how to overclock i7 950 ????

[kayawish24]

is their anyone having i7 950 ?? can someone tell me how to overclock i7 950 3Ghz to 4 Ghz?? what settings i shall do in bios and voltages settings etc ....
my system specs are:-

CPU: Intel Core i7 950 3GHz stock
Cooler:- Coolermaster v8
Board: ASUS P6t6 Revolution
Mem: 6GB Triple Channel DDR3 Corsair XMS3 1600MHz 8-8-8-24
GPU: Nvidia 3 X XFX GTX 260 Core 216 3 WAY SLI 715/1270/1431 (Core/Memory/Shader)
HDD: 640GB S-ATA Seagate Baracuda 32 Mb Cache 7200 Rpm

PSU: Corsair TX-850 Watts

 

[mdbrotha03]

What temps are you getting with your CPU?

 

[kayawish24]

Idle cpu temps are 41 39 42 36 according to core temp and in 100% load temps were 61 61 61 57.... also checked the temps while running prim95 small TFTs still load temps are the same

 

[human_error]

Idle cpu temps are 41 39 42 36 according to core temp and in 100% load temps were 61 61 61 57.... also checked the temps while running prim95 small TFTs still load temps are the same

http://i798.photobucket.com/albums/yy261/kayawish24/temp.jpg

To OC an i7 you just need to up your BLCK speed whilst upping your core and uncore voltages to ensure the gap between the two doesn't get too large. You'll also want to reduce your RAM's relative speed a little to run the ram slower before the OC so with the OC applied your ram will be running on a stable speed (still probably faster than stock).

Also as a side question - please tell me you're not running triple SLI on a 1024x768 resolution screen?

 

[mdbrotha03]

I have the same cooler and those temps looks about right. In you bios you will need to adjust your BCLK. I haven't pushed my processor as far as you want to. So you might also need to adjust voltage settings.

A BCLK of 175 would give you around 4 GHZ. With that said you don't want set it there first. Inch it up there slowly and run a stress test after each speed increase.

 

[kayawish24]

To OC an i7 you just need to up your BCLK speed whilst upping your core and uncore voltages to ensure the gap between the two doesn't get too large. You'll also want to reduce your RAM's relative speed a little to run the ram slower before the OC so with the OC applied your ram will be running on a stable speed (still probably faster than stock).

Also as a side question - please tell me you're not running triple SLI on a 1024x768 resolution screen?

i didnt inderstand you......BCLK i will put 175 for 4 ghz...this i understand...upping core i get it but what is uncore voltages????and what about ram??? shall i change my profile to xmp3 because my ram is corsair xmp3 1600...please tell me clearly.BTW i have 24" Viewsonic TFT monitor VA2413wm

 

[human_error]

i didnt inderstand you......BCLK i will put 175 for 4 ghz...this i understand...upping core i get it but what is uncore voltages????and what about ram??? shall i change my profile to xmp3 because my ram is corsair xmp3 1600...please tell me clearly.BTW i have 24" Viewsonic TFT monitor VA2413wm

the cpu has 2 areas - the core which has its own voltage and actually does the processing, and the uncore part which has its own voltage as well which controls the memory controller, cache speeds and the QPI which talks to the northbridge - if you speed up your BLCK speed then the QPI speed, memory speed and cache speeds all increase as well, needing more voltage in that part of the processor.

As i said with your ram you'll need to reduce the speed it is running at (by a multiplier - but your bios won't say ram multiplier - it will just be the memory speed which seems to change) - once you set a higher BLCK speed then change the ram speed to the nearest setting to its stock speed (1600mhz) before trying to boot your computer - if you don't do this your OC will have your ram running at ~2000mhz speeds which it may not be able to handle and would therefore crash.

Keep your voltage below 1.45v on your core voltage (you shouldn't need that much to hit 4ghz - i have a release c0 stepping which needs more power than the d0 stepping you have and only need 1.38v to hit 4.1ghz) and watch your temperatures - even on water cooling i hit 75-76degrees c when running at 100% at 3.7 ghz which is my everyday speed, but since you're on a d0 stepped chip your should be cooler than mine.

And that monitor is fine then - when i saw your screenshot which was at ~1024x768 resolution i was worried that was the resolution of your monitor.

 

[kayawish24]

where is the ram frequency option in bios?????

 

[human_error]

where is the ram frequency option in bios?????

can you post a photo of your screen showing the screen which gives the voltage and blck options in your bios, they should be on that page but i've not seen the bios to your mobo and can't remember what asus called the setting in my bios.

 

[kayawish24]

help me overclock my i7 950 !!!

wait i do it ..........

so here it is .....

 

[human_error]

brilliant, it's the DRAM frequency you want to change - change it from auto and select the speed closest to 1600mhz.

You may also want to enable speedstep as that will help with your temps and lower your power usage when not doing much - i have speedstep enabled on my cpu when overclocked and it runs cooler because of it.

**edit**

voltages and settings wise:

uncore voltage = qpi/dram core voltage
core voltage = cpu voltage
dram frequency = ram speed

if you change your ai overclocker tuner to manual then a new BLCK setting will appear - you can either type the new speed or use your + and - keys on your numberpad to change the speed. I do reccomend overclocking slowly, say go for 3.5-3.6ghz first, then testing it, increasing the voltage a little bit if it is unstable then when it is stable increasing the speed again. A good test will be the intel burn stress tester - this will really give a good stress test on your cpu.

 

[kayawish24]

please tell me from begining.......!

what changes shall i do to overclock this shit to 4ghz....?what is the the speed closest to 1600mhz?????
what value shall i put in BCLK ???? 175 for 4ghz ?????????

 

[kayawish24]

what is UCLK frequency????????

 

[human_error]

please tell me from begining.......!

what changes shall i do to overclock this shit to 4ghz....?what is the the speed closest to 1600mhz?????
what value shall i put in BCLK ???? 175 for 4ghz ?????????

what is UCLK frequency????????

ok, i edited my post above with a little more info, the settings i mentioned there should be the only ones you need to change. Go for 160 BLCK first to get to 3.6ghz and then test it (as described a bit in my previous post) and then when stable increase the speed and then voltage and test again until you hit 4ghz or more.

the speed closest to 1600mhz will be the number nearest 1600 when in that setting - this will change when you overclock so when you increase your BLCK go into that option and see which value is nearest then else your ram will run too fast and will be unstable (cause crashes etc).

Don't worry about the UCLK frequency or the QPI frequency, you can ignore those as their speed will increase as you overclock.

one final point please edit your previous posts instead of posting 2 posts in a row, if someone replies then make a new post but don't have 2 of your messages in a row (forum rules i'm afraid).

 

[kayawish24]

and what shall i do in qpi/dram core voltage ??????shall i enable turbo mode also when enabling sppedstep ????????

 

[human_error]

and what shall i do in qpi/dram core voltage ??????shall i enable turbo mode also when enabling sppedstep ????????

yeah enable turbo mode, it increases the cpu speed if only a couple of your cores are doing any work (free speed boost).

as for the exact settings to use for overclocking i don't have enough experience with the D0 stepped chips to suggest actual values, i suggest you ask in here and the people in that thread should be able to tell you what settings will be best.

 

[kayawish24]

here is little disturbing 4 me........

in full load temps didnt pass 80-81 @ 4 ghz still i will try to lower Vcore of cpu...

what is your opinion Mr. ERROR

 

[DRDNA]

Not bad at all! I see higher clocks for you...maybe you could remove side panel on PC case and aim a fan to help with temps. for a higher ceiling.

 

[human_error]

here is little disturbing 4 me........

http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/1676/temps.jpg
http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/8236/test2.jpg

in full load temps didnt pass 80-81 @ 4 ghz still i will try to lower Vcore of cpu...

what is your opinion Mr. ERROR

seems about right to me for air cooling, i hit 85 degrees @ 4.1ghz on my chip at 1.4v with water cooling so those temps dont seem too bad, although i would try and get them below 80 degrees for everyday usage - lowering your voltages should help with that (i have had my cpu to 101degrees before when benchmarking and it's not damaged, so 85 degrees isn't anything to fear).

The positive news is that the intel burn test makes your cpu get to the hottest it will ever be - my rig gets a good 3-4 degrees hotter running the intel burn than it does when all the cores are maxed out with normal applications.

 

[kayawish24]

what shall i do now

 

[DRDNA]

Does your V8 have a fan?? is it high out put? you can add an adjustable high rpm fan so you can really get that baby performing .But still temps look decent and on par with i7. ...Maybe try for a higher clock.?Good job though.

 

[mdbrotha03]

The V8 has a adjustable fan it it already. Its in the middle of the unit

 

[kayawish24]

yes the v8 fan is running at full speed..... so what test i shall run in prime95 to see my cpu stability...and shall i try to lower little cpu vcore?i mean intelburn test is not for cpu stability....isnt it?

and BTW how other people overclock their i7 920 @ 4 ghz only on 1.256v???????? can i also put my vcore to 1.256 or lower to touch 4 ghz ???????

 

[human_error]

intelburn test is for stability - if your cpu passes intelburn test then it's very stable indeed as i've seen it pick up an unstable processor which had passed a good 30 mins of prime 95 testing.

As to the people running on very low vcores for 4ghz then they are very lucky and have a very good cpu - each one will overclock differently. You can try to lower your vcore a bit at a time testing it with intelburn test each time to check it's still stable until you can't get it lower without having instability, that will tell you how low you can go with it.

 

[kayawish24]

for how long i shall run intel burn test????????
yes i also used MX-2 paste on cpu...
prime95 running on small tft for about 2 hours and these were the temps...and no crashes