Should I push my I7 920 Overclock even further?

[nib95]

Well, I just installed some OCZ Freeze and wow, what a difference it made to the standard Zalman stuff! Idle dropped from 39/36/39/35 to 36/33/36/31. And load after a good 20 mins of Prime95 went from 75/73/74/72 to 64/61/63/59! That's with Hyper threading on, and with an OC of 3.6ghz at 1.25v.

What do you guys think, should I push a little further? I'm thinking I could get 3.8 perfectly stable with a vcore of around 1.3. Do you guys think I should go for it? What other settings would you tweak? Thus far I haven't tweaked much beyond the vcore, leaving most else on default (auto) but obviously Intel Turbo disabled and my CPU Differential Amplitude at 800mV. I'm using an Asus P6T Deluxe mobo with OZZ 3x2GB Platinum (7-7-7-20) DDR3 1333mhz ram.

 

[masteryoda34]

Whats the CPU HSF?

 

[nib95]

Originally posted by: masteryoda34
Whats the CPU HSF?

CPU is Intel i7 920, and cooler is a Zalman CNPS9900.

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Push it!

 

[nib95]

Ok well, just got off running Prime95 for nearly 5 hours no errors. Settled for 3.8ghz at 1.28v. Max load temp was 74 on one of the cores, though most of the time 3 of the cores were below 70. I'm completely fine with that, should be good for normal usage. I leave Intel Speedstep(?) on so when idling, the CPU doesn't use up as much juice. That should save a little on the old electricity bill.

 

[Tweakin]

you've got a nice chip there...

 

[harbin]

yes, push it

 

[1ManArmY]

Originally posted by: nib95
Ok well, just got off running Prime95 for nearly 5 hours no errors. Settled for 3.8ghz at 1.28v. Max load temp was 74 on one of the cores, though most of the time 3 of the cores were below 70. I'm completely fine with that, should be good for normal usage. I leave Intel Speedstep(?) on so when idling, the CPU doesn't use up as much juice. That should save a little on the old electricity bill.

what's your CPU 's batch #

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Originally posted by: nib95
Ok well, just got off running Prime95 for nearly 5 hours no errors. Settled for 3.8ghz at 1.28v. Max load temp was 74 on one of the cores, though most of the time 3 of the cores were below 70. I'm completely fine with that, should be good for normal usage. I leave Intel Speedstep(?) on so when idling, the CPU doesn't use up as much juice. That should save a little on the old electricity bill.

Have you tried stressing it with LinPack/IntelBurnTest? Just 3 to 5 iterations would give you an idea of what load temperatures are reached. I think 20 interations amounts to thorough load-testing.

 

[nib95]

Originally posted by: 1ManArmY

Originally posted by: nib95
Ok well, just got off running Prime95 for nearly 5 hours no errors. Settled for 3.8ghz at 1.28v. Max load temp was 74 on one of the cores, though most of the time 3 of the cores were below 70. I'm completely fine with that, should be good for normal usage. I leave Intel Speedstep(?) on so when idling, the CPU doesn't use up as much juice. That should save a little on the old electricity bill.

what's your CPU 's batch #

How can I find this out without having to take out the CPU? It was an OEM purchase (Overclockers UK), so I don't have a retail package or anything.

 

[Mothergoose729]

I have heard of people pushing their CPU to as high as 1.5v, usually to get it to 4.0ghz prime95 stable. I would try pushing it as high as it goes, but you may find that doing something as simple as raising the clock speed to 3.8ghz will cost another .1 volts to be stable. I can cut .08 volts of my CPU v core simply by dropping my E8500 to 3.8ghz. Some people have to have the fastest they can, but I think an elegant balance is more effective. So yes, you should push it higher, but I personally would be mindful of voltages and stability.