Core i7/X58 Overclocking Thread

[msgclb]

... could you send a cpu-z register dump please.

Done.

[dejanh]

Then how far can you push it on a decent air cooler? Something like a Thermalright or Nactua....

This is what I'd like to know too...right now with Rampage II Extreme (0602 BIOS) and a Core i7 940, stock Intel cooler I cannot get over 3.4-3.5GHz to be Prime95 stable on 4 cores/8 threads. Still waiting on my TRUE, but if I cannot get 4GHz with it then I will likely want to go water instead...

What's the maximum reasonable speed expectation for something like TRUE or Noctua?

I'm starting to get the feeling 4GHz is not going to happen on air...not unless TRUE shaves off 20C when compared to stock cooler....

Also, what is a good water setup for this rig? Which rad/pump/block(s)? I have an Antec 900 btw...never done water b4.

[rge]

sub9 spi, on water with ambients 26C. Best mine will do with 1.55 vcore bios.

[dinos22]

As far as I know everything is correct on the main form. Should the spd button work?

SPD button works for me so it could be setup specific

i'm on Gigabyte X58-UD5 with i920 and corsair 1866MHz CAS8

[giorgos th.]

spd fine here....

[T_Flight]

This is what I'd like to know too...right now with Rampage II Extreme (0602 BIOS) and a Core i7 940, stock Intel cooler I cannot get over 3.4-3.5GHz to be Prime95 stable on 4 cores/8 threads. Still waiting on my TRUE, but if I cannot get 4GHz with it then I will likely want to go water instead...

What's the maximum reasonable speed expectation for something like TRUE or Noctua?

I'm starting to get the feeling 4GHz is not going to happen on air...not unless TRUE shaves off 20C when compared to stock cooler....

Also, what is a good water setup for this rig? Which rad/pump/block(s)? I have an Antec 900 btw...never done water b4.

I found that my stock cooler was not flat. It was a PITA to lap too. I had to take a special machined block I have that was just the right size and "reverse lap it by hand. If you do this make sure that what you use to sand with is very true...it pretty much has to be machined, and the paper must be affixed to it completely flat with some spray adhesive ina very thinn coat to avoid 'waves". I took the block and pressed it onto the opaper on a glass top on my workbench I have, but any piece of thick glass would work to make sure it was totally tru and flat.

Care must be taken to avoid any uneven pressure. It's a laborious process.

It also could be that the IHS is not flat, but that gets into seriously voiding your warranty. If that's not a concern lapping may help. Some have reported bad Thermal Interfaces.

Saying that I am definitle going water whether I have a cool running CPU on air or not. I'm one of the "cooler is better" crowd, and even if it would do 4GHz on stock air, I know that it might do 4.5 on water. I'm not expecting that much, but if I were to get it that would be great. I already have some of the parts here for water, but will testing first with air. After studying water cooling I sriously belive it's a more efficient way of cooling. It just takes a bit more care.

[systemviper]

SPD button works for me so it could be setup specific

i'm on Gigabyte X58-UD5 with i920 and corsair 1866MHz CAS8

How do you like that combo, i have everything
comming this week but the RAm and i am trying to figure out what to get.
Any suggestions/

thanks..

[dejanh]

I found that my stock cooler was not flat. It was a PITA to lap too. I had to take a special machined block I have that was just the right size and "reverse lap it by hand. If you do this make sure that what you use to sand with is very true...it pretty much has to be machined, and the paper must be affixed to it completely flat with some spray adhesive ina very thinn coat to avoid 'waves". I took the block and pressed it onto the opaper on a glass top on my workbench I have, but any piece of thick glass would work to make sure it was totally tru and flat.

Care must be taken to avoid any uneven pressure. It's a laborious process.

It also could be that the IHS is not flat, but that gets into seriously voiding your warranty. If that's not a concern lapping may help. Some have reported bad Thermal Interfaces.

Saying that I am definitle going water whether I have a cool running CPU on air or not. I'm one of the "cooler is better" crowd, and even if it would do 4GHz on stock air, I know that it might do 4.5 on water. I'm not expecting that much, but if I were to get it that would be great. I already have some of the parts here for water, but will testing first with air. After studying water cooling I sriously belive it's a more efficient way of cooling. It just takes a bit more care.

Man, I am hoping that it is not the IHS. With AMD I had no problem because I'd just pry off the IHS and cool the CPU directly, but with a $700 CAD CPU I am not about to even attempt this...makes a huge temp difference though, at least on AMD's parts. In terms of the stock cooler, meh, I do not want to bother lapping it. That one's gonna go anyway. I hate crappy push-pin heatsinks. The one that comes with the Core i7 920 and 940 is even lousier than the one shipping with the Core i7 965.

In terms of water, I want to go water, but I am not sure Antec 900 will accomodate it nicely. Maybe I will try the TRUE first, and then see from there. I can always sell it if I want to do water. If I can get a 4GHz 4 core/8 thread stable OC I will be more than happy. I do agree though that water cooling is the way to go. It's just a bit $$$ for good parts.

By the way, you can tighten those timings on the Dominator sticks. I have the same ones, but my timings are 7-7-7-16 at 1603MHz, 1.65V

[Hot'n'Chilly]

This is what I'd like to know too...right now with Rampage II Extreme (0602 BIOS) and a Core i7 940, stock Intel cooler I cannot get over 3.4-3.5GHz to be Prime95 stable on 4 cores/8 threads. Still waiting on my TRUE, but if I cannot get 4GHz with it then I will likely want to go water instead...

What's the maximum reasonable speed expectation for something like TRUE or Noctua?

I'm starting to get the feeling 4GHz is not going to happen on air...not unless TRUE shaves off 20C when compared to stock cooler....

Also, what is a good water setup for this rig? Which rad/pump/block(s)? I have an Antec 900 btw...never done water b4.

Check out my thread on 920/P6T OCing... StrangerS got his rig to 4.2ghz on air and posted all the details up there. So we all now know it is possible.

[FELIX]

Done.

...fixed in this version: CPU-Tweaker-beta2.zip

[blossa]

Started to test Gigabyte EX58-Extreme. What confuses me is the CAS and dividers. With 7-7-7-20 I get 6-7-7-20 with 133MHz BCLK, with 222MHz BCLK I get 8-7-7-22.

Also, if I am raising the divider I cannot boot, not even with CAS9 or anything and low BCLK. Have any of you experienced any simulair?

Screenie with stock cooler:

[Viss]

cpuz doesnt read cas ok all the time, should be fixed soon.

[blossa]

Ok, so it is not directly related to just Gigabyte-motherboard then I guess... Strange though that same CAS-setting changes within cpu-z depending on BCLK.

Thanks for your reply.

[msgclb]

...fixed in this version: CPU-Tweaker-beta2.zip

The spd button now works for me. The CPU-Z Timing Table doesn't match with yours but is either wrong?

[beast200]

Hi

ihave my i7 920 @20 x 190 3800
on a gigabyte UD5
water cooling on cpu Fuzion v1 with temp bracket

the northbride seems to get quite warm
T balancer reports 55 c from termal probe

works fine but can not get in boot @ 20 x 200
lower the cpu x & ram x
volts
1.325 cpu
ram 1.65
vtt/qpi 1.28

also is better to disable the specail cpu features
such as hyper trending etc

cheers

[X.T.R.E.M.E_ICE]

Hi

ihave my i7 920 @20 x 190 3800
on a gigabyte UD5
water cooling on cpu Fuzion v1 with temp bracket

the northbride seems to get quite warm
T balancer reports 55 c from termal probe

works fine but can not get in boot @ 20 x 200
lower the cpu x & ram x
volts
1.325 cpu
ram 1.65
vtt/qpi 1.28

also is better to disable the specail cpu features
such as hyper trending etc

cheers

Try uncore 16x. that might help your boot problem..

[rge]

like xtreme ice says, put uncore to 16x (uncore has to be at least 2x mem divider however), and you may also have to raise qpi/vtt to 1.32 or so which feeds uncore. Also assuming you put qpi to 36x, lowest setting.

btw....does anyone know if qpi pll helps to stabilize qpi, if overclocking qpi (from necessity at higher base clock b/c not enough qpi dividers)?

And anyone know why not more lower qpi dividers, need to have 30x and maybe 26,24x?...not to mention mem divider I need is 9:2.

[beast200]

Hi

yes had uncore @ 2x mem divder & qpi @36
will try higher qpi voltage
will not start pushing it until get 1366 bracket for fuzion 1 or may be new water block

cheers

[giorgos th.]

some quick tests at 1.4Vcore load on SS...
1.275 Vqpi,1.8Vmem...

[flopper]

for some reason cpu-z shows only 4 threads not 8.
I checked bios, hyperthreading activated.
using a gigabyte ud5 board and a i920.

[T_Flight]

Did you setup the new system with a clean OS and set ACPI Multiprocessor PC?

[flopper]

Did you setup the new system with a clean OS and set ACPI Multiprocessor PC?

clean os.
however, use a Vlited version and the acpi I dont know about.
I do notice and see 8 cores in device manager tho.

[roller11]

for some reason cpu-z shows only 4 threads not 8.
I checked bios, hyperthreading activated.
using a gigabyte ud5 board and a i920.

Flopper,

Could you go into BIOS and set your smart fan to 'enable' and tell me what's available? I want to know if I can set my temp and/or fan speed values.
If I can't, the giga ud5 is out of the running for me.

Thanks!

[T_Flight]

clean os.
however, use a Vlited version and the acpi I dont know about.
I do notice and see 8 cores in device manager tho.

OK, you're good then. In nLite you can set that ACPI stuff in the "pre-setup" or whatever they call it. If you see 8 in the Device manager the OS is working correctly. Just was checking to be sure the OS was configured right. It is. It has to be right or it wouldn't show all 8 in the device manager.

[flopper]

Flopper,

Could you go into BIOS and set your smart fan to 'enable' and tell me what's available? I want to know if I can set my temp and/or fan speed values.
If I can't, the giga ud5 is out of the running for me.

Thanks!

sure, enabled u can set 3 settings,
auto
pwm
voltage.
same with F3 bios as the F4e bios.

OK, you're good then. In nLite you can set that ACPI stuff in the "pre-setup" or whatever they call it. If you see 8 in the Device manager the OS is working correctly. Just was checking to be sure the OS was configured right. It is. It has to be right or it wouldn't show all 8 in the device manager.

ok.
Thx.