TPU's Core i7 Overclocking and Feedback

[shevanel]

yeah, i ran it up on intel burn and she tops out at about 67/68c with HT on HT off @ 1.28v

 

[Jakethesnake011]

Thats not bad at all for 4.0 right?

 

[shevanel]

yeah "not bad" but binge suggested I get a triple rad if I want to decrease my temps a little more.

I guess it really isnt bad for an Apogee Gt and a dual rad.

4000mhz i mean come on its i7

 

[Chicken Patty]

yeah "not bad" but binge suggested I get a triple rad if I want to decrease my temps a little more.

I guess it really isnt bad for an Apogee Gt and a dual rad.

4000mhz i mean come on its i7

there is never enough radiator for an i7, ask binge

 

[t_ski]

yeah, i ran it up on intel burn and she tops out at about 67/68c with HT on HT off @ 1.28v

I guess the effect is exponentially greater as the vcore and the raw speed get higher.

 

[Flak]

Still trying to decide between an i7 860 or i7 920 setup. If I went with the i7 920 how is the AsRock x58 Extreme?

 

[johnnyfiive]

idle 38-41C depending on the core, load 73C max HT off, HT on pushes 80-100C depending on the test. 4.2GHz

Bout the same exact temps my Noctua NH-U12P with 120x38mm Scythe 87cfm / 120x25 Scythe 87cfm push pull combo did. Also, my 920 is lapped.

Still trying to decide between an i7 860 or i7 920 setup. If I went with the i7 920 how is the AsRock x58 Extreme?

I vote 920. As for a good affordable i7 1366 board, find a premium open box one. I got a $290 ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 for $208 shipped and its been doing just fine.

 

[Jakethesnake011]

ASrock is a sister company of ASUS, thats all I know about them, so if it is the same quality then I would say it cant be too bad. I would Recommend a gigabyte x58 over anything with what I have worked with. Maybe a UD5, if you think thats much then a UD4, the overclocking options are amazing for the board, the UD5 I had did better than the Classified I have now, and the classified cost much more

 

[shevanel]

Still trying to decide between an i7 860 or i7 920 setup. If I went with the i7 920 how is the AsRock x58 Extreme?

i7 920/1366 all the way. upgradable to i9 later on... and the i7 920 is LOL fast..

ive owned a q9550 that clocked to 3.8 but the triple channel 1600mhz memory and i7 920 are just redic

there is no going back... if you have the itch to upgrade.. chose 920 for now and you will be satisfied.

 

[El Fiendo]

Hey, I recently OC'ed my i7 920 and I was wondering if I could get some feedback from you guys regarding load temps, voltages and the like. System specs are correct, except the heatsink is currently a TRUE with 2x NF-P12 fans.

I'll start with a slew of pictures.

BIOS voltage settings are:

CPU Vcore: 1.30625V
QPI/Vtt: 1.31500V
CPU PLL: 1.88000V
DRAM : 1.66000V (There is no 1.65 in my BIOS and its unstable at 1.64V)
IOH Core: 1.12000V
ICH Core: 1.10000V

Ok, now for the results. I have about 4 temperature reading programs installed, but I'll post up Realtemp and CPUID HwMonitor.

1 Hour of OCCT Linpack Stable

45min+ of Prime95

Ok, when I first got the system running stable, I was hitting temps between 84 and 86 on Core 0 on the Linpack test. There was still a 6-7 degree range between the hottest and cooolest core, and Prime 95 was still about 4-5 C cooler all around. After tweaking and testing voltages, I've lowered the temps to what you see now and I believe I've found my Vcore minimum and so far it seems all stable. I'll be leaving Prime95 to run for another 7ish hours though. Aside from what I've already lowered, I'm starting to run out of voltages to change.

Assuming its stable, are these acceptable temperatures for 4.01GHz on a TRUE? I've Googled it and there seems to be alot of differing opinion. However I have seen reviews where they show the NH-U12P keeping a 4.00GHz clock at 80, so my temps don't look too bad. My rig will be running 24/7 @100% load as it is my dedicated folder. I'm not currently able to get you F@H temps to see if they correspond with either of the benchmarks, though when I come back from watching the Grey Cup I should be able to post some up.

If I've forgotten anything, please list it and I'll do my best to answer all questions when I get home.


P.S. Thanks for the guide, Binge.

Edit: Realized I had changed the NH-U12P out for a TRUE last night, though the NH-U12P will be going back in tonight I think so I`ll have a comparison. Also, ambient temps are at and were around 19 C during the testing. Current TIM is Thermalright Chill Factor.

 

[Chicken Patty]

Hey, I recently OC'ed my i7 920 and I was wondering if I could get some feedback from you guys regarding load temps, voltages and the like. System specs are correct, except the heatsink is currently a TRUE with 2x NF-P12 fans.

I'll start with a slew of pictures.
http://img.techpowerup.org/091129/cpuz.pnghttp://img.techpowerup.org/091129/cpuzmem.png

BIOS voltage settings are:

CPU Vcore: 1.30625V
QPI/Vtt: 1.31500V
CPU PLL: 1.88000V
DRAM : 1.66000V (There is no 1.65 in my BIOS and its unstable at 1.64V)
IOH Core: 1.12000V
ICH Core: 1.10000V

Ok, now for the results. I have about 4 temperature reading programs installed, but I'll post up Realtemp and CPUID HwMonitor.

1 Hour of OCCT Linpack Stable
http://img.techpowerup.org/091129/occtlinpackhwmon.pnghttp://img.techpowerup.org/091129/occtlinpackrealtemp.png

45min+ of Prime95
http://img.techpowerup.org/091129/prime95hwmon.pnghttp://img.techpowerup.org/091129/prime95realtemp.png


Ok, when I first got the system running stable, I was hitting temps between 84 and 86 on Core 0 on the Linpack test. There was still a 6-7 degree range between the hottest and cooolest core, and Prime 95 was still about 4-5 C cooler all around. After tweaking and testing voltages, I've lowered the temps to what you see now and I believe I've found my Vcore minimum and so far it seems all stable. I'll be leaving Prime95 to run for another 7ish hours though. Aside from what I've already lowered, I'm starting to run out of voltages to change.

Assuming its stable, are these acceptable temperatures for 4.01GHz on a TRUE? I've Googled it and there seems to be alot of differing opinion. However I have seen reviews where they show the NH-U12P keeping a 4.00GHz clock at 80, so my temps don't look too bad. My rig will be running 24/7 @100% load as it is my dedicated folder. I'm not currently able to get you F@H temps to see if they correspond with either of the benchmarks, though when I come back from watching the Grey Cup I should be able to post some up.

If I've forgotten anything, please list it and I'll do my best to answer all questions when I get home.


P.S. Thanks for the guide, Binge.

Edit: Realized I had changed the NH-U12P out for a TRUE last night, though the NH-U12P will be going back in tonight I think so I`ll have a comparison. Also, ambient temps are at and were around 19 C during the testing. Current TIM is Thermalright Chill Factor.

everything seems fine bro, i7's run really hot so those temps are not bad at all for air. 4Ghz at that voltage is pretty good too. I ran 4.1Ghz @ 1.252v load. However, I would rather you test for stability with LinX or OCCT Lin Pack. They stress better than Prime, that's why prime runs cooler. But you are doing good man.

 

[Binge]

Those temps are perfectly fine for a 920. I'd say 80C+ is the worry zone. On water I use much higher OCs and those temps (mid 60s-70s) were not a problem for stability and did not show wear on my system.

Your 4.0GHz OC is quite nice for the voltages, and the temps are acceptable.

 

[Chicken Patty]

Those temps are perfectly fine for a 920. I'd say 80C+ is the worry zone. On water I use much higher OCs and those temps (mid 60s-70s) were not a problem for stability and did not show wear on my system.

Your 4.0GHz OC is quite nice for the voltages, and the temps are acceptable.

I still remember when I hit 105ºc during a wprime run on the stock cooler. Is that still considered the worry zone?

 

[SK-1]

I still remember when I hit 105ºc during a wprime run on the stock cooler. Is that still considered the worry zone?

At 105+, the electrons in your CPU are thinking about committing suicide.

 

[Chicken Patty]

At 105+, the electrons in your CPU are thinking about committing suicide.

Thank god I the run ended soon enough before they really did so

 

[El Fiendo]

Those temps are perfectly fine for a 920. I'd say 80C+ is the worry zone. On water I use much higher OCs and those temps (mid 60s-70s) were not a problem for stability and did not show wear on my system.

Your 4.0GHz OC is quite nice for the voltages, and the temps are acceptable.

Thank you. I'd figured that I was probably safe with those temperatures, though the few naysayers made me wonder. Since that post, I've had to bump the Vcore back up a notch but the temperatures seem to be about the same. I suspect I'll be pissing around with this thing for the next few days / weeks to get it just right.

I am however pleased with how stable its been at these lower voltages, even after its just BSODed. At first I wasn't able to get anything to last longer than 7 minutes until I pushed 1.4 volts through the CPU. After that I dropped it .5 and was 28+ hours stable until I started lowering voltages again.

 

[Chicken Patty]

Thank you. I'd figured that I was probably safe with those temperatures, though the few naysayers made me wonder. Since that post, I've had to bump the Vcore back up a notch but the temperatures seem to be about the same. I suspect I'll be pissing around with this thing for the next few days / weeks to get it just right.

I am however pleased with how stable its been at these lower voltages, even after its just BSODed. At first I wasn't able to get anything to last longer than 7 minutes until I pushed 1.4 volts through the CPU. After that I dropped it .5 and was 28+ hours stable until I started lowering voltages again.

so what are you at now?

 

[El Fiendo]

1.3125 in BIOS, CPUZ reads 1.216 (still??). Also, it fluctuates to 1.232, but I've read that fluctuation is normal.

Prime95 mirrors the temperature results from above, and I run OCCT: Linpack after Prime because it usually runs hotter and harder than Prime. I'm giving it 5 more minutes (15 minutes total) on Prime before I hit it with the full hour long Linpack test.

I suspect Linpack will give me the same results as above considering Prime95 is currently giving the same, and its a very minor CPU VCore bump.

 

[Chicken Patty]

1.3125 in BIOS, CPUZ reads 1.216 (still??). Also, it fluctuates to 1.232, but I've read that fluctuation is normal.

Prime95 mirrors the temperature results from above, and I run OCCT: Linpack after Prime because it usually runs hotter and harder than Prime. I'm giving it 5 more minutes (15 minutes total) on Prime before I hit it with the full hour long Linpack test.

I suspect Linpack will give me the same results as above considering Prime95 is currently giving the same, and its a very minor CPU VCore bump.

Oh ok, I had seen you say something about 1.4v so i freaked out You've done a great job bro. You going to try to shoot higher?

 

[El Fiendo]

I might have to assemble a second i7. I've already got the second chip. That way I won't feel guilty taking it offline to Overclock. Win win (if you disregard my wallet).

I'll probably try 200 x 20 (perhaps 21 with turbo if I leave it on) again, though I wasn't able to get it close to anything stable when I first started. Now that I've figured out a few things I may put it through some paces before setting it to work.

 

[Chicken Patty]

I might have to assemble a second i7. I've already got the second chip. That way I won't feel guilty taking it offline to Overclock. Win win (if you disregard my wallet).

I'll probably try 200 x 20 (perhaps 21 with turbo if I leave it on) again, though I wasn't able to get it close to anything stable when I first started. Now that I've figured out a few things I may put it through some paces before setting it to work.

Yeah bro, the x58 platform has many different little settings that are new to Intel. CPU overclocks a bit differently since the memory controller is now on the CPU. But once you learn it you'll see it's not all that hard.

 

[El Fiendo]

Alright! I believe I've found some stability. It's been running for a day and a half straight at 100% load. I opened up my VMWare clients so that I could test folding stability and found that my temperatures at 100% folding are between 63 C - 71 C from coolest core to hottest core. I'll be pissing around with voltages a bit more this weekend, but I'm very happy with this OC so far.

I have to be careful because as soon as I started thinking of making a second i7 to overclock, I started thinking about water cooling. :shadedshu

 

[Chicken Patty]

Alright! I believe I've found some stability. It's been running for a day and a half straight at 100% load. I opened up my VMWare clients so that I could test folding stability and found that my temperatures at 100% folding are between 63 C - 71 C from coolest core to hottest core. I'll be pissing around with voltages a bit more this weekend, but I'm very happy with this OC so far.

I have to be careful because as soon as I started thinking of making a second i7 to overclock, I started thinking about water cooling. :shadedshu

That's how it starts bro. Be careful or soon you'll be broke

 

[Binge]

That's how it starts bro. Be careful or soon you'll be broke

+1 water cooling now is more expensive than it used to be as well. How lame.

 

[Chicken Patty]

+1 water cooling now is more expensive than it used to be as well. How lame.

Mega Shadow FTW