i7 920 OCing to 4GHz - Problem between keyboard and chair or just a bad chip?

[n7]

What are you using to stability test it quickly? IBT? When I see someone using linx are they referring to IBT?

LinX (i prefer this over IBT)
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=201670

IBT (IntelBurnTest)
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=197835

Both are built around Intel's LinPack binaries.

 

[GLeeM]

I have the same board and CPU. Your temps are fine, don't worry about a big fan blowing in the side. Either leave the side off (I do) or mount a small fan blowing at the warm part if you want to feel better about it.

I've been at 190x21 w/1.264 vcore (CPU-Z) for ten months @ full load (HT on) 24/7 folding@home with temps from 68 to 75 the whole time. I'll be lowering the OC to 3.8 or 3.9 this summer when I don't need a heater
Unless you need to heat the room, be happy with 3.8 at 1.60 vcore and 55 temp. That seems like your sweet spot.

 

[HarryO]

Do a search in here and many other forums and tell that to all the people who aren't hitting 4GHz. I would bet there are far more that aren't getting 4GHz as opposed to the ones that do and post to brag about it.

Whatever Shleprock, if you can't hit 4GHz with a good cooler and a good motherboard it's your own fualt. Stop trying to make yourself feel better by saying 4GHz is the exception rather than the rule when it's the other way around. No wonder Anandtech got the worst overclocking results of all the review sites with Gulftown.

 

[aigomorla]

No wonder Anandtech got the worst overclocking results of all the review sites with Gulftown.

*Sigh*

And only XS beats me at throwing a gulftown preview first.
And thats because most of them were from china, and were illegal ES's.

AT's main article was a good basic intro, but i already disected gulftown back in january, in all its glory at an OC which made people go OMG. :sneaky:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?p=29265678#post29265678

So with cpu's... AT is ahead in the forums then a lot.

Oh did i also mention i showed off the W3580 and W3570 and 975 and a X5570 gainestown cpu pre launch as sneak peaks as well?
And i might have a 32nm quad coming... to sneak preview here. (oh but wait gillbot already showed that off)

So no were not behind... in fact.. besides XS, were ahead.

 

[Ben90]

Whatever Shleprock, if you can't hit 4GHz with a good cooler and a good motherboard it's your own fualt. Stop trying to make yourself feel better by saying 4GHz is the exception rather than the rule when it's the other way around. No wonder Anandtech got the worst overclocking results of all the review sites with Gulftown.

I disagree with this. While most 920s will reach 4 pretty easily, there are always the exceptions that will not, no matter how much voltage, go past 3.6. Overclocking is ALWAYS YMMV.

People said the HD 4890 could overclock like a beast. Mine goes up to a 865 core before I get an occasional crash. That's not even a 2% overclock. Its not a mobo/power problem either as I have tried the card in a different system and used much more power hungry cards in this system.

Your last statement is wrong in so many ways. Better not feed the troll

 

[Gillbot]

I've overclocked half a dozen 920's (CO's & DO's) and i've never had a problem reaching 4GHz on any of them. That's not to say some CPU's just don't have it in them, but as long as you have proper cooling and a good motherboard 4GHz is not that hard.
The only time I couldn't reach 4GHz was with a crappy Asrock Extreme mobo. The same CPU in a Gigabyte UD3R did 4GHz with eas.

Whatever Shleprock, if you can't hit 4GHz with a good cooler and a good motherboard it's your own fualt. Stop trying to make yourself feel better by saying 4GHz is the exception rather than the rule when it's the other way around. No wonder Anandtech got the worst overclocking results of all the review sites with Gulftown.

WOW are you misinformed. Telling people they should EXPECT 4ghz is silly. Who are you to judge what is a "good cooler and motherboard"? I think my Asrock is a good motherboard while many other people think it's complete crap. There are just too many unknowns to expect anything other than stock.

I also have no clue as to what Anandtech's Gulftown results have to do with anything here. One of our own moderators (aigomorla) has one of the highest clocking Gulftowns out there under watercooling.

 

[HarryO]

WOW are you misinformed. Telling people they should EXPECT 4ghz is silly. Who are you to judge what is a "good cooler and motherboard"? I think my Asrock is a good motherboard while many other people think it's complete crap. There are just too many unknowns to expect anything other than stock.

I also have no clue as to what Anandtech's Gulftown results have to do with anything here. One of our own moderators (aigomorla) has one of the highest clocking Gulftowns out there under watercooling.

Buy yourself a good motherboard such as an Asus, Gigabyte or EVGA and if you can't hit 4GHz I'll pay for it. That's how confident I am that your Asrock is holding you back.
I may have been bit harsh on the Asrock extreme by calling it crappy. It's a decent motherboard that offers good bang for your buck, but it's a terrible overclocker. If you're close to 4GHz with that board then you're almost garanteed 4GHz with one of the motherboards I mentiond.

 

[jimmyparky]

I'm counting on you to achieve 4GHz. Good Luck!

 

[Dadofamunky]

Trailerpark overclocking. Gotta love it!

 

[DrMrLordX]

Trailerpark overclocking. Gotta love it!

Damn right. Up next . . . installing an H1BX on an NH-D14 with zip ties because the Noctua fan clip pegs won't work with a Panaflo/NMB-MAT 38mm fan! yeehaw! Now where'd I put my zip ties . . .

 

[miahallen]

Do a search in here and many other forums and tell that to all the people who aren't hitting 4GHz. I would bet there are far more that aren't getting 4GHz as opposed to the ones that do and post to brag about it.

It's actually very safe to say that with high end air cooling 90%+ of i7 CPUs will hit 4GHz+ if you know what you're doing, and are willing to spend the time to get it there.

The difference is 3.8GHz IS EASY....4GHz+ takes a lot more work. Now if your arguement was for 4.5GHz, I'd agree hands down, that takes a special chip....4GHz does not.

 

[Markfw]

It's actually very safe to say that with high end air cooling 90%+ of i7 CPUs will hit 4GHz+ if you know what you're doing, and are willing to spend the time to get it there.

The difference is 3.8GHz IS EASY....4GHz+ takes a lot more work. Now if your arguement was for 4.5GHz, I'd agree hands down, that takes a special chip....4GHz does not.

That may be, but I am the 10% that couldn't, on a megahalem. I just refused to buy the $300 motherboard required. I am doing my 1090T OC with a $85 motherboard, and I guess I should have gotten the 1055T.

 

[miahallen]

Couldn't? Or wouldn't?

I've seen lots of users unwilling to go above a certain voltage limit, or heat limit, or noise limit. And certainly those are considerations that could be very important to certain users. I wouldn't expect the same percentages for those individuals.

For those users who are determind to reach their OCing goal, these other considerations take the back seat.

For instance, how powerful was the fan you were using? What is the highest core temp you were comfortable with? What was the highest voltage you tried?

I've got what is one of the worst clocking 920s I've ever seen, it took 1.45V to get 4.2GHz stable, 1.4V to get 4GHz. Since it's in my daily gaming rig, and noise & power consumption are important to me, I backed it off to 3.8GHz for 24/7 ops. This does not mean it's not a 4GHz chip, only that absolute performance is not the to priority for this system.

I'm not trying to knock on anyone....simply being realistic

 

[Markfw]

Couldn't? Or wouldn't?

I've seen lots of users unwilling to go above a certain voltage limit, or heat limit, or noise limit. And certainly those are considerations that could be very important to certain users. I wouldn't expect the same percentages for those individuals.

For those users who are determind to reach their OCing goal, these other considerations take the back seat.

For instance, how powerful was the fan you were using? What is the highest core temp you were comfortable with? What was the highest voltage you tried?

I've got what is one of the worst clocking 920s I've ever seen, it took 1.45V to get 4.2GHz stable, 1.4V to get 4GHz. Since it's in my daily gaming rig, and noise & power consumption are important to me, I backed it off to 3.8GHz for 24/7 ops. This does not mean it's not a 4GHz chip, only that absolute performance is not the to priority for this system.

I'm not trying to knock on anyone....simply being realistic

First, I only OC to 24/7 speed, since thats what load I put I put on them. And 1.4 vcore and 75c are my limits. As for cooling ? I have a megahalem, what else needs to be said.

 

[miahallen]

See, that's my point, I bet I could get your chip to 4GHz 24/7 on your board with your cooling....but I doubt I could keep it under 75C These chips are happy operating right up to 100C, not sure why so many users are shy of higher temps.

Also, everyones definition of "24/7 stable" is different...so that's something else that changes the percieved overclockability.

I guess that's the point I'd like to make, theres a very large difference between overclockability, and percieved overclockability. Becasue the latter is a moving target

 

[Markfw]

See, that's my point, I bet I could get your chip to 4GHz 24/7 on your board with your cooling....but I doubt I could keep it under 75C These chips are happy operating right up to 100C, not sure why so many users are shy of higher temps.

Also, everyones definition of "24/7 stable" is different...so that's something else that changes the percieved overclockability.

I guess that's the point I'd like to make, theres a very large difference between overclockability, and percieved overclockability. Becasue the latter is a moving target

Running @100% load and 80-85c 24/7 is asking for real trouble. I don't care what Intel says. I have seen too many chips fry at that range. You evern leave yours down for 24/7 operation, so I don't know why you keep defending the position. Booting at 4.2 and leaving it run 24/7 @100% load 24/7 are two different things.

 

[Anubis]

Running @100% load and 80-85c 24/7 is asking for real trouble. I don't care what Intel says. I have seen too many chips fry at that range. You evern leave yours down for 24/7 operation, so I don't know why you keep defending the position. Booting at 4.2 and leaving it run 24/7 @100% load 24/7 are two different things.

who runs 100% load 24/7? aren't most of the DC clients running off GPUs now

 

[miahallen]

Running @100% load and 80-85c 24/7 is asking for real trouble. I don't care what Intel says. http://hwbot.org/community/submission/983667_miahallen_wprime_1024m_core_i5_750_3min_10sec_437ms. You evern leave yours down for 24/7 operation, so I don't know why you keep defending the position. Booting at 4.2 and leaving it run 24/7 @100% load 24/7 are two different things.

Really? Any imperical data on that?

While I'd agree with CPUs from a decade ago...todays CPUs are extremely robust (although 32nm stuff is not doing quite as well so far). Intel designs these to run at these temps....why do you think their stock heatsinks are so pathetic?

However, efficiency of CPUs god down dramatically when you get to heavy OCs, causing a worse performance/watt ratio. For any real crucher (which you appear to be ), this is the ultimate benchmark, so for you....top OC is not important anyway.

 

[Markfw]

who runs 100% load 24/7? aren't most of the DC clients running off GPUs now

With the new DC clients (SMP2) fully 1/3rd of my points come from CPU. And those other 2/3rd's products 3-4 times the heat of the CPU, so I pay for it in more than hardware and electricity.