Need help OCing my i7 rig

[khill03]

I recently built a new rig and now I'm trying to overclock it. I've never overclocked before so I don't know what all I need to change in the BIOS to get this working right. Here's my rig:

Intel Core i7 920 OC'ed to 2.9 GHz
Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 Mother Board
Cooler Master V8 CPU Cooler
MX-2 Thermal Compound (applied with small dab in center)
Antec P182 case

I got this overclock by turning off turbo and raising the BCLK to 145. I also underclocked my RAM because I was told this would help to stabilize the overclock of the CPU. I ran Prime95 for 41 min. and got a max temp in RealTemp of 75C with my V8 running at full rpms. I haven't changed any voltages or anything. What can I do to maintain a max temp close to this but get an overclock of maybe around 3.3GHz?

 

[spinny]

I haven't changed any voltages or anything.

75 sounds a bit hot for that overclock. You should set the cpu vcore voltage manually to 1.2 and see what kind of temps/stability you get. Hopefully your temps will drop a bit and you can start bumping up the clock til you hit your desired speed.

 

[khill03]

Alright I lowered the volts to 1.2 and it maxed at about 68C. I raised the BCLK to 165 to give me a speed at 3.3GHz. I've been running in Prime 95 for 46 minutes and I haven't gotten any errors yet and I've maxed my temps at 73C. Does that seem like a reasonable temperature for that speed? I don't have any intake fans in my case, but I intend to order two. Maybe that will help even more. Thanks for your help spinny.

 

[spinny]

Those temps still seem a bit high, but I'm not terribly familiar with the CM V8 and its performance. Is the room you are in particularly hot?
Depending on your current case airflow, some intake could help a bit.

In any case, when your temps are around 70C you need to watch them. The max operating temperature per Intel is like 68C. This doesn't mean that load temps a few C over that are going to wreck your proc. Also note that the only time you are ever going to get temperatures like prime 95 loads is if you are doing something like video encoding or number crunching(ie folding@home) that's using all 4 cores. If you are like me and do these things rarely, then having temps peek into low 70s during them is nothing to worry about. If you do them quite often, then you may need to look into further temp improvements.

If you would like to lower your temps without investing in a different cooler (the V8 is quite decent, as I recall off the top of my head), you can try some reseating of it. You mentioned that you applied it with a small dab of mx-2 in the center. I have always preferred to whip out a credit card (not an actual credit card, but you know what i mean, library/gift card something like that) and spread a nice uniform thin! layer on either the proc or both the proc and HS.

If you put one uniform layer on the proc and seat your heatsink, run it a little bit, and then carefully remove your heatsink, you can also check out the pattern of thermal compound on the heatsink to get an idea of how it is contacting with your proc. This can help you spot heatsinks that may need lapping, or just some areas that you want a tad bit extra compound in to make contact.

Sorry for the ramble.

 

[khill03]

You were right spinny. I had the door to this room closed so the air couldn't circulate and the hot air from the computer was gradually heating the room to warmer temps. I've opened the room up to allow air to circulate and RealTemp is reporting temps in the high 60's. I'm going to let Prime95 run overnight now to test for stability. Thanks for all your help.

 

[spinny]

Glad to hear it!