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Is 3.3GHz too fast for a i7 920 on stock cooler?

JTsyo

JTsyo

Lifer
I've been CPU limited in Planetside 2 so I figured I would overclock the CPU a bit. I have an Intel board that came with the Intel Desktop Manager. It had an option for auto-tune. It adjusted the clock speeds and ran some stress tests and said 3.3GHz was good. What I noticed though was that the CPU temp didn't move at all, it was at 28C the whole time. I played an hour of PS2 and got about a 70% improvement in frame rate. Checking the temperature afterwards, the CPU was still at 28C. The other temperature gauges seem fine. The system seems stable but I don't want to risk a meltdown. Does the thermal cutoff for the CPU depend on the same motherboard temperature sensor?
 
I would use something to load the processor in a window then have some app up to check the temps as its running.

You can try encoding with handbrake which will load the processor fully. or prime 95 etc.

However with that said this will put more of a load on the processor than most games so your temps should be slightly lower in game than what you will see with these apps.
 
3.3GHz on a stock cooler is fine. I did it for years on one of my systems.

However you're going to need to find a way to properly monitor your temperatures. I don't know what your voltage is, but there's no chance in heck your temps are maxing out at 28C. What are you monitoring with?
 
ViRGE said:
3.3GHz on a stock cooler is fine. I did it for years on one of my systems.

However you're going to need to find a way to properly monitor your temperatures. I don't know what your voltage is, but there's no chance in heck your temps are maxing out at 28C. What are you monitoring with?
Click to expand...

Intel's Desktop Manager. I'm thinking it's the actual sensor on the motherboard that's bad. Will the cpu still have a thermal cutoff without that sensor?
 
Makaveli said:
I would use something to load the processor in a window then have some app up to check the temps as its running.

You can try encoding with handbrake which will load the processor fully. or prime 95 etc.

However with that said this will put more of a load on the processor than most games so your temps should be slightly lower in game than what you will see with these apps.
Click to expand...

When the program ran the stress test, all the cores were at 100% load.
 
xeledon20005 said:
if your encoding shouldn't your graphics card get fully loaded not processor?
Click to expand...

That would depend on if your application knows to use the GPU.

The current stable version of handbrake uses your cpu to encode not gpu.

I am aware they are working on a Beta that will use the gpu but my reference is to the current stable version since this thread is about overclocking his cpu not his gpu.

JTsyo said:
When the program ran the stress test, all the cores were at 100% load.
Click to expand...


And what were your load temps?
 
JTsyo said:
Intel's Desktop Manager. I'm thinking it's the actual sensor on the motherboard that's bad. Will the cpu still have a thermal cutoff without that sensor?
Click to expand...
I'm afraid I'm not familiar with that one, and consequently I don't know how it's pulling its measurements. Have you tried RealTemp or CoreTemp? Those tend to be the popular ones here, and both read directly off of the thermal diode in the chip itself.

And assuming for whatever reason the thermal diode is broken (keeping in mind there's one in each core), then yes, that would keep thermal safeties from kicking in. But it's far more likely that this is a reporting problem.
 
ViRGE said:
I'm afraid I'm not familiar with that one, and consequently I don't know how it's pulling its measurements. Have you tried RealTemp or CoreTemp? Those tend to be the popular ones here, and both read directly off of the thermal diode in the chip itself.

And assuming for whatever reason the thermal diode is broken (keeping in mind there's one in each core), then yes, that would keep thermal safeties from kicking in. But it's far more likely that this is a reporting problem.
Click to expand...

I'll try out RealTemp and see what it says.
 
Makaveli said:
That would depend on if your application knows to use the GPU.

The current stable version of handbrake uses your cpu to encode not gpu.

I am aware they are working on a Beta that will use the gpu but my reference is to the current stable version since this thread is about overclocking his cpu not his gpu.
Click to expand...
Thanks for clarifying not familiar that much with handbreak just knew it was an encoding program.
 
Alright running real temp I see 55-63C. I'll check after running PS2. What would be considered too high?

Running planetside2 for a few minutes it got to 78C max.

Currently the settings are at
Multiplier: 20
host Clock: 152 MHz
CPU voltage: 1.2875

If I need to scale abck to 3.1GHz what needs to be changed?
 
Last edited:
If you're looking to get a little more out of your CPU to boost your total experience of the system, and you're worrying about temps (I realize this isn't going to be news to a 7000+ post diamond member such as yourself) I suggest keeping an eye open for some sale which will get you a CoolerMaster 212 (+ for $20 or EVO for $25-$30 -- though +$10 seems like a waste when the + can often be found for $20).

I usually frown on folks who chime in on a thread which poses a simple question for information with advice that amounts to "spend some more money, that'll help!" -- but damn, those stock Intel coolers, y'know? The 212s on sale are actually absolutely defensible from a 'money / overclocked performance' standpoint on most overclocked systems. Particularly on a hot chip like the 920. [edit: though this assumes a willingness to open'er up and pull the motherboard for installation, I guess]

So -- frown on me if you must -- but that's it: Wait for the right price with free shipping and spend the twenty-something dollars. And enjoy the lower temps, lower noise and, probably, couple hundred more comfortable MHz.
 
Plimogz said:
If you're looking to get a little more out of your CPU to boost your total experience of the system, and you're worrying about temps (I realize this isn't going to be news to a 7000+ post diamond member such as yourself) I suggest keeping an eye open for some sale which will get you a CoolerMaster 212 (+ for $20 or EVO for $25-$30 -- though +$10 seems like a waste when the + can often be found for $20).

I usually frown on folks who chime in on a thread which poses a simple question for information with advice that amounts to "spend some more money, that'll help!" -- but damn, those stock Intel coolers, y'know? The 212s on sale are actually absolutely defensible from a 'money / overclocked performance' standpoint on most overclocked systems. Particularly on a hot chip like the 920. [edit: though this assumes a willingness to open'er up and pull the motherboard for installation, I guess]

So -- frown on me if you must -- but that's it: Wait for the right price with free shipping and spend the twenty-something dollars. And enjoy the lower temps, lower noise and, probably, couple hundred more comfortable MHz.
Click to expand...

Totally agree.

But he is using lynnfield not nehalem not quite as hot 🙂

He will still need a better cooler though if he plans to go past 3.5Ghz with hyperthreading on.
 
JTsyo said:
Alright running real temp I see 55-63C. I'll check after running PS2. What would be considered too high?

Running planetside2 for a few minutes it got to 78C max.

Currently the settings are at
Multiplier: 20
host Clock: 152 MHz
CPU voltage: 1.2875

If I need to scale abck to 3.1GHz what needs to be changed?
Click to expand...
At long as your temps are staying under 85C or so, you're fine. But if you did have to scale back, then you'd want to scale back on both the clockspeed and the voltage since voltage has a far greater impact on power consumption.

Though actually, you said that this was picked via auto overclocking? So you haven't tried any other voltage settings? If that's the case, then you should consider dropping the voltage some and seeing if it's still stable. These auto-overclocking routines typically run the voltage higher than is necessary. So you may be able to maintain 3.3GHz and still get some more thermal headroom.
 
Makaveli said:
Totally agree.

But he is using lynnfield not nehalem not quite as hot 🙂

He will still need a better cooler though if he plans to go past 3.5Ghz with hyperthreading on.
Click to expand...

G°D. Are you extrapolating from the BCLK and multi numbers posted late in the thread? or is something hidden in that one link which I've missed? 'Cuz the title clearly makes this out to be about a 920...

Hmmm.
 
920 co here @3360, stock cooler since day 1
85 temp sounds right when cranked up in summer.
cpu volt@1.09 Don't use auto setting as suggested. They can usually run on less until you go past 3.4 give or take.
Don't worry ,temps sounds normal for a 920
 
xeledon20005 said:
if your encoding shouldn't your graphics card get fully loaded not processor?
Click to expand...

The majority of encoders are tied to the CPU. There are some that will offload some load to the GPU, but not a whole lot and while very fast, video quality on a GPU encode is usually not as good, at least from what I've seen and read a while back. Things may have improved now but I haven't really heard much else about it.

As far as the original question is concerned, I personally would feel a lot more comfortable with a $30 hyper 212 cooling my overclocked CPU than the stock cooler.
 
Plimogz said:
G°D. Are you extrapolating from the BCLK and multi numbers posted late in the thread? or is something hidden in that one link which I've missed? 'Cuz the title clearly makes this out to be about a 920...

Hmmm.
Click to expand...

Sorry my bad I was reading another thread adout an i7 860 when I was posting on this one also 😛
 
70-80 is probably as high as you want to let it go, and you don't want to be running that high 24/7.

My Q9300 @ 3.0 gets to 65C fully loaded, sometimes to 73C if the A/C is off.
 
Took the voltage down to 1.15, idle temps are about 52C and playing PS2 it goes to 64C. I'll give this settings a few days and see how the system behaves.
 
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