Overclocking i7 950 to 4.0 - 4.5 GHz w/ Air Cooling

[Baasha]

Gents,

I want to overclock my CPU (i7 950) from the stock 3.06GHz to 4.0-4.5GHz with complete stability/safety.

I do NOT run my computer 24/7 and I have AIR COOLING only.

I am thinking about shipping my computer to Digital Storm to have them overclock and tune/tweak everything for maximum performance.

I have never overclocked before; in fact, this is my first custom-built computer (assembled by yours truly) so I would rather not go inside the computer, quite literally, with a wrench and hammer and tweak stuff.

First of all, all the overclockers I have read about have i7 920 who go all the way to 4.8GHz with perfect stability. I have yet to come across someone who has an i7 950 overclocked safely to ~4.5GHz, especially with just air-cooling.

I have yet to discuss with Digital Storm on cost and turn-around time for this process. Having said that, what would you guys recommend?

 

[bob5568]

I guess it makes sense, your first build and all...and seemingly a very expensive build. Still if feels funny to me. The very concept of building your own box only goes well with doing your own overclock. Kind of like Soup and Sandwich. Peanut butter and jelly.

I suspect you would learn a lot about your computer if you did it yourself, and there are guides abundant to help you. One suggestion I would make is to alter your thinking about the overclock. Rather than, I must have the overclock succeed 24/7 on air to 4 ghz min, I'd set the goal to overclock gently and slowly, learning as you go. Once you get everything really stable at (say) 3.6 ghz....and you've learned all about voltages to get there, temperatures to monitor, you have confirmed your hsf and case has the ability to move air sufficiently to acheive really low temps....then you see the light is green to continue.

Don't forget that systems don't all overclock the same. Imagine if you overclock yourself and reach, say, 3.8ghz...but no further. You've spend 3 months in the tweaking, and learned more about your machine than you ever imagined you'd learn. No amount of advise from forums helps move it faster, you've reached the limit. Failure? Heck no! Grand success, great machine providing great performance, and a new computer builder who has gained significant understanding about his machine.

Cheers,
Bob

 

[v8envy]

Build a man a fire and you keep him warm for a night. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.

I echo bob's sentiments. You've already done quite a bit of reading (although I may say your expectations of a nearly 5 ghz i7 overclock are completely unreasonable). I wouldn't be surprised if the guys you know with 4.8 ghz "stable" overclocks are all using extreme cooling and very high voltages not useful in daily work.

If what you want is a suicide benching rig maybe the cheapest way would be to pay a pro overclocker to do all the work. But if you're getting into it as a hobby there's no substitute for personal experience. For what the pro overclocking shop will charge you could probably pick up a second, cheaper machine to learn the ropes with. Then when you're done you won't be afraid to dive headfirst into the innards of a PC.

 

[Kenmitch]

I agree with the others as you'd have more fun doing it yourself

But if you wanna get some help from others maybe just ask something like the following.

Anybody in the " Unkown city area " wanna help me tweak my system out for max performance I'll even pay you for your time.

I'm sure that the tweakers pretty much cover just about any city or area you could imagine

 

[aigomorla]

First of all, all the overclockers I have read about have i7 920 who go all the way to 4.8GHz with perfect stability. I have yet to come across someone who has an i7 950 overclocked safely to ~4.5GHz, especially with just air-cooling.

Need a face palm emotion...

4.8 = 21x228

Now thats one HELL of a cpu if you could pull it off..

In your case... it be like shooting for the moon.

4.5ghz on air is even pushing it...

The guys who u see pulling those off are just doing quick benches in an open rack system with fans on super loud.

You need to do some more reading.

4ghz is usually the top envelope for air on an i7.
4.2 if your lucky... 4.4 if u have a great chip.

4.5 is usually sub ambient territory.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Need a face palm emotion...

4.8 = 21x228

Now thats one HELL of a cpu if you could pull it off..

Not to mention mobo with the 228 BCLK

 

[Acanthus]

Not to mention mobo with the 228 BCLK

The new gigabyte will do it. (X58A-UD7)

I don't know of any others that consistently break the 212mhz wall.

212mhz x 21 multi will give you 4.45ghz That is the ceiling for most X58-based PCs. Where your CPU will land on air is another question. Typical would be 4.0 to 4.3ghz.

 

[tweakboy]

Gonna be a loud annoying jet on the cpu.. cant even think with that much db ,,,hmm

 

[digitaldurandal]

Search for some reviews on your chip. A lot of the review sites include many of the steps they took during the overclocking process with their testing. Also simply search i7 920 overclock. I know it isn't your chip but it is very similar and there are more articles on it. Your platform has some specific issues to address during overclocking.

If you take BCLK a few steps at a time and burn in between them while watching temps and voltages, I think you will be fine. Eventually your system will fail a test or fail to POST but who cares, remove the cmos battery or use your dual BIOS and figure out what gets past that barrier.

Otherwise it makes more sense to simply purchase a more expensive faster chip. Why pay for labor when you can get a better part that will have a higher resale value?

What are you going to do when something happens to your BIOS and all values need to be reset? Ship it again?

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

First of all, all the overclockers I have read about have i7 920 who go all the way to 4.8GHz with perfect stability.

no offense but LOL

I have yet to discuss with Digital Storm on cost and turn-around time for this process. Having said that, what would you guys recommend?

Why do you want to overclock it in the first place?

 

[Baasha]

Guys,

Thanks for the replies.

I'm sorry if I came across obtuse regarding this post but as mentioned before, other than spelling overclocking, I don't know much else about it.

The Digital Storm option is out as I just talked to them yesterday and they said they won't do "service" on a computer that hasn't been purchased from them! ^_^

So, it looks like I am stuck with doing it myself. I suppose that is good, but at the same time, I am not sure I have the time necessary for such an adventure.

Nonetheless, I'd appreciate it if you guys could point me to some great articles and resources for overclocking the i7 chip, especially the i7 950.

The specs of my computer are as follows:

Case: Antec 902
CPU: Intel i7 950 (3.06GHz)
PSU: PC Power & Cooling 1200W
RAM: Corsair Dominator 1600MHz 12GB
OS SSDs: 2x 32GB G-skill SLC SSD (RAID-0)
Game/Program HDD 2x Fujitsu 147GB 15k RPM SAS drives (RAID-0)
Storage HDDs: 1x 250GB/1x 300GB/ 1x WD 10k RPM Raptor 150GB/ 1x Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB
GPU: Nvidia GTX-295
Mo-Board: Asus P6T7 Supercomputer
CPU Cooler: Xigmatek Dark Knight
Optical Drive: Pioneer BD-203 Blu-Ray Burner
Misc.: Multi-card reader/ 4x1 2.5" SSD Hot-swappable bay
OS: Windows 7 Utlimate x64
Monitors: Dell 2405fpw (24"), Samsung T260 (25.5") [main display]

 

[dajeepster]

The specs of my computer are as follows:
Case: Antec 902
CPU: Intel i7 950 (3.06GHz)
PSU: PC Power & Cooling 1200W
RAM: Corsair Dominator 1600MHz 12GB
OS SSDs: 2x 32GB G-skill SLC SSD (RAID-0)
Game/Program HDD 2x Fujitsu 147GB 15k RPM SAS drives (RAID-0)
Storage HDDs: 1x 250GB/1x 300GB/ 1x WD 10k RPM Raptor 150GB/ 1x Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB
GPU: Nvidia GTX-295
Mo-Board: Asus P6T7 Supercomputer
CPU Cooler: Xigmatek Dark Knight
Optical Drive: Pioneer BD-203 Blu-Ray Burner
Misc.: Multi-card reader/ 4x1 2.5" SSD Hot-swappable bay
OS: Windows 7 Utlimate x64
Monitors: Dell 2405fpw (24"), Samsung T260 (25.5") [main display]

you spent a buttload for that computer... and that's just too many points of failure for an extreme OC... 6 ram sticks(assuming 6x2gig ram sticks), 1 usb header for multicard reader, 2 sas drives, 7 sata drives....
nice MB though.. i've been drooling over it for awhile now.

go with a stable 24/7 OC under load
my i940 does fine at 3.7Ghz with WC.. full load 24/7 (aqua@home, milkyway@home, and seti@home).. 2xsas drives, 1xsata bluray drive, 1 5870, 1x5850, 3 ram sticks (6gig) on a an Asus P6T Deluxe and corsair HX850 psu, HAF 932

 

[biostud]

try to read this article

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i5-750-efficiency,2500.html

and that's the i5-750

 

[bob5568]

Guys,

Thanks for the replies.

I'm sorry if I came across obtuse regarding this post but as mentioned before, other than spelling overclocking, I don't know much else about it.


Case: Antec 902
CPU: Intel i7 950 (3.06GHz)
PSU: PC Power & Cooling 1200W
RAM: Corsair Dominator 1600MHz 12GB
OS SSDs: 2x 32GB G-skill SLC SSD (RAID-0)
Game/Program HDD 2x Fujitsu 147GB 15k RPM SAS drives (RAID-0)
Storage HDDs: 1x 250GB/1x 300GB/ 1x WD 10k RPM Raptor 150GB/ 1x Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB
GPU: Nvidia GTX-295
Mo-Board: Asus P6T7 Supercomputer
CPU Cooler: Xigmatek Dark Knight
Optical Drive: Pioneer BD-203 Blu-Ray Burner
Misc.: Multi-card reader/ 4x1 2.5" SSD Hot-swappable bay
OS: Windows 7 Utlimate x64
Monitors: Dell 2405fpw (24"), Samsung T260 (25.5") [main display]

OP, You have an amazing computer, that is likely capable of amazing things right now. I can't even imagine having your equipment. What I don't understand is what your goals are for this box. Perhaps money is unimportant to you, while I don't know what that would feel like, I do know some folks are in that situation. But with the investment represented here, it hurts my senses to imagine rushing to achieve an extreme overclock. Why not take your time, enjoying the amazing performance as it is today, while you learn the tricks of overclocking slowly and safely?

 

[Makaveli]

What I don't understand is why you didn't buy a better CPU cooler.

This whole build looks like you are in over your head with too much money!

No Offense.

 

[Jovec]

What I don't understand is why you didn't buy a better CPU cooler.

This whole build looks like you are in over your head with too much money!

No Offense.

Agreed. I always get a chuckle about the crowd here who chant "Mega! TRUE!" when anybody asks about a cooler without giving thought to total cost (with fans, clips, AMD mounting hardware, etc), the CPU it's being used on, or the desired level of overclock, but in this case, it applies.

Pick up a Mega or True with top quality fans in a push/pull configuration if you are trying for a maximum OC on air.

 

[Baasha]

Guys,

Thanks for the replies.

I use this PC for gaming and photo/video editing.

Regarding the choice of CPU cooler, I did a little bit of research and it was between the Xigmatek and the Noctua NH-U12P. It was a last minute decision as I decided to purchase it at the store instead of order it online (noob move).

I can swap that out no problem. The only question is, what is the best CPU cooler for the i7 platform? What is "mega" and "true"? I have never heard of those brands before.

Anyway, I was actually pretty conservative with this build as it was my first one. Otherwise, I would have gotten another GTX-295 with the i7-975 and 3 30" IPS panels. I am waiting for NVidia's new GPU so that I can do "surround" gaming! The GTX-295 doesn't do that so I figured one should tide me over for a few months.

I'd appreciate any other suggestions to improve my build and perhaps expand this build.

Also, any other articles for overclocking the i7 950?

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

You can find the HS&F shoot-out here

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

The Dark Knight is a very fine HSF (I use it on my D0 920 to get it to 4.1GHz), but if money were no object, you can definitely do better (Megahalem, TRUE120, etc.)

 

[peonyu]

My system in my sig is not the one I use anymore [ill update sig someday]. I have a 45nm E8600 CPU which is similar in heat dissipation and OC ability as your CPU. I run it on Air cooling @ 4.3ghz-1.425V, with a 3-4 year old heatsink [XP-120, same as in sig]. I hit 75C max if I run it with Orthos which produces the most heat ive seen from any other stress test. 80c from my experience will BSOD you. Its rock solid stable even at 75c.

So to cut it short, its very possible to get a 4.5ghz OC on your CPU with air cooling. If you use a recent HSF combo which isnt old like mine you can shave off 10c from what I get i bet, if not more. The intel cpu's that came out after the abortion of a processor [Prescott] have been awesome for heat value, ocing and heat ceiling before blue screening/becoming unstable...So you will have no problems Ocing on air.

 

[peonyu]

For Heatsink I reccomend the Thermaltake Ultra-120 Extreme...I have been using the original XP 120 for a hell of a long time and its on its 3rd system build now. Ill only replace it if it cant keep a OC'd cpu cool, and that newer model is better. Im usually not a brand-whore but the Heatsink Thermaltake made with thier 120 series is worth the $ easily, and would last you through two systems atleast.