OC'ing an i7 950 w/ Corsair H70 in Obsidian 800D

[LordJummy]

While waiting on new parts and ordering custom watercooling I decided to put some parts from another machine into this new case for fun. The specs are what I listed in my Frankenstein Build on here.

The main focus here is I'm overclocking an i7 950 with an H70 cooler on a Sabertooth X58 board. Right now it's at 4025.08MHz. I will do another test when my new Rampage 3E shows up. BTW they're on sale for about $290 right now on newegg. Open box sale. Basic settings are as follows:

bclck: 175.00
multi: 23.0
core voltage: 1.280V
qpi voltage: 1.400V

It's really strange how just adding 2MHz to the bclck can cause everything to be completely unstable. Some bclcks just absolutely will not run. 177MHz must be one of them. I was playing with adding 2MHz increments and 177 failed no matter how much voltage was added, but 179 and 181 worked fine with almost no voltage increase. hmm

Here's a pic of running prime95 small FFT's for a couple of minutes. These are a general summary of my load temps. Even after running prime95 for hours it stays at about 67-69. I'm curious to see what other peoples' results are with this cooler and similar bloomfield procs, etc. This is the lowest possible vcore I've been able to run stable at 4GHz. I want to push this thing back up to 4.2 but I have this thing inside me that hates temps over 70c. I guess I should just suck it up, because the idle temps are not much different at higher vcore, and I never reach 100% load in situations.

Any thoughts on this?

I would like to know some other peoples settings to reach 4GHz+ with these processors just to see some real comparisons. I also have a 970 but it seems to run much cooler at 4.2Ghz than the 950 does @ 4.0. Hmm...

Thanks in advance for any input!

 

[yogurt_21]

? your h70 isn't performign right, those temps are 10C higher than my 950 at 4.2GHZ on my mugen2.

 

[LordJummy]

? your h70 isn't performign right, those temps are 10C higher than my 950 at 4.2GHZ on my mugen2.

Actually from what I've read it's exactly right on. And you didn't mention whether or not you're talking about idle/load etc. If you are talking about idle, the H70 does not outperform most air coolers at high volts. It really works great during high load situations. When I burn at 100% in prime95 small fft's at 4.0 or 4.2 I still don't ever break 70c. The reviews I've read show the H70 going up to 75c+

Also, a lot of people that have H70's and other coolers tend to exaggerate their temps a bit.

H70's aren't custom water cooling. They are also not even as good as some air cooling. I'm also using 3rd party fans: Thermaltake ISGC Fan 12 120mm fans in push pull intake. They perform about the same as the stock H70 fans except they are WAY quieter.

In your opinion where should the H70 be performing?

Here's an example straight from some Corsair folks:

http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=89090

He got up to 71c on a 3.8GHz OC on a 920. The 950 is a hotter chip, and I'm running at near 1.3V vcore and topping out at 68c.

 

[wolf]

.... I also have a 970 but it seems to run much cooler at 4.2Ghz than the 950 does @ 4.0. Hmm...

put the 970 back in and call it a day?

 

[LordJummy]

put the 970 back in and call it a day?

Two different computers...

The 970 is in my workstation. The 950 is in my gaming/eyefinity box.

970 is in antec 1200
950 in 800D (800D was purchased for a future water build, just felt like experimenting with the 950 in it), used to be in a HAF-932

 

[wolf]

Two different computers...

my bad.... so you need to get temps dozn on the 950 still... hoz did the reseating of the HSF go? if done that is.

 

[LordJummy]

my bad.... so you need to get temps dozn on the 950 still... hoz did the reseating of the HSF go? if done that is.

Did you read my first post? I'm not asking how to get lower temps. I've tested different TIM's, and the H70 is seated perfectly. The pump is working at full RPM's, and the intake fans are doing a great job. It's been idling at 4GHZ @ 35c. It hasn't peaked over 54c during gaming either. I would say that the temps are fine.

I was mostly just curious what other peoples successful OC's, bclcks, and settings were. I would just like to know what other people were able to hit 4.0 and 4.2+ with as far as voltages etc.

 

[mp3boy]

I have a 950 and an H70...I managed to get it to 4.2ghz with an idle of around 40-45ish and a load temp of 70-80C

my voltages were

1.3125for Vcore
181 or 183? blk
23 multiplier

umum another thing you should keep in mind is the temperature of your environment...IE I'm living in Vancouver and we're going through...quite a cold summer so PC temps are lower in general

 

[LordJummy]

Just a little update.

I tried some different TIM's over the weekend.

My results varied greatly.

AS5 was terrible, gave me idle temps of around 42c and load of 75c+

Shin etsu x23-7783D Crushed the AS5 and gave me idle temps of 34-36c and load of 58c

I'm going to stick with the SE x23 for sure. This stuff is amazing and requires no burn in. It has given me much better temps than the stock shin etsu TIM that came with the H70. I highly recommend it.

I'll post some prime95 shots when I have time.

 

[Law-II]

Hi

Out of interest did you get round to testing any MX3 or MX4?; if so what results - good, bad or indifferent

have made a mental note re: using SE x23

atb

Law-II

 

[LordJummy]

Not this go round. I previously tested some IC5 i think, AS3, AS5, Shin Etsu x23-7762, x23 7783, and another brand made by coolermaster. I can't recall the name at the moment.

The ES x23-7783D was by FAR the best. You barely even have to use a rice grain size amount. It spreads very well, just make sure you make the little rice grain line go against the grain of the cpu heatsink. Especially if you're using an H70 because the surface is so grainy.

Keep in mind I also used Arctic Silver cleaner and purifier in between each TIM, so my surfaces were completely clean and ready. The AS purifier is very nice. It polishes the surface pretty well.

The cleaner is not bad either. It's citrus based, and not alcohol based AFAIK. Although citrus has natural alcohols in it.

I'm going to do a bit more testing. I tested temps at 3.68, 3.8, and 4.0. At 3.8 I was able to get load temps of 56c, and at 4.0 I was able to get 58-59c.

 

[Law-II]

Hi

Nice one, thank you very much for the info and good luck with the next round of testing

atb

Law-II

 

[LordJummy]

Not a problem bro.

I'm going to post some screenshots after work today to show all my settings and different temps.

 

[Law-II]

Hi

any screenies as of yet; have you had a chance?

atb

Law-II

 

[LordJummy]

Hi

any screenies as of yet; have you had a chance?

atb

Law-II

Hey man. Sorry for the huge delay. I got my Rampage III Extreme open box in the mail and I've been playing with it. I haven't got it to the absolute perfect settings I like for 4.2GHz yet but I will be there soon. I am getting fantastic temps with the H70 on here + Shin Etsu

 

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

Also, a lot of people that have H70's and other coolers tend to exaggerate their temps a bit.

This. Its either its the placebo effect of "water cooling" or they just want to justify the money they spent and live in denial.

 

[Law-II]

Hi

Keep me up to speed with the rampage 3 extreme as I am tinkering with the idea of aquiring one of these for a project.

nb: take your time, it will be worth any delay

atb

Law-II

 

[LordJummy]

Hi

Keep me up to speed with the rampage 3 extreme as I am tinkering with the idea of aquiring one of these for a project.

nb: take your time, it will be worth any delay

atb

Law-II

I sure will. I just picked up 5 enermax magma fans for my 800D to match the R3E.

They look great, and I've seen them used many times, but I've never tried them myself.

Hopefully I have time to install all this tonight.

*Update. I just installed all 5 of them. 3 exhausting out the top, and 2 doing push pull intake on the H70. In all honesty I am not impressed. My idle temps actually seem to have gone up about 1c. My load temps are identical to before, and that's all that really matters to me. However, these fans do look really nice, and they are actually very quiet at full speed in comparison to my antec tri-speed fans. I only wish they moved a bit more air. They brag about really high static pressure on the packaging, but honestly they don't perform any better than the stock corsair H70 fans. Oh well they're pretty!

 

[Fatal]

This is what my system requires to be stable at 4.0
HT: on
Bclck: 191
Multi: 21
Core voltage: 1.32V
QPI voltage: 1.300V

For 4.2 have not really tried to get that stable since I put in my SSD. I can try to see what I can do when I get home.

 

[LordJummy]

I actually just tried 200x20 for 4.0 and it's working really well with a lower QPI than I had before. It's really strange... 200MHz bclck used to always be unstable for me and now all of the sudden it's totally stable with P95 and OCCT. I'll keep running OCCT through the evening to see if it finds any errors.

I'm currently running at these temps:

 

[LordJummy]

Well my new R3E board is already being sent back. That's what I get for buying open box I guess.

I've decided to just go with a Z68 system until 2011 or bulldozer comes out. I'll post a pic of the rig with the magma fans though just for the hell of it. I'm putting white CCFL back in the case.

 

[DrunkenMafia]

I sure will. I just picked up 5 enermax magma fans for my 800D to match the R3E.

http://i56.tinypic.com/ojdv9t.jpg

They look great, and I've seen them used many times, but I've never tried them myself.

Hopefully I have time to install all this tonight.

*Update. I just installed all 5 of them. 3 exhausting out the top, and 2 doing push pull intake on the H70. In all honesty I am not impressed. My idle temps actually seem to have gone up about 1c. My load temps are identical to before, and that's all that really matters to me. However, these fans do look really nice, and they are actually very quiet at full speed in comparison to my antec tri-speed fans. I only wish they moved a bit more air. They brag about really high static pressure on the packaging, but honestly they don't perform any better than the stock corsair H70 fans. Oh well they're pretty!

I agree, I recently bought 2 of them for my swiftech rad and am not all that impressed. considering they were only 2 bux cheaper than noctua's & GT's offerings. They do quote great specs on the pack but don't seem to live up to it. I actually found them pretty loud at 12v as well. No where near the db they are rated for. But you are right, they look good and have removable blades.

 

[LordJummy]

I just put the sabertooth back in. Here is a shot of the H70 with the magma's:

 

[Fatal]

That looks killer can never go wrong with the dark case and white light.

 

[Law-II]

I sure will. I just picked up 5 enermax magma fans for my 800D to match the R3E.

http://i56.tinypic.com/ojdv9t.jpg

They look great, and I've seen them used many times, but I've never tried them myself.

Hopefully I have time to install all this tonight.

*Update. I just installed all 5 of them. 3 exhausting out the top, and 2 doing push pull intake on the H70. In all honesty I am not impressed. My idle temps actually seem to have gone up about 1c. My load temps are identical to before, and that's all that really matters to me. However, these fans do look really nice, and they are actually very quiet at full speed in comparison to my antec tri-speed fans. I only wish they moved a bit more air. They brag about really high static pressure on the packaging, but honestly they don't perform any better than the stock corsair H70 fans. Oh well they're pretty!

Hi

That should keep the heat off the components; sorry to here about the ARE-III issue - noted (no open box for me)

nb: killer case by the way O-800D looks great

atb

Law-II