Nehalem 101 part1 - 1366 and X58

[saaya]

thanks!

id like to add some more infos regarding impact of HT on cpu scores in 3dmark,
4 cores with ht vs 4 cores
4 cores vs 2 cores with ht

rough mhz differences between
max clock for 1 core
max clock for 2 core
max clock for 4 core

rough mhz differences between max suicide and fully stable for 1, 2 and 4 cores

[Tony]

yeah, very similar... the only difference is that on k10 you can actually ramp up the l3 cache clock independantly from the imc, right?
and yeah, 3x2gb is what everybody will run, except for benchers and xp fans who stick to 3x1gb.

the interesting part is that k10 cant get a ref clock much above 230 and i7 seems to be stuck at about that speed too, even lower actually... i wonder if there is some reason for this or its just a coincidence and the i7 bclock is really just limited by qpi and nothing else...
and if thats the case, then maybe amds ref clock is limited by some other clock that gets derived from the ref clock?

IMC and L3 same speed...as far as I remember

Regards Phenom, i have seen 280+ here...other have seen 300, its not the CPU that is the issue

[SAE]

K. Huge thanks. Think I'll bookmark this, Sascha.
Great read for n00bs like me.

[saaya]

Regards Phenom, i have seen 280+ here...other have seen 300, its not the CPU that is the issue

huh? really? then what is the limit and how do you get those high clocks?

K. Huge thanks. Think I'll bookmark this, Sascha.
Great read for n00bs like me.

lol :P

[Movieman]

I got 4226 but all with the multi..
Max I could do on the buss was 150 with any multi

[Slovnaft]

retail must clock better than ES
fugger's 5.5ghz chip is retail i believe.

[saaya]

I got 4226 but all with the multi..
Max I could do on the buss was 150 with any multi

is that the max stable for 4 cores loaded?
if yes then thats pretty good on air!
only 150 though is weird... did you lower the qpi divider to 18?

[Movieman]

is that the max stable for 4 cores loaded?
if yes then thats pretty good on air!
only 150 though is weird... did you lower the qpi divider to 18?

That was max SP1M stable with HT enabled.
What QPI divider? I don't see one in this bios..

[saaya]

:0 no qpi divider?

[naokaji]

I got 4226 but all with the multi..
Max I could do on the buss was 150 with any multi

With what board though? it appears the Intel boards are heavily limited if it comes to Bclock oc.

[saaya]

i was wrong about memory dividers, its not derived from the uncore clockspeed but multiplier directly from the Bclock, my bad!
i corrected it and added a lot more details to the first post

[Praz]

Very nice writeup. Your post will save users a lot of time when first jumping to this platform. Also makes it easier to choose which processor should be bought based on their requirements and expectations.

[saaya]

Very nice writeup. Your post will save users a lot of time when first jumping to this platform. Also makes it easier to choose which processor should be bought based on their requirements and expectations.

thanks
and yes, that was the idea, to make sure people know what to expect.
around 4Ghz should be max with the 920 and good aircooling, which isnt bad at all, and despite everything beeing locked, DDR3 1600 is possible with the 8x memory multiplier and a bclock of 200. going from 1066 to 1600 barely gives any boosts in games or 3d benchmarks actually... its great for synthetic memory benchmarks, but thats about it.

according to this article on bit-tech.net going from 1066 777 to 1600 777 doubled their memory bandwidth in synthetic tests, but this memory overclock plus going from 2.66ghz to 4ghz with a gtx280 gave them a boost of:

4fps in crysis (~10% boost)
6fps in far cry2 (~10% boost)
20fps in hl2 (~10% boost)

so a 50% boost in cpu clocks and a 50% boost in memory clocks results in a 10% performance boost in games... based on that id say:

920:
people who want to try the latest platform
people who want sli on an intel system or might want it in future
occasional gamers
hardcore gamers
workstation users
overclockers on air

940:
workstation users
overclockers on air
overclockers on water
overclockers on xtreme cooling

965:
demanding workstation users
overclockers on xtreme cooling
bandwidth fetishists
3dmark fetishists
people with a huge budget seeking the best of the best

[npk]

saaya any chance on fooling the cpu or mobo trick to be able to go over x20 with an i7 920 all 8 threads loaded with turbo mode?

[saaya]

yes, but only up to 21 with 4 cores and 8 threads, and 22 with 1 core and 2 threads...

[LinusTech]

fantastic thread.

[saaya]

it seems higher memory multipliers and uncore multipliers will be unlocked on retail 920 and 940 chips after all?
i hope this is true, after all thats what intel promised everybody at idf and several other occasions

[saaya]

it seems higher memory multipliers and uncore multipliers will be unlocked on retail 920 and 940 chips after all?
i hope this is true, after all thats what intel promised everybody at idf and several other occasions

[Praz]

it seems higher memory multipliers and uncore multipliers will be unlocked on retail 920 and 940 chips after all?
i hope this is true, after all thats what intel promised everybody at idf and several other occasions

Hopefully this will be prove to be true. Although as you have already wrote it won't make a big difference either way for most users but the option would be nice to have.

[HDCHOPPER]

anything being unlocked def makes anything more wantable to me

it's gonna be a fun the next copula years for shure

[G.Foyle]

it seems higher memory multipliers and uncore multipliers will be unlocked on retail 920 and 940 chips after all?
i hope this is true, after all thats what intel promised everybody at idf and several other occasions

Weird thing, of 5 motherboards I tested only MSI Eclipse allowed all memory dividers with i7-920. I think other boards will have them unlocked with new bios versions.

[LinusTech]

Hey Saaya, you haven't really touched on CPU PLL voltage. Any thoughts?

[LinusTech]

Another question: Is max BClk determined by the CPU or the motherboard?

[SAE]

I think, CPU maxes at about 220MHz and boards determine if you are able to get there.

[saaya]

Weird thing, of 5 motherboards I tested only MSI Eclipse allowed all memory dividers with i7-920. I think other boards will have them unlocked with new bios versions.

with the same cpu?
i checked our 920s and 940s and they have the memory multipliers locked.
basically the 920 and 940 cpus we have are double locked, uncore is locked AND the mem multis are locked.

its possible that you have a chip which doesnt have uncore and mem multis locked, but only the msi bios implemented uncore ratio changes for non 965 parts. and if the uncore doesnt change, then you cant use the higher memory multipliers...

Hey Saaya, you haven't really touched on CPU PLL voltage. Any thoughts?

havent played with it yet...

Another question: Is max BClk determined by the CPU or the motherboard?

both somewhat, but its more a cpu than board thing i think.

I think, CPU maxes at about 220MHz and boards determine if you are able to get there.

yeah, but as far as i know every board can get there... and its not really 220Mhz that you gotta reach, its the 4Ghz QPI speed...