Overclocking my i7 920?

[CarneyUK]

Hi Peeps,

 

Have been playing Black Shark for a few months now and loving it. Have got the graphics on max with civ traffic off and shadows on minimum. Am getting 30fps with no stutters and it runs smooth. For me 30fps is fine as it looks smooth (not sure if it is set to max at 30fps?).

 

I am looking forward to getting A-10C when it is released and am hoping I get the same smooth 30fps while running it with graphics setting high. If I do I will be a very happy dude.

 

My question is, if I did want to overclock my processor/graphics card how easy is it? I have very limited/no knowledge of how to overclock etc etc so would like to know if there is software out there that will do it for me without me burning my house down!! :doh:

 

I want to avoid buying more PC components if possible (doesn't help whilst saving for a Warthog HOTAS)

 

Any help ideas would be much appreciated.

[MTFDarkEagle]

First of all: get a decent cpu cooler, if you even consider overclocking, its necessary. Regarding overclocking: the best thing I could recommend you is to google a overclocking tutorial. I o/c-ed my amd, by looking up said tutorial. I think it will be slightly different, because I have a black edition processor which unlocks the multiplier. I'm not aware if your cpu has such posibilities. What I started doing is increase the FSB at very low steps, untill you get a unstable windows. If you are at your max, you can increase your multiplier (if its unlocked). Same procedure: make sure it's stable (no BSOD's, no jams etc). Next, o/c ur ram memory, but I have no idea how that works :P sorry. I have cheap ram, so didn't even try.

 

Hope this helps: for more clarification: look up a o/c tutorial.

[CarneyUK]

Thanks for the info. Have been looking at O'clocking guides and to be honest it fried my brain let alone the CPU :huh: At the moment I have standard cooling with a standard setup. Will keep looking into the online stuff and see what I can figure out. I was hoping there was software that could do it for you but doesn't look like it.

 

Will do plenty of reading up before I start playing too much (and get the cooler!!)....will also see how A-10C runs when I get it then decide wether it's worth the risk. Have noticed a few guides have said that they melt a few CPU's whilst trying to get higher numbers.

[MTFDarkEagle]

You can easily get a moderate overclock without stability problems. I noticed you have an asus motherboard: maybe asus has some kind of overclocking tool. I know they do, because I have an asus motherboard (am2+), and I used it as well for overclocking. Later, I found out what the program had done in the bios, and I did some more tweaking myself to make it even faster. But such a standard program most likely ups the FSB (Front Side Bus)(dont ask me what it is :P ).

 

Have a look on the asus website, they have a program called AI Suite, that can do overclocking for you (though it's a moderate o/c). Have a look at it :)

[MadDogMcQ]

I've got an Asus P6T and an i7 920 overclocked to 4Ghz with NO issues whatsoever. It's extremely simple, but you need to install a decent cooling system as DarkEagle suggested.

 

I bought a Corsair H50 water-cooler which was a total doddle to install. It works very well for me (and I know that FopeyDucker has the same setup). Don't bother to play with the settings in your bios UNTIL you've installed the cooler. Then get back to me and I'll let you know which settings to change.

 

 

Tom

Edited November 9, 2010 by MadDogMcQ

[MTFDarkEagle]

Holly molly 4 ghz! That's a nice overclock mate!

 

I'm currently held back at 0.5ghz overclock given to the fact I have value ram :P (no money, saving for a 1366 upgrade kit (mb, cpu (i7 950), ram), spent it all on a tm wh :) )

[Aliboy]

I have a similar i7920+gtx260 setup but I use my computer with a room temp at 26C-33C should I even think about overclocking (Air)...more importantly does failed overclock = fried processor = No RMA..I stay in India and I have RMAed Corsair DDR3 RAM and a GTX-260 already.. they were really helpful no questions no bill new stuff was sent to my doorstep in 5 days but I'm thinking the RMA guys at Intel will be much more suspicious with failed processors.

[MadDogMcQ]

Yes, it's a fact that a successful overclock depends heavily on the quality of surrounding components. The P6T Deluxe V2 is a quality mobo and I was fortunate enough to put some good memory from Corsair.

 

Having said that, I went through hell and three lots of memory before getting all 6Gb of that 1600Mhz ram to work together. I had started off with some "G-Skill" memory but the mobo just couldn't see it all, so I switched to Corsair and all was well with the world!

 

 

By the way, Carney, I originally bought a CoolerMaster V8 and although it looked amazing, it was a pig to install and nowhere near as effective as the H50.

[MadDogMcQ]

...I use my computer with a room temp at 26C-33C...

 

Wow! Ambient air temperature is a real consideration I reckon! My own room temperature is about 20C, so how you manage to sit there at 33, I don't know LOL.

 

If I was about to OC in high ambient temperatures, I'd probably be looking to install a more "high end" watercooling system, just to be on the safe side.

 

I also use Prime95 to test the CPU temps. It has a "Torture Test" which pretty much pushes the CPU to its absolute limits (much more so than any sim), so if you can stop things from going beyond the 80's in that test, eveyrthing else should be fine.

 

 

Bear in mind too, that if you push things too far, the PC will likely just refuse to boot, so it's just a case of going back into the bios and stepping it down a little to find a setting that works with YOUR cpu and ram.

 

Everything you do is at your own risk!! :bomb:

 

(And don't report any bugs to ED while overclocked)

[bumfire]

Those 920's OC easy, just bump up the bclk.

 

I have a 930 with a h70 cooler, thing is hella easy to oc, I have mine sittign at 3.6 with the temps at 34oc idle and when all cores are maxed out at 100%, the highest the main core gets is 62oC and the rest are all below that.

 

i7's are monster OC'ers, but if you can, avoid the 950 if you ever think about upgrading, as they dont OC as good as the 20s and 30s, and alot of them are hitting a barrier at 3.6/3.8 and cant go any further unless crazy voltage is applied which means wrecking the shit outta your cpu and possibly mobo and ram.

Edited November 9, 2010 by bumfire

[MadDogMcQ]

That's a sensible OC Bumfire! I must admit that although I have no issues at 4Ghz, it might make sense to drop it slightly because in practise, the difference in performance "in-game" is negligible.

Edited November 9, 2010 by MadDogMcQ

[bumfire]

Rgr, mine can do 4ghz no probs also but I havent got the balls to run it at that 24/7 like you :)

 

I just take it upto what I think is a decent performance gain whilst trying to limit the damage that is inevitably done to the cpu/mobo/ram in the process, but the i7 range are just too good that one MUST OC them :)

 

BTW, I looked at the link in your sig regarding your pc, tidy I must say ;)

 

EDIT:

 

TBH, if you have it running at 4g 24/7, I woudlnt hold out much hope for your memory controller living past sept of next year, but, cpu's are so cheap you will probably have upgraded by them, so its prob a moot point.

[Aliboy]

Its been 2 years now I have never opened the CPU fan I just clean it from the outside..when I first got it was saying 44C Idle at 26C Roomtemp today its 32C Roomtemp&raining.:noexpression:

 

 

[EtherealN]

Have noticed a few guides have said that they melt a few CPU's whilst trying to get higher numbers.

 

Frying CPUs is definitely a possibility when overclocking, but you should not worry too much about that. This mainly happens during record attempts - basically people (reviewers or competitive overclockers, since there is a very lively competition scene in this area) fiddle a lot to try getting that last extra bit. A 920 I would expect to go to 4GHz with no issues at all as long as the cooler is good, and that will give you all you really would need. If you have a really good mobo and power supply (they become increasingly important the further you go) you might even be able to get your 920 as high as 4.3GHz, but after 4GHz the return on parts investment starts being prohibitive.

 

Holly molly 4 ghz! That's a nice overclock mate!

 

4GHz is easy with any current generation intel processor, actually. I've seen i3's do 4.5GHz on air, i5's at 4.4 and i7's at 4.2-4.3.

 

...and the highest number I've seen for i7's was ~6.7GHz, but that was at an ASUS ROG event using manually applied liquid nitrogen for cooling. :P

 

more importantly does failed overclock = fried processor = No RMA..

 

Both yes and no.

 

Frying your processor through overclock will not let you RMA your processor, this is true. But as long as you take it slow it is actually really hard to fry your processor. If you take it in small steps you will be "stopped" at a bluescreen or failed POST, not a fried processor, which lets you just step back and resume at a lower setting. What I do is I overclock at very small increments (50 to 100 MHz steps) and I keep doing this until the system fails to POST or starts giving me BSODs, and I then step back TWO steps. So if 4.1GHz worked, but 4.15GHz did not, I'll revert to 4.05GHz and then do a "burn test" which is basically that I'll use an application like Prime95/Orthos to stress the components maximally for at least several hours while monitoring temperature to make sure everything is stable, and then I'll stay there.

 

The thing with burned processors is that in some cases there are islands of stability - for example the i3's can sometimes fail at clock X with any voltage, but upping both clock and voltage at the same time might let you continue farther. (I've seen some sporadic i3 overclocks that went past 4.5GHz through this, but there it depends a lot on the specific physical processor, no way to predict that a nominally identical processor would be able to do the same.)

 

That method is only recommended for competition usage though, since that's an area where frying your processor or even motherboard might become an issue.

 

Generally speaking I'd say: do not be afraid to overclock. It is relatively easy to do and as long as you aren't trying to compete with other people but stay focused on what your own machine can do, you won't fry anything. But since it does void warranties you definitely should take your time with it - read some guides and set aside at least a full day in your weekend to explore what your machine can do, and then take it slow with small steps.

[Steel Jaw]

As folks have said, ensure you have excellent CPU and case cooling b4 o/c. After market CPU cooler is what I use...

 

http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?product_id=5279

[MTFDarkEagle]

The one I use: http://noctua.at/main.php?show=productview&products_id=34&lng=en

 

Do make sure your case is big enough :)

[Succellus]

26 -33 Is just the normal temp in any tropical country, unless of course you have money to pay the bill of a 24H A/C.

[Fopeyducker]

Did a quick prime95 run to see what's what. Only ran for 10 mins with a quick and dirty OC.

 

Reckon mine will do 4.3 with a bit of voltage tweaking but not really worth the time and effort for all the difference it makes in the real world.

 

Should point out this is with a D0 rev CPU. I blagged it by swapping my original C0 CPU with a later one I bought for one of the office PC's :music_whistling:

 

The C0 would only do 3.8 safely. 4.1 with the D0 with some room to spare

Edited November 9, 2010 by Fopeyducker

[Konovalov]

avoid the 950 if you ever think about upgrading, as they dont OC as good as the 20s and 30s, and alot of them are hitting a barrier at 3.6/3.8 and cant go any further unless crazy voltage is applied which means wrecking the shit outta your cpu and possibly mobo and ram.

Sounds the opposite to reviews such as this:

 

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cpu_mainboard/intel_core_i7-950_review/7

 

Even at 4GHz we were running beneath the recommended stock voltage. Overclocked and undervolted! It's 100% benefits, zero downsides.The i7-930 was brilliant. The i7-950 is bigger and better in every way.

For the record I just recently built an i7-950 rig but haven't bothered to overclock it yet. I would have bought an i7-930 however the 950 had a massive price drop and I paid just £5 more for the 950 so it was a easy decision. I run it at stock 3.06Ghz at 1.05v. Just one measly volt to run this chip at over 3Ghz. I will be shocked if I can't take this to 4Ghz and above.

[Fopeyducker]

Oops forgot to add a link to a guide for CarneyUK

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2008/11/06/overclocking-intel-core-i7-920/1

 

Temp wise as MadDog said try to stay below 80degs if you want the CPU to have a decent life span. Decent cooler and thermal compound are a must.

 

3.8ghz should be a walk in the park & very safe, even on air.

 

Today I was getting 53degs at 3.6 ghz. 63degs at 3.8ghz & still under 80degs at 4.1ghz

 

When OC'ing remember more volts= stability but also means more heat. Less volts can lead to lockups/BSOD but is cooler.

 

If you follow the above guide start off with a BCLK Frequency of 180 instead of 200. This will give you 3.6ghz. Run realtemp then Prime95, if the temps are ok then reboot and try 190 this will give you 3.8ghz.

 

The whole art of OC'ing is to make small changes and balance heat v voltage required to keep the system stable.

 

Oh and just so you know 2.6ghz - 4+ ghz makes no difference at all to the current build of DCS A10 I've tried lol

[Steel Jaw]

tHANX FOR THE LINK.

[bumfire]

Sounds the opposite to reviews such as this:

 

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cpu_mainboard/intel_core_i7-950_review/7

 

For the record I just recently built an i7-950 rig but haven't bothered to overclock it yet. I would have bought an i7-930 however the 950 had a massive price drop and I paid just £5 more for the 950 so it was a easy decision. I run it at stock 3.06Ghz at 1.05v. Just one measly volt to run this chip at over 3Ghz. I will be shocked if I can't take this to 4Ghz and above.

 

 

You just have to look at Hardocp to find out that the 950's are not as good at overclocking as the 920/30's are for some reason, alot of people saying that over there. Some people just cannot get 4 gig stable with them, I am not saying they cant do 4 gig, just that some people have had trouble getting them stable at that, whilst others have had to increase the voltage more than you would with a 20/30 when its basically the same cpu, then you have others who are runing at 4.2 no problem.

 

Even though the 20/30/40/50s are all basically the same chip but just clocked differently, the 950s just dont seem to be as good as the lower clocked versions.

 

Why I couldnt say, maybe their is slight differences in the IMC in the 950's compared to the lower ones ? maybe something else in the cpu is slightly different in the 50s ? but alot of people are not as impressed with the 950's as they are with the 20/30s, especially compared to the 920 D0 stepping which is a monster for cheap cpu. Some owners who have both the 920 and 950 prefer the 20 and would recommend people buy that instead of the higher clocked 950.

 

I actually bought a 950 since it was only a tenner dearer than the 930, I ordered that along with the rest of my stuff, but between the time I ordered and the time it arrived which was less than 24 hours from Scan. I had came across the stories about the 950 not being so good at OC'in, so I sent it back the day it arrived and got a 930 instead.

 

I am not saying the 950 is bad, far from it, as its a great CPU, its just that what has been posted about it is pointing to the fact that it just isnt as good an overclocker as its siblings.

 

As for the 930, I am extremely happy with it, this thing can do 3.6 on 1.150vcore and prime stable for roughly 5/6 hours with 12 gig of ram and never get higher than 61/62oC on core 0 and 59 down to about 56/57 on the rest of the cores.

 

I was sceptical that it would be happy at 3.6 at only 1.150vcore, but prime95 with HT enabled and crazy gaming hasnt crashed the pc or even caused it to stutter, also continuous huge file transfers to test hasnt done so either, so I am extremely happy with the 930 and would recommend them to anyone, I would also recommened the 920/940/950 aswell, the higher ones and gulftown, well they just are not worth the price, too costly for very little gain in power.

Edited November 10, 2010 by bumfire

[CarneyUK]

Oops forgot to add a link to a guide for CarneyUK

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2008/11/06/overclocking-intel-core-i7-920/1

 

Oh and just so you know 2.6ghz - 4+ ghz makes no difference at all to the current build of DCS A10 I've tried lol

 

Thanks for the link, had a look and am thinking I only want to get above maybe 3.2Ghz so not going for a massive o/c which as everyone has said should help keep it stable (less chance of burning my house down LOL)

 

If the o/c isn't gonna make a difference on DCS A10, then I might not even bother :( I'll just get a new nVidia GTX580 :lol:

[Konovalov]

That's fair comment Bumfire and I agree with what you say. At the end of the day every CPU is different and mileage will always vary.

[Fopeyducker]

Thanks for the link, had a look and am thinking I only want to get above maybe 3.2Ghz so not going for a massive o/c which as everyone has said should help keep it stable (less chance of burning my house down LOL)

 

If the o/c isn't gonna make a difference on DCS A10, then I might not even bother :( I'll just get a new nVidia GTX580 :lol:

 

Go into the bios and change the BCLK Frequency to 180. Ignore everything else. No voltage changes or anythng, leave it all as you find it. This will give you 3.6ghz which is VERY easy & VERY safe for this CPU. It should last for years at that clock setting. You should be able to achieve this even with the stock cooler. But do check with realtemp & prime95 after you have done it just to be safe.

 

Even if you have a crap case and stock cooler I'd be surprised if you go over 75 degs. If you do go back into the bios and drop the BCLK Frequency by 10, (170=3.4ghz), then check temps again. Make sure you run prime95 for at least 15mins to see what the temps level out too. If it starts to get really hot 80degs+ just stop the test early and adjust you bios again.

 

With the current build at least, a more modern GPU seems to give the best performance increase.

Edited November 10, 2010 by Fopeyducker