Overclocking an i7.

[Duke{CLR}]

This ain't your grandpas C2D. Overclocking this bad boy is a bit different and there is a learning curve. I was wondering if anyone around hear has had any experience with it. This morning I went as far as I could before messing around with the voltages and I got to 3.2 so I will read up a bit more on it before I move on.

I discovered that the CPU cooler I bought stinks for OCing so if I may want to get a new one if I want to get serious about getting to 4.0.

Here are a few links that I have found useful please feel free to add any.


Ultimate Core i7 Overclocking Guide -- We Push Nehalem to its Limits - Page 1 | Maximum PC

Intel Core i7 Overclocking - A HotHardware How-To - HotHardware

How to Overclock the I7 (Ported)

Memory Frequency Guide

[Apache Warrior]

Get the Corsair H50. It is a self contained watter cooler for the CPU. Mine runs great.
Apache

[Ghost_Rain]

If you want to OC to 4Ghz Get the Corsair H50 and some MX3 T.C I own the the H50 just the Best Cpu cooler out there.

[Zantheus]

I have overclocked my i7 920 to 3.8 on aftermarket air cooling. Temps are low like hell so I could prob go 4.0-4.2 but 3.8 is good enough

If u have any questions or want me to send u good setup for ur BIOS just let me know

[Duke{CLR}]

I have overclocked my i7 920 to 3.8 on aftermarket air cooling. Temps are low like hell so I could prob go 4.0-4.2 but 3.8 is good enough

If u have any questions or want me to send u good setup for ur BIOS just let me know

I would like to know what your temps are. I had core temps in the low 40s at idle and they were in the low to mid 70s with prime running. I removed the CPU cooler and I noticed that the thermal paste did not spread out like it should have. I had followed the direction for AS5 and it didn't work. When I re applied it I spread it out with a razor over the whole cpu. The temps went to the mid 30s at idle and 65 with Prime running but I think they could be better.

What CPU are you running?

[Zantheus]

the i7 920...The first thing you want to do is disable Intel HTT in your BIOS if u are changing any settings...This will have your chip run 4 REAL cores instead of 4 cores with 8 threads, which will save on power needed to the CPU and cut ur temps by 40% at least

Ill run a benchmark and get some screenies to you

[Zantheus]

here are my temps under %100 load using Intelburn, which is the best stress testing software u can test an i7 with


By zantheus

[Duke{CLR}]

the i7 920...The first thing you want to do is disable Intel HTT in your BIOS if u are changing any settings...This will have your chip run 4 REAL cores instead of 4 cores with 8 threads, which will save on power needed to the CPU and cut ur temps by 40% at least

Ill run a benchmark and get some screenies to you

I will turn htt off and bump it tp 160 x 20 and see what happens.

[Duke{CLR}]

Well I just bumped it to 3.2 with the turbo on and HTT off and the temps are better. Now what will turning HTT off do to benchmarks and things like that?

[Zantheus]

It won't affect it. I suggest you download Intelburn and run a mnimum of 5 tests. It will stress it to the max and will detect any errors. Also what ram frequency do u have?? You might have to manually set it in your bios like I had to

[Duke{CLR}]

It won't affect it. I suggest you download Intelburn and run a mnimum of 5 tests. It will stress it to the max and will detect any errors. Also what ram frequency do u have?? You might have to manually set it in your bios like I had to

Well I have it set to 2:10 so with the 160 in there it is at 1600 I think I will try to set it with a 2:9 which would give me 1620 at 180. I do believe that my ram will go higher as I approach 4.0. I did have to manually set the voltage to get anything above 140. I also need to tighten up the timings a bit as i'm at 9,9,9,24.

I would like to get to 4.0 for bragging rights then pull back to 3.6 for operations.

[Zantheus]

U will need to adjust more then the vcore to be safe. When I get home, I'll post some settings you should use

[Zantheus]

Here are some settings that I suggest...Again they are just suggestions from me that make things a little safer for your system and easier to OC but its ur rig so apply them if u like or not



Ai Overclock Tuner => Manual
Intel Speed Step Tech => Disabled (this just makes the CPU clock frequency change depending on load and I want a steady CPU clock)
Intel Turbo Tech => Disabled (this just makes the CPU clock frequency change depending on load and I want a steady CPU clock)
PCIE Freq => 100
UCLK Freq => Auto
QPI Link Data Rate => Auto

Voltages
-----------
CPU Voltage => 1.35
CPU PLL Voltage => 1.88
QPI/DRAM Core Voltage => 1.35
DRAM Bus Voltage => 1.64
CPU Differential Amplitude => 800mV
... all other voltages to Auto

[Duke{CLR}]

Thanks for all that I will be reading up on this stuff during my trip that starts tomorrow.