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Looking to mildly overclock I7 920

P

pacent

Junior Member
I just put my system together last night:

Intel i7 920
Asus P6T Deluxe
Corsair 750W PS
Zalman 9700 NT Cooler and bracket for 1366 chipset
G.Skill 6gb DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) - 9-9-9-24
EVGA ATX 280 1gb SC

Everything is up and running on Vista 64, updated all the drivers last night, and it appears to be stable. I'm downloading a copy of CPU-Z, Realtemp, and Prime 95 64bit.

If all I want is around 3.2ghz, aiming more for stability and reliability, what settings do I need to make in the bios to get me there? Can I just bump the FSB up to 160, and turn off turbo mode? Is there any voltage changes I will need to do? From what I understand, my ram is already running at the right speed for 3.2ghz, so I won't need to drop it down at all, correct?

After the changes are made, run Prime95, and keep an eye on core temps?

Anything else I'm missing? Sorry for sounding like a total noob...its been awhile since I've built a PC, and even longer still since I overclocked anything.
 
I would second the notion to read the i7 guide that ayabe linked to.

In all seriousness, you should basically be able to keep the voltage at stock (or maybe even lower as I was able to do) and push the bclck up to 160 and VIOLA! 3.2. It should be relatively easy.
 
Do you guys change the bclk slowly, or just punch in a number and hope for the best? I've tried OC'ing my 920 using the E-leet utility, and if I run the number up more than a MHz or two at a time, it freezes and I have to hard restart. I think it's probably my RAM that is the issue also. Any idea how to change the memory divider?
 
OP, I'm just about to buy a virtually identicle rig!

Intel i7 920
Asus P6T Deluxe
PC Cooling 610 Silencer
Thermaltake Ultra 120 Extreme
6GB RAM of ???
Whatever 4870 I can find

My questions are:

- I found the P6T at $290 Canaduckian bucks, which works out to about $240 Obamabucks. Shoudl I try to find a mobo at a cheeper price, or just bite the bullet and go fer it?

- Is the 610 enough PSU for this rig? If not, which one?

- I might have to downsize my video for $$$ reasons. Cheaper sugestions? How about the 9800GT? I dont game and only need it for photoshop.

- Does the U120 have a i7 mounting bracket available?

- I want to do the exact OC that bit-tech did. What RAM do I need? Keep in mind that if I can't OC right to 3.2 I'm happy with 3.1 or even 3.0.

I gotta save money becoz the economy sux more than half price day at the Dyson warehouse. So please advise options that are afordable!

Bellated happy new year to all!
 
- I found the P6T at $290 Canaduckian bucks, which works out to about $240 Obamabucks. Shoudl I try to find a mobo at a cheeper price, or just bite the bullet and go fer it?
Click to expand...

That's the non-Deluxe version. The cheapest Dlx was ~CDN$360 before Christmas when I was buying, they didn't have plain P6Ts back then. I don't think you can find much better if you're going with i7.

- Does the U120 have a i7 mounting bracket available?
Click to expand...

Yes. A bit hard to find though, a few weeks ago, Direct Canada was the only place in Canada that had it in stock. Shipping cost me more than the kit...

- I want to do the exact OC that bit-tech did. What RAM do I need? Keep in mind that if I can't OC right to 3.2 I'm happy with 3.1 or even 3.0.
Click to expand...

bit-tech OCed to 4.0, not 3.2. There are 2 RAM multipliers, 6x and 8x. Multiply by BCLK to find out what speed you need. E.g. for 3.2 you need @1280 MHz using 8x.

 
Originally posted by: uclaLabrat
Do you guys change the bclk slowly, or just punch in a number and hope for the best? I've tried OC'ing my 920 using the E-leet utility, and if I run the number up more than a MHz or two at a time, it freezes and I have to hard restart. I think it's probably my RAM that is the issue also. Any idea how to change the memory divider?
Click to expand...

What board are you using? On the P6T, you choose the memory speed you want to run with the divider setting, and it very clearly shows what speed your memory will run at the chosen setting. That is at least what my BIOS shows, newer ones may be slightly different.
 
Well, I bumped my bclk up to 160, shut off turbo mode, and the pc booted up okay. CPU-Z read 3.2ghz. I ran Prime95, and about 15 minutes into the test, temps were in the low 63-64 degrees C when I got a BSOD.

I'll try messing with it again tonight.
 
Originally posted by: ExarKun333
Originally posted by: uclaLabrat
Do you guys change the bclk slowly, or just punch in a number and hope for the best? I've tried OC'ing my 920 using the E-leet utility, and if I run the number up more than a MHz or two at a time, it freezes and I have to hard restart. I think it's probably my RAM that is the issue also. Any idea how to change the memory divider?
Click to expand...

What board are you using? On the P6T, you choose the memory speed you want to run with the divider setting, and it very clearly shows what speed your memory will run at the chosen setting. That is at least what my BIOS shows, newer ones may be slightly different.
Click to expand...

I went with the EVGA board.
 
Originally posted by: pacent
Well, I bumped my bclk up to 160, shut off turbo mode, and the pc booted up okay. CPU-Z read 3.2ghz. I ran Prime95, and about 15 minutes into the test, temps were in the low 63-64 degrees C when I got a BSOD.

I'll try messing with it again tonight.
Click to expand...

tubro mode was removed on a new bios.

You have 2 sets of voltages to becareful about.

Vcore and QPI voltage.

Read that overclocking guide. However i dont see a turbo mode when i flashed the new bios.

 
I didn't have much luck with Turbo mode, except at stock clocks. Anything over that and the system was unstable.
 
Originally posted by: iCyborg
- I found the P6T at $290 Canaduckian bucks, which works out to about $240 Obamabucks. Shoudl I try to find a mobo at a cheeper price, or just bite the bullet and go fer it?
Click to expand...

That's the non-Deluxe version. The cheapest Dlx was ~CDN$360 before Christmas when I was buying, they didn't have plain P6Ts back then. I don't think you can find much better if you're going with i7.

- Does the U120 have a i7 mounting bracket available?
Click to expand...

Yes. A bit hard to find though, a few weeks ago, Direct Canada was the only place in Canada that had it in stock. Shipping cost me more than the kit...

- I want to do the exact OC that bit-tech did. What RAM do I need? Keep in mind that if I can't OC right to 3.2 I'm happy with 3.1 or even 3.0.
Click to expand...

bit-tech OCed to 4.0, not 3.2. There are 2 RAM multipliers, 6x and 8x. Multiply by BCLK to find out what speed you need. E.g. for 3.2 you need @1280 MHz using 8x.
Click to expand...

Yes, definitley the non-Delux. Newegg has the Delux at $365. Is there a big diff between the Delux and the non-Delux to warrant the $75 extra consedering that Im not gonna OC too high? If the i7 brackets are a pain for the u120, then what other top air does have easy to get brackitry? Noctua? Scythe? As for the RAM so if I want 3.2 all I have to look at is DDR3 stiks that run no slower than 1280 MHz, right? Does latensy matter in a case such as this?

 
http://www.asus.com/products_c...y_model=2731,2593&l1=3
There's an article on p6t on anandtech, you may want to read it. I got the above link from there.

Do you already have u120 and just need lga-1366 bracket (this was my case), or you need everything? In the latter case, it may be easier to find. The performance impact of various latencies is mostly limited to memory benchmarks.
 
Nope, I have nuthin and am gonna start biulding this rig from scratch. Ncix just came up with a killa deal on an EVGA X58 ATX with the i7 920 for six and a half Canuck bills. Any thougths on this board? Theyve also got G.SKILL F3-10666CL9T-6GBNQ 6GB DDR3 3X2GB DDR3-1333 CL 9-9-9-24 Triple Channel Memory Kit at $180 and I figure its so cheep I could get two an go with 12GB RAM. That would keep photoshop happy! What would be a resonable overclock with this setup? Again, I'm happy with 3.1! 🙂
 
Originally posted by: BubbaBooBoo
Nope, I have nuthin and am gonna start biulding this rig from scratch. Ncix just came up with a killa deal on an EVGA X58 ATX with the i7 920 for six and a half Canuck bills. Any thougths on this board? Theyve also got G.SKILL F3-10666CL9T-6GBNQ 6GB DDR3 3X2GB DDR3-1333 CL 9-9-9-24 Triple Channel Memory Kit at $180 and I figure its so cheep I could get two an go with 12GB RAM. That would keep photoshop happy! What would be a resonable overclock with this setup? Again, I'm happy with 3.1! 🙂
Click to expand...

Make sure to budget around $45 for a good aftermarket cooler and you can expect 3.2-3.4 very easily. If you stick with a stock cooler, I wouldn't expect to hit over 3.2; it just runs too hot and the cooler is not very great. You shouldn't have to adjust voltage much at all to hit 3.4-3.6. Many i7 920's hit up to 3.6 with little or no voltage changes.
 
I was thinknig that I would get the best air cooler I could find that has the i7 brackit and just go with that. So no probs fourseen on using that EVGA board for such a mild overclock?

Edit: and is that RAM ok too?
 
Originally posted by: pacent
Originally posted by: aigomorla
hey op can you take this picture for me:

http://i125.photobucket.com/al...aigomorla/IMG_0162.jpg

i want to see what your settings are at.
Click to expand...

Sure, I'll snap one when I get home tonight.
Click to expand...

if i see what your at, i can probably walk you thought the rest for your mild 3.2

honestly you should be going after more. These guys have a low wall @ 3.4-3.6 due to heat reasons, upper wall of 4.1ghz if your on water.
 
FWIW, I was able to get 3.4Ghz on the stock cooler and ~1.2V (I forget, +.03V on the CPU, +.01 or .02V on the QPI, 1.5V on the memory itself running at 1360) with temps in the 70s so that much is probably doable on most systems. 3.4 at stock volts didn't work out. I think 3.2 was my max if volts are left alone.

3.2 is probably better on the stock cooler for long term use. If you actually get a real cooler, like a TRUE, then 3.4-3.8 should be no problem at all for most of the chips, especially since you actually went ahead and got the DDR3 1600 set.
 
1. lower your dram frequency.

2. cpu ratio set to max

3. disable speedstep

4. lower cpu voltage to like 1.3275

5. your PLL voltages are too high for your wanting overclock, lower it to bottom. 1.82

6, QPI / DRAM voltage set at 1.375

7. You should also have Dram voltage, set that no higher then 1.64 or 1.66


Reboot and let me know what happens.

Lower your QPI Link Data Rate also. As your QPI BUS which is FSB bus in cpu z gets higher to 4, your overclock will fail.
 
These settings have worked well for me. System booted up without any issues. I ran Prime95 for 12 hours without any errors. It does appear to run a bit hot, I'm hitting temperatures in the low 70s runing prime95...at idle its about 34-35 degrees. As a baseline, on the stock settings with running prime95, it gets to around 48-50 degrees with all 8 threads running, at idle, its about 27-29 degrees. Do you think these temperatures are safe, or should I back it down a bit to 3.0 ghz?
 
Hello Guys

I am in the same boat as most of you I have a i7 920 and want to mildly overclock it from 2.6 to 3.0 or 3.1 the problem i am haveing is i have it overclock to a 2.9 baseclock at 142 and ran prime95 for three hours with no problems but when i bump it one to 143 to get a 3.0 ferquency and run prime95 after about 2-3 min windows say prime95 had a error and needs to close but running at 2.9 for three hours it's fine I am only incresing the base clock nothing else seeing as it's a small overclock here is my system specs any help would be awsome thanks guys later.

Alienaware Area 51 x58 system

Processor 1
Name- Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67GHz
currently running at 2.9

System Memory
3-2gig Sticks Running Triple Channel | ELPIDA 2GB DDR3 PC3-8500 U-DIMM 1067MHZ CL7 JEDEC STANDARD

Motherboard
ASUS X58 MOTHERBOARD P6T DELUXE

VideoCard
FLEXTRONICS NVIDIA GTX 260 896MB

Operating System
WINDOWS VISTA HOME PREMIUM X64

Power supply
1 KILOWATT OEM ATX PSU

 
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