two. The highest I was able to get was 4.55GHz but that was purely because of my chip and cooling.

plus mad skillz....

 

[Binge]

plus mad skillz....

I keep forgetting that it is actually a challenge sometimes

 

[Chicken Patty]

im more interested in your daily settings though. What were you able to do?

and why are you without a CPU bro, i havent been following up much on this thread lately. Sorry if Missed your post.

 

[Binge]

My daily was 200x21 or 4.2GHz. I sold my cpu to T-Ski

 

[Chicken Patty]

My daily was 200x21 or 4.2GHz. I sold my cpu to T-Ski

oh cool. didnt know that, you sold him a damn good CPU.

how much voltage for 4.2 GHz. I ran that daily for a bit, but needed like 1.44v for it to be stable. i rather run 4ghz @ 1.32v.

 

[Binge]

1.4V for daily use. 1.418V when BIONC to be safe with HT on of course. With some of the energy saving features of my board I was able to get it 24/7 stable @ 1.21V at 4.2GHz, but it would ramp up to 1.4V sometimes under load.

 

[Chicken Patty]

1.4V for daily use. 1.418V when BIONC to be safe with HT on of course. With some of the energy saving features of my board I was able to get it 24/7 stable @ 1.21V at 4.2GHz, but it would ramp up to 1.4V sometimes under load.

I'll be talking to you a bit more when I get the board. My buddy is building an i7 rig shortly. I told him to save a few bucks and buy my board, hes not into overclocking or anything, he just wants a fast computer, that can game etc. He saw my i7 and he just kinda wants one too!

so i will give him my EVGA board for a good price, then pay the difference for the DFI. Can't complain, not a bad deal for neither of us.

 

[Tatty_Two]

DRAM is higher than it needs to be and my cpu VTT was 1.26V for 4.2GHz and if you're using my chip you can actually kill your OC by going over 1.26V unless you're pushing for over 4.4GHz.

Yup, from what I have read, CPU Vtt should be as close to VCore as possible.

 

[t_ski]

I've been without a chip for a week, soon to be two. The highest I was able to get was 4.55GHz but that was purely because of my chip and cooling.

I assume this was with the Heatkiller and the Mo-ra? I don't think I'll be able to push it anywhere close to that, at least for a little while. The chip with my Noctua NH-U12P is starting to max out around 70C running at 3.8 GHz. Still messing with the settings, though, so I'll have to punch in your old settings and see what it does then.

 

[Tatty_Two]

I assume this was with the Heatkiller and the Mo-ra? I don't think I'll be able to push it anywhere close to that, at least for a little while. The chip with my Noctua NH-U12P is starting to max out around 70C running at 3.8 GHz. Still messing with the settings, though, so I'll have to punch in your old settings and see what it does then.

Maybe i really did get a lucky chip then! ...... at least on air.

 

[Baer]

3.64 (i7 920) is as high as I can get with Hyper Threading enabled without getting Temps over the mid 70's at 100% load. I can get to 3.8 but I have to boost the voltage and therefore the temps go higher than I am comfortable with. My CPU cooler is a Zalman 9900, this is the second one I have tried, the first one did not cool as well but this one is 10 degrees lower.

 

[Binge]

I assume this was with the Heatkiller and the Mo-ra? I don't think I'll be able to push it anywhere close to that, at least for a little while. The chip with my Noctua NH-U12P is starting to max out around 70C running at 3.8 GHz. Still messing with the settings, though, so I'll have to punch in your old settings and see what it does then.

I also had the same settings with a GTZ and PA 120.3. Still I see what you mean. You can lower your qpi from what I saw you had it.

 

[Binge]

D0 Candy

 

[SystemViper]

BAM, your always got the sHIZZLE


GREAT WORK BINGE!

 

[Tatty_Two]

D0 Candy

http://img.techpowerup.org/090427/i7pwn.jpg

Very nice candy! me want some

 

[Chicken Patty]

so where did you buy this candy binge

Great work dude.

 

[Conflict0s]

Finally I decided I would do some overclocking tonight for my first time with the i7, I have been reading as much as I can about it and when I looked in my Bios at the voltages, I noticed my cpu was at 1.37 :/ and I was only running at 2.66Ghz also my temps were in the 60-70deg on load which bothered me as I hadn't overclocked at all, so at the moment I just bumped up my base clock to 150, LOWERD my voltage to 1.3 and now I am running Prime95 for 30 minutes and then I think I am going to bump it up some more if everything goes well.

Am I doing ok at the moment guys? anything I should be careful of? I am kind of nervous but excited also

 

[Binge]

Finally I decided I would do some overclocking tonight for my first time with the i7, I have been reading as much as I can about it and when I looked in my Bios at the voltages, I noticed my cpu was at 1.37 :/ and I was only running at 2.66Ghz also my temps were in the 60-70deg on load which bothered me as I hadn't overclocked at all, so at the moment I just bumped up my base clock to 150, LOWERD my voltage to 1.3 and now I am running Prime95 for 30 minutes and then I think I am going to bump it up some more if everything goes well.

Am I doing ok at the moment guys? anything I should be careful of? I am kind of nervous but excited also

You should be careful of being so nervous... you're more prone to make silly mistakes when you aren't simply observant. Keep experimenting and keep good records of your progress so you can retrace your footsteps. All the information you gave us was pretty unorganized and your questions are entirely relative to opinion.

Have fun man, and your temps are as normal as I can assume. Nobody likes how hot the i7 can get. Y'know?

 

[Tatty_Two]

3.64 (i7 920) is as high as I can get with Hyper Threading enabled without getting Temps over the mid 70's at 100% load. I can get to 3.8 but I have to boost the voltage and therefore the temps go higher than I am comfortable with. My CPU cooler is a Zalman 9900, this is the second one I have tried, the first one did not cool as well but this one is 10 degrees lower.

Keep tweaking! Mine seems to be getting better with time, I can now just about run 4gig 24/7 with HT enabled on air 1.225v, highest temps after an hour of OCCT Small dataset is 61C, I can just about max bench now with HT disabled at 4.2gig on 1.325v, temps in OCCT are VERY near the "hmmmm whats burning" point but it manages 2006 and vantage OK.

 

[Tatty_Two]

Finally I decided I would do some overclocking tonight for my first time with the i7, I have been reading as much as I can about it and when I looked in my Bios at the voltages, I noticed my cpu was at 1.37 :/ and I was only running at 2.66Ghz also my temps were in the 60-70deg on load which bothered me as I hadn't overclocked at all, so at the moment I just bumped up my base clock to 150, LOWERD my voltage to 1.3 and now I am running Prime95 for 30 minutes and then I think I am going to bump it up some more if everything goes well.

Am I doing ok at the moment guys? anything I should be careful of? I am kind of nervous but excited also

Just enable HT, everything on auto to start with, set the multi at 19x and the bus at 191, when she boots at 3.6gig, check what VCore the board is giving the CPU on auto in CPU-Z and then see if you can reduce that in increments, once that is done, tweak your memory timings and move forward, it gets a bit harder from there as thats about the max most chips will do on auto. Ohhh the ram will be running at about 1520mhz at 3.6gig on auto so set DRAM voltage manually to say 1.6V.

 

[Conflict0s]

Ok thanks Binge, I am going to keep reading and get a better understanding

And also thanks Tatt One, I shall look into that.