Core i7 920 steppings

[Compddd]

Which is the best for overclocking/reaching 4.0GHz?

A0, B0, or C0

or does it not matter? Anyone know?

 

[dmens]

lol i hope you don't have an A0

C0 is the only retail stepping

 

[Compddd]

Sorry, I read more and found out there is only C0 steping, made myself look like a noob

What is the difference between a Core i7 920 with the batch number 3836B043 and 3839A577


Do different batches overclock better than others? I see a lot of people with A batch 920s that overclock to 4.0 GHz, should I take mine back and try and get a A batch one?

My goal is to hit 4.0 GHz, I'm using 2000MHz DDR3 OCZ memory as well

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

4Ghz on air?

 

[RaptureMe]

Holy crap dude why waist a ton of cash buying DDR3 2000??
You will get to 4.0Ghz with a good after market cooler and some DDR3 1333-1600 which is much cheaper.
Save your self some mega bucks and use that cash to uprage to a new Video Card to sli with your current GTX 280 for that new system..
Really guy I have got my cpu up to 4.2Ghz with my ram and I have seen others get 4.5-6 its just the luck of the draw.

 

[Tempered81]

compddd - you should be able to get it through most batches, some OC better than others. Just try to get your base clock above ~195 if you want 4Ghz.

 

[PCTC2]

I was unaware that they sold Tri-channel DDR3-2000 that ran under 1.65v. You might want to check that. Make sure you get tri-chanel and under 1.65v (Intel's published limit for RAM voltage).

Also, yes. Pick up a really good air cooler or go water.

 

[RaptureMe]

"dmens" why doesnt he want a AO stepping??
Those are usually Engineering samples and he should only be so lucky..
ES cpus generaly have all multi's unlocked and overclock much better with lower Volt's..
Thats the case with my Q9650es..

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

4Ghz on air? at what load temps?

 

[RaptureMe]

Using a Noctua and a True both were about the same results at 4Ghz 38c at start up and about 48-50c after a couple of hours of compression or video conversion or some gaming Crysis,Bioshock,NFS UnderCover,FarCry 2, and Spore..
I know those temp are kinda high but I am not bitching since I am running 4Ghz 24/7

 

[taltamir]

high? those are very nice and chill low temps.

 

[RaptureMe]

Yeah well its winter here to so I am kinda dreading what temps are going to be like in the summer??
Still using both 120mm noctua fans at full speed all the time isnt for some people due to the noise but I dont mind it..
I guess its all about the Epenis anyways right

 

[Compddd]

My friend runs a hardware review site, so he sold me the 6GB kit of 2000 MHz for cheap, so I figured why not. It will be easier to overclock with that speed RAM ya?

I'm using a Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme 1366 RT kit to cool the CPU

 

[dmens]

Originally posted by: RaptureMe
"dmens" why doesnt he want a AO stepping??
Those are usually Engineering samples and he should only be so lucky..
ES cpus generaly have all multi's unlocked and overclock much better with lower Volt's..
Thats the case with my Q9650es..

because A0 probably won't boot at all

 

[AdamK47]

Originally posted by: RaptureMe
Using a Noctua and a True both were about the same results at 4Ghz 38c at start up and about 48-50c after a couple of hours of compression or video conversion or some gaming Crysis,Bioshock,NFS UnderCover,FarCry 2, and Spore..
I know those temp are kinda high but I am not bitching since I am running 4Ghz 24/7

None of that is really stressing the i7. Those temps are not high, but then again I don't know what you are using to monitor it. Core Temp shows temperatures 20 degrees C higher than SpeedFan. Real Temp is somewhere in between. I use Real Temp.

 

[PCTC2]

Originally posted by: dmens

Originally posted by: RaptureMe
"dmens" why doesnt he want a AO stepping??
Those are usually Engineering samples and he should only be so lucky..
ES cpus generaly have all multi's unlocked and overclock much better with lower Volt's..
Thats the case with my Q9650es..

because A0 probably won't boot at all

QFT. The early ES samples usually have more errata and are for in-house testing and probably are not usable, especially for a new architecture like Nehalem.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: dmens
lol i hope you don't have an A0

C0 is the only retail stepping

:X

*raising hand guilty*

i have an A0... but its not a 920.

Originally posted by: RaptureMe
"dmens" why doesnt he want a AO stepping??
Those are usually Engineering samples and he should only be so lucky..
ES cpus generaly have all multi's unlocked and overclock much better with lower Volt's..
Thats the case with my Q9650es..

ummm id like to see a screen shot with 10x as your multi, you can keep the fsb 333.

i have a Q9650 ES and its multi sir is not unlocked. Unlocked multi is 50x my friend like the QX series.

A0 are NEVER and i repeat NEVER FOR SALE.
These are properties of INTEL, and were given to major vendors and distributors. These chips are NOT ment for consumers.

They also offer NO TECH support or Warrenty on these chips.

 

[RaptureMe]

Wish I could still give a screen shot but I sold that cpu some time ago to upgrade to the new system in my sig
Actually I wish I would have kept that cpu it was a hell of an overclocker.
Anyways you say you have a ES version of the q9650 and you dont have unlocked multi's??
Then you have a review version that Intel sends out to tech sites such as A/T but I had a in house version and they do indeed have all unlocked multi's..
Your version and mine are 2 completely different cpu's..
If you are interested you can research it via google..

 

[ayabe]

There's also a lot of FUD going on with regards to overclocking, people claiming low temps @ 4.2 or running 4.0 on the stock cooler are just full of it. Real temps under load are going to be in the 80C range at that speed, which is why HardOCP was disabling Hyperthreading just to get 4.0 stable without insane temps and that's with a TRUE.

Truth is 4.0ghz is around all you are going to get on air, sure you might get it to post and run Pi at 4.2 or above but that doesn't mean anything. I've yet to see a motherboard that will perform consistently well above the 200-205 BLCK range, so getting above that is a real challenge aside from the temps.

Some more BIOS revisions might change that however, but for now, I think 4.0 is pretty damn good.

 

[RaptureMe]

I never ever stated I got to or over 4ghz stable with a stock cooler shit if that was the case I would be able to cook tonights dinner on that sucker.
Nope I and many others are sitting pretty at 4ghz using an after market cooler such as a True or Noctua 1366...
I'm not saying I havent tried 4ghz on stock cooling though but thats why I got an after market cooler..
I am also using 2 120mm fans in push pull config at full speed when most people set there fan speed to thermal control.
You can beleive me or not I really dont care I dont have to prove myself to you or anyone else.
The op asked for some opinions and thats what I gave..

 

[ayabe]

Originally posted by: RaptureMe
I never ever stated I got to or over 4ghz stable with a stock cooler shit if that was the case I would be able to cook tonights dinner on that sucker.
Nope I and many others are sitting pretty at 4ghz using an after market cooler such as a True or Noctua 1366...
I'm not saying I havent tried 4ghz on stock cooling though but thats why I got an after market cooler..
I am also using 2 120mm fans in push pull config at full speed when most people set there fan speed to thermal control.
You can beleive me or not I really dont care I dont have to prove myself to you or anyone else.
The op asked for some opinions and thats what I gave..

I wasn't calling you out so don't be so defensive. IN fact, my post had nothing to do with yours, I was merely commenting on a hell of a lot of crap being posted here and elsewhere about what one should expect with respect to OC'ing the 920.

I was merely trying to set some realistic expectations for the OP, OTHER PEOPLE who claim to be stable at 4.2+ on air because they can run SuperPi and 3dmark are just full of shit.

 

[ajaidevsingh]

OOOMMMGG RaptureMe really 4Ghz on air is great at that temp...

i am on a Ultra 120 and the cooler simple can not cope with the extra heat at 4ghz given out by the i7 920 thats why i was thinking 3.6Ghz is the best speed to be at 24/7.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: ajaidevsingh
OOOMMMGG RaptureMe really 4Ghz on air is great at that temp...

i am on a Ultra 120 and the cooler simple can not cope with the extra heat at 4ghz given out by the i7 920 thats why i was thinking 3.6Ghz is the best speed to be at 24/7.

4GHZ on air + craptasic Nvidia Chipsets.

E0's can do it on air, you just need good ambients and a good sink.


http://i125.photobucket.com/al...73/aigomorla/2hour.jpg

Power of Water on Linkpack. (look at max reported temps on realtemp)
http://i125.photobucket.com/al...73/aigomorla/Final.jpg

Someone about to get aigo'd soon.

 

[AdamK47]

Originally posted by: RaptureMe
I never ever stated I got to or over 4ghz stable with a stock cooler shit if that was the case I would be able to cook tonights dinner on that sucker.
Nope I and many others are sitting pretty at 4ghz using an after market cooler such as a True or Noctua 1366...
I'm not saying I havent tried 4ghz on stock cooling though but thats why I got an after market cooler..
I am also using 2 120mm fans in push pull config at full speed when most people set there fan speed to thermal control.
You can beleive me or not I really dont care I dont have to prove myself to you or anyone else.
The op asked for some opinions and thats what I gave..

What kind of stress testing have you done to ensure stability at 4GHz?

 

[RaptureMe]

Sorry dont mean to be so defensive just stating the facts.
Yeah I totaly agree with you though not everyone is going to get the same overclock as me and mostly its luck of the draw.
But from the many posts I have seen and read alot of people are getting the same results as me with using the same type of cooling.
As for stress testing so far I have used Prime,Cinbench,all the future marks/Pc marks,and a few verious others..
I totally admit though when hammered and maxed out when stressing I do get higher temps much higher like 70-75c.
But this is only in those stress testing programs.
I can max out all the cores for hours on end using video editing programs,Compression,Converting, or run several games at once and never see temps ever get that high.
Still though you guys say 50-55c is good but that seems abit high to me and 70-75c is just nuts.
If I ever seen my system hit temps that high in everyday use I would not clock to these speeds..