I need help OC Intel i7 920 & P6T Deluxe V2

[jimothyk]

Can anyone please give me some pointers on how to best set up OC for my gear?

I OC'd using "Gatorbill's" set up and I saw temps in the mid 90's [ouch!] I know I should probably look at reapplying better quality grease or something but in the meantime, I'd like to be able to boost my machine for it's specs to remain stable, safe but still more powerful than 2.67GHZ.

I ran prime95 for like, 28mins and my temps never reached higher than 67C @ 2.80GHZ [in full auto bios settings]

Any help???

Cheers.

PS... I'm a total noob when it comes to OC so detailed help is required for my set up specifically if possible. Thanks.

J

Intel i7 920
Asus P6T Deluxe V2
6GB Corsair DDR3 PC-10600 XMS 3x240pin 9-9-9-24
Gigabyte GTX260 896MB
Antec Nine Hundred Two case
Antec 750W PSU
Zalman CNPS9900 [copper] CPU Cooler
Samsung 1TB SATA 32m 7200RPM HDD

 

[cal8949]

what speed were you running it at?
what voltage?
what stepping is your processor c0 or d0?

 

[jimothyk]

Hey to be perfectly honest... I have no idea.

I have been running the OC functions in my BIOS on "Auto" and I have been seeing speeds up to 2.8Ghz "see images below"

Today, I am buying some Artic Silver 5 Thermal Grease and a Patriot Vortex Memory Cooling fan to help with the temps, cause I had been reaching temps in the mid 90's when I clocked up to 3.7Ghz using Gatorbill's [see settings list below] posted settings. I have a 120mm exhaust fan on the side of my case in addition to the 4 standard fans that come with the Antec Nine Hundred Two case also.

Gatorbill's posted settings;

AI Tweaker Menu
----------------------
Ai Overclock Tuner => Manual
Intel Speed Step Tech => Disabled (this just makes the CPU clock frequency change depending on load and I want a steady CPU clock)
Intel Turbo Tech => Disabled (this just makes the CPU clock frequency change depending on load and I want a steady CPU clock)
CPU Ratio => Auto
BCLK Freq => 186
PCIE Freq => 100
DRAM Freq => DDR3-1491MHz
UCLK Freq => Auto
QPI Link Data Rate => Auto

Voltages
-----------
CPU Voltage => 1.35
CPU PLL Voltage => 1.96
QPI/DRAM Core Voltage => 1.35
DRAM Bus Voltage => 1.64
CPU Differential Amplitude => 800mV
... all other voltages to Auto

Any help is most appreciated.

 

[geofelt]

Your 2.8 comes from the turbo mode kicking in. That is good, I like it.
Your stepping is c0, which is the older stepping and does not overclock as well as the newer d0.

Set the overclock tuner to manual. Leave everything else to default/auto.
increase the bclk from the default of 133, Use small steps, like 140, 150, 160.
160 gives you 3.33 which is i7 965 speeds and should be safe. Past that, you have to start to fiddle with other parameters.

 

[dragnalus]

Your 2.8 comes from the turbo mode kicking in. That is good, I like it.
Your stepping is c0, which is the older stepping and does not overclock as well as the newer d0.

Set the overclock tuner to manual. Leave everything else to default/auto.
increase the bclk from the default of 133, Use small steps, like 140, 150, 160.
160 gives you 3.33 which is i7 965 speeds and should be safe. Past that, you have to start to fiddle with other parameters.

I have a similar setup and am learning also. How does one tell if one's stepping is c0 or d0?

Also, I'm running at 3.33 (all settings on auto and blck @ 166), and ran into an issue. After several days of stable gaming, i got a BSOD when attempting to run Prime95 overnight. Any idea why?

Thanks.

 

[geofelt]

I have a similar setup and am learning also. How does one tell if one's stepping is c0 or d0?

Also, I'm running at 3.33 (all settings on auto and blck @ 166), and ran into an issue. After several days of stable gaming, i got a BSOD when attempting to run Prime95 overnight. Any idea why?

Thanks.

Stepping is found on cpu-z. there is a field for stepping, mine says 4, and a field for revision, mine says C0/C1

Prime95 puts a heavier load on the cpu than normal operations. Back off to 160, or perhaps even less,unless you are prepared to fine tune voltages. Chips differ in their capabilities, and how high you can OC is also dependent on the efficiency of your cooling system.

 

[knotknut]

Here's some reading material

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

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/overclock-core-i7,2268.html

 

[dragnalus]

Here's some reading material

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

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/overclock-core-i7,2268.html

Thanks. I had read the Tom's one originally, and that's where I learned about doing 3.33ghz with everything on auto except the bclk. One thing I haven't been able to figure out, despite a bunch of googling: what does GPL stand for on the Overclocking Choices And Details page?

 

[jimothyk]

Your 2.8 comes from the turbo mode kicking in. That is good, I like it.
Your stepping is c0, which is the older stepping and does not overclock as well as the newer d0.

Set the overclock tuner to manual. Leave everything else to default/auto.
increase the bclk from the default of 133, Use small steps, like 140, 150, 160.
160 gives you 3.33 which is i7 965 speeds and should be safe. Past that, you have to start to fiddle with other parameters.

Thanks Geofelt!!!

That worked perfectly! I ran in at 160 and it was sweet, however, running Prime95 I did reach temps of around 72c which I assume is OK but I pulled it back to 155 and now I max out at 68c which is cool because i was seeing speeds around 3.35Ghz @ 160 and now I'm running at speeds of about 3.26Ghz...

This is fine for what I'm doing for now and untill I go with HydroCooling or something like that I think I'll be satisfied.

Is there a was of changing from co to do???

I found it strange that I was running on "Older" stepping, considering I have a brand new Asus MB and new i7 intel... weird?

Cheers,

Jimothyk

 

[geofelt]

The stepping is a refinement of the manufacturing process. Once made, you can not change it. There are still many of the older versions of the cpu in the delivery pipeline, and you got one of them. There are places which will charge you a small premium for a D0 stepping.