i7 920 Safe Temps?

[JohnVM]

Hey Guys,

I picked up the Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 120MM SSO CPU Cooler from Newegg. I have a i7 920 chip, which I've overclocked up to 3.6ghz at the moment.

Link to cooler is here FYI: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835608007

When running Core Damage for a few minutes, the core temps seem to peak around 85-86C. Is this safe, or is that too high? I know Tj Max is 100C but that seems pretty high still. Should I back it off? Are there any ways I can get the temps down while still staying at 3.6Ghz or so? I know some peeps have hit 3.8Ghz on air....

Can I try dropping my vcore down? Can I damage my chip by giving it too little voltage?

Thanks,
John

 

[JohnVM]

I had had the vcore settings on "Auto" which had them up at 1.275v or so -- I backed it down to 1.21ish and my temps are down to about 73C max using prime95 on all cores as a test (haven't tested core damage although it seems to get the chip a bit hotter).

Current settings are 20*180 and a 1.21V vcore.

Should I keep trying to drop the voltage assuming it's stable, or is this a bad idea?

Update: Ah, well this makes obvious sense. Despite not crashing at such low voltages instantly, it eventually does -- bumped back up to 1.27v vcore @ 3.6ghz and getting 77C for Prime95 after an hour or so.