I7 860 rated 7.1?

[chris1024]

Basically, my i7 860 is getting a WEI rating of 7.1 despite being OC'd (not much but a bit). I have seen identical systems (one in particular made by dell) with the same processor recieve ratings of 7.5+.

Here are my system specs.

CPU - Core i7 860 2.8GHz (OC'd to ~3 GHz)
Mobo - Intel DP55WG
RAM - OCZ PC 12800 7 7 7 24 (set at 1333 Mhz, running at 1402 Mhz with OCing)
GPU - Radeon HD 5770
HDD - WD 1TB Caviar Black SATA
PSU - Antec Earthwatts 650w ATX
OS - Windows 7 Professional

Originally I had problems with the RAM, first bad chips, then the new ones causing the CPU to overheat when set at max speed. This is why I'm running them lower than 1600mhz, though I do plan to tinker with the timings. I've had to reformat several times and originally I think I got around a 7.3, though now I'm down to 7.1. There was actually a point when it got a 6.9 WEI (not sure what caused it, or when it was run) though after I re-ran the test it was at the 7.1 I'm now sitting at.

Additionally, CPU-Z shows the processor to be running around 3.6-3.8GHz constantly (which is turbo boost speed). While on previous installs it would remain around 1.6GHz when idle. When I disabled turbo boost it ran constantly at 2.8GHz (no OCing at this time). I have no idea why it would do this, even when nothing but windows itself is running.

Could be multiple issues but could anyone give me some advice to make things more stable? Possibly even a way to make the memory run at 1600 Mhz without causing the CPU to overheat?

I've had nothing but problems getting this machine to run optimally, and at the moment my old Core 2 Duo laptop seems to actually be faster for loading web pages and music/movies stored on the hard drive. (the only speed increase is in game framrates, though that is mostly due to the better GPU) Considering I put about a grand into this new machine, I'd like to get the most out of it. Thanks in advance.

 

[mindless728]

i wouldn't worry about the WEI too much, if you are really concerned there are benchmarks for testing the speed of a cpu

EDIT: my Phenom II X 810 @ 3.12GHz is 7.3, hence the rating is almost meaningless (your cpu is quite a bit stronger than mine)

 

[andy5174]

I assure you of a 7.5+ if you OC it to 3.6GHz.

BTW, my i5-750@3.6GHz get 7.5 in Windows 7 Ultimate.

 

[lucuis]

WEI means next to nothing. My Q6600 at 3.2ghz scores 7.4 on the WEI, that shows how detailed WEI is, lol. An i7 at 3ghz is a fair bit faster clock for clock then the Q6600.

Run it through a benchmark like 3Dmark06 noting the CPU subscore.

Mine scores the following (for comparison) using Win7RC.
4546 @ 3.2ghz
4979 @ 3.6ghz
5086 @ 3.7ghz
5144 @ 3.8ghz

Make sure all your background apps/etc are closed before running the benchmark to ensure an accurate result.

 

[Chad Boga]

I get a 7.5 WEI for my i7-860, but I would be more concerned with what I get in other benchmarks.

 

[ekoostik]

Additionally, CPU-Z shows the processor to be running around 3.6-3.8GHz constantly (which is turbo boost speed). While on previous installs it would remain around 1.6GHz when idle. When I disabled turbo boost it ran constantly at 2.8GHz (no OCing at this time). I have no idea why it would do this, even when nothing but windows itself is running.

I'm not familiar with Intel's BIOS settings, but if you want to idle at lower speeds and power, look for EIST and the C States and make sure that they are set to Enabled. Also, within Windows go to your Power Options, whichever plan you have selected go into its Advanced Settings and under Processor Power Management check that the minimum processor state is 5% (higher if you like, that's the default for low power idling).

Could be multiple issues but could anyone give me some advice to make things more stable? Possibly even a way to make the memory run at 1600 Mhz without causing the CPU to overheat?

How did you set the memory to 1600 originally? When not OCing, with an i7 860 you should be able to set the memory SPD to x12 (again, not familiar with Intel board BIOS, but that's how others work). You should set DIMM Voltage manually to the rated spec to ensure it's not getting too much (and thus running too hot).

 

[litlefox]

7.6 @ 3.8 HT and Turbo enabled.

 

[beardcombover]

7.3 for the i5 750 of the same socket without OC

 

[ekoostik]

What hard drive do you two have? I thought my graphics would be the bottleneck but I my HDD is giving a disk data transfer rate of 5.9.