Need a little Core i7 980X overclocking advice

[RussianSensation]

I have this and it's pretty good: http://www.microcenter.com/single_pr...uct_id=0253411

My choice though would be a Gentle Typhoon Ap-15: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-092-_-Product, although MicroCenter does not carry this fan.

Having said that, if you are going to spend $55 on a heatsink + $20 on a fan ($75), might as well get the best air cooling solution which is also very quiet: http://www.heatsinkfactory.com/noctua-nh-d14-ultra-silent-cpu-cooler.html

 

[AdamK47]

If I order a heatsink/fan I would have to wait for it. I'm not the waiting type.

 

[Markfw]

I thought I read a review where the megahalem cooler beat the Noctura ?

 

[Spike99]

I spent some time removing the V10 from my system and trying out the stock Intel cooler. To my suprise it performed better by about 5 degrees C. I thought that perhaps the V10 wasn't seated right, so I took the mounting plate and brackets off of my V8 and put it on the V10 and then put everything back together. Still the same problem. Temps didn't improve at all. I'm going to Micro Center after work to pick up a Rev 2 Megahalems. Any advice on what fans to get for it?

So what temps are you getting ? and what temp did u get with Intel stock cooler ? I had tried the Intel stock cooler but thought that the fan noise was terrible even at quiet mode. I had a bad thermal paste so I had to stop stress testing. My problem was that I was using a bad thermal paste.

If I already did not have a H50, I probably would have gotten a Megahalem. Not that I'm complaining about the H50, but I'm curious what temps I would have gotten with it...

 

[MagickMan]

I love my Scythe Gentle Typhoons, great air flow and amazing static pressure. Get the 1850RPM model and adjust their speed to your liking with a good fan controller.

If I already did not have a H50, I probably would have gotten a Megahalem. Not that I'm complaining about the H50, but I'm curious what temps I would have gotten with it...

They're almost identical. In my tests the H50 is just slightly better with two Scythe GTs in P/P drawing fresh air from outside the case.

 

[Rubycon]

I thought I read a review where the megahalem cooler beat the Noctura ?

They are fairly close however the Noctua will pull ahead at the more extreme loads due to its larger swept area.

 

[AdamK47]

Mega update!

The Megahalems has been installed! I went with a Scythe Kaze-Jyuni fan for it. I bought two for the push-pull thingy, but the motherboards MOSFET heatsink got in the way. It's OK though. The fans are rated at 110 CFM at 1900 RPM with 37 dba, so I think a single fan on the front is fine. I also have two 120mm fans in the back of the Antec 1200 along with a 200mm fan on the top. The second fan would have been overkill. The single Scythe fan on the heatsink is running at 2000 RPM and it's not really all that loud. Maybe that's because when I think of loud I think of the 120mm Sunons I had in my Penium 4 system back in the day.

The temps so far are much improved. Where the Cooler Master V10 ran the CPU in the 80s at load, the Megahalems runs it in the 60s. I'm not sure why a massive $130 heatsink could not keep this CPU cool. Perhaps some goofball on the assembly line installed the TEC upside down. Whatever, it's going back to Micro Center.

Off to perform more testing!

 

[AdamK47]

So what temps are you getting ? and what temp did u get with Intel stock cooler ? I had tried the Intel stock cooler but thought that the fan noise was terrible even at quiet mode. I had a bad thermal paste so I had to stop stress testing. My problem was that I was using a bad thermal paste.

If I already did not have a H50, I probably would have gotten a Megahalem. Not that I'm complaining about the H50, but I'm curious what temps I would have gotten with it...

The Cooler Master V10 was getting into the 80s at full load with the 980X at 4133MHz with 1.375V. The stock Intel cooler was running it in the mid 70s. The Magahalems is now running it in the mid 60s.

 

[Rubycon]

Perhaps some goofball on the assembly line installed the TEC upside down. Whatever, it's going back to Micro Center.

Probably made in October!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CGKmgmJawg&

 

[Spike99]

The Cooler Master V10 was getting into the 80s at full load with the 980X at 4133MHz with 1.375V. The stock Intel cooler was running it in the mid 70s. The Magahalems is now running it in the mid 60s.

That's pretty impressive temp with the Megahalem. I'm itching to get that... but i really can't complain about with the H50 even if I get 82C during load.

 

[Markfw]

The Cooler Master V10 was getting into the 80s at full load with the 980X at 4133MHz with 1.375V. The stock Intel cooler was running it in the mid 70s. The Magahalems is now running it in the mid 60s.

Can I say I told you so ?????

I love my megahalems.....

 

[AdamK47]

Yes, you told me so and I thank you for it. Rubycon helped too. Thanks to both of you. Now to the tweaking! Know of anyone that wants a slightly used Cooler Master V10? lol

 

[AdamK47]

The FPO/Batch# on the box reads 3003B466 and the Pack Date is 03/31/10 if anyone cares.

 

[Spike99]

What thermal compound did you use ? The one that came with the Magahalem ?

 

[AdamK47]

Arctic Silver 5.

 

[Spike99]

Arctic Silver 5.

OK, I have read that Arctic Silver 5 is one of the best.

 

[Axon]

My advice is that you, uh, give me that CPU and I'll get it straightened out. Yeah, yeah, he'll buy that.

Oh crap, I wasn't supposed to type that.

Oh crap, I shouldn't have typed that either!

Uhhhh, here's a uh, a smiley. Look, a tongue! It was all a joke!

 

[AdamK47]

I have an update if anyone cares. The CPU is officially stable at 4133MHz with a 133MHz base clock and a 31 multiplier. I ran LinX, Prime95, and MemTest over the past 24 hours without errors. The QPI is at 3200MHz, Uncore at 3600MHz, and the memory at 1600 DDR with 6-7-6-18-1T timings. It took 1.4V for the CPU to do it. The VTT also required +175mv which is around 1.4V. Not sure why it required it, but it certainly makes it stable. The 920 I had before a 930 also required it. The luck of the draw I suppose. The CPU idles in the 30s and at load goes up in the upper 70s and sometimes spikes at 80, 81 for the first core. The V10 would be in the 90s at these settings. The Megahalems is doing it's job very well.

With the same settings, as noted above, I can almost do 4266MHz. LinX will give me an error after 45 minutes though. 4133MHz is fine for me at the moment.

 

[Spike99]

That's odd you had to go so high on vcore. I'm stable at 4133MHz (MP = 31 & Clock = 133) with vcore = 1.3625. Also most reviews I've seen have not gone beyond 1.375v with 4.1GHz, but I quess it's luck of the draw.

 

[AdamK47]

I decided to mess around with the QPI PLL voltage and the IOH voltage tonight. It seems to have fixed my need for high VTT voltage. I now have my VTT +0mv, which shows as 1.27 in CPUID Hardware Monitor. The QPI PLL is at 1.2 and IOH at 1.25. Both have a default of 1.1V.

 

[Spike99]

Again, I'm a noobie in OC'ing... I didn't mess with QPI or any other settings. For RAM, I set XMP profile and it automatically set QPI and some other RAM settings. My RAM is set at 1600 with timings of 7-7-7-20-2T.

 

[Cableaddict]

Adam,

First we have to answer a question you asked way back at the start: Is CoreTemp giving an accurate reading?

I am almost certain it is NOT. In fact, it seems totally bonkers with a 980X.

I just put together a new build: Asus Rampage II Gene, Corsair HX750w (no SLI) a 980X B-series, and a Core-Contact Freezer with the fan on high speed.

At STOCK cpu speed & voltage, CoreTemp is showing my cpu idling at around 61 - 63º !

That's absurd. The bios shows 26º
CPUID's HW Monitor shows 25-27º and "Sensor's View" shows 24º

It would seem that CoreTemp needs to be updated in order to deal with the new cpus. (I sent an email to its creator last week)
I'm going to trust the BIOS, and use CPUID when under load, since it seems the closest. I wish there was a way to read the bios whe n runnind Sandra, etc.

If you find a monitoring app that is known to be accurate with the 980X under load, and shows all six cores, PLEASE let me know.
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BTW, what is the currently-accepted max temp for this cpu? Some folks here are saying in the 80's, but I thought it was still around 71º.

Also, for what it's worth, I'm now running a nice safe test OC, just to get my feet wet: 29X and 1.35v. Prime 95 has been chugging along for 15 minutes, and my cpu temps peaked at ~ 65º with sustained temps at ! 60º.

I haven't lapped the cpu yet, so I expect I'll be able to drop that maybe 5º or more.

 

[miahallen]

Not sure if you guys are interested or not, but I recently wrote a guide on OCing i3/i5/i7 CPUs...the link is in my sig.

Sounds like you already have things sorted pretty well, but it may help you push a little furthur

Nice OCs BTW.

I'm not really into stress testing, but my 980X passed 10min of P95 at 4.5GHz (1.4V) with a custom water cooling loop....I'm pretty happy with it.

 

[Rubycon]

I'm not really into stress testing, but my 980X passed 10min of P95 at 4.5GHz (1.4V) with a custom water cooling loop....I'm pretty happy with it.

:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

 

[SHAQ]

A whole 10 minutes of P95 huh? You might need a bit more than that. Even 10 minutes of LinX isn't enough.

Try RealTemp Cableaddict.