Overclocking i7 3820

simsimma4

New member
Hi,

As some of you might know i have just built my rig using the following specs:

Fractal Design XL case

MSI Big Bang Xpower II motherboard

Intel i7 3820 core

Corsair Vengence LP 1600mhz 32gb RAM

MSI Twin Frozr II GTX 580 gpu

Corsair Force 3 120gb SSD x 2 (RAID-0)

Hitachi 1tb 7200rpm HDD

LG blu-ray drive

Corsair AX850 psu

Noctua NH-D14 cpu cooler

Noctua fans throughout the case

I have been attempting to overclock it for stable everyday use, and i think i have finally managed it, after a week of attempts and fitting it around work!

I should let you know that all my noctua fans are in U.L.N.A mode, even the cpu cooler.

I first started using the OC genie button on the MSI board, and that gave me an OC of 4.0 ghz, which wasn't bad, but i wanted to see what i could do. Mind you i have never attempted an overclocking in my life, so this was all new to me! I did plenty research as to how to overclock and what kind of ball parks figures people were achieving.

I initially maxed the multiplier to 43 to give me an overclock of 4.3ghz, but this was no way near what others had pushed it to do.

I then reduced the multiplier to 37 but increased the bus speed to 125hz, which gave me 4.6ghz overclock, this was roughly the figure i wanted to achieve. i had to increase the Vcore to 1.28 initially, but after 3 hours of prime 95 it BSOD'ed.

I then raised the Vcore to 1.30, but again after 4 hours of prime 95 it BSOD'ed!

I then thought of raising the multiplier to 38 and increasing the Vcore to 1.34, to give me an OC of 4.75ghz! And it's stable! After about 12 hours of prime 95 it hasn't missed a beat. I have run approx 2 hours of small FFT, and 10 hours of blend.



screen1 by simsimma4, on Flickr

As you can see the average max temp across all 4 cores was 68.5 degrees. I didn't have a room thermometer to read my room temperature, but it is a fairly hot day. Temp about 20 degrees.

So OC of i7 3820, with 125mhz bus speed, 38 multiplier and 1.34Vcore, gives me a stable 4.75ghz. Pretty happy here
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I thought i'd share my first OC attempt ever, and see what others have achieved on their cores.

EDIT:

27/04/2012

I managed to get stable to 4.875ghz at vcore of 1.38
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screen2 by simsimma4, on Flickr

Temps accross all cores at full load on prime 95 after 1 hour of small FFT averaged 74 degrees which still isn't too bad.
 
Great Clocks man... Good to see that your properly testing for stability and not doing a quick and dirty OC....
 
Nice one man, thats a freaking quality OC you got there ! hows the ram speed looking ?

Thanks, because on the NH-14 cooler, only ram i could fit was a LP one, and the only one that i knew of was the corsair vengeance LP. It's rated CL8 1600mhz. I've only managed to clock it at 1666mhz with CL9. anything else gives me BSOD or failure in prime 95. I haven't fiddled too much with RAM but i might do that in the near future!
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Great Clocks man... Good to see that your properly testing for stability and not doing a quick and dirty OC....

Thanks again, Yeh i have never done this overclocking business before, and i didn't want to harm any of my shinny new equipment
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I did however try for 5ghz, but i gave up when it wasn't stable at 1.48Vcore! I don't know how far to push this cpu you see. I know from the sandy bridge cpu's people say anything over 1.4 is dangerous in long run. Whether or not that would include the sandy bridge-e cpu's i don't know
 
But is it F@H stable, that is the question
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Now that is a question! I might have to download it and see. But i'm sure it'll come out on top!
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I just can't believe how fast this machine is, i knew it'll be fast but this has exceeded my expectations!
 
Just to update, i had a few issues when booting, i press the on switch and computer will come on for like 1-2 seconds switch off then come back on like normal, this was starting to get annoying so i did research and found that if i disable the EUP2013 function it should be ok. I did this and it worked! easy work around! I even used the multi bios switch to revert to the default bios settings and work upwards (thinking it may have been a bios upgrade issue) but it wasn't. So just giving a heads up to anyone experiencing a similar issue, try this method first, saves a lot of time!

Also when i did some bench marking with cinebench it said my CPU was clocked to only 4.5ghz, but CPU-Z said i was running at 4.75ghz, is this normal? I figured cinebench could recognize my overclock. But i got a score of 9.20, which doesn't mean much to me?
 
ahh it's a lot more fun than i thought. So much for it being partially unlocked! I atempted to 4.875ghz at 1.39 vcore, but it BSOD'd. I don't know the safe maximum vcore the i7 2011 CPU's can take, and on long term so i left it as is at 1.34vcore 4.75ghz
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still pretty happy here
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Ok update:-

I've managed to get it stable at 4.875ghz at 1.38vcore! Well I say stable I've only ran 1 hour of prime 95 small fft's. I'll do more testing tonight. But my previous post was supposed to be 5ghz at 1.39 vcore BSOD'ed.
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All this on air! Temps average was 74 degrees. That's about 5-6 degrees higher than when it was clocked at 4.75ghz.
 
everything i read on that chip, 1.4volts should be about max for 24/7 overclock

since you reached a point your temps are rising, now you have to start weighing in on if that next clock jump is worth the extra temps it will bring.

but reading about you guys playing around with this little chip that can, even though it's not supposed to, and how it is nipping on the heels of the 3770K in most benchmarks, has me really considering saving alittle money and getting this chip for my 2011 build.
 
Yeh i tried 1.4vcore with 5ghz, and it BSOD'ed straight away when i ran prime 95 small FFT.

I think 4.875ghz is the max i will take it for a 24/7 OC, probably inclinded to reduce to 4.75ghz as there's little difference between them for everyday things plus i'll benefit from lower temps. If i was benchmarking then i can probably look into trying to hit that sweet 5.0ghz spot, but it'll be over 1.4 vcore with alot higher temps. But i have to admit i am very pleased with this chip, it has exceeded my expectations, and i can't wait for the next ivy bridge-e chips
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In my opinion the 3820 is the perfect chip for those who want the benefits from the 2011 platform at a budget, but the performance is on par with the current sandy bridge 2700k, or close enough. Will have to see more tests with ivy bridge 3770k to get a better idea on where that sits in the comparison, but from the reviews so far it's only a very little better than the 2700k. For me 3820 was a no brainer as it has all the benefits from sandy bridge performance at approx the same price (when you factor in the motherboard and ram) but benefits from the 2011 platform capabilities and greater future upgrade prospects.
 
yeah most reviewers shunned the 3820 in favor of the 3930K that went to market at the same time the 3820 engineering samples were released. Some didn't even bother giving it a chance.

I was instantly drawn to a $300 chip on 2011, but overlooked it due to the 3930K lime light at the time that it was coming close to the 3960X for less money. I guess I just couldn't look past the fact is was not a K part or 6 core.

I'm not buying my sysyem for a few more months, and was debating the differance between 2011 and 1155. 1155 has plenty of good choice in the processers ,with all the power that I need for what I do, but I feel the platform is a bit lacking, sure It's an awsome gaming machine, with the ability to flex its CPU muscle alittle more when not gamming, but I think if you spend the money on a new machine today I shouldn't have to give up the features that 2011 bring to the table.

I'm kinda done with the whole top of the line 1155 system vs mid grade 2011, now I'm torn between lower end 2011 or mid grade 2011, as I can't force myself to buy a 2700K(unless the prices really drop) or a new 3770K(unless they really are cheap) when for the same money you guys are flooding this board with proven performing 3820s on an uncopromising platform.

In benchmarks that require CPU grunt the 6-cores walk all over the lesser CPUs, but carry a price premium also. In the benchmarcks that represent everyday task the 3820 is trading blows with the 2700K and newer 3770K, so I see no reason to compromise my platform selection based the fact that I don't really need 6 cores or want to pay that much money for them either.

Like you said It's kinda becoming a no brainer to me, I get the budget I want on the better platform, without over spending now for things I think I may need in the furure. I get what I need now for what I want to spend , but not locked down, with nowhere to go when upgrade time comes.

I think the 3820 is an overlooked gem, and you seem suprised at just how quick it is, but do you see yourself replacing it later when IB-E comes out?? Say they release every SB-E chip they have out now in an IB-E version and tou don't have to replace the motherboard, would you- Just keep what you have,- get the newer IB-E 3820, - upgrade to the 6 cores of the newer IB-E 3930K,- go all the way for the new IB-E 3960X?

Hopfully they will give us a few more options by then (8 core maybe), but of those choices what do you see yourself doing in the upgradeing future?
 
I'm not buying my sysyem for a few more months, and was debating the differance between 2011 and 1155. 1155 has plenty of good choice in the processers ,with all the power that I need for what I do, but I feel the platform is a bit lacking, sure It's an awsome gaming machine, with the ability to flex its CPU muscle alittle more when not gamming, but I think if you spend the money on a new machine today I shouldn't have to give up the features that 2011 bring to the table.

Which features are you thinking about exactly out of interest?

My issue with the 3820 is that you pay for the mobo but if you never upgrade to the hexcore then you might as well have gone 1155. Especially with haswell coming out next year it feels like the wrong time to be splashing out when 1155 is so much more powerful than a gaming machine needs today anyway.
 
That's a good question. If ivy b-e came out and had 2-7% performance increase then i'll probably not upgrade, 2-7% increase is not much increase, plus it'll only be a die shrink so it'll just be less power hungry for same performance. If they decided to bring out other chips which are 8 core etc... I still think I'll stick with what I got, unless I can't resist
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I do think the 3820 is overlooked, it's because of the 3960k limelight, hence why I made this thread as there wasnt much info out there regarding the 3820. The 1155 platform is now dead in my opinion, so I thought why not get on the 2011 band wagon. A top 1155 board is roughly the same price as a top 2011 board. (asus maximus iv extreme-z (£270) vs the asus rampage IV Extreme (£300) for example) and when you factor in that the 3820 is about £20-£30 cheaper than 2700k they are both comparable in price as a bundle. So everyone who say oh you'll save loads of money by going 1155, well you just aren't. And if there is a difference it's not hundreds of pounds different like everyone makes its out to believe.
 
Like Simsimma4 says, 1155 boards and 2011 boards cost roughly the same, If i was goning to buy a system today it would be:

1155 system

MB http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813131791 $260 Price has dropped $20 since z77 release

CPU http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819115095 $330 Price dropped $30 since IB release

MEM http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820233276 $90

Total $680

2011 system

MB http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813131799 $360

CPU http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819115229 $310

MEM http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820145347 $97

Total $767

Thats an $87 differance to go to 2011, for me that means skipping out on buying a few Blu-ray movies

What does that bring?

well processor power is so close it's stupid to argue about it and it's honestly more than I need, if I need more in the furure 1155 is SOL, with 2011 I can drop in a 6 core SB-E, seen the 3930K for $550 already and if IB-E bringes us more CPU options I will revisite my upgrade needs at the time based on what comes out and what it cost.

Memory wise, the 1155 only has dual channel so I would have to run it at maxed out speeds, and it still wouldn't have the raw bandwith of the 4 channel 2011 system running some of the cheapest sticks at 1600MHz, also notice the 1155 system only has 8GB and the 2011 has 16GB. Windows 7 home(which I'm running) has a 16GB limit on memory. Running the 1155 system maxed out I wouldn't want to run more than 1 stick per channel, which leaves my options as(staying in the same brands to keep it simple, ofcourse)

MEM http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820233281 $215

This is both a cut in speed and the price actally goes up $125 making the 1155 system $38 more and even slower.

Now when we add in a ram cache or ramdisk into the picture , I have only 2 channels trying to serve up both the CPU and I/O of the Ram cache/disk.

In the 2011 system which is cheaper and has more bandwidth than the CPU could ever use, using cheaper Ram sticks I would have 4 memory channels serving the CPU and RD I/O

Upgrade paths on the 1155 are limited, with 8GB of memory, and pushing the limit of what the system can do , you are pretty much trapped, I don't see ultra low latency 2133 8GB sticks being released soon for very cheap, and I don't think it will match the memory bandwith of 2011 at 1600Mhz ever.

On the 2011 if my RD starts eating up too much bandwith, I can throw higher memory speeds sticks at it , If I want more memory for my RD (with an operating system upgrade? dual boot with linux is free) I can throw higher capacity sticks at it. = massive RD!!!!

Now the Graphics side of things, as of now I have 2 PCI-e 2.0 cards, in the 1155 system I would be running them at 8x/8x and on the 2011 system they would be run at 16x/16x.

With the cards I have now I'm sure their would be minimal to no differance, but $87 brings me piece of mind that my older generation cards are being served up to their full potential.

If I was to run out and buy a 680(very unlikly) the 1155 board would have PCI-e 3.0 support, but not my CPU I would need to upgrade $300+. Without the upgrade both systems would feed the 680 at PCI-e 2.0 speeds at 16x, which all the test/benchmarks show is fine.

If PCI-e 2.0 16x is fine for a 680, what would happen if I wanted another latter on?? the 1155 system would run them at PCI-e 2.0 8x each(is that enough??, I don't know?? and don't want to find out!!) while the 2011 system would run both 680s at PCI-e 2.0 speeds at 16x, which we all agree is fine.

VV insert why IB/z77 and future suff that isn't even out yet, is better hereVV
 
I am very happy you made this post. I just built a very similar system to your's. http://forum.overclock3d.net/index.php?/topic/41520-nzxt-switch-810-modbuild-log-sinistar-update-april-28-2012-final-pics-well-almost/ if you care to check it out. This is my first intel build since my old P3 600MHz days. I was just wondering if you overclock runs at max speed all the time or does it idle back to lower clocks becaus i when I went in and overclocked mine just by bumping the multiplier after loading in windows it sat at 4.3 and stayed. It wont slow on idle unless i set it to auto.. Am i missing somthing? Also i cant ajust my bus speed i get 100 and no other options. Im sure im doing somthing wrong becaus we have the same cpu and motherboard
 
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