I7-860 Overclock help!

[falco37]

Hi guys, I recently purchased and installed a Cooler Master 212 Plus and now I'm looking towards OCig. Specs are:

Intel i7-860 2.8 GHZ
4 GB RAM
Nvidia GTX 550 TI 2 GB
P55-GD80 Motherboard (Cooler Master 212 Plus)
Antec 900 Case
750W Power Supply

I'll be honest and say that I don't know anything about OCing but I am familiar with computers. I've read a couple of guides and how-to explanations but so far it's not sticking. Couple of questions are:

1) With the i7-860, is it possible to just raise the Hz without raising any of the voltages? Basically, can I keep stock settings but still increase performance? If so, how?

2) When overclocked, does the CPU run at that speed the whole time or only when it's required?

3) Basically any information that could help with overclocking, (Overclocking for dummies basically ) would be very helpful.

My idle temps after installation of the Cooler master were around 28-33 C and while running Crysis 2 on Extreme, temps didn't go past 45 C.

Thanks for help!

 

[wolfram23]

1) All CPUs can usually get a little more speed at stock voltages. However, by default, the voltage is on "auto" which actually takes a value off a table designed by Intel, which means if you just increase the frequency, chances are it will auto-increase the voltage. Since it's drawing values from a table, it might draw far too much or too little voltage. So, if you just want to get more juice at stock, you'll have to manually set the stock voltage.

2) There is a feature called EIST, aka Speed Step, which downclocks the CPU when not active. There is also a feature called C-States, which basically defines the idle core state (C1, C3, C6). Keeping all these active is a good idea, although if you decide to push for the highest possible OC, you might need to disable them.

3) Check out my guide, I tried to make it as informative as possible.
http://wolframpc.blogspot.ca/2012/01/guide-to-overclocking-part-1.html

 

[falco37]

1) All CPUs can usually get a little more speed at stock voltages. However, by default, the voltage is on "auto" which actually takes a value off a table designed by Intel, which means if you just increase the frequency, chances are it will auto-increase the voltage. Since it's drawing values from a table, it might draw far too much or too little voltage. So, if you just want to get more juice at stock, you'll have to manually set the stock voltage.

2) There is a feature called EIST, aka Speed Step, which downclocks the CPU when not active. There is also a feature called C-States, which basically defines the idle core state (C1, C3, C6). Keeping all these active is a good idea, although if you decide to push for the highest possible OC, you might need to disable them.

3) Check out my guide, I tried to make it as informative as possible.
http://wolframpc.blogspot.ca/2012/01/guide-to-overclocking-part-1.html

very good article it helped a lot. another question tho, if CPUs have max voltage that you can't go over, why don't people just set to that max and then just set to whatever speed they want (as long as its reasonable) for example,

my i7-860 says that 1.4 is max voltage.. could I just set it to 1.4V and then make the speed around 3.6-3.8? Wouldn't that make sure that I had enough voltage for the boost?

 

[wolfram23]

Yeah but you could also fry your motherboard or CPU...

My first motherboard died on me when running a stress test, and it wasn't even that aggressive. It was an MSI P55GD65, so the model below yours. VRMs blew, I guess. Got it replaced, never had an issue with my current board, an Asus P7P55D Pro.

So besides the possibility of actually blowing a component, the voltage will also drastically increase the heat which means you need very good cooling. With these CPUs, you don't want to go above mid 70s in stress tests at the absolute most. Ideally it should be below 70, since the Tcase is 72.4C.

I have heard it suggested to put the voltage up first and then see what sort of clock you can get, but I'd suggest doing that at a safer voltage like 1.3 or maaaybe 1.35. I personally think even 1.35 is getting high, it's around where my i5 750 is for 4ghz and even though my temps are great with water cooling, the OC actually destabilized and I had to bump the voltage a bit more to keep it all stable again. This is usually caused by electromigration, which is basically analogous of if you have a new road and a constant stream of cars and trucks are driving on it - at slower speeds a lot less cars are going to go by than at high speeds, and the more cars drive on the road the quicker the road surface will degrade. If the cars are electrons (energy) and the speed is the voltage, the road is the CPU internals.

 

[falco37]

Yeah but you could also fry your motherboard or CPU...

My first motherboard died on me when running a stress test, and it wasn't even that aggressive. It was an MSI P55GD65, so the model below yours. VRMs blew, I guess. Got it replaced, never had an issue with my current board, an Asus P7P55D Pro.

So besides the possibility of actually blowing a component, the voltage will also drastically increase the heat which means you need very good cooling. With these CPUs, you don't want to go above mid 70s in stress tests at the absolute most. Ideally it should be below 70, since the Tcase is 72.4C.

I have heard it suggested to put the voltage up first and then see what sort of clock you can get, but I'd suggest doing that at a safer voltage like 1.3 or maaaybe 1.35. I personally think even 1.35 is getting high, it's around where my i5 750 is for 4ghz and even though my temps are great with water cooling, the OC actually destabilized and I had to bump the voltage a bit more to keep it all stable again. This is usually caused by electromigration, which is basically analogous of if you have a new road and a constant stream of cars and trucks are driving on it - at slower speeds a lot less cars are going to go by than at high speeds, and the more cars drive on the road the quicker the road surface will degrade. If the cars are electrons (energy) and the speed is the voltage, the road is the CPU internals.

Ahh I see.. well I think I'll set the voltage to 1.344 and then set the speed up to 3.8 and see how that goes..

(im using this http://www.anandtech.com/show/2839/8 as reference)

with a speed of 3.8ghz, could i keep the EIST/C states on to reduce power consumption when not in use or is that too high of an OC?

Thanks for all your help, you've been very helpful!