Official OC3D Core i7 Overclocking thread

[FarFarAway]

Post your Core i7 OC's here!

Keep the format as below:

Make sure you include whether it was stable or not (with evidence - Prime95, Super PI 32m, F@H etc) and a CPU-z validation link.

Suicide shot

Stable

Stable with evidence

Example:

[B]The Core i7 Extreme 940 (stock 2.94GHz)[/B]

Jim:

[COLOR="Blue"]Core i7 EX 940: 7GHz (319 x 22) @ 1.0vcore, 1.1v FSB,  ASUS Rampage II Extreme[/COLOR] Custom SS (Phase change)

Core i7 920 retail:

Mopnkey7

Core i7 920 retail: 3.80GHz (190*20) @ 1.3625 vCore, Gigabyte X58-UD5, Air cooled Noctua U12P SE1366

SuperPI time 11.000s, BSOD as soon as P95 started. No proof, as I lost the screenshots with the reinstallation of Vista.

 

[SwaleSmith]

jesus nobodys home :-/

 

[monkey7]

Okay, I guess I'll be the first to start

monkey7, core i7 retail:

3.5GHz (175*20) or 3.675GHz w/ turbo (175*21) @ 1.3625 vCore, Gigabyte X58-UD5, Air cooled Noctua U12P SE1366

CPU-z validation

SuperPI 32m

Core i7 920 retail: 3.80GHz (190*20) @ 1.3625 vCore, Gigabyte X58-UD5, Air cooled Noctua U12P SE1366

SuperPI time 11.000s, BSOD as soon as P95 started. No proof, as I lost the screenshots with the reinstallation of Vista.

 

[SwaleSmith]

Okay, I guess I'll be the first to start

Monkey7:

Core i7 920 retail: 3.5GHz (175*20) or 3.675GHz w/ turbo (175*21) @ 1.3625 vCore, Gigabyte X58-UD5, Air cooled Noctua U12P SE1366

CPU-z validation

SuperPI 32m

Core i7 920 retail: 3.80GHz (190*20) @ 1.3625 vCore, Gigabyte X58-UD5, Air cooled Noctua U12P SE1366

SuperPI time 11.000s, BSOD as soon as P95 started. No proof, as I lost the screenshots with the reinstallation of Vista.

cool thanks, what are the temps of the 920 @ 3.8ghz would it go to 4ghz stable???

and what is the max vcore for these cpu's???

 

[monkey7]

cool thanks, what are the temps of the 920 @ 3.8ghz would it go to 4ghz stable???

It didn't even get to its max. at 3.8. But as it's the same voltage as when on 3.5 I assume it's 62/62/64/64.

Yes, I would probably be able to get it 4gHz stable by turning HyperThreading off (is told to be eating about 0.05v) and cranking the vCore up to about 1.4~1.45v. I don't think I'm going to do that though, as I would like the chip to last for at least 3 years and with such voltages it will not survive that long.

 

[SwaleSmith]

It didn't even get to its max. at 3.8. But as it's the same voltage as when on 3.5 I assume it's 62/62/64/64.

Yes, I would probably be able to get it 4gHz stable by turning HyperThreading off (is told to be eating about 0.05v) and cranking the vCore up to about 1.4~1.45v. I don't think I'm going to do that though, as I would like the chip to last for at least 3 years and with such voltages it will not survive that long.

whats considered safe max voltages???

1.625v???

 

[monkey7]

Hmm the max. I heard was 1.5V. Or at least that's the point where most chips stop benefiting from another voltage increase.

 

[SwaleSmith]

Hmm the max. I heard was 1.5V. Or at least that's the point where most chips stop benefiting from another voltage increase.

whats considered absoloute max safe for 24/7 use do you reckon 1.3625v as your running??

 

[monkey7]

Hmm I guess somewhere around 1.35, even though I do not know exactly. I wanted to stay on 1.35, but the MHz fever got hold of me and I wanted to keep that 3.50GHz clock even if that meant breaking the 1.35 limit

 

[SwaleSmith]

Can't work it out mine cashes @ 1.3625 @3.2GHZ!!!! :-( what am I doing wrong

Dram is at 1.6435 odd volts ram at 1604mhz (stock) disabled all the CPU things like spread spectrum c1e etc heard someone mention somethng about PLL i think but have forgotten and can't find the post, any tips out there???

Okay, I guess I'll be the first to start

monkey7, core i7 retail:

3.5GHz (175*20) or 3.675GHz w/ turbo (175*21) @ 1.3625 vCore, Gigabyte X58-UD5, Air cooled Noctua U12P SE1366

CPU-z validation

SuperPI 32m

Core i7 920 retail: 3.80GHz (190*20) @ 1.3625 vCore, Gigabyte X58-UD5, Air cooled Noctua U12P SE1366

SuperPI time 11.000s, BSOD as soon as P95 started. No proof, as I lost the screenshots with the reinstallation of Vista.

 

[SwaleSmith]

funny thing is if I set the BIOS to auto overclcok upto i7 965 3.2ghz it sets cpu volts to around 1.31v and its stable!?

 

[monkey7]

What's your VTT voltage? What motherboard do you have?

EDIT: oh wait, the rampage II extreme. Have a moment, I'll do a google to find some information on the function naming of Asus vs. Gigabyte.

EDIT2: after some reading, I think Asus calls VTT the QPIv.

"VTT is the Uncore voltage that powers the L3 cache, memory controller and a part of the QPI controller, plus the integrated power management processor it seems. Default vtt depends on the cpu and is assigned depending on 3 vid pins. It seems to be between 1.1 and 1.2v, though most mainboard makers seem to ignore this and set 1.2v always, which results in up to 1.25v on some boards." - XtremeSystems

I was barely stable at 3.5, when I put the VTT from 1.1 to 1.35 I could overclock to 3.7 ánd lower the vCore from 1.35 to ~1.3125.

Also, the i7's have the 130w thermal output limiter. I do not know what happens when it activates, but I believe the maximus still has it enabled by default. Try looking for something that looks like 'cpu thermal limiter'.

 

[SwaleSmith]

Hi,

I have been now running my cpu at 3.8ghz with a 1.325vcore on prime 95 stabilty test for a about an hour and a half (small fft's, max heat,FPU strees etc) and it's not failed or crashed at all so far (knock on wood), so far very pleased with the results, think i may still have more room for improvement!!!!

but one thing that slightly worries me is my temps they realtemp reads core 1 to be 85C however my LCD poster wich is set to display the realtime temp of my cpu is saying its 60c aswell as this I have held my fingo on the heatsink plate wich s attached to the cpu of course and the heatpipes coming of the plate and there only warm would assume that if the CPU was @ 85c it would be hot to the touch were it would be uncomfortable at the least surely, so what shoudl I take the most notice of here.

One other thing is 85c acceptable during prime stabilty testing as lets face it will never be pushed aywhere near like this on real world use.

Although I must say your temps are excellent but unfortunatley I now have the asus triton 81 fan and a noctua would require yet more modding and even then It would be a vert tight fit into my skeleton, I don't think I really need to get the noctua for another £50.

p.s temps are around 41C @Idle.

I have only given 1 temp reading of core 1 as core 2 is the same tmep as core 1 and 3 and 4 are a couple of C's behind.

 

[monkey7]

I have only given 1 temp reading of core 1 as core 2 is the same tmep as core 1 and 3 and 4 are a couple of C's behind.

Yeah, I'm having the same too, but my cores 3 and 4 are a bit ahead in temperatures, 2 or 3 degrees. Even on idle.

Personally I would guess the 85C is right. 60C sounds quite low to me when talking about full load 3.8gHz. What's your ambient temperature and what idle temperature does your bios/poster report?

Congratulations btw, you already beat my clock I'm really at the top right now, getting instant BSOD's when I try to go to 3.8. Maybe gigabyte will sort their bios sometime and I can go further.

 

[SwaleSmith]

LOL Thanks.

Bios poster reports 44c idle where as realtemp is saying 48c room temp im guessing around 21c.

Tried 3.9ghz and 4.ghz for the fun of it but BSOD @ 4ghz and 3.9GHZ boots but BSODS as I start prime.

However I'm more than happy with 3.8ghz and see no need for anymore to be honest, may try one day for a bench or two for the fun, but for 24/7 this is perfect for me.

Think If I pushed the vcore up 3.9ghz would almost certainly be possible and maybe even 4ghz would be posibble I'm so impressed by how low the vcore is and yet I'm still able to get 3.8ghz!!! my qx9770 extreme would have needed something like 1.40v/1.39v to reach 3.8ghz stable!!!!

This chips are excellent glad I made the effort to switch!!!!

 

[FarFarAway]

85°C is far to hot, I'd say there's some contact missing from the cooler, unless it's the stock one

 

[SwaleSmith]

to be honest I'm not 100% sure wether I beleive realtemp even stille very monitor I have tried says different. my board is saying 60c on my lcd poster and touching it Id say that is about right my two CPU fans were flat out and the air coming out was only luke warm.

Even still this temp was after one hour and half of prime 95 running 8 threads on small fft's maximum heat/power & stress etc so I will never even come close to these kind of temps in real world use, so I see no need for worry.

Contact is perfect for sure spread just the right amount of AS5 all over the CPU heatsink spreader not to much to gunk it up but enough to hide the silver CPU, I feel no need for concern however I could be being foolish LOL

 

[SwaleSmith]

Now got it booted @ 4ghz 1.38v not sure i stable will keep everyone posted

 

[monkey7]

Now got it booted @ 4ghz 1.38v not sure i stable will keep everyone posted

Nice one If it's 12+ hours prime stable you've got one nice clock

By the way, do you have any problems with cold booting? My UD5 doesn't cold boot with 15C ambient. Needs to reboot a few times first -.-

 

[SwaleSmith]

failed soon as I started prime LOL think if I pumped more volts It would make it mind but I'm worried incase realtemp is indeed correct therefore with extra vcore I would be risking my chip testing with prime95. if only I new wich one is correct the bios lcd poster temp or realtemp...