OC i7 920 with 120 ULTRA

[ajaidevsingh]

Had the i7 920 running at 3.6 Ghz since the 120 ultra arrived and since my friend wants his 2 penny's for the cooler i was thinking to try and push it to 4Ghz theis is how the story went...

Orignal OC to 3.6Ghz:-
CPU *=20
BCLK=180
RAM=1203
Vcore=1.32v
Temp highest = High 70C to Mid 80's "Special T.Paste used"

Tried OC to 4Ghz:-
BCLK=200
DRAM=1603 @ 1.66
Vcore=1.38v
Temp highest = High 80's to some 90's

The Problem is the BSOD comes up even when i am under 90C around 87-88C i get a BSOD nad i also have fixed 2 fans on the heatsink one for In Flow of air and the other for out...!!!

If you all use 4Ghz on a i7 920 pls do leave a line as to how to lower the dam temp and whats wrong with my settings???


The MB is a P6T Asus with Corsair Dominator and i am afraid that 1.66v on the ram will create problems on the long run!!! Also sometimes the MB just self restarts itself like when i switch it on it shuts off and switches on again!!!

 

[PCTC2]

Try using a lower multiplier on your RAM. You're probably getting a BSOD because your RAM is running a lot faster than when it was at 3.6GHz and is probably unstable.

 

[ArchAngel777]

Originally posted by: PCTC2
Try using a lower multiplier on your RAM. You're probably getting a BSOD because your RAM is running a lot faster than when it was at 3.6GHz and is probably unstable.

Yep, I second this. Although I have no experience with the i7, I would try to do one of the following

1) Lower ram speed
2) Increase voltaage to ram
3) Increase the latencies

 

[Duvie]

yikes 90c!!!!

You should have bought my coolit cooler I was selling a week ago....I modified it and it would neat a Ultra 120 (I know I had one also)....It could have maybe kept you in the 70's....

 

[PCTC2]

Originally posted by: ArchAngel777

Originally posted by: PCTC2
Try using a lower multiplier on your RAM. You're probably getting a BSOD because your RAM is running a lot faster than when it was at 3.6GHz and is probably unstable.

Yep, I second this. Although I have no experience with the i7, I would try to do one of the following

1) Lower ram speed
2) Increase voltaage to ram
3) Increase the latencies

1) Yes, I agree
2) I would not recommend this because that would push the RAM above the 1.65v that Intel recommends and will cause damage to your CPU over sustained periods of time. Up to 1.69 would probably be the highest I would go.
3) Yes, I also second this.

Originally posted by: Duvie
yikes 90c!!!!

You should have bought my coolit cooler I was selling a week ago....I modified it and it would neat a Ultra 120 (I know I had one also)....It could have maybe kept you in the 70's....

Coolit's aren't really really efficient at cooling large amounts of heat, such as an overclocked i7 w/ over 130W of heat. Their TECs will hit a ceiling and just start pumping heat back into the system. A standard tower would be better in this scenario.

 

[Duvie]

Originally posted by: PCTC2

Originally posted by: ArchAngel777

Originally posted by: PCTC2
Try using a lower multiplier on your RAM. You're probably getting a BSOD because your RAM is running a lot faster than when it was at 3.6GHz and is probably unstable.

Yep, I second this. Although I have no experience with the i7, I would try to do one of the following

1) Lower ram speed
2) Increase voltaage to ram
3) Increase the latencies

1) Yes, I agree
2) I would not recommend this because that would push the RAM above the 1.65v that Intel recommends and will cause damage to your CPU over sustained periods of time. Up to 1.69 would probably be the highest I would go.
3) Yes, I also second this.

Originally posted by: Duvie
yikes 90c!!!!

You should have bought my coolit cooler I was selling a week ago....I modified it and it would neat a Ultra 120 (I know I had one also)....It could have maybe kept you in the 70's....

Coolit's aren't really really efficient at cooling large amounts of heat, such as an overclocked i7 w/ over 130W of heat. Their TECs will hit a ceiling and just start pumping heat back into the system. A standard tower would be better in this scenario.

Better then an ULtra 120 or most air coolers available...

PLus my freezone kept my c0 stepping Kentsfield (130watt) oc'd to 3.5ghz at low 50's for load...MarkFW900 was my proof....My Ultra 120 left me in the high 60's and my old scythe ninja was in the mid 70's...

So basically you dont know what you are talking about....Until you have had one like me...you dont know...

Plus read the fact I modified it my placing a more high cfm 120mm fan on the radiator and bypassed the TCM...

I am not saying it is ideal but it would do better then the ultra 120 and I was only selling it for 100....

If I was to buy one now I would only look at the elite which is capable of 225-250watts of heat dissipation. The original freezone was made for dual cores hence why it was only for 175 watts of heat...My modifications helped a bit but is plenty enough to best the best air cooler out there....Many of these used can be had for 100-150 range....

 

[RaptureMe]

LOL nice topic name...
Anyways my dream machine was at 4.0Ghz but the heat is just to much for the stock heatsink..
For now I have it set to 3.2Ghz but for some reason my system and cpuz shows it running at 3.3Ghz..
But the point is it now runs nice and cool and at the 3.3Ghz it runs faster then my Previous Qx9650es@4.0Ghz..
These new I7's are just amazing and then some..
Hope to get a Ultra 120 or a Noctua 1366 soon so I can fully unleash this beast!!

 

[theprodigalrebel]

Originally posted by: PCTC2
2) I would not recommend this because that would push the RAM above the 1.65v that Intel recommends and will cause damage to your CPU over sustained periods of time. Up to 1.69 would probably be the highest I would go.

I haven't quite kept up-to-date with i7 overclocking dos and don'ts but I did read this article on bit-tech.net - and they are a pretty good site.

While Asus and Intel (rightly) scare everyone (read: uneducated) into thinking that 1.65V on the DRAM voltage should be the absolute limit before you reach for the fire-blanket, all that's really needed it to obey this: keep the CPU uncore voltage within 0.5V difference of the DRAM voltage and there's no problem. Over this potential difference and you?ll greatly increase the chance of CPU death, but it certainly won't happen instantly in a big ball of fail fire if you make a mistake.

Anyone have any comments on that?

Uncore = QPI/DRAM Voltage on the P6T Deluxe

 

[exar333]

Your temps are too high; plain and simple. Do you need that much vcore? I am at 3.6 and are still under 3v. You shouldn't be hitting 80C at 3.6 anyway, let alone going higher. Do you have good airflow in the case? Are ambient temps acceptable?

 

[SickBeast]

90C is nuts.

OP, you're nuts running such an expensive CPU at such a high heat.

You need more cooling.

Try less voltage as well.

You should stop trying for 4ghz unless you get more cooling. 4,000 is just a number. Don't fry your chip trying to be a hero. :beer:

 

[ajaidevsingh]

ExarKun333 @ you have a very special piece of hardware i must say mine gets unstable at 1.3 and i have to up it to 1.32v and low-mid 80's are okk how much do u hit. I tried prime95 for 24hrs and hit a temp of 84C so thats ok i would think??

Ya the case has 2 dedicated fans which i have hooked to an adapter along with two fans on the 120 ULTRA.

SickBeast @ 90C comes under the 92-95C top that this cpu can handle or am i confused...It can be 90C have to search on that. Well i only wanted to hit 4Ghz on a i7 its been my weeks end dream :->



Since i have lost my faith that i will be able to hit 4ghz with this silicon on the 120 ultra its better to keep it at 3.6Ghz OC 24/7. Thanks for all your help people.


EDIT:- Also if the Vcore is reduced to 1.30 V as in the case of ExarKun333 i think the temp will go down quite a lot to say high 70's range!!!

 

[AdamK47]

What are you using to monitor temps?

 

[FHDelux]

I was able to get 4Ghz with 12GB RAM using an Ultra 120, but it required 1.425 vcore, 1.65 VDRAM, 1.35v vQPI. However, i found that this ran the CPU temps into the high 80s. I was able to get 4Ghz in a better way by using the built in multiplier overclocking, I was able to set the voltage at 1.35 and a BCLK of 190. 190 BCLK gives you 3.8Ghz, however, when the system goes under load, the multiplier goes up to 21, giving you 4Ghz. I know its annoying to post at 3.8 instead of 4 but hey.

Make sure you have the VERY latest bios, i7 motherboards are not very good with memory yet so i would recommend lowering the speed of your RAM, the performance difference you will see between 1200Mhz and 1600Mhz is hardly anything in games, and from my own expirience i7 motherboards are VERY picky about RAM, even if your RAM is 1600Mhz memory, chances are the motherboard wont be able to get the BEST overclock with the RAM running at full tilt. Over time those issues will dissapear so dont give up, i think you can get 3.8Ghz, 4 with Turbo mode.

Good luck!

 

[exar333]

Originally posted by: ajaidevsingh
ExarKun333 @ you have a very special piece of hardware i must say mine gets unstable at 1.3 and i have to up it to 1.32v and low-mid 80's are okk how much do u hit. I tried prime95 for 24hrs and hit a temp of 84C so thats ok i would think??

Ya the case has 2 dedicated fans which i have hooked to an adapter along with two fans on the 120 ULTRA.

SickBeast @ 90C comes under the 92-95C top that this cpu can handle or am i confused...It can be 90C have to search on that. Well i only wanted to hit 4Ghz on a i7 its been my weeks end dream :->



Since i have lost my faith that i will be able to hit 4ghz with this silicon on the 120 ultra its better to keep it at 3.6Ghz OC 24/7. Thanks for all your help people.


EDIT:- Also if the Vcore is reduced to 1.30 V as in the case of ExarKun333 i think the temp will go down quite a lot to say high 70's range!!!

Have you adjusted some of the other BIOS settings as well to help with stability? I agree with FHDelux that you should watch your memory speeds as well; I am currently at 1443 and it stable, but it gets "finicky" when I hit over 1550.

I am at work, but I can post my BIOS settings later today and see if that gets ya anywhere. BTW - after a few days of burn-in, my temps now top out at around 60C. If I leave my machine to run F@H for a few days (CPU and GPU) the temps hit the mid 40's; it takes a few hours of 8 instances of Prime to hit 60C on the current cooler I have. Water cooling is really looking attractive right now...

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Originally posted by: RaptureMe
and at the 3.3Ghz it runs faster then my Previous Qx9650es@4.0Ghz..
These new I7's are just amazing and then some..

EDIT: opps... didn't write anything... my question was though, what comparison are you basing this off of? and what if any is different between the two machines in your comparison?

 

[aigomorla]

bah...

you need to go water....

There is no upgrade from a TRUE with push/pull... Maybe an IFX...

Sorry, if your problem lies in heat... you need water... (and i hate telling people that they need water).

i load at low 60's with 22-23C ambients on your voltage incase you want to know...

A decient setup on water will probably bring your temps down 10-20C (Depending on how much your willing to pay)

And guys the i7 is rediculously hot. Please dont even think of it on quadcore levels.. not yorkfield...

The Yorkfield TDP base is less then 100W.

The i7 starts at 130W.

The moment you guys start playing with voltage that number will go anywhere from 200-250W. (to not confuse the noobs, i mean load heat... not idle heat... )

The true is only good for around 150-200W with excellent fans on a nice cool day.

So the math is simple... you need water because small rads do 150, while the medium does 300W and the large will do 450W. Also the blocks for water are much more efficient then that of air, and can pull more heat from the cpu...

So as much as i hate recomending it... i think you should dedicate a budget for water, and start researching on what watercooling is...

When i say i hate recomending.. i mean i wont instantanously say you need water anymore... If you come to me and say i want water, i didnt recomend that now did i?

But this case, i think he needs water...

Dont get coolit...

Duvie i have to disagree with you... the i7 would gobble ANY TEC setup and then some.

Also the TRUE with great static fans (Sanyo Denki San Ace or Scythe Ultra Kaze)
would probably outraced your coolit once you went for voltages in the 1.45 range...


Just AVOID TEC... if you see the word Peliter or TEC, just avoid it... they dont work for modern setups...

 

[AdamK47]

I've been running at 3.8GHz at 1.35V for about 3 weeks now without a problem. With two GTX 280s and this CPU I don't even need to turn on the heater in my house when gaming.

 

[Thor86]

Originally posted by: ajaidevsingh
Tried OC to 4Ghz:-
BCLK=200
DRAM=1603 @ 1.66
Vcore=1.38v
Temp highest = High 80's to some 90's

The Problem is the BSOD comes up even when i am under 90C around 87-88C i get a BSOD nad i also have fixed 2 fans on the heatsink one for In Flow of air and the other for out...!!!

If you all use 4Ghz on a i7 920 pls do leave a line as to how to lower the dam temp and whats wrong with my settings???


The MB is a P6T Asus with Corsair Dominator and i am afraid that 1.66v on the ram will create problems on the long run!!! Also sometimes the MB just self restarts itself like when i switch it on it shuts off and switches on again!!!

Try using the 19 multiplier and raise BCLK slowly to 206. This should give you 3.9Ghz at those VCC (CPU voltages). You should start only with the VCC and DRAM voltages, and everything else at Auto for now. Try and keep VCC under 1.38v and DRAM at 1.64 for now.

As previous posters stated, set your DRAM settings to Auto for now, so you can try and concentrate and find your max CPU overclock first.

Any temps over 85C is too high in my opinion, so the question is, what type of case are you using and how is the air-flow? I recommend the Antec 900 at the very least, as this the best case I've used for great air-flow.

I am using an Ultra 120 with one fan, but out of case for now for testing my overclock, and I am not going over 81-83C full load using 8 threads at 1.39v.

 

[DoC91383]

These chips are hot. Running my I7 on noctua's cooler at 3.8ghz i hit 85c, so i backed it down to 3.6ghz which is still a toasty 73c.


One thing that helped with overclocking and just made things a ton easier was loading the X.M.P memory profile. Fixed all my instability issues.

So far i'm running 3.6ghz @ 1.2v @73c 100% load
180 x20 = 3.6hz
8-8-8-24 1.65v

Honestly to the people trying to run these chips at 4ghz on air as a 24/7 solution, it's not going to happen. Well it might happen, but your chip will probably only last the 24 hours.