Help with overclocking.

[m1ke1991]

I just built a new system using the i7-930 and the asrock x58 extreme. I have the i7 cooled by a h50 and so far have it overclocked to 3.8ghz... and... well it boots and such. I haven't ran a stress test yet... but I did play wow lol... it didn't really do much to it... Only about 6% usage. I'm sitting at 48C in windows atm... Should I be worried or do I have room to push it to 4.0? I did run a portion of the prime95 test and it got to 68C at one point at 3.7...

 

[m1ke1991]

I'm doing some default OC options in the bios. I just had a drop down menu that said 3.8 ghz and i hit it and it changed everything for me. the voltage is at 1.344 atm. multiplier is x 20.0 and bus is 190.0 mhz... anything seem wrong? If you can't tell, i'm new to this lol.

 

[redechelon]

Hey Mike,

Try to run Prime95 for an hour or something and report temps. Even an hour won't tell if it's COMPLETELY stable, but if it can pass that without errors, there's a damn good chance it is.

48C for idle is a bit high, but 68C at load is totally fine. I'd say try to stay under 75C.

At first glance... voltage looks way to high for your speed. Try lowering the voltage to at LEAST 1.3v -- A lot of 930's run 4.0Ghz at around 1.25v.

Check this guy's settings out, they're a good start if you want to do it manually: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/260117-29-asus-p6x58d-01ghz-temp-help

 

[m1ke1991]

Thanks for the reply. I lowered the voltage to 1.26 and am running prime95 as we speak.

 

[m1ke1991]

It got to 73C within 15 minuts... I went a head and stopped it lol.

When will I actually encounter stress on the processor like this in games?

 

[redechelon]

73C is still acceptable.
If it's running stable, keep lowering it a notch or 2 at a time now til it isn't... lower voltages = lower temps.

You will never reach temps that a stress test gives you in games, so you don't have to worry there.

 

[m1ke1991]

alright, i've got it down to 1.24... think I can push it to 4.0 with that? i'm at 3.8 and it appears stable.

 

[m1ke1991]

hmm I ran prime 95 and the last 2 tests had errors almost off the bat... i'm not sure how to check them though.

 

[redechelon]

If 1.24v is the lowest it will go with 3.8, you'll prob have to raise it to hit 4.0. Once you get around 4.0, it starts to need more voltage for less of a frequency gain. It gets power hungry... so it's up to you how far you wanna go.

Just try it though.

If you up the vcore after errors, does it fix it then?

 

[m1ke1991]

at this point, voltage is at 1.34... and 4.0Ghz. It seems stable... kind of. I've been through many blue screens to get to this point lol... idk if thats good or not. but yeah... when I try Prime95... it crashes... at least just the program is crashing and not the computer. Should I bump the voltage or back off the clocks?

 

[redechelon]

at this point, voltage is at 1.34... and 4.0Ghz. It seems stable... kind of. I've been through many blue screens to get to this point lol... idk if thats good or not. but yeah... when I try Prime95... it crashes... at least just the program is crashing and not the computer. Should I bump the voltage or back off the clocks?

I don't think any more voltage will give you results... that's much higher than what should be needed at 4.0.

What about your memory? All of the settings at auto?
Did you change anything like QPI/VTT/etc?

 

[m1ke1991]

I set it at 4.0 then just started bumping the voltage till everything stopped crashing. After that post I bumped it one more time to 1.35... and now prime95 actually runs a few minutes without a crash and all that. Everything appears to be running smooth. I never changed any memory settings unless the overclocking settings I used did automatically.

BUT it does get really hot fairly quick... I figured I would hardly ever encounter 100% usage or close to it... so maybe i'm safe? lol

 

[redechelon]

When you're in your BIOS (Or in CPU-Z, Memory tab) check out your memory frequency (ie: 1600MHz/1333MHz... whatever it is)

When you increase BCLK, it gets multiplied by your memory multiplier. So, say your BLCK is 190, then your memory will be running at 1520 with a 8x mult or 1900 with a 10x mult.

If it's higher than your memory is rated at, it causes crashes.
Run the top setting in Prime95 (small FFT) and see if it crashes. If it passes, it's probably your memory.

 

[m1ke1991]

DRAM Frequency says 600.5 mhz lol. my ram is suppose to be 2000 so idk what thats about.
NB Frequency is 3202.7 mhz.

 

[m1ke1991]

CPU frequency is 200, the ratio is 20.0. Maybe I should start checking my ram now lol

ram voltage is 1.654.

 

[redechelon]

Hmm... well go into your BIOS, and change your memory multiplier to 10x. It's at 6x or something. Although, I don't think this is causing the stability issue.

Also... some people say i7's don't like even multipliers for the CPU, so try changing your BCLK to 181 and your CPU multiplier to 21x if you still want 3.8.

Otherwise... you can start fresh and I'll give you all of my settings, you can try that out. I'm running at 4.0, btw.

 

[redechelon]

CPU frequency is 200, the ratio is 20.0. Maybe I should start checking my ram now lol

ram voltage is 1.654.

Oh, what? you're already at 4.0?

 

[m1ke1991]

Yeah, actually I just reset my BIOS cause It black screened on me. lol. I'm back down at 2.8... Maybe I should try manually doing everything. The setting is just a drop down menu in the BIOS that gives me a list of speeds... starting with 3.6 then going to 3.8, 3.9, 4.0, 4.2... and it automatically does all the other settings for me... I just don't know if I trust those settings lol. It seemed like it decreased my ram speed a lot... Idk if my ram is just running at a lower speed or what. I'm not exactally sure which frequency I should be looking at. lol

 

[redechelon]

Yeah, actually I just reset my BIOS cause It black screened on me. lol. I'm back down at 2.8... Maybe I should try manually doing everything. The setting is just a drop down menu in the BIOS that gives me a list of speeds... starting with 3.6 then going to 3.8, 3.9, 4.0, 4.2... and it automatically does all the other settings for me... I just don't know if I trust those settings lol. It seemed like it decreased my ram speed a lot... Idk if my ram is just running at a lower speed or what. I'm not exactally sure which frequency I should be looking at. lol

Haha.. okay. Well, I will post my settings once I get home @ 11pm (I'm at work on my laptop, I can't remember exact decimals.) and you can try them or not.

There's really not too many things you'll have to change, but it's rock solid.

EDIT: Btw, when your memory says it's running at 600MHz, its actually 1200MHz. DDR = Double Data Rate =]

 

[firstlightimaging]

I don't know is seeing another i7 OC profile helps, but here is my OC profile for an i920 at 4.0GHz using a an ASUS P6T MOBO and 1600MHz RAM. This has been extremely stable now for over 6 months and solid under stress tests; CPUs vary but I'd have to believe the i930 isn't too different from an i920 when it comes to overclocking - your mileage may vary:

OVERCLOCKING PROFILE (extremely stable for a several months now)

Overclock Mode: XMP
CPU Ratio Setting: Auto
SpeedStep: Disabled (set to enable after you prove stable if you want it to auto throttle/save power..)
Turbo Mode: Disabled
BCLK: 200
PCIE: 100
DRAM Frequency: 1600
UCLK Frequency: 3200
QPI Link Data Rate: Auto
DRAM CAS# Latency: Set automatically in XMP mode
DRAM RAS# to CAS#l: Set automatically in XMP mode
DRAM RAS# PRE time: Set automatically in XMP mode
DRAM RAS# ACT Time: Set automatically in XMP mode
DRAM REF Cycle Time: Set automatically in XMP mode
CPU Voltage: 1.28125v
CPU PLL Voltage: Auto
QPI/DRAM Core: 1.3.0v
IOH Voltage: Auto
IOH PCI Voltage: Auto
ICH Voltage: Auto
ICH PCIE Voltage: Auto
DRAM Bus Voltage: 1.62v
Load Line Calibration: Enabled (for stability)
CPU Differential Amp: Auto
CPU Clock Skew: Auto
CPU Spread Spectrum: Auto
IOH Clock Skew: Auto
PCIE Spread Spectrum: Disabled (for stability)

 

[m1ke1991]

alright, thanks for the posts. I'll try all of these things lol. when you overclock your processor... your ram lowers its speed right? so once I reach my desired CPU speed... do I have to bump the ram back up slowly? I'm just wanting the ram to run at the factory clocks, which is 2000 mhz. I'm not really looking to overclock it I don't think lol.

 

[iqvl]

Here is an decent OCing guide for X58 i7:
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/ultimate_core_i7_overclocking_guide_we_push_nehalem_its_limits

 

[redechelon]

mike, the BCLK decides what your ram runs at... so if your BCLK was 190, you could either set your memory multiplier to 8x or 10x depending on what memory you have.

190 x 8 = 1520MHz
190 x 10 = 1900MHz

Here's my settings:

Frequency-------4011 MHz
vDroop-----------Disabled
BCLK--------------191
CPU Multiplier---21
vCore-------------1.2v
CPU PLL----------1.85v
Hyper-Threading Enabled

This is all I changed, some recommended 1.875v for the PLL, but 1.85v works well for me.

I have 1600MHz (9-9-9-24) rated RAM running at 1520MHz (8-8-8-21) for reference.

EDIT: OH, and that guide iqvl posted IS pretty good actually.

 

[m1ke1991]

I'm reading through that guide as we speak. seems pretty informative. Btw, what is the difference in NB frequency and DDR? you explained DDR earlier, but what is NB?

 

[redechelon]

Northbridge. I think IOH voltage has to deal with the northbridge now, but I'm not sure.