I7 960 @4.4Ghz.

[D007]

I see a lot online about what the actual safe max voltages are. The variance in opinion vs fact is so great, I just decided to pick something in the middle and go for it..lol.. This is what it seems was necessary to hit 4.4 stable, with occt, memtest, 3dm6, vantage, 11, heaven, and playing games.. "so far" lol. I'm not to sure about the QPI and the IOH @ 1.5 v I placed down there, but I read the IOH could add to stability and it hasn't hurt me so far. I'm open for suggestions on that and may very well lower them back to stock 1.1v. Oh your going to want at least a "very good" air cooling for this. I'm running the scythe mugen 2 and I still hit 90+c at 100% load.
But the truth is, I never hit anywhere near 100% load, so I'm not even worried about it..
Average is around 70c gaming I suppose, 49c idle.

I also run my Visiontek 5850 @1.299v 965/1100. 120mhz on the pcie in bios.

EDIT: Weeks later and still stable.

 

[PolRoger]

You have a higher VID chip so you may very well need ~1.43v vcore for a 4.4GHz overclock.

Since you are only running 176 bclk I would think that you could lower vtt... try/test ~1.3v. Why run such high IOH? Have you tried leaving PLL, IOH and QPI PLL settings on auto? and why run 120MHz PCIE? I always thought that bumping PCIE was mostly helpful for high (215/220+) bclk?


My current milder o.c. settings:

 

[OneMoar]

messing with the pciE clock is a great way to make the system unstable ANDOr break something

 

[Funtoss]

very nice oc dude! that 4.4ghz will surely get you amazing results!

 

[D007]

messing with the pciE clock is a great way to make the system unstable ANDOr break something

Read this:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/245190-29-pcie-frequency-safe-overclock

From what I read about the pcie 120 mhz is generally "safe".. Anything past that is a bad idea but some people run at 140 mhz even 150 with no issues and even have better performance from some things I've read. Nothing in overclocking is really "safe" lol.. That's what makes it fun. ..
What would I break and how? I like links to literature and proof. Anyone can say things, doesn't make them true..lol...

You have a higher VID chip so you may very well need ~1.43v vcore for a 4.4GHz overclock.

Since you are only running 176 bclk I would think that you could lower vtt... try/test ~1.3v. Why run such high IOH? Have you tried leaving PLL, IOH and QPI PLL settings on auto? and why run 120MHz PCIE? I always thought that bumping PCIE was mostly helpful for high (215/220+) bclk?


My current milder o.c. settings:
http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv315/PolRoger/Overclocks/W354040.png

I was unaware bumping the pcie was best for a 200+ clock though. I'd like to see some literature on that.. ^^ As for the voltages, I actually need every single point lol.. One single step down and my stability goes out the window, tested. The ioh and the qpi maybe not so though. I'd like to drop that some. I'll see if I maintain stability with those down.
Thanks for the feedback.

Edit: Added screenshot from cpu-gpuz and real temp in the main post.
Had to adjust for vdroop. 1.4v