First attempt at an overclock, looking for advice / opinions please.

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Matty Jordan

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Dec 27, 2014
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Hi All,

I've had my current system for around 2 years now. When I originally got the system I thought I'd look into overclocking the CPU. The short of it was I failed and it blue screened, not knowing what I was doing I reverted it back and just shied away from attempting it again.

A few days ago after reading numerous guides I decided to try again. I've managed to get the system running at 3.8ghz and it seems stable as far as I can tell having ran prime95 and realtemp to keep an eye on the temps.

basically i was hoping for some advice / opinions on settings i may have overlooked and my current temperatures (listed below).

My system;
i7 950 bloomfield, h50 watercooled, 12 GB ram, 260 SSD, 2 x EVGA GTX 770s, 850 watt supply.
Idle temp is 44-48 degrees
100% load using prime 95 and it hits 77-81 degrees

I wanted to push it to 4ghz but when i do it pushes the idle up to around 55 degrees and with 100% load it was hitting 86-87 degrees max which seems a little high and had me worried so i dropped it back down so 3.8.

I've attached a few images of my bios and the settings i've changed, any advice and what i could change or something i have changed that is possibly wrong / dangerous would be amazing.

Thanks in advance!
Matt :D

Oh and I've tried to upload an image of the bios and cpuz here;
http://imgur.com/GUo3PX2

(hope i've done this right)
 
Solution
larkspur
Those temps are expected for that chip at those settings with a h50 (which isn't the best cooler). ~80c in a stress-test with those settings is just fine. If you haven't already, leave it at 3.8 and try reducing the cpu vcore down from 1.3v. Try 1.29, 1.28, 1.27, etc. Less volts will reduce your CPU temp but going too low will cause errors or crashes especially while running a stress test. Also - with 2 x 770 in there it will heat up the inside of the case so try running some demanding games that use both 770s to make sure you are still ok on temps when the GPUs are in full use.

As far as 4.0ghz goes - those stress test temps are high (but that's what I'd expect with that cooler). Games will typically run about 10c (or more)...
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larkspur

larkspur

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Those temps are expected for that chip at those settings with a h50 (which isn't the best cooler). ~80c in a stress-test with those settings is just fine. If you haven't already, leave it at 3.8 and try reducing the cpu vcore down from 1.3v. Try 1.29, 1.28, 1.27, etc. Less volts will reduce your CPU temp but going too low will cause errors or crashes especially while running a stress test. Also - with 2 x 770 in there it will heat up the inside of the case so try running some demanding games that use both 770s to make sure you are still ok on temps when the GPUs are in full use.

As far as 4.0ghz goes - those stress test temps are high (but that's what I'd expect with that cooler). Games will typically run about 10c (or more) cooler than a stress test so if you really want to run it at 4.0ghz, you can (but run a game that uses both 770s to make sure temps are still ok). You should still try to see if you can get it to 4.0ghz with a little less cpu vcore (it may not be possible). My personal feeling on overclocked nehalem chips is to keep them under ~85c MAX in stress tests and under ~70c during normal use like gaming.

Anyway, digging around I found a guide I browsed when overclocking Nehalem: http://www.overclock.net/t/538439/guide-to-overclocking-the-core-i7-920-or-930-to-4-0ghz

Hope some of that helps.
 
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Matty Jordan

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Dec 27, 2014
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Hi Larkspur,

Thanks for responding so quickly. I'll try reducing down the vcore. In your opinion how long should i be looking to stress test for after trying new settings? I've currently been running it for an hour or so after every mod. Is this going to be okay? I'm worried about over stressing it and potentially causing damage?

When i tried the vcore at 1.3 pushing for 4ghz i got a BSOD so upped the vcore to 1.325 and it seemed to run but gave the temps i posted before (86-7). I think i'm going to stick with the 3.8ghz and see if i can reduce the vcore down to lower the temp.

Thanks for the advice and a really good guide it's the one i read before deciding to give overclocking another go :D
 
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larkspur

larkspur

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I use IntelBurnTest as a "quick and dirty" stability test before going to prime95. I've found IBT gets similar max temps as running p95 for multiple hours. If it gets through IBT then run it through p95. An hour of p95 doesn't fully guarantee stability, but will usually catch most bad overclocks. Once you find an overclock that you seem happy with (i.e. temps are good and clock speed is good) run prime95 at least 8 hours (some people insist on 24 hours). I understand you may be worried about running p95 for many hours but if you are OCing then you need to know that your system is fully stable. Of course OCing has risk that you must accept, but I wouldn't worry too much, the nehalem i7s are tough little beasts and your OC isn't "extreme". It should be just fine.

And yeah, its typical to need more than 1.3v for 4.0ghz so don't feel bad. Some chips need more than 1.3v just to get to 3.8.
 
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Matty Jordan

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I ended up dropping the Vcore back down to 1.25 at 3.8GHz ran IBT for around 20-30 minutes on max, then just left prime running overnight (8-9 hours) still running in the morning and max temps of 76-77 degrees. Idle sitting at 38-42 and in Advanced warfare temps never went above 60 something.

Chuffed with it :D Thanks again for your advice, really appreciate it.
 
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