Is this OK? 920@3.67,stock cooler

[jjknoll]

Ok, so I am no champion overclocker and am a little unsure about what's right and good. I've got the aforementioned 920 on 1.2v at 3.5 and it still turbos to 3.67. I have a D0 on an EVGA classified board (version 760 not 759). Stock cooler. I had trouble finding a good temp monitor (don't ask), but seem to be getting the warmest (truest?) readings using coretemp. Running Prime95 and orthos with some other apps in background and playing Oblivion for an hour (to push up case temp), temp on cpu hits 72c. I think thats good, but if it is, is that strange with a stock cooler? I've got my QPI turned down as not to overload it. My ram is only 1333, so I have it at 1400 with my settings. I also have the cpu fan set at 90% in bios. My rig is in the basement where it is cooler all the time. Is this OK? If this looks good to the pros here I will probably leave it as is. Plenty of power for me (especially for free!).

 

[macelo]

My 920 D0 hit 90C+ at a mild over clock, 3.2ghz, in CPU benchmarks and prime 95, I'm sure yours will do the same. Get yourself a good aftermarket cooler and at 3.6 ghz you should rarely go over 65C in games. Plus a good aftermarket cooler will cool down your room too and give you lower ambient temps. Believe me, the stock cooler was boiling up my room. After getting an aftermarket cooler it brought down my cpu and room temps. Believe me, aftermarket coolers cool everything. This is with experience with AMD stock vs aftermarket coolers and my I7 920.

 

[jjknoll]

It hit 72c with Prime95 AND Orthos AND Oblivion running simultaneous. According to the readings from coretemp. So is something not right with my readings or something?

 

[macelo]

It must be your ambient temp. Your basement must be very cold. I live in texas, and most of the time my ambient is 85F+. If you get an aftermarket cooler I wouldn't be surprised if you got 60C in prime95. You should go for it.

But most people get around 72C in prime 95 with aftermarket coolers when OC'd to ~3.6ghz i'm sure you know.

 

[jjknoll]

I have read some threads with somewhat similar results though. But yes, my basement is cool. Rarely higher than low 70's. Lately we have had cool overnight weather. I would guess 65 ambient. I often where a sweatshirt even in the summer, because when the air runs the basement gets as cold as winter.

Another thing, I only ran 1 instance of P95. I read people running more? My cores were running 50-60% usage before I started gaming. I did not check what they were at while I was gaming. Am I perhaps underutilizing them as far as testing goes. Since I really just use that PC for gaming, I suppose my utilization will probably never reach that level though. So, I guess what I am asking is if my rig is cool and stable for my amount of utilization, is that safe even if it might not be stable at some ridiculous load amount that I won't ever achieve?

 

[macelo]

That's nice ambient temp! When running prime 95, run the torture test and select small FFTs. I'm at work right now so and I don't know exactly what the menus are like, but it's something like that. Also you need to select 8 threads (or processors I can't remember) in one of the option menus. when you hit start, your CPUs should hit 100% load instantly.

When you select 8 threads (someone correct me on this) you will see 8 boxes in the prime 95 window. When you say you are running 1 instance of prime 95, do you see only 1 box in the prime 95 window?

 

[jjknoll]

Perhaps I should download a newer version. Let me take a look at what I have and see if a newer version is any different. Does it make a difference that I am on a 32-bit OS?

 

[jjknoll]

Downloaded newer version. BSOD 10 seconds. LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jjknoll]

Thanks for helping me out Macelo.

But back to the question I had earlier. Despite the fact now that it's obvious I can't reach a truly stable clock that high; is running it that high bad if temps are cool and I don't experience any problems? Do you think it will corrupt any data? Shorten the life of the cpu?

 

[macelo]

BSOD OH NO DUDE!!

If you OC to about 3.5-3.6ghz, i'm at 3.6, and your temps are fine and you're stable, then it should be ok. You won't corrupt any data, unless you get BSODs!! lol. But high temps do shorten the life of your CPU, however it'll be a while, and by that time you will mostly likely have upgraded again. My old X2 4200+ Oc'd by 25% is still alive and kicking after 3 years.

If you have consistent high temps, then it will shorten the life of your CPU. But most people will say ur temps are fine. But I would definitely recommend getting an aftermarket cooler, not only does it extend the life of your cpu by keeping it cool, you can have nice stable OC's. GL

 

[jjknoll]

Thanks for all the good info and help. I'll probably look into a good cooler sooner rather than later.