Need help with overclocking the i7 920

[vinceg]

hey guys, i built my pc in feb of 09 with the current items
sniper case
gigabyte ex -58 extreme mobo
i7 920 proc
v8 heatsink
6gb of kingston hyper x ram
radion 48702gb x2 v/c
corsair tx 850w power supply.
raid 10 setup.
windows vista 64 bit

i been trying the past couple days to overclock my proc to anything between 3.2 and 3.5 with what most members settings that i found on the forums, but my screen either will go blank after the drivers load or right before windows loads it would go blank, or i would set everything up to be running at 3.5ghz in bios and when i restart the pc i check my computer properties to see that it goes to 2.66gb from 2.67gb. its my first time over clocking but im catchin on pretty fast, is there anyone out there with a similar setup that can help me with this? big thanks in advance. also if there is please post what you did in detail so i can try your settings. thanks

 

[vinceg]

i also tried using easy tune 6 to try to get it to 3.2 automatically but after restarting the computer the highest ive seen was 2.79 in my comp properties, and if i put c.i.a 2 on full thrust windows wont boot up, i have to disable it or lower it so it would boot up.

 

[evongugg]

Ultimate Core i7 Overclocking Guide -- We Push Nehalem to its Limits

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/ultimate_core_i7_overclocking_guide_we_push_nehalem_its_limits

 

[knotknut]

One writen by Gigabyte also:

http://images.tweaktown.com/imagebank/Core%20i7%20920%20oc%204G%202008.12.12_(ENG).pdf

 

[vinceg]

thanks that should give me some homework lol. anyone else have specs for 3.5 overclock?

 

[vinceg]

there has to be some one, i have a pretty popular setup that alot of people are running as well.

 

[foolycooly]

set the bclk to 180
set the vcore to 1.2
set the qpi/dram to 1.2
set the dram bus voltage to 1.6
set the ram multi to 8x
leave the cpu multi to 20x
turn turbo off
turn speedstep off
leave HT on

 

[vinceg]

thanks fooly, il c if that works

 

[vinceg]

swweeetness i got it oc to 3.6ghz!!!! time for the tests, if anyone knows how i can pull up the performance test screen and numbers let me know

 

[vinceg]

ok after i started to run prime95 i got the blue screen error message, does that mean my voltages are off? does anyone know?

 

[vinceg]

it seems pretty stable according to easy tune, it jumps from 3602mhz to 3604mhz. how else can i chekc the stability?

 

[vinceg]

also tried playing call of duty and after 15min it gave me the blue errer screen and i had to reboot, after reboot i get a fuzzy windows screen and have to reboot again till it cooled off a bit, my temps according to easy tune are 39c for proc and 54 for system on idle.

 

[foolycooly]

Yeah, your voltage is probably too low. Try bumping the vcore to about 1.22 or a little above and try again. Overclocking is pretty touchy and requires a lot of testing with prime95. Keep at it, you'll get there.

 

[vinceg]

i tried bumping it up to 1.2 -1.4 and it ran for like 10-15 min this time before i got the blue error screen, im put 1.5 on vcore now and am testing again. is that too high voltage?? please let me know. my cpu temp is 54c thats with prime95 running.

 

[vinceg]

alright i bumped teh vcore voltage to 1.5 and it ran for at least 20min now with prime 95 pushing my cpu 100percent the whole time. but is still crashed. any advice what else i can do? is the vcore safe at 1.5? thanks for the help and support!!

 

[foolycooly]

try increasing the QPI/Dram as well

Also, what temperatures are you showing under the prime95 stress test using RealTemp?

 

[vinceg]

ok i picked up the QPI PLL from 1.2 to 1.26 and am running the test again

 

[RJR]

All yours Foolycooly, Have fun.

 

[vinceg]

thanks to foolycooly, he helped me acheive something i was dreaming about! thanks for all your help buddy, i picked up the qpi to 1.3 becasue it crashed again at 1.26 but it might have crashed becasue i was doing too many things while the torture test was running. i downloaded real temp and here are the temps in order 72 70 70 69c while under the torture test. how am i doing? is my vcore and QPI too high?

 

[foolycooly]

your temps are good...see if you can run prime95 for over an hour. If you can, it's safe to assume it's at least mildly stable. I would run prime95 overnight though. Let us know if it makes the hour.

 

[vinceg]

i made it for 45min this round but again i was doing things on the computer , i will try again this time not touching anything before i crank up the voltages again. do you know what the safe voltages are for vcore and QPI? Idont want to push it to the point where it will burn out in a month lol. my max temps were 74 72 72 70 this round.

 

[foolycooly]

I wouldn't push the vcore past 1.4 on air. You can try bumping it in single increments at this point (.0125 I think is the increment on my BIOS). Doing other stuff while running prime shouldn't really make a difference as the CPU is already running at 100%.

I woult try 1.3125 vcore and leave the qpi at 1.26. Be sure to continue to monitor your temperatures. You don't want to go much over 80 under full load. (full thermal saturation occurs around 10 minutes of prime95 small FTTs)

 

[vinceg]

ok thanks, i changed my vcore from 1.25 to 1.3 and QPI from 1.3 to 1.26 . and will test now, which test on teh prime95 is teh best to use? beacsue i keep using the blend. thanks

 

[foolycooly]

the blend is fine, but I believe small FTTs is the one that pushes it the hardest. I'm not sure about it though.

 

[vinceg]

hey i left on all night with the latest settings that you gave me and the last the last two threads, and i ran it fo r9 hours overnight without a hiccup, my maximum temps were 74 73 72 70c what do you think should i lower the voltages and try again to see if i can acheive it with less voltage? or do i think i hit the sweet spot? btw i will be water cooling it in a month or so.