Core i7/X58 Overclocking Thread

[Hornet331]

Right now with a TRUE I'm running my i7 920 w/ HT @ 3.8GHz @ 1.344V, in Prime 95 large FFTs I get ~78C maximum temp. The setup was stable in Blend for ~15 hours. 4GHz is a no go with 1.36 volts though and that hits 80C, a little too much IMO.

I think my i7 920 kind of sucks (I never get good CPUs) but I've got 3.8GHz stable so that is good enough.

I'm wondering what kind of uncore clocks everyone is hitting and at what volts? Right now I've got uncore @ 3047MHz w/ 1.325V and it is stable.

im on 3200 with 1.216 Vcore and 1.35V QPI. A tad lower on qpi and it gets unstable.

[mascaras]

Nice chip u got there Mascaras
Mine needs 1.3v for 200X19 prime stable.

Hi

when i bought my system 1 month ago i also needed 1.28v for 3800Mhz (200x19) with F3 Bios , but with the new F4 Beta bioses i only need 1.20v !!

Though, I might lower it down to 3.6GHz for 24/7 since the system is really too powerful anyway.

thats what im using for 24/7 with Speedstep & C1E



Idle @ 2280Mhz @ 1.04v (Speedstep & C1E)









Load @ 3600Mhz @ 1.12v

Seems that x10 not worked.

x10 Ram works for me (EX58-UD5 + Core i7 920 + 3GB Corsair 1600) !


example:

160 bclk
Uncore x20
Ram x10
QPi x36

So you know how lucky you are, my dimms will not even do cas 8 @ anything up to 1.8v. Nor will they go over 1660mhz stable, past 1680mhz i can't boot.

My previous 2x2gb 1.8v kit of same spec could go to 1800mhz stable

Try another bios , all my friends with Corsair XMS3 1600 9-9-9-24 and EX58-UD5 can run 1600Mhz 8-8-8 or 7-7-7 @ 1.64v ! They also run 1800Mhz @ 9-9-9 (1,64v).

(X58-UD5 with F4K or F4R bios )



a friend mine also bought 3 days ago a core i7 920 , Gigabyte DS4 and Corsair XMS3 1600 and couldnt run 8-8-8 or 7-7-7 with new F4 oficial bios , i said to flash with F4K Beta bios and voiláaa 1600mhz @ 8-8-8 or 7-7-7

So Try another Bios !!


Btw: for what iv seen , maybe the best X58 Mobo/Bioses from Gigabyte is the UD5 (not the extreme)


regards

[Xello]

So Try another Bios !!

That would mean going to a more recent one which i'm unwilling to do, after the problems it has caused other people in the giga thread I'm not too bothered i have more bandwidth than i know what to do with @ 1600mhz and 4ghz uclk.

I'm wondering what kind of uncore clocks everyone is hitting and at what volts? Right now I've got uncore @ 3047MHz w/ 1.325V and it is stable.

Remember uncore clock is coming from Vdimm, your memory voltage, not your VTT. That's for your QPI I hit 4ghz uncore with 1.76v. Fugger reports on another thread hitting 4.8ghz @ 2.2v+, and remarks how stable the memory controller is at that speed

[Chicken Patty]

Seems that x10 not worked.
And what QPI/DRAM voltage is needed for 1600Mhz RAM? 1.35 would be enought?

Don't know which setting that is on my board so here are mine, see if you find it in there. These are my voltages on my board at 4.2 GHz


CPU vcore - 1.35v
CPU VTT - +300
CPU PLL - AUTO
Dimm V - 1.65v
DIMM DQ - +0
QPI PLL - 1.4v
IOH v - 1.4
IOH/ICH I/O - 1.65v
ICH - 1.250

[bmilos]

Don't know which setting that is on my board so here are mine, see if you find it in there. These are my voltages on my board at 4.2 GHz


CPU vcore - 1.35v
CPU VTT - +300
CPU PLL - AUTO
Dimm V - 1.65v
DIMM DQ - +0
QPI PLL - 1.4v
IOH v - 1.4
IOH/ICH I/O - 1.65v
ICH - 1.250

Apparently, on your board its called QPI PLL. I would have assumed it to be QPI VTT, but +300 isn't a voltage.

Is the +300 mV?

[rge]

mascaras, can you list the subtimings and channel A timings for bios you are using for UD5. I cant run my ram at 1800 either, 1770 max so far. pic shows timings on mine I am interested in, I am using F4m bios but with F4j memory timings manually entered (F4j mem more stable than f4m), but want to try some other timings. (prefer other things in f4m)
Just interested in 1800+ in terms of benching.

[Chicken Patty]

Apparently, on your board its called QPI PLL. I would have assumed it to be QPI VTT, but +300 isn't a voltage.

Is the +300 mV?

yeah sorry I forgot to put mV. and thanks for clearing this up for me too!

[bmilos]

yeah sorry I forgot to put mV. and thanks for clearing this up for me too!

No worries. Glad to be of assistance. Is there an auto setting for that or do you find +300 mV helps with OC'ing?

There is a setting on my board for the CPU amp differential. Obviously they are for different purposes, but I have seen some using it.

Anyone know what it does on my board?

[Chicken Patty]

No worries. Glad to be of assistance. Is there an auto setting for that or do you find +300 mV helps with OC'ing?

There is a setting on my board for the CPU amp differential. Obviously they are for different purposes, but I have seen some using it.

Anyone know what it does on my board?

that I know off there is no auto setting, you can just leave it on +0. I had it set to what you saw, but those settings were taken of the guide over at the EVGA forums and just kinda tweaked a bit for my rig, but really dont know if it helps or not with o/c'ing. Right now i put the rig since yesterday at default settings and i'm working on an overclock of my own. Now that I am much more familiar with certain terms and have learned much more about this x58 architecture i will overclock from scratch. So i'll make sure I post some results when I have them.

[Xello]

Man, i can't even go cas 8 on ddr3-1500 without rounding errors in prime in under 5 seconds. I've never seen this kind of underperformance

[Chicken Patty]

Man, i can't even go cas 8 on ddr3-1500 without rounding errors in prime in under 5 seconds. I've never seen this kind of underperformance

I was able to run my RAM same as yours but mine is the 1333 one. 8-8-8-19-24. what voltage your feeding your RAM? Also i think if the QPi/Dram voltage is on auto, it'll automaticaly adjust the dram voltage to keep it within the guidelines. Not sure exactly how that works, but I read that somewhere in this thread. Maybe once it adjusts your ram is not getting enough juice. My EVGA board has a in windows overclocking/monitoring utility and you can see it drop from 1.65v to 1.4v. But for some reason, when I set it from the BIOS it does not do it

[rge]

Man, i can't even go cas 8 on ddr3-1500 without rounding errors in prime in under 5 seconds. I've never seen this kind of underperformance

yeah that is pretty bad, does it pass memtest at stock?

Using same bios f4j, my corsair dom. are prime stable at 8,8,8,24 with 1.64v up to 1680 or so...may just be higher binned. Though mine will not boot at 1800 even trying 1.78v and 10,10,10,30 but havent tried loosening subtimings yet.

Edit: well not sure if loosening up subtimings (just standard instead turbo,nothing manual yet, or trying uncore 21 instead 20 or using F4m bios with f4j manual channel timings, or fact that i forgot change main timings to 9,9,9 but booted up fine 1800 8,8,8 with 1.68v dram had tried for hours before and no luck

[FragMagnet]

It's possible but i doubt any aircooler can handle the heat.
3.6-3.8 Ghz is possible with aircooling and voltages between 1.25-1.3V, everthing above 1.3V will be hard for aircooling 24/7 and @ 1,45V+ it even gets hard for a decent WC setup.

Are you sure about your contact between the cpu/hs ? I am using 1.45v (bios) 1.408v-1.392v under load, no HT, and the highest I've seen is 76c on one core, the rest are around 70c. This is with HT disabled. I only use this to burn DVD's and game occasionaly, so those temps are from prime95 x4 (stable for 2hrs +) in a room temp of 25-26c, case on (Coolermaster Centurion 590) Either HT adds that much heat, or it's the humidity in your area, or the contact of the HS ? It would be interesting to put a DMM on each of our mobos to see if we are getting the actual voltage reported ! Not sure what my max o-clock is with HT on, but I may try later tonight. I also want to throw in another HD and try Vista x64, so not sure if I'll have time.

[bmilos]

My 1600 sticks are running at 1648 with 9-9-9-24. I can't tighten them up. When I do, no boot. Im thinking about switching, and not for more bandwidth (although it helps) rather because I think I will get a higher OC with better sticks. I really think its my mem that's holding me back from 4.3-4.4 stable.

[Chicken Patty]

My 1600 sticks are running at 1648 with 9-9-9-24. I can't tighten them up. When I do, no boot. Im thinking about switching, and not for more bandwidth (although it helps) rather because I think I will get a higher OC with better sticks. I really think its my mem that's holding me back from 4.3-4.4 stable.

i havent really done my research on RAM for the i7, but whats some good tri channel RAM to recommend to someone?

[eva2000]

If you don't have tri channel ram yet, dual channel ain't bad

Corsair DDR3-2133C9DF dual channel @DDR3-2200Mhz 1.965v
I'm surprised how easy it was to achieve a new personal best dual channel DDR3 max frequency of DDR3-2200Mhz at just 1.965v bios set vdimm

Seems with 16x memory multiplier, both Memset 4.0 Beta2 and CPU Tweaker tool can't report the right memory clock frequency. Had no problems with 14x memory multiplier.

Vcore = 1.05v
DRAM Voltage = 1.965v
CPU VTT = 1.48v + 0.075v









System specs

• Intel Core i7 920 3836A756
• Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme + LGA1366 Bolt Thru kit
• DFI LP UT X58-T3EH8 R.A51
• 128MB Gainward FX5200 PCI and HIS HD4870x2 stock hsf
• 2x1GB Corsair TW3X2G2133C9DF Dominator 9-9-9-24 at 2.0v rated (Samsung ICs)
• 750GB Samsung HD753LJ
• Pioneer DVD-RW
• 1KW Corsair HX1000 psu
• WinXP Pro SP3 nLite fully updated

[bmilos]

i havent really done my research on RAM for the i7, but whats some good tri channel RAM to recommend to someone?

A lot of people are going with the G-Skill Pi set. Good stock timings at a good price. Also, Dominators and Patriot Vipers are getting a lot of play.

At this point, I'd go with the Pi kit for savings sake, but I am really in an internal battle with my frivolous side regarding these http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...ight=dominator

I have a strange feeling these are going to be fantastic (and expensive) for OC'ing... The numbers posted alone

[msgclb]

i havent really done my research on RAM for the i7, but whats some good tri channel RAM to recommend to someone?

If you don't have tri channel ram yet, dual channel ain't bad

Corsair DDR3-2133C9DF dual channel @DDR3-2200Mhz 1.965v
I'm surprised how easy it was to achieve a new personal best dual channel DDR3 max frequency of DDR3-2200Mhz at just 1.965v bios set vdimm


System specs

• Intel Core i7 920 3836A756
• Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme + LGA1366 Bolt Thru kit
• DFI LP UT X58-T3EH8 R.A51
  ...
• 2x1GB Corsair TW3X2G2133C9DF Dominator 9-9-9-24 at 2.0v rated (Samsung ICs)
  ...
• WinXP Pro SP3 nLite fully updated

You can have the same fun with a pair of those Dual Channel Corsair sticks for $169.00!

Newegg - CORSAIR DOMINATOR 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17066) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

If you're running Vista you might not be happy with only 2GB. To bad they don't have these available in a triple channel and at the same cost.

[Chicken Patty]

A lot of people are going with the G-Skill Pi set. Good stock timings at a good price. Also, Dominators and Patriot Vipers are getting a lot of play.

At this point, I'd go with the Pi kit for savings sake, but I am really in an internal battle with my frivolous side regarding these http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...ight=dominator

I have a strange feeling these are going to be fantastic (and expensive) for OC'ing... The numbers posted alone

THanks bro, im gonna go check out those PI Blacks and see what the deal with those is...

You can have the same fun with a pair of those Dual Channel Corsair sticks for $169.00!

Newegg - CORSAIR DOMINATOR 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17066) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

If you're running Vista you might not be happy with only 2GB. To bad they don't have these available in a triple channel and at the same cost.

Tell me about it I run crysis and I use up 89 % of my RAM lol. Thats why im shooting to at least for now getting another 1gig stick, these sticks arent bad at all I like em.

[SteveRo]

Hornet331 - I am prime stable on air at 4.3 HT off and at 4.1 with HT on - see below and links in my signature -

[msgclb]

If you don't have tri channel ram yet, dual channel ain't bad

Corsair DDR3-2133C9DF dual channel @DDR3-2200Mhz 1.965v
I'm surprised how easy it was to achieve a new personal best dual channel DDR3 max frequency of DDR3-2200Mhz at just 1.965v bios set vdimm


Vcore = 1.05v
DRAM Voltage = 1.965v
CPU VTT = 1.48v + 0.075v

How are you determining what max values you can use for vdimm and vtt?

The information on eva2000's i4memory site below answered my question.

Initial notes, findings and tips

[dejanh]

Man, i can't even go cas 8 on ddr3-1500 without rounding errors in prime in under 5 seconds. I've never seen this kind of underperformance

What's up with your guys' DRAM? I am running the exact quantity of that exact DRAM on R2E at 1603MHz in BIOS with 7-8-7-20-1T timings completly stable with only 1.30000V QPI/DRAM (VTT) and 1.57731V DRAM.

Until a few days ago I was running a stable OC with 23x180MHz with 10x DRAM multiplier (1803MHz BIOS) with 8-8-8-24-2T timings at 1.35000V QPI/DRAM (VTT) and 1.67006V DRAM (1.65V measured). This was completly stable and I am sure I could have tightened the timings and voltages a bit too, I just never tried it...

[mremulator]

What's up with your guys' DRAM? I am running the exact quantity of that exact DRAM on R2E at 1603MHz in BIOS with 7-8-7-20-1T timings completly stable with only 1.30000V QPI/DRAM (VTT) and 1.57731V DRAM.

Until a few days ago I was running a stable OC with 23x180MHz with 10x DRAM multiplier (1803MHz BIOS) with 8-8-8-24-2T timings at 1.35000V QPI/DRAM (VTT) and 1.67006V DRAM (1.65V measured). This was completly stable and I am sure I could have tightened the timings and voltages a bit too, I just never tried it...

Hi dejanh,

I have been following this thread and it has helped me understand how i7 works... thanks. Anyway, I wanted to run something past you.

Firstly, I have the same board and RAM as you, but My i7 920 seems to hit a brick wall @ 3.8GHz (19X200 multi). It will prime (small FFTs) 24/7 with only 1.3v Vcore, 1.89542v PLL, 1.3v QPI/DRAM, 3600 QPI, 3200 Uncore and HT on. However, anything above that causes my PC to BSOD when running prime. I have tried up to 1.52v Vcore and various other settings. Closest I can get is 4.0GHz, 1.45v Vcore & HT off.

I have a decent water cooling setup by the way, temps don't go above 65c @ 3.8GHz 1.3v, 75c @ 4.0GHz 1.45v. NB/SB are quite warm @ 55c though (stock cooling only).



Also my PC won't even post if I change my RAM timings below 8,8,8,24,1T @ 1600MHz (1.65v). 1800MHz the same even @ CAS9 & 1.7v?

Did not think 4.0 GHz with HT enabled would be so challenging, perhaps I just have a poor chip?

[Hornet331]

Are you sure about your contact between the cpu/hs ? I am using 1.45v (bios) 1.408v-1.392v under load, no HT, and the highest I've seen is 76c on one core, the rest are around 70c. This is with HT disabled. I only use this to burn DVD's and game occasionaly, so those temps are from prime95 x4 (stable for 2hrs +) in a room temp of 25-26c, case on (Coolermaster Centurion 590) Either HT adds that much heat, or it's the humidity in your area, or the contact of the HS ? It would be interesting to put a DMM on each of our mobos to see if we are getting the actual voltage reported ! Not sure what my max o-clock is with HT on, but I may try later tonight. I also want to throw in another HD and try Vista x64, so not sure if I'll have time.

try enabling HT and see where your temps go. HT adds ~10-15°C, plus you need to increase Vcore to get the same clock stable.

Hornet331 - I am prime stable on air at 4.3 HT off and at 4.1 with HT on - see below and links in my signature -

I haven't said its not possible, but look at your temps, all above 90°C in summer you will run 100% into the point where the cpu beginns to throttle.

Plus your on a 965 which is binned better.

[Xello]

What's up with your guys' DRAM? I am running the exact quantity of that exact DRAM on R2E at 1603MHz in BIOS with 7-8-7-20-1T timings completly stable with only 1.30000V QPI/DRAM (VTT) and 1.57731V DRAM.

Until a few days ago I was running a stable OC with 23x180MHz with 10x DRAM multiplier (1803MHz BIOS) with 8-8-8-24-2T timings at 1.35000V QPI/DRAM (VTT) and 1.67006V DRAM (1.65V measured). This was completly stable and I am sure I could have tightened the timings and voltages a bit too, I just never tried it...

yeah that is pretty bad, does it pass memtest at stock?

Using same bios f4j, my corsair dom. are prime stable at 8,8,8,24 with 1.64v up to 1680 or so...may just be higher binned. Though mine will not boot at 1800 even trying 1.78v and 10,10,10,30 but havent tried loosening subtimings yet.

Edit: well not sure if loosening up subtimings (just standard instead turbo,nothing manual yet, or trying uncore 21 instead 20 or using F4m bios with f4j manual channel timings, or fact that i forgot change main timings to 9,9,9 but booted up fine 1800 8,8,8 with 1.68v dram had tried for hours before and no luck

I was able to run my RAM same as yours but mine is the 1333 one. 8-8-8-19-24. what voltage your feeding your RAM? Also i think if the QPi/Dram voltage is on auto, it'll automaticaly adjust the dram voltage to keep it within the guidelines. Not sure exactly how that works, but I read that somewhere in this thread. Maybe once it adjusts your ram is not getting enough juice. My EVGA board has a in windows overclocking/monitoring utility and you can see it drop from 1.65v to 1.4v. But for some reason, when I set it from the BIOS it does not do it

Ok, screw this, new bios it is!

Going to risk it with F5a.