Help with oc 920 (noob)

[Ozboblogolgoro]

Hi guys, I just recently put this system together and I'd like to overclock the cpu a bit. I don't need to push it to it's limits but I'd like some extra performance. Only problem is I have no clue how to do it. I've read some stuff online but I'm still wary D: of messing with the bios at this point. Any advice? I'd love to have something that just tells me exactly what to set things to.

Also, advice on speed is appreciated. I'm thinking 3.2 to 3.6?

Thanks so much. Specs below.


i7 920

ASUS P6X58D

CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6G

Diamond Radeon 5870 x2 Crossfire

Corsair 950w PS

Corsair CPU Cooler

 

[Maximilian]

Well what i did was pretty basic, i set the vcore to 1.2v and the baseclock (bclk) to 180mhz, this is with HT on and speedstep was turned back on after i was sure it was stable. Memory is at 1088mhz and uncore is 2x that exactly at 2176mhz. In the end i was left with a 3.6ghz i7 920 with HT enabled and speedstep, a nice overclock

I left everything else on auto, mainly because i dont know what the hell it does

 

[Ozboblogolgoro]

I just poked around in the bios and the only thing I am sure about is the bclk. I don't have a clue where to find the other stuff. D:

 

[Maximilian]

Ehh if i could turn on my comp and tell you what the vcore etc is called since i got an asus board too i would but im waiting on new working memory for it Sucks...

 

[TJCS]

Before you go ahead and OC make sure that you system is stable first, and you understand the basic specs of your components (voltage, rate speeds, and etc).

Once you have done the above, you can read this guide to help you with your overclock. One advice I have for you is that not every chip will OC the same, and you should change one setting at a time to isolate the right bios settings for your system.

 

[Jd007]

Also make sure you have adequate cooling and monitor your temperatures at all times (during OC).

 

[Ozboblogolgoro]

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm still trying to figure out what is what. This is what I'm seeing. It looks different than what I keep reading. I can see where to set the bclk to 180. What else am I needing to set? Sorry about the image quality.

 

[Maximilian]

Im no expert but what ive done is:

Set AI overclock tuner to manual

BCLK freq to 180 for 3.6ghz, adjust as you see fit

DRAM FREQ to the lowest possible one mine is 1086mhz, i know your memory runs higher, so does mine but the memory controller only officially supports 1066mhz max, anything above is an overclock of the memory controller, keeping it low means theres 1 less thing that can be unstable, for now anyways maybe kick it up later once youve got the cpu at a stable bclk and vcore.

CPU VOLTAGE (this is the vcore) at 1.2v, the stock voltage is 1.25 i believe so its undervolted a bit at 1.2v, again adjust as you see fit, you may be able to run it with less voltage, it may need more, mine needed 1.2.

QPI/DRAM voltage, i just left that alone, its on AUTO as i wasent sure of its relevance, everything else was on AUTO as well.

After that i made sure it was stable with prime 95, then put speedstep back on, you should leave turbo off for good unless you do somthing like make sure its stable at 3.6 or whatever and then run it at 3.4 with turbo on, so you will know when turbo kicks the clockspeed back up it will be stable at 3.6 or whatever it kicks it up to. I just left turbo off though, less hassle.

 

[Ozboblogolgoro]

Thanks a bunch. I set everything as you said and I'm running prime95 as I type. What temps should I be under during this test? How long should I run it?

Also, 1083mhz was the lowest my DRAM would go. Isn't that low? I paid a bunch for my memory and it seems like it's a waste. I really don't know though. :awe:

 

[Maximilian]

Thanks a bunch. I set everything as you said and I'm running prime95 as I type. What temps should I be under during this test? How long should I run it?

Also, 1083mhz was the lowest my DRAM would go. Isn't that low? I paid a bunch for my memory and it seems like it's a waste. I really don't know though. :awe:

Some people say run prime95 for 24 hours, others say 12, some are content with just 6, i dunno i was content with 6 hours myself. Its a brand new gaming comp i wanted to tear into crysis warhead rather than have it doing prime for a full 24 hours It would keep me awake as well.

The temps i got with realtemp under 100% load with prime were in the low 60's. Idles at around 40. Speedfan says 32 for idle but thats just the CPU not the actual cores.

Yeah kick the memory up higher later if you want i dont know how much benefit it would bring tbh other than a memory related synthetic benchmark boost. Generally though cpu mhz nets more overall performance than memory mhz, so dont sacrafice cpu speed or stability etc just to get the memory up to 1600 or whatever, memory isnt that important.

 

[Ozboblogolgoro]

I've been running prime95 for 7 hours and the highest temp I've seen it 62c. At full load all the cores are hanging around 58-60.

Is there anything else I need to do? D:

 

[Maximilian]

I've been running prime95 for 7 hours and the highest temp I've seen it 62c. At full load all the cores are hanging around 58-60.

Is there anything else I need to do? D:

Not really, enjoy your new overclocked cpu with somthing like crysis warhead

Maybe see if you can kick it up to 4ghz for fun I managed that but it took 1.3v and no HT for stability and acceptable temps. Never prime tested it for long though as 3.6 is enough for me.