First attempt at an overclock, Advice / Opinions

[Mattyjay]

Hi All,

I've had my current system for around 2 years now. When I originally got the system I thought I'd look into overclocking the CPU. The short of it was I failed and it blue screened, not knowing what I was doing I reverted it back and just shied away from attempting it again.

A few days ago after reading numerous guides I decided to try again. I've managed to get the system running at 3.8ghz and it seems stable as far as I can tell having ran prime95 and realtemp to keep an eye on the temps.

basically i was hoping for some advice / opinions on settings i may have overlooked and my current temperatures (listed below).

My system;
i7 950 bloomfield, h50 watercooled, 12 GB ram, 260 SSD, 2 x EVGA GTX 770s, 850 PSU
Idle temp is 44-48 degrees
100% load using prime 95 and it hits 77-81 degrees

I wanted to push it to 4ghz but when i do it pushes the idle up to around 55 degrees and with 100% load it was hitting 86-87 degrees max which seems a little high and had me worried so i dropped it back down so 3.8.

I've attached a few images of my bios and the settings i've changed, any advice and what i could change or something i have changed that is possibly wrong / dangerous would be amazing.

Thanks in advance!
Matt

Oh and current BIOS settings;

 

[Vario]

high idle, you may get better temperatures if you remount the h50.

 

[D007]

With temps that high I would consider remounting the CPU and doing a better job with the TIM.
I use to do the pea sized drop method but I don't do that anymore.
I went back to spreading it evenly and thinly, with a credit card and I got a huge drop in temps.

I'd also google the cpu/mobo combo with the words "overclocking guide" to see what others have gotten as well. it will really help you get a solid idea of what to expect out of that combo.

 

[jboydgolfer]

+1 on the TIM suggestion "D007" made.
That "pea sized method" that SO many PC "Savvy" guides Claim works SO well is misleading @ best. I've tried it a handful of times, and there is only ONE advantage to doing it the "pea method".....it takes less time than spreading it. But I'd rather spend 30 seconds spreading the TIM, and getting temps that are 10-20C lower.

And I agree, You should check Your mounting job IF you haven't yet.

 

[hat]

10-20c lower from spreading TIM, instead of letting the heatsink do the work? I don't really think so...

Last time I tried spreading TIM was when I had an 8500GT. Temps were in the high 80s low 90s before I tried just letting the heatsink squish it out and then temps went to mid 60s low 70s.

 

[Vario]

I like to do a blob-line, basically 2x the pea sized amt in a line.

 

[peche]

about the temps…

what about thermalpaste?
when was the last time you replaced?
Which one did you use/ currently in use?
How many fans your H50 has/support … currently in use?

With temps that high I would consider remounting the CPU and doing a better job with the TIM.
I use to do the pea sized drop method but I don't do that anymore.
I went back to spreading it evenly and thinly, with a credit card and I got a huge drop in temps..

Really ?
i spred some minimal paste to the cooler... but i stick with the old pea size or center line into processor IHS....
thats seem to be the best method with arctic "Crap" 5 and my Ivy processor,

Regards,

 

[Mattyjay]

Hi Guys, Sorry for taking so long to post a reply.

Just wanted to say thanks so much for the advice. Ordered some thermal paste yesterday it came today and i replaced it (never done it before so pretty chuffed i managed to do it without breaking something). Anyway, just ran a stress test after replacing it and on 100% load its sitting at a high of 64 degrees. The idle hasn't dropped massively but is hitting sitting at around 37-43 so better by about 5 degrees (taken 10 minutes after stress testing so probably not a true reflection of the idle).

In regards to fans I've got one on the front and bottom both 120mm i believe and both taking in air. i've got one on the top pushing out air and the one on the back of the radiator for the h50 pushing air out as apparently its better to have air being pulled through the radiator.

 

[peche]

WELL … I prefer air pulled trough rad… because it keeps rad fins cooler… due direct airflow over it…
like this….

It's there an option to use 2 fans?

also you can use better fans like coolermaster jetflo..

 

[Mattyjay]

ahh so you would fit the rad to the outer case and the fan inside it? I didn't know i could do that :/ would it not then be pulling hot air from inside the case out through the radiator tho?

I dont have an option to use two at the back but i do have another slot on the top of the case free, think it would be worth getting an additional fan for the top?

 

[peche]

I talking about something like this …

Also if you can:

Regards,

 

[Henkenator68NL]

After reading the question and answers in this thread I have some additional remarks:

1. The H50 is in general perfectly capable of keeping the temps below that of the stock Intel Cooler.

2. The H50 uses a radiator that is rather small (fan size 120x120mm and only 25 mm thick). Unfortunately corsair never released a max tdp for the H50, but this certainly is not the best way to go if you want to push your cpu frequency. The cpu in this case pulls 130watt @ stock speed, raising the frequency does raise the tdp as well. This is were the max tdp of the h50 is falling short. In other words for a sturdy OC you need a better solution than the current AIO water cooler.

3. I am missing info about the entire case airflow: your cpu is not the only heat source in your case. For a proper functioning watercooling solution the total airflow in the Case has to be taken into consideration. Simply said you need the air pressure inside the case to be larger than the outside pressure. Many things influence this: the amount/size/speed of the case fans installed, the way the psu heat is pushed out, dust filters (clean on regular bases), the cable management (a messy case has a lousy airflow).

4. Using 1 or 2 fans, and either using them as intake or exhaust, this all influences the performance. You can see some data in this review:
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cooling/2009/07/29/corsair-hydro-h50-cpu-cooler-review/4

5. Last but not least: you always need to take the delta T into account = the Ambient temperature during the testing. Example if I test my cooling setup in the middle of the summer with a room temperature of 24 °C than the lowest temp the system could ultimate reach (under the given solution) = 24 °C.. Do the same test with an air conditioning unit lowering the temp to 16 °C... Well you get the picture.

Methods of applying Tim have marginal influence on the temps (if everything is mounted correctly and performing at factory settings).

IMHO to push a 130watt cpu you need a radiator that is at least twice the size of that of the H50

 

[Mattyjay]

Thanks for the comments.

I've got to admit i've been toying with the idea of replacing the h50 with a 100i or something but i'm unsure on how much of a difference it will actually make.

I figured the easiest way to show you the setup would be to take a picture of the inside of the case

Note; fan in front of the hard drive bays is an intake, the fan on the top of the case (not clearly visible (sitting above the h50)) is exhaust. The fan attached to the radiator is taking in air (cold air from the outside of the case through the rad)

 

[Henkenator68NL]

To get all facts straight:

Do you have the specs of those fans?
Front: size: ..x... mm., max:.... rpm, min:..... rpm, airflow:.... cfm/m m3/min

Top: size: ..x... mm., max:.... rpm, min:..... rpm, airflow:.... cfm/m m3/min

Back/radiator Fan: size: ..x... mm., max:.... rpm, min:..... rpm, airflow:.... cfm/m m3/min

Your gpu's are Asus direct CU cards? They blow hot air in the Case correct?

Do you have a thermal sensor on your motherboard that you can stick in your case? If so log the temp in side the case (you can use a program like aida64 extreme - > sensor log or HWINFO64 sensor log). Than use your system like normal for like a day and check the temps: cpu, motherboard, gpu cores, temp from sensor reading temp inside the case. Do some gaming for an hour or so. You are looking for influence of the gpu temps on the case temp - to get an idea off the current airflow, influence of the cpu core temp on case temp etc.

As for your your case, is there any possibility to mount an extra fan in the bottom (in the front of the psu)? If so what size 120mm or 140mm?

As for getting a H100i... Especially at high current = max tdp or higher the difference is immediately noticeable. The H50 simply cannot dissipate the generated heat off (100-130 Watt or more) fast enough. The H100i has at least twice the capacity of the h50.

Lots of questions.. Lol but it will lead to better insight of your situation. And point you in the direction of a better cooling solution.

 

[Mattyjay]

A friend built it for me a few years back, kinda wish i'd done it all myself would make this easier haha if only i knew then what i know now!

The front fan is a 140mm coolermaster, 1200rpm 19dba
top exhaust fan is 140mm 1200 rpm 17dba
the fan on the h50 is the the stock one that came with it, 120 mm i believe 1700 rpm according to corsairs site.

there is space for 2 x 120mm fans on the bottom (http://www.coolermaster.com/case/mid-tower/cm-690-ii-advanced-nvidia-edition-usb3/)

The gpu's, I'm running 2 x gtx 770s they both blow hot air towards the bottom of he case.

I don't think i have a sensor on the board (if i do i'm not sure what it is or how i get to it) using the EVGA x58 classified 3

Sorry if some of this is a little vague I am fairly knew to the whole thing.


-measuring the bottom of the case the screws seem to measure up to allow a 140mm fan as they're the same measurements as the front and top screws which disagrees with the coolermaster site, little strange :/

 

[Henkenator68NL]

Well its not difficult to improve the airflow substantially, by adding 3 fans: 1 x 120mm on the radiator, 1 x 140 mm in the top of the case and 1 x 140 in the bottom.

It would boil down to this:

The blue rectangles are fan pulling cold air in from outside the case, the red ones are exhaust fans.

But the OC head room is not going to improve very much, you definitely need to upgrade the water cooling solution if that is your aim.

As for the thermal sensor, I checked but your motherboard doesn't have extra sensor header. Just use the sensor info that is available to get an insight in the temperatures reacting to system load changes.

 

[Schmuckley]

Temps are too high for that voltage..
Try a remount.
>>It should do 4.1-4 for daily with reasonable temps.

Miahallen wouldn't steer ya wrong

http://www.techreaction.net/2010/09/07/3-step-overclocking-guide-bloomfield-and-gulftown/

TL;DR
Disable spread spectrums
set Vcore 1.28-36
VTT @ 1.3-4
RAM voltage..whatever you need..
CPU skew 100
QPI @ 3500-ish
uncore as low as you can get it
Raise FSB

I wouldn't waste time or chip life with Prime95..
2 runs of Hyper-Pi 32m ..maybe Cinebench
..should expose any weaknesses in an OC pretty quick.

 

[Mattyjay]

thanks for the help again

Schmuckley I've remounted twice using pea method and small line, both give me idle of about 42-47, full load it hits about 72.
I'll try the settings you've suggested an post back.

I've decided to but a couple new fans one for the bottom of the case. Also decided to go ahead an buy the 100i. Fingers crossed it lowers the temp considerably

 

[Mattyjay]

Just sitting in the bios now.

Sorry if these are dumb questions but in regards to what you said to try changing Im a little confused;

Vtt- I don't have an option for 1.3 as a value, vtt voltage values start at +0mv and go to +475mv, guessing I'm looking at the wrong thing or I've missed something?

Qpi- you said 3500 ish but the value in qpi vll starts at 1.1v and goes to 1.575v again guessing I'm missing something.

 

[Schmuckley]

qpi..frequency..not voltage

for voltage..1.3-4
o yeah..evga board..
idk..set some value and go into monitor area and see what you have

http://forums.evga.com/EVGA-X58-Overclocking-Guide-m20028.aspx

Guide by Mr. Jacob