Core i5 Overclocking and Feedback

[johnnyfiive]

I'll have some more i5 750 results in a week or so when everything arrives. This time, they will be water results.

 

[Chicken Patty]

Looking forward to that

 

[skylamer]

WORLD RECORD i5 ***

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=979124

 

[87dtna]

2.058 Vcore!!!!!!!!

 

[johnnyfiive]

oh my... poor mobo and CPU! ahah

 

[SK-1]

Talk about a suicide run...

 

[87dtna]

You know, I suppose if it's only to get a CPUz shot, and no actual load on the CPU it probably won't hurt the CPU or mobo that much.

 

[belitsky]

Hey guys, is this right to use auto voltages other then core? I set up core voltage to 1.35 V in bios and left other voltages to Auto. What application can i use to monitor all voltages in Windows 7 x64?
Right now i am running my i5 750 on 4GHz, and temp on 100% load (Everest stress test for 20 minutes) near 60-65C, maximum was 70C on one of the cores. I use Mugen 2 for cooling.

Thank you.

 

[87dtna]

Hey guys, is this right to use auto voltages other then core? I set up core voltage to 1.35 V in bios and left other voltages to Auto. What application can i use to monitor all voltages in Windows 7 x64?
Right now i am running my i5 750 on 4GHz, and temp on 100% load (Everest stress test for 20 minutes) near 60-65C, maximum was 70C on one of the cores. I use Mugen 2 for cooling.

Thank you.

What motherboard do you have? I actually just use the utility that came with the mobo.

 

[Boneface]

So i was wondering what are the only things i need to touch when overclocking i5, i only want a stable 3.2 or 3, but i want to make sure im doing it right.

 

[87dtna]

Turbo mode makes cores 1+2 run at 3.2ghz and cores 3+4 run at 2.8. If thats all you want, I'd suggest just leaving it alone!

 

[Dice]

probly don't need to change the voltages, just up the bclk.

 

[20mmrain]

Just did..... build a rig with a i5 750.... specs

i5 750@3.6
EVGA P55 LE MOB
Diamond ATI HD5870@900/1300
2xWestern Digital 500gig HDD 7200RPM 32MB Raid 0
4 Gigs G.skill Ripsaw RAM @1442 /but can get 1600MHZ
Corsair 750tx

180x20
Vcore: 1.25
DIMM Voltage: 1.50
CPU VTT: 1.15
PCH: 1.10
CPU PLL: 1.80

Although there is a problem with this board and the Foxconn clip. I am in the RMA Process right now. Ever since I got the MOB the clip did not give the CPU full contact. So Some times I only showed up with 2 Gigs of Ram instead of 4 gigs.
I believe there is a reason to worry for the people with the foxconn sockets others have had the same problem..... So my RMA is coming with a lotus Bracket on the socket. WTG EVGA!

But if it wasn't for that I would be up way over 4GHZ already. My i5 does 3.6 at a max temp of 51c after 50 runs on intel Burn test high settings. Also only hits 50c after 8 hours of Prime95 blend test. So I got the temps hopefully you will get a similar results!

 

[OnBoard]

Let's start with a picture
http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=996615

And then another that brings my question:

Can't seem to get C1E working. It's enabled in the bios, but all I get is the max multi I set.

If turbo was AUTO I got only 21x, tried disabled and this time 20 that is set on bios, now with enabled I finally got some multi action, but only on core temp. This is what I'd want, 9x multi always @ idle and full multi when needed. That's how it worked on my P965 and P45 systems. So doesn't CPU-Z work with these or my multi doesn't work and Core Temp is bugged?

Voltage is really weird too, that CPU-Z valid is with voltage set on normal (auto gave same) and lower picture is when I set it manually to 1.25V. Thing is now it's 1.232V idle AND load with load-line calibration disabled.

On the 3.6GHz load would drop to what it shows and sometimes show 1.200V, idle was higher like it normally is (don't remember exact number).

Anyhow, are those good clocks for the voltage? Ran latest Prime95 with 4 threads for a while, seemed stable. Forgot about IntelBurn test, have to download that.

edit: stable, way too easy to OC this CPU

 

[unclewebb]

Have you gone into the Control Panel -> Power Options and set your Minimum processor state? If you want a low multi at idle then that needs to be set to a low number like 5%. It won't actually go down to 5% but a low number will let it go down as low as possible. You need EIST / SpeedStep enabled in the bios for these options to appear.

Why not update Core Temp to the latest version?

Better yet, if you want a very accurate look at the multiplier on each thread in real time then why not try i7 Turbo? Most programs give you an approximation of the multiplier at idle that isn't accurate. i7 Turbo uses high performance timers within your CPU and is deadly accurate. Sometimes the truth hurts but it's hard to argue with this program since it follows the method Intel recommends in their November 2008 Turbo White Paper. The majority of software doesn't follow this method.

It will also let you see if EIST / SpeedStep and C1E really are enabled or disabled. Some motherboards give you options to set these in the bios but the options don't actually work.

http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/3/3/1794507/Turbo.zip

 

[OnBoard]

Have you gone into the Control Panel -> Power Options and set your Minimum processor state? If you want a low multi at idle then that needs to be set to a low number like 5%. It won't actually go down to 5% but a low number will let it go down as low as possible.

Had it on 100%, changet it to 5% now. Did make my own plan as the default kept shutting my HDDs and what not. Vista worked fine with maxium performance option, they went backwards in W7.

Why not update Core Temp to the latest version?

Yeah sorry, didn't know there was a newer one. With the latest version it stays on 21 multi all the time and doesn't drop to 9 once in a while.

Better yet, if you want a very accurate look at the multiplier on each thread in real time then why not try i7 Turbo? Most programs give you an approximation of the multiplier at idle that isn't accurate. i7 Turbo uses high performance timers within your CPU and is deadly accurate. Sometimes the truth hurts but it's hard to argue with this program since it follows the method Intel recommends in their November 2008 Turbo White Paper. The majority of software doesn't follow this method.

It will also let you see if EIST / SpeedStep and C1E really are enabled or disabled. Some motherboards give you options to set these in the bios but the options don't actually work.

http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/3/3/1794507/Turbo.zip

Included is what all of them show now. Don't quite understand what i7 Turbo is showing, but doesn't look like low idle multi. Maybe I'll need a reboot for the min processor state to kick in.

 

[sneekypeet]

Might want to go here and get the version f5 BIOS. Even my UD6 ran a little funny with the old bios.

 

[unclewebb]

i7 Turbo shows you what the average multiplier is on each thread or core. When C1E is enabled and the Minimum processor state is not working correctly or if it is set to 100%, the multipliers it reports will jump up and down just like you are seeing. It shows that internally two different power options are fighting against each other. Some motherboards have issues and Windows 7 does not function as designed on some motherboards. As I said before, i7 Turbo can give you a very accurate look at what's really going on inside your CPU. Not everyone wants to know the truth though.

 

[TIGR]

I'm planning to go with a 750 for my new rig ... will post here when it's set up.

 

[OnBoard]

Might want to go here and get the version f5 BIOS. Even my UD6 ran a little funny with the old bios.

Yes, I have F4 already waiting on HDD, but thise stock F2 has been so stable that didn't want to jinx it.

F5 says "Enhanced memory compatibility" and F4 added support for B3 stepping. Neither what I need, but probably more under the hood.

edit: finally got some multiplier action going on. This is with the newest bios and stock clocks with turbo on and also C3/C5/C7 stop stages that I had previously disabled. First time I see my CPU go to x24 (also showed x23 on CPU-Z & ET6). And i7 Turbo was showing multi down to 10, so working up and down.

Weird thing though is that CPU-Z doesn't show clock speed or multi go down ever, even when idle. Voltages do go down as seen on the image and change constantly, same way multi & clock speed did with Core2Duo's. Oh well, can't have everything it seems

 

[finndrummer]

I want to do a slight overclock to my cpu without rising voltages so
I read an interesting article that I want to follow but there is a small thing that I do not understand
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/core-i5-750-efficiency,review-31785-3.html
There would be no inconsistency here? According to the frequency table, with a 160MHz QPI, the max frequency (with turboboost) is 3.8GHz, unstable from the table.
But in the conclusion they affirmed that a 160MHz QPI, TurboBooster activated, is the perfect clock setting.
What's wrong?

 

[unclewebb]

OnBoard: Try running a single thread of Super PI mod and take a snap shot of i7 Turbo about half way through a 1M test. An i5-750 can only use the 24 times multiplier when either 1 or 2 cores are in the active state and the other two cores are in the C3/C6 inactive sleep state. There is constant background activity going on that will wake up the two sleeping cores. While Super PI is running, if a task needs to wake up the third or fourth core then your maximum multiplier will be immediately dropped down to 21. When a background task is completed, that core can go back to sleep and that allows your multiplier to turbo boost back up to 24 again. This cycling back and forth between 21 and 24 is based on load and how many cores are in the active state at any instant in time. This transitioning between multipliers can be happening hundreds of times a second so old school software that samples the multiplier once per second will not be very accurate at reporting the multiplier.

Intel uses high performance timers within their CPUs that run at billions of cycles per second so software can precisely determine what the multiplier is but most software doesn't bother to follow that method because of its complexity. It's well documented in the November 2008 Intel Turbo White Paper and is the method that i7 Turbo and RealTemp follow.

On CPUs that only get to use their highest multiplier when one core is active, you should find that the CPU automatically schedules most of the Super PI load on one thread / core. This enables the other 3 cores to spend as much time as possible in the C3/C6 sleep state which allows the use of the highest multiplier. On a Core i5-750, you get the highest multiplier when either 1 or 2 cores are in the active state so typically when this test is running, the task will be shared between 2 cores allowing the other 2 cores to go to sleep.

The leaner your system is and the less background activity you have going on, the higher percentage of time that you will be able to operate with the 24X multiplier. If you look at the individual core or cores doing most of the work, you might see average multipliers up around 23.6 or 23.7. In i7 Turbo you can compare the C0% box with the multiplier box. It's impossible to hit a sustained 24 multiplier for a one second sampling period in i7 Turbo. There is always background activity that will prevent this.

If you want to see a true 24X multiplier then go into your bios and disable 2 cores. That's about the only way to guarantee that the other two cores won't wake up and drop you down to the 21 multiplier.

i7 Turbo should be able to report multipliers closer to 9 if the Minimum processor state is set to a low number and you don't have too much background activity waking up cores. Try turning off some of your other monitoring tools and any other background fluff and see how low you can get it. Some antivirus / anti-spyware programs are terrible for endless background processing and keeping cores awake.

finndrummer: Every CPU is unique. What works for Tom's Hardware might not work for you so use there numbers as a guideline. The article is inconsistent but it shows you what to expect. If your CPU needs a little extra voltage to be stable at the MHz you would like it to run at then give it a little extra voltage. There's nothing to be afraid of as long as you don't get too carried away. If you plan to increase the BCLK beyond its default of 133 MHz then you are wise to set the core voltage manually. If you leave this setting in the bios on AUTO then many motherboards will also increase the core voltage for you but can end up using way too much voltage. Way more than what you need which only creates heat. The key when overclocking is to only use as much voltage as you need for your computer to run stable and it's best to do that manually so you are in complete control. Use CPU-Z to keep an eye on how much voltage you are actually getting at idle and at full load and compare that to other users.

 

[OnBoard]

OnBoard: Try running a single thread of Super PI mod and take a snap shot of i7 Turbo about half way through a 1M test. An i5-750 can only use the 24 times multiplier when either 1 or 2 cores are in the active state and the other two cores are in the C3/C6 inactive sleep state. There is constant background activity going on that will wake up the two sleeping cores. While Super PI is running, if a task needs to wake up the third or fourth core then your maximum multiplier will be immediately dropped down to 21. When a background task is completed, that core can go back to sleep and that allows your multiplier to turbo boost back up to 24 again. This cycling back and forth between 21 and 24 is based on load and how many cores are in the active state at any instant in time. This transitioning between multipliers can be happening hundreds of times a second so old school software that samples the multiplier once per second will not be very accurate at reporting the multiplier.

i7 Turbo should be able to report multipliers closer to 9 if the Minimum processor state is set to a low number and you don't have too much background activity waking up cores. Try turning off some of your other monitoring tools and any other background fluff and see how low you can get it. Some antivirus / anti-spyware programs are terrible for endless background processing and keeping cores awake.

Yep I ran latest Prime95 with one, two and four Threads. Don't have turbo on anymore. With one it was hitting about 23.7x. Funnily though the core in use was constantly changing. With two threads i got multi in the x22-23 region and with four threads it was a solid 21.00 on all four.

I'll turn off stuff now and see ho low it goes. This is with 'all cpu meter' (sidepanel gadget) shut off and kaspersky paused. Close to 9 like you said.

Also found my new 24/7 clocks: http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=999113
3.6GHz with just 1.136V And stable too (1.120V wasn't).

 

[unclewebb]

When you see the task bouncing around from core to core then you start to realize how smart these new CPUs are. They do a great job of managing the load to maximize the multiplier.

Most users after playing around do exactly what you did. Lock the multiplier and manually boost up the BCLK. It seems like the best way to get maximum MHz with minimum voltage. The turbo boost C3/C6 method is useful for newcomers to overclocking. Very easy to get some good performance out of these chips without having to think too hard.

 

[Dice]

I have the same problem, I updated to the msi gd80 1.7 bios today and I noticed that as soon as I changed the bclk my max turbo multi dropped from 24 to 21, I thought I must have disabled it somehow so I loaded default settings and checked- 24xmulti, up the clock, 21xmulti. This did not happen in 1.6 but may have been the case in 1.5.

I spent most of last night trying to get 3.8 Ghz with a turbo of 4.3 stable but dont think i was gonna find stability any time soon so maybe its saved me some time I can spend on Mass Effect 2