Core i7 4Ghz Club & Overclocking Guide

[Deton]

You need to tell us what type of your watercooling setup. I see you listed in your specs as dual rad. Is it one dual 120mm rad for the entire system?

[SR666]

You need to tell us what type of your watercooling setup. I see you listed in your specs as dual rad. Is it one dual 120mm rad for the entire system?

The loop is only connected to my CPU and the two GPU's.
Since making the previous post, I've narrowed down the problem I was having with lockups to something unrelated to the overclock, so the overclock is still stable at 1.35v, but shouldn't it be possible to have it running on lower voltage, especially on water?

[Deton]

shouldn't it be possible to have it running on lower voltage, especially on water?

No, each chip behave differently. However, a good watercooling system also help with the overclocking but since you can't specific your Waco then I can comment much on that area.

If you want to keep the voltage lower then disable the HT.

[PoLoMoTo]

No, each chip behave differently. However, a good watercooling system also help with the overclocking but since you can't specific your Waco then I can comment much on that area.

If you want to keep the voltage lower then disable the HT.

Thats cheating though XD

[ZeroChill]

My temperatures are too high at that voltage for my tastes and I am trying to reduce them (I have the CPU on the same loop as two GTX580's, so I know it's a contributing factor), the cores Idle at ~45c, and under full gaming load (With GPU load as well), it gets to ~80c or so, so as I said, a bit too high for my taste.
I'd appreciate any advice you can give me.

Old sub-thread, so you may never see this response ... but here goes anyway ...

As Deton remarked, the amount of voltage needed to stabilize an overclock will vary from chip to chip, so you might not be able go lower than 1.35v. That being so ... since your gaming temperatures are too high, that implies the need to rethink your cooling solution; your combined heat level is just too much with the CPU and GPUs all in the same cooling loop. Perhaps switch to cooling the CPU separately from the GPUs.

To put things in perspective, you are seeing gaming temps that i7 920 folks generally view as being within the cautious maximum range (80-85c) for fully-loaded testing via LinX / Prime95. Ideally, you want to keep your gaming temps below 67.9c (Tcase MAX) CPU sensor / 73c (Tjunction) Core sensor. Otherwise you risk degrading the chip, making it eventually unstable at otherwise stable settings, and shortening it's lifespan. As an example, my system is mid-70s under maximum load, and generally in the 50s while gaming. Would be good to get yours down into the 60s at least if possible.

[utah_mike]

Hello everyone I know this is a very old thread but this is my first post here. I really enjoyed pouring through this post and had a great read. I'm using an intel i7 950 on a sabertooth x58 with 6gb 1866 ram.

I ran these settings to get to 4ghz no sweat with my h50 cooler with push and pull setup. Core temp was idling at 38c and under load was around 70c. I am actually scoring lower in doom 3 benchmark at 4ghz and my fps in battlefield 4 are 30 fps lower while it has this weird freezing/bending lag going on that isn't network related. When I return to default bios it runs just fine. Any idea why I might be getting this kind of hang up in FPS games? The OS boots faster and overall seems quicker with desktop tasks along with not crashing. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated?

So essentially I just used the OC settings from all of Deton's original posts (thanks Deton! I learned A LOT!)about the i7 920 list on the first page with 20 cpu multi instead of my stock 23 on the i7 950. Not sure how much of a difference that might make? This is my first attempt at 4ghz but something just feels off. My video card is also a gtx 770 not oc'd.

bclock 200
cpu multi 20
qpi multi 18
uncore multi 16
cpu clock 4000
qpi clock 3600
uncore clock 3200
mem clock ddr3-1600
speedstep enabled
turbomode disabled
qpi link data rate 7218MT/s
uclk frequency 3208MHz

cpu voltage 1.35000
cpu pll voltage 1.96
qpi/dram core voltage 1.35000
DRaM bus voltage 1.66
load-line calibration enabled
cpu differential amplitude at 800mV
PCIE spread spectrum disabled

cpu ratio settting auto
c1e support disabled
hardware prefetcher enabled
adjacent cache line prefetch enabled
intel virtualization tech disabled
cpu tm function disabled
execute disable bit enabled
intel ht technology enabled
active processor cores "all"
a20m disbaled
inte speedstep tech enabled
intel turbo mode tech disabled
intel c-state tech disabled

Anything else was set to auto..

Thanks for any help!! I'd love to run this at 4ghz with confidence!

[Deton]

Have you test your OC stability?

You can use Geekbench 3 to benchmark your CPU http://www.primatelabs.com/geekbench/download/windows/
Any FTP benchmark is strictly dedicate for GPU benchmark.

[utah_mike]

Ok great! Thanks Deton! I haven't tested it with anything other than games so I'll use geekbench 3 and see how it does and let ya know. Thanks again!

[utah_mike]

I used Geekbench 3 to benchmark my CPU. I ran it the first time at default speeds 3ghz and then at 4ghz. 3gz the score at single was = 2235 multi = 8613 and at 4ghz it was 2650 10633.

My core temp was about 70c under full load. I still run battlefield 4 and it's like you move forward for 3 seconds and then lags, rinse and repeat. At default it runs at higher frames? I am just surprised by this. I always get 300 fps in doom3 timedemo at default speeds and at 4ghz it drops 25%.

I noticed you mentioned a test for the CPU and it seems to fine with that at 4ghz.
It also runs 3dmark very well.

Just boggles my mind why it does this in games. I've never had a problem like this before until I oc'd so it must be something I'm goofing up that's holding this system back in the bios settings. Thanks for your help Deton you rule!

[Deton]

now try playing around with the OC settings; blck vs multi.
example: 175x23

trying to find the sweet config for your chip. I don't own the 950 but I hear it loves odd multiplier.

[utah_mike]

Thanks Deton you kickass. I ran it in prime 95 for an hour last night it was about 69c with no h/t and no issues at all. This system is really coming to life since the overclock. I'll start working on the blck vs multi and see how some odd numbers go. So I've hit 4.2ghz and I am curious at what point it will crash now. Thanks again! I wish I had known more about overclocking 10 years ago. You popped my cherry deton. I can see this being a very addictive hobby now. Hell It'll keep me out of the bars lol

[Deton]

You popped my cherry deton.

was it good for you?

I can see this being a very addictive hobby now. Hell It'll keep me out of the bars lol

Then I dare you to get your cherry wet with the WaCo (watercooling), the real water cooling am talking about here.

[utah_mike]

was it good for you?





Then I dare you to get your cherry wet with the WaCo (watercooling), the real water cooling am talking about here.

haha! Can't say I've had better! After I burn this 950 up I think my next build is def going to involve some real water cooling. You telling me there's water cooling better than those h50's??? lol That is a sick build! Yo thanks again for the help. Your guide made it a breeze. It's still running like a champ at 4ghz, this weekend I'll see how much further I can take it and try some of those odd numbers u were talking about. I'll have to bounce some ideas off you when I'm ready to get some real water cooling rockin!

[Deton]

If you have the advance watercooling build then you can put the 950 on turbo mode which it will give you 4.2Ghz when needed. BTW, don't try it with the H50 though.
The reason your temps are ok because you have HT disable.

I have my 920 at 4.2Ghz with HT on and the load temp is under 70C.

[ndgreg]

Hey Denton.... been awhile but I'm back.
Had to put the PC away for some time.
Pulled it out of storage, gave it a good cleaning, and I'm ready to get back to this overclocking.
Figured since I have a 950 as well, this might be a good place to post.
Starting from the beginning again, with these settings:


BASE OC
AI Overclock Tuner XMP
CPU Ratio 20
Intel Speed step tech Disabled
BCLK Frequency 200
PCIE Frequency 100
DRAM Frequency DDR3-1603MHz
UCLK Frequency AUTO
QPI DATA Link Rate AUTO
CPU Voltage 1.33750
CPU PLL Voltage AUTO
QPI/DRAM Core Voltage 1.33750
IOH Voltage AUTO
IOH PCIE Voltage AUTO
ICH Voltage AUTO
ICH PCIE Voltage AUTO
DRAM Bus Voltage 1.62
DRAM DATA Ref CHA AUTO
DRAM CTRL Ref CHA AUTO
DRAM DATA Ref CHB AUTO
DRAM CTRL Ref CHB AUTO
DRAM DATA Ref CHC AUTO
DRAM CTRL Ref CHC AUTO
Load-line Calibration Enabled
CPU Differential Amplitude AUTO
CPU Clock Skew AUTO
CPU Spread Spectrum Disabled
IOH Clock Skew AUTO
PCIE Spread Spectrum Disabled
ADVANCED
CPU Ratio Setting 20
C1E Support Disabled
Hardware Prefetcher Enabled
Adjacent Cache Line Enabled
Intel Virtualization Enabled
CPU TM Function Enabled
Execute Disable Bit Enabled
Intel HT Technolodgy Disabled (if enabled, I get only 2 cores and 4 threads)
Active Processor Cores All
A20M Disabled
Intel Speed-step Disabled
Intel C-STATE Disabled

Ran Burn test for 20 passes on High, all good
Ran Prime for 1 1/2 hrs, no errors
Highest Temp for both was 65C

If you wouldn't mind looking things over and let me know where to go next....
I would appreciate it.

[Deton]

Everything seem in place, you can try to fiddle with the Vcore and DRAM voltage to see how low you get.

I don't understand why you have only 2 cores when HT enabled?

You have H20, it's capable to handle the chip with HT enable.