Intel Core i7 Review Thread

[Donnie27]

Core i7 870 Tested





http://diy.pconline.com.cn/cpu/revie...7/1717513.html
Translated

First time in 5 years I've not heard anything about End of 1st Quarter, start of 2 Quarter price cuts, have you heard anything?

[vodka3dg]

whats the best air cooling solution i can get for my setup? Megahalems? Noctua NH-D14? please help ....

This is the most i can get out of my rig, bare in mind that im seriously temp limited:



on other thoughts, is this CPU worth lapping?

thanks

[zalbard]

Yes, lap both the CPU's heat spreader and the heatsink's base.
Get either Noctua NH-D14 or Thermalright Venomous X.
67C max temp isn't really what I'd call being "temp limited", though.

[vodka3dg]

Yes, lap both the CPU's heat spreader and the heatsink's base.
Get either Noctua NH-D14 or Thermalright Venomous X.
67C max temp isn't really what I'd call being "temp limited", though.

those are idle temps :3

3dm06 cputest gets my temps over 85ºc.

gonna lap then, thanks a lot!

[Diogynes]

RE: "whats the best air cooling solution i can get for my setup? Megahalems? Noctua NH-D14? please help ...."


I am delighted with the Noctua NH-D14, but you have to use low profile memory in order to use all of your memory slots. It works extremely well at a very low noise level. I run an easy 3.6GHz 24x7 OC on an i7 920 and the highest core temperatures I've seen are 74/74/72/73 after an hour of Prime95 at 1.25V vcore. At those core temps the GA-X58A-UD7 reports a CPU temp of 59C. The CPU idles at about 41C per core with a room temp of 25C. If I remove the cover from the Antec P193 case the core temps drop into the 65C range, so I have some work to do on case airflow.

I'm trying to keep the machine quiet since I sit by it for 14 hours a day and the Noctua is hard to beat for cooling vs. noise.

[ctgilles]

Should I run 4GHz on my i7 860 with HT OFF or 3.6GHz HT ON? I'm mostly playing games.

[c22]

4GHz ht off.

[The0men]

I thought I would have a go with one of these i7's so I went and got a 930.
and a P6T with 6GB of DDR3 ram (Just cheap XMS3)
Seemed way to expensive, I get home, instal Win7, start overclocking.
Amazing, with absolutely no effort I have 3.8ghz stable, so much
easier than trying to get either of my Q6600's stable at 3.6ghz, those were
always blowing up motherboards, I have hardly even touched the voltages now.

First computer setup I have been very happy with, lets just hope it
last this way for a long time.

Thank you for the post's containing information in this thread, I was able to
use some of it to get a nice overclock quickly.

Running prime95 I got up to about 67C, if people have suggestions for a
voltage that would be good to use daily and temperature that is safe
when stress testing I would be greatful, especially if you have numbers for
the QPI data rate and uncore speed, I don't understand these coming straight
from the old NB style motherboard.

[Le Titi]

A little 4600 with my 920 Do.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[donmarkoni]

You should post it here: Intel 4.5GHz LinX Stable Club

[Chewie_77]

Final 4.0GHz on i7 920 D0 w/ Xigmatek S-1283 cooler in lapped, push/pull w/ AS5 configuration. System passed LinX 50-passes, 3DMark Vantage 3-passes and so far stable during about 1-2 hours of Bad Company 2 gaming thus far.



Final Settings:

191 x 21 = 4011MHz
QPI Ratio: x18/x36
unCore Ratio: x16
Mem Ratio: x8
Performance Enhance: Standard (X58-UD3R mobo)
LLC: Level 2 (X58-UD3R mobo)
CPU vCore: 1.24375 BIOS
QPI/VTT Voltage: 1.295 BIOS
IOH Core Voltage: 1.200 BIOS
DRAM Voltage: 1.500 BIOS

All power saving features off, Hyper Threading ON during stress testing but OFF for normal usage.

[marcolecorse]

First test 920 DO
FPO/Batch 3945A925

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=1259392

[ilsan]

Hey Guys,

First time OC here. Have it WC. Specs are:

CPU: i7 930
GPU: ATI 5870
Motherboard: GA-X58A-UD3R

Been running Prime for over an hour. Not happy with the vcore. tried to lower it but BSOD. please have a look at my settings.

GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R
MB Intelligent Tweaker(M.I.T.)
Advanced CPU Features {Press Enter]
CPU Clock Ratio............................: 21
CPU Frequency .....(Ghz)...................:4.01
Intel(R) Turbo Boost Tech..................:[Disabled]
CPU Cores Enabled..........................:[All]
CPU Multi Threading........................:[Enabled]
CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E)....................:[Disabled]
C3/C6/C7 State Support.....................:[Disabled]
CPU Thermal Monitor........................:[Disabled]
CPU EIST Function..........................:[Disabled]
Bi-Directional PROCHOT.....................:[Enabled]
Virtualization Technology..................:[Enabled]

Uncore & QPI Features [Press Enter]
QPI Clock Ratio*...........................:36
QPI Link Speed* ......................(Ghz):6.87 Ghz
Uncore Clock Ratio.........................:x16(I have 1600 Mhz @ 8-8-8-24)
Uncore Frequency......................(Mhz):3056
Isochronous Support........................:[Enabled]

Advanced Clock Control [Press Enter]
>>>>>Standard Clock Control
Base Clock (BCLK) Control*.................:[Enabled]
BCLK Frequency (Mhz)*......................:191
PCI Exxpress Frequency (Mhz)...............:101
>>>>>Standard Clock Control
CPU Clock Drive (mV).......................:700
PCI Express Clock Drive (mV)..............:700
CPU Clock Skew (ps)........................:0
IOH Clock Skew (ps)........................:0
Advanced Dram Features [Press Enter}
Performance Enhance........................:[Extreme]
Extreme Memory Profile (X.M.P.)............:[Disabled]
System Memory Multiplier (SPD).............:x8
Memory Frequency (Mhz).....................:1,528
DRAM Timing Selectable (sPD) ..............:[Quick]
Channel A Timing Settings Sub Menu [Press Enter]
>>>>>Channel A Standard Timing Control
Cas Latency Time.............................:8
tRCD.........................................:8
tRP..........................................:8
tRAS.........................................:24
>>>>>Channel A Advanced Timing Control
tRC..........................................:27 [Auto]
tRRD ........................................:4 [Auto]
tWTR ........................................:5 [Auto]
tWR..........................................: 10 [Auto]
tWTP.........................................:19[Auto]
tWL..........................................:7 [Auto]
tRFC.........................................: 60 [Auto]
tRTP.........................................:4 [Auto]
tFAW.........................................:16 [Auto]
Command Rate (CMD) .....................:1
>>>>>Channel A Misc Timing Control
B2B CAS Delay................................:[Auto]
Round Trip Latency...........................:[Auto]

[SwIeRsZcZ]

I need to increase PCI-E Freq to 110Mhz to hit 4.5GHz . Would it be safe for 24/7 ?? :?

[RoydRage]

RE: "whats the best air cooling solution i can get for my setup? Megahalems? Noctua NH-D14? please help ...."


I am delighted with the Noctua NH-D14, but you have to use low profile memory in order to use all of your memory slots. It works extremely well at a very low noise level. I run an easy 3.6GHz 24x7 OC on an i7 920 and the highest core temperatures I've seen are 74/74/72/73 after an hour of Prime95 at 1.25V vcore. At those core temps the GA-X58A-UD7 reports a CPU temp of 59C. The CPU idles at about 41C per core with a room temp of 25C. If I remove the cover from the Antec P193 case the core temps drop into the 65C range, so I have some work to do on case airflow.

I'm trying to keep the machine quiet since I sit by it for 14 hours a day and the Noctua is hard to beat for cooling vs. noise.

Haven't done a system in years... Just bought a 930 Bloomfield / Rampage III Formula X58 mobo... 12gb of Corsair Dominator 1600mhz Ram.

I Ordered Both The Noctua DH-14 AND the H70 Corsair. Figured I would use the one that works best? Have the Room with the big Silverstone Case.

I know I would like to use the fan that the Dominator Kit comes with... Real Sexy BTW

What are everyone's thoughts on this...

Royd Rage

[James_on]

Hi...I have promblem with the processor....Run LinX, size of the problem put 20000 or 15000, Vcore 1.4V, HT-on ... and the temperature rises to 100 degrees! Previously, this was not ... cooling - water ...motherboard - Rampafe III Extreme...what could happened with the processor? Help!

[p3gaz_001]

I need to increase PCI-E Freq to 110Mhz to hit 4.5GHz . Would it be safe for 24/7 ?? :?

whaat?? does pci express frequency need to to be at that level to let the cpu rise up? O_o i'd never heard this!

[Postmodum]

Damn, there's lots of golden chips here huh? 4.9Ghz on 1.44vcore? insane stuff!

[Postmodum]

Guys, i have this chance of getting an i7 960 for 120Euros ...
Do you think it's worth swapping my 930 with the 960? Is this cpu higher binned?

[p3gaz_001]

whaat?? does pci express frequency need to to be at that level to let the cpu rise up? O_o i'd never heard this!

can someone please answ my question?

[Edsurf987]

It all depends on the cpu.
Above 240 Bclk, I've read some guys needed to increase their pci-e frequency at that kind of level (108 to 110)
Cannot explain it why

[donmarkoni]

whaat?? does pci express frequency need to to be at that level to let the cpu rise up? O_o i'd never heard this!

It shouldn't be like that. I never heard of it too.
I had best results if using at least half of BCLK frequency for PCI-E when I get over 200MHz BCLK (I ran 230 BCLK with 115 PCI-E without Slow Mode).

Guys, i have this chance of getting an i7 960 for 120Euros ...
Do you think it's worth swapping my 930 with the 960? Is this cpu higher binned?

It is so cheap, I would try. You can get it and then choose better one, right? It is higher binned, but it doesn't necessarily means it will OC better.

[p3gaz_001]

It all depends on the cpu.
Above 240 Bclk, I've read some guys needed to increase their pci-e frequency at that kind of level (108 to 110)
Cannot explain it why

this is new for me....

is that only for bclk above 240 or i can adjust the pci-e freq even at lower bclk speed?

[p3gaz_001]

It shouldn't be like that. I never heard of it too.
I had best results if using at least half of BCLK frequency for PCI-E when I get over 200MHz BCLK (I ran 230 BCLK with 115 PCI-E without Slow Mode).

ye but you've got a 980X .. i've got this half crap 950 that doesn't collaborate over 4.3 .....

anyway... i have to try this kinda setting, and see if i can gain some mhz ....

[DexNfX]

So, what' is a safe pci-e frequency OC without any harm to the hardware plugged in?