need help overclocking. Total Newbe

[webJockey]

Hi guys, First of all a big thanks to all you helping selecting the parts for my rig. Some of the parts i could not get in au, so i just got alternatives in that case. Now the system is up an running, everything is fine so far and i am ready for the next challenge i.e. overclocking. I am a total newbe to that. i got no idea where to start and what to do, however if guys could please help, we can make it happen. I am looking upto a safe mode possibly 3.8ghz as many say it is a sweet spot for 920. Dont wanna touch the ram, only cpu coz i am afraid touching ram could upset ram voltages and that in result could burn my cpu. intel says it should be under1.65v and i am already on border. (do i know what i am talking about???)

PLEASE I need step by step instructions in plain english. i am online all night for that.

Thanks in advance.

System Configuration:
CPU: i7 920
CPU Cooler: CoolerMaster Hyper 212 plus
Mobo: P6T
RAM: Corsair XMS3 6GB DDR3 1333 CL: 7. Timing: 7-7-7-20. Voltage: 1.65v Model: TR3X6G1333C7
PSU: Corsair HX650 (modular)
GPU: Gigabyte HD5750
CASE: Antec Three Hundred
Option Case Fan: Yes. Two 120mm generic fans. All together 4 in the case. 2 intake, 2 exhaust.
HDD. Seagate 1TB, 7200rpm. Seagate 500GB, 7200 rpm.

 

[Asylum]

If you have all night i would suggest starting out with some reading.
Always study the beast before you kill it.
http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=108526

 

[DirectorC]

You could try undervolting the RAM. It might work just fine at 1.6 and even a little bit of relaxed voltage can help with the rest of your system's overclock potential.

Now for OCing all you really have to do is bump up the bus speed (this appears to be different in i7s and be set by BCLK--not sure). As you increase the bus you should see your mobo display a new processor speed. Stop when you reach 3.8. Don't even touch the volts, you should be able to boot with auto settings for volts. Save the settings, reboot and do some stability testing. Go straight for the gut and run Linpack because it'll define stability a LOT quicker than Prime95/Orthos could. Keep an eye on CPU-Z and its voltage reading and whatever temp monitoring tool you use (I use SpeedFan but the norm for the OCing community are RealTemp, HWMonitor and Core Temp). Once you make it past 10 minutes in LinX you can reboot start playing with lower voltages. Once you think you've got it stable, try to let LinX run for a half hour. Then run Orthos small FFTs all night.

My methodology. The only difference I can think is that i7 tweaking may involve different voltages and other settings that weren't part of the C2D platform. I don't know about that, but I've given you some good basics that everyone pretty much follows.

Edit:

If you have all night i would suggest starting out with some reading.
Always study the beast before you kill it.
http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=108526

Some real nice i7-specific info right there

 

[webJockey]

reading that now

 

[webJockey]

would anyone be able to give me just bios settings for 3.8ghz please

 

[webJockey]

i tweaked the bios settings. on POST it shows i7 920 @2.67ghz
3.80ghz.
when i check in computer properties it says i7 920 2.67ghz @2.67ghz

how do i check what speed my cpu is running plz???

 

[Nailezs]

as far as i know, windows will always display the default speed of the cpu. IE my E8500 is at 4.1GHz right now, but windows only displays is at the stock speed of 3.16-3.17. howeever, that does not mean that the OS does not use the full potential of my 4.1GHz.

to check the current speed of the cpu use CPU-Z
www.cpuid.com is where you can get cpuz and HWMonitor.
if you dont have cpuz currently installed, im wondering what you are using to check your temps?
like DirectorC said, the OC community here uses RealTemp(which you can get from the TPU Download section) or HWMonitor or Coretemp. i use realtemp and HWMonitor.

temps are very very important. and i7's run HOT from what i have read, so make sure you keep an eye on it.