A few questions, mainly about temp. [i7 920 4 Ghz]

[cythx]

Hi, I got my Noctua NH-D14 recently and decided to OC my i7 920 to 4.0 Ghz. I need an opinion on my results (preferably from people who understand the i7s heat compared to other chips and people who used i7s).

[LOAD] 4.0 Ghz Noctua NH-D14 Both Fans (30 minutes of small ffts on prime 95):

Maxed out at 75C, that was pretty much the average too.

[IDLE] 2.4 Ghz Noctua NH-D14 Both Fans (30 minutes of idling):

Average was 35C

Are those results normal for an i7 using the bloomfield chip? I've looked it up on a few websites but their results seem to be quite lower, maybe I didn't mount it tight enough or apply my paste properly? (I was replacing the cooler, and I used rubbing alcohol with some Q tips to remove the previos AS5 and reapply it).

Another 2 questions I have is what is the setting called that scales back my cpu speed depending on the load? I don't want it constantly changing

And what app's use hyper threading? I want to turn it off to make my CPU cooler if I do not use any/enough hyper threading programs.

 

[blackhawk1928]

-Mhm, well a CPU Cooler plays a role but which case are you using? In addition, when you do a prime95 tests, there are different types, some put more load on ram or cpu...etc. Which stepping do you have also?

-In my opinion, a 4.0Ghz i7 920 running Prime95 at 75C is really not that bad, but i still wouldn't be confortable with those temps at all. There are also better thermal pastes then AS5 i think but its up there. If you aren't satisfied, try reseating the heatsink, i checked it out and it looks serious.

-About hyperthreading, which software/apps do you mostly use, be specific. I for one, see virus scanning apps such as malwarebytes/a-squared take huge advantage of HT. Gaming really doesn't. If you do encoding and other things, it usualy will do better with HT. It all depends on your expectations and what applications you run.

 

[saaiello]

Way to high temps something isnt right with your cooling anything over 65 is too high. Did you make sure your paste was as thin as could be too much will cause high temps also it takes a good week for your thermal paste to cure but still way to high temps no matter what.

The setting is called SpeedStep and beleive me you want that on no need to turn it off it does not effect performance at all.

As far as you turning hyperthreading off shouldnt effect temps

 

[cythx]

-Mhm, well a CPU Cooler plays a role but which case are you using? In addition, when you do a prime95 tests, there are different types, some put more load on ram or cpu...etc. Which stepping do you have also?

-In my opinion, a 4.0Ghz i7 920 running Prime95 at 75C is really not that bad, some people get those temperatures at stock speeds when running Prime 95. There are also better thermal pastes then AS5 i think but its up there. If you aren't satisfied, try reseating the heatsink, i checked it out and it looks serious.

-About hyperthreading, which software/apps do you mostly use, be specific. I for one, see virus scanning apps such as malwarebytes/a-squared take huge advantage of HT. Gaming really doesn't. If you do encoding and other things, it usualy will do better with HT. It all depends on your expectations and what applications you run.

-Antec 1200, I said I was doing small FFTs test, I did this because I heard it was it's toughest test.

-I will probably get some better thermal paste next week, I'm not sure how thin it needs to be (just thin enough to make contact between both and no more right?). I can't access my computer atm so I'll be posting tommorow about this but I tightened the heat sink recently and I'm thinking of adding in my coolermaster fan to my noctua heatsink (it's 600 more rpm)

-I'll be very specific:

RealTemp
CCleaner
iTunes
Windows live messenger
Steam
uTorrent
Windows Media Player
CPUZ
Prime95
Chrome
iTunes
Messenger
Microsoft Office
Games
NOD32

Thank you very much for your answer

 

[cythx]

Way to high temps something isnt right with your cooling anything over 65 is too high. Did you make sure your paste was as thin as could be too much will cause high temps also it takes a good week for your thermal paste to cure but still way to high temps no matter what.

The setting is called SpeedStep and beleive me you want that on no need to turn it off it does not effect performance at all.

As far as you turning hyperthreading off shouldnt effect temps

I tried to, I used a different method this time, last time I spread it across with a business card, this time I put cling film over my finger and spread it across.

I'll be buying the best thermal compound I can get this week and reapplying it after removing the current AS with Isopropy+Q tips

Speedstep will always keep up and increase the speed to meet my requirements? is this true?

Many people have found hyperthreading effect temps, however I will want to keep it if some of my programs use it.

Also what voltages should I be looking at for 4.0 Ghz? I used this guide http://lakesidepc.com/Core.i7.920.oc.4G.2008.12.12_ENG.pdf
And assumed the voltages were fine but from what I'm reading they look to high, if you dont want to look at the link it tells you to change to QPI/VTT voltage to 1.515V and the CPU Vcore at 1.400 Volts

 

[JackNaylorPE]

IIRC, my son's cores run at 74, 72, 72, 70 at 920 GHz under P95 ....at idle tho, I think we are around 28C.

AS5 takes about a year to fully cure according to this:

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=138&Itemid=1&limit=1&limitstart=5


"Here is the Arctic Silver 5 recommended cure time instruction from the manufacturers web site:

Due to the unique shape and sizes of the particles in Arctic Silver 5's conductive matrix, it will take a up to 200 hours and several thermal cycles to achieve maximum particle to particle thermal conduction and for the heatsink to CPU interface to reach maximum conductivity. (This period will be longer in a system without a fan on the heatsink or with a low speed fan on the heatsink.) On systems measuring actual internal core temperatures via the CPU's internal diode, the measured temperature will often drop 2C to 5C over this "break-in" period. This break-in will occur during the normal use of the computer as long as the computer is turned off from time to time and the interface is allowed to cool to room temperature. Once the break-in is complete, the computer can be left on if desired.

So by my estimation of this statement it would take almost a year of normal use to properly cure the AC5 compound, or almost nine days of continuous power cycles to meet their recommendation."

I found, using IC Diamond 7 Karat TIM, that when I drove it up to 78 for about 30 minutes by turning on HT on an OC profile which I had previously disabled it.....when I later loaded my other profiles, they were all down about 2 degrees. Was as if heating it a little extra helped it cure.

 

[cythx]

IIRC, my son's cores run at 74, 72, 72, 70 at 920 GHz under P95 ....at idle tho, I think we are around 28C.

920 Ghz?! That's nuts! I guess you mean 4 Ghz on a 920

He has slightly better load temps then me and my noctua nh-d14, but my compound hasnt healed yet (did tests 10 minutes after applying it), and my fan RPMs are at 1300~

 

[blackhawk1928]

-Antec 1200, I said I was doing small FFTs test, I did this because I heard it was it's toughest test.

-I will probably get some better thermal paste next week, I'm not sure how thin it needs to be (just thin enough to make contact between both and no more right?). I can't access my computer atm so I'll be posting tommorow about this but I tightened the heat sink recently and I'm thinking of adding in my coolermaster fan to my noctua heatsink (it's 600 more rpm)

-I'll be very specific:

RealTemp
CCleaner
iTunes
Windows live messenger
Steam
uTorrent
Windows Media Player
CPUZ
Prime95
Chrome
iTunes
Messenger
Microsoft Office
Games
NOD32

Thank you very much for your answer

mhm, well your case is very nice, so no problems with that. However when you say games, what kind of games are you talking about?...FPS, RTS...etc. Because all the other programs you listed would be able to run perfectly fine on a P4 2.0Ghz with 1GB of ram For your applications I really think overclocking will bring absolutly no benefit except for a decreased life and higher chance of of the processor failing. I mean, if you play Company of Heroes or Crysis on 2560x1600 on max settings then yes its worth it, other then that, your overclocks won't bring you benefit except for benchmarks. Just saying. IMO, save your processor and let it fly on its stock speed, if you want to overclock, by all means, i'll help you out

-About the thermal paste, yes you only need a tiny layer, as its designed to just fill in microscopic inperfections in the metal, a very very small amount is all thats needed.

-Easiest way to see if your heatsink isn't seated tightly enough is to put your computer on the side, that way the heatsink will basically be laying on top of the CPU and therefore should show you, if temps drastically decrease, then thats most likley your issue.

 

[cythx]

mhm, well your case is very nice, so no problems with that. However when you say games, what kind of games are you talking about?...FPS, RTS...etc. Because all the other programs you listed would be able to run perfectly fine on a P4 2.0Ghz with 1GB of ram For your applications I really think overclocking will bring absolutly no benefit except for a decreased life and higher chance of of the processor failing. I mean, if you play Company of Heroes or Crysis on 2560x1600 on max settings then yes its worth it, other then that, your overclocks won't bring you benefit except for benchmarks. Just saying. IMO, save your processor and let it fly on its stock speed, if you want to overclock, by all means, i'll help you out

-About the thermal paste, yes you only need a tiny layer, as its designed to just fill in microscopic inperfections in the metal, a very very small amount is all thats needed.

-Easiest way to see if your heatsink isn't seated tightly enough is to put your computer on the side, that way the heatsink will basically be laying on top of the CPU and therefore should show you, if temps drastically decrease, then thats most likley your issue.

MW2, BC2, FF 14, Crysis, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3, Bioshock 2, Dragon Age, Borderlands, GTA IV, Fall out 3, DiRT 2, FF 11, maybe WoW

I have speedsteeping enabled so it will only go up depending on what I'm doing (ie 2.4 idle, 4.0 load) so I'm not sure it'll be as bad as you say, but yes I still want to OC.

In a week I'm getting new thermal compound so I'll have a chance to do it better then

One question I still need answered is what should my voltages be at? I followed Gigabytes guide and my Uncore V is at 1.4, with my QPI/VTT V at 1.5, but I have D0 so I should be able to bring it down, and I've seen many people getting it down to 1.3/1.2~ which I should be able to get safely with a D0?

 

[blackhawk1928]

Well not sure about that, my i7 runs stock and my voltages are about .8 or .9 Volts according to CPU-Z if i am reading correctly. When overclocking, the voltage required depends entirely on your specific i7, even if both are D0, one may require massive injections of voltage and another may easily overclock on the same voltage. It all depends.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

920 Ghz?! That's nuts! I guess you mean 4 Ghz on a 920

He has slightly better load temps then me and my noctua nh-d14, but my compound hasnt healed yet (did tests 10 minutes after applying it), and my fan RPMs are at 1300~

Whoops....seems we lost a few words in that post

IIRC, my son's cores run at 74, 72, 72, 70 at 4.2 GHz on a 920 under P95 ....at idle tho, I think we are around 28C.

 

[cythx]

What are his voltages? I just raised mine to 1.375 on QPI/VTT and Vcore because I didn't last 10 minutes running 1.325~

 

[cythx]

can edit my post for some reason...

but why do my Core Voltages drop when running prime95? It went from 1.35~ to 1.296 to (3 minutes in) to 1.312 (5 minutes in)

 

[jedimasterben]

Way to high temps something isnt right with your cooling anything over 65 is too high.

Seriously? 65°C is a great temperature.

As far as you turning hyperthreading off shouldnt effect temps

Hyperthreading adds around 10°C on an overclocked i7. Check this out: http://blog.corsair.com/?p=987

 

[cythx]

Seriously? 65°C is a great temperature.


Hyperthreading adds around 10°C on an overclocked i7. Check this out: http://blog.corsair.com/?p=987

I am averaging about 70 C now, hoping I can get it to 65 somehow. But I've put my voltages down low enough already.

Only thing I can do now is get better fans and thermal compound and turn the Antec's fans up higher.

Is 70C safe for a an i7 9xx CPU?

 

[jedimasterben]

I am averaging about 70 C now, hoping I can get it to 65 somehow. But I've put my voltages down low enough already.

Only thing I can do now is get better fans and thermal compound and turn the Antec's fans up higher.

Is 70C safe for a an i7 9xx CPU?

Irreparable damage is done to the CPU around 100°C. 80° is a good absolute max temp, and 70° is great, especially if you have HT enabled. Have you read overshocked's guide on OCing the i7 9xx's? You may be able to lower your vCore even more by upping VTT a bit.

Here's his guide (he's a great guy, btw, very very helpful if you have any questions): http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/253365-29-core-overclocking-guide

 

[cythx]

Irreparable damage is done to the CPU around 100°C. 80° is a good absolute max temp, and 70° is great, especially if you have HT enabled. Have you read overshocked's guide on OCing the i7 9xx's? You may be able to lower your vCore even more by upping VTT a bit.

Here's his guide (he's a great guy, btw, very very helpful if you have any questions): http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/253365-29-core-overclocking-guide

Once with my old cooler, RealTemp reported my temps at 98C, I really hope that was wrong and my CPU isn't damaged.
I have used Overshocked's guide on OCing i7 9xx's, it is helpful but I used some other guides too.

Thanks for telling me I may be able to lower me Vcore a little by upping me VTT, I will try that when I get back home.

Thank you very much

 

[jedimasterben]

No problem. Just relaying something that overshocked told me

 

[cythx]

Update: Looks like upping the VTT and lowering the Vcore worked well, but it brought my eye to something, right now I'm looking at the temps 15 minutes in, and Core 4 has had a maximum of 63 while Core 1 2 and 3 are at 71 68 and 70 maximum.

Is this because of unevenly spread compound or what?

If it's likely due to unevenly spread compound I'd love to get the thickness of compound all over my CPU if I knew which core was on what qauter of the chip.

Thanks again, that info really helped me get lower voltages and better temps.

 

[cythx]

Can't edit post for some reason, again -_-

I just checked Prime95, apparently worker 7 and 8 detected hardware failures and stopped working.

Any idea what would cause this?

 

[jedimasterben]

Probably not enough voltage. Up it by the smallest amount possible in your BIOS and run it again.

Also, it's normal for the separate core temps to vary by a few degrees.

 

[cythx]

Yeah I noticed. I'm upping the core (I really need to write data/info down on this crap :/)

What sorta voltages should I not be touching for QPI/VTT? I don't know if going above 1.52~ will hurt my system.

 

[cythx]

Hey Jedi, one more question.

Why have my idle temps after start up suddenly risen from 31~ to 41~? And my load temps have no risen fro 70~ to 75~ with no change in voltage or ambient temp.

 

[jedimasterben]

That's very strange. What program are you using to report temperatures? I would use Real Temp, and read some of the documentation about it and calibrate it. The program you use may not be reporting correctly.

 

[cythx]

I'm using Real Temp, I just got a blue screen after 15 minutes of Prime95 small FFTs with these settings:

CPU: 4 Ghz (20x200)
QPI Clock: x36
System Memory Multiplier: 8.0
CPU Vcore: 1.35 V
QPI/VTT: 1.555 V
IOH Core: 1.100 V (auto settings)
DRAM: 1.500 V