First time builder attempting first time OC

[italianxmna89]

I just finished my build 2 weeks ago and i have enjoyed what my core i7 920 has to offer with stock speeds but i think its time to push the button..

Build

Core i7 920
Asus P6T Motherboard(Non-Deluxe)
CoolerMaster CM690 Case
Vigor Monsoon III CPU Cooler
640GB Caviar Black
Mushkin 6GB DDR3 1600 (9-9-9-24)
Sapphire 4830 (Slightly OCd)
3 x 120mm fans (Front intake, Side panel intake, Rear Exhaust-- All running at 100% because theyre connected straight to the PSU)
1 x 80mm fan (CM690 has a spot for a 80x80x15mm behind the CPU on the other side of the MB)

I have done a very fair amount of homework on OCing but i know i do not know enough. I thought my buddy could teach me but i found out he doesnt use the BIOS. I am looking for a clock speed that i would use 14-16hrs per day. I use my computer mainly for gaming, movies, tv via tv tuner, web surfing, etc. Now i do not want to go as far as 4.0ghz because i am not sure if my Vigor Monsoon III will keep it cool enough. I am aiming at a 3.6-3.8 range...


I am going to go out on a few limbs here. Let me remind you i am fairly new to OCing so please correct me if im wrong.

-For an OC of 3.6-3.8 i would need a base clock or bclk of 170-180 with a 21 multiplier.
-Judging from this thread.. http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=95485 .. my voltage is going to end up around ~1.25 but this is a trial and error procedure.
-Most motherboards are saying the DRAM voltage should stay under 1.65v although i heard if the CPU uncore voltage is within .5v then it should be fine.

Questions:

I tried messing with a few OC settings in the BIOS without saving anything and i couldnt seem to change my CPU ratio/multiplier unless im missing something. i always thought they were locked on these CPUs and thats why the extreme cores are so expensive: because theirs is unlocked.

I know at stock the multiplier changes from idle and load..i believe is saw a multiplier as low as 12 all the way to 21 under stress. So, if i am unable to change my cpu ratio and have to leave it on auto, which multiplier should i base my bclk off? 20? 21?

I believe this is a related question/ statement so..i assume i should turn off turbo mode. I know that effects the multiplier...unless..i couldnt change my cpu ratio because i still have turbo enabled?

Finally, i have not been able to find much about stepping and what the difference between C0 and D0 is.

Any suggestions/comments/links are appreciated.

Thank you

 

[Studabaker]

The multipliers are locked at a maximum and minimum, and you can play with everything else in between to get the best OC possible with the best bus speed possible. Obviously you understand that the basics of overclocking with a locked chip is to raise the bus speed. Thankfully that's not really a challenge with the stock CPU bus speeds vs the bus speeds available on modern mobos, it makes one wonder why people pay such a premium for an unlocked chip.

I wouldn't use Turbo mode, that is built-in tweaking and you want your tweaking to be clean and all yours.

There isn't much of a difference between the steppings, all i7s are great clockers.

 

[PaulieG]

I just finished my build 2 weeks ago and i have enjoyed what my core i7 920 has to offer with stock speeds but i think its time to push the button..

Build

Core i7 920
Asus P6T Motherboard(Non-Deluxe)
CoolerMaster CM690 Case
Vigor Monsoon III CPU Cooler
640GB Caviar Black
Mushkin 6GB DDR3 1600 (9-9-9-24)
Sapphire 4830 (Slightly OCd)
3 x 120mm fans (Front intake, Side panel intake, Rear Exhaust-- All running at 100% because theyre connected straight to the PSU)
1 x 80mm fan (CM690 has a spot for a 80x80x15mm behind the CPU on the other side of the MB)

I have done a very fair amount of homework on OCing but i know i do not know enough. I thought my buddy could teach me but i found out he doesnt use the BIOS. I am looking for a clock speed that i would use 14-16hrs per day. I use my computer mainly for gaming, movies, tv via tv tuner, web surfing, etc. Now i do not want to go as far as 4.0ghz because i am not sure if my Vigor Monsoon III will keep it cool enough. I am aiming at a 3.6-3.8 range...


I am going to go out on a few limbs here. Let me remind you i am fairly new to OCing so please correct me if im wrong.

-For an OC of 3.6-3.8 i would need a base clock or bclk of 170-180 with a 21 multiplier.
-Judging from this thread.. http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=95485 .. my voltage is going to end up around ~1.25 but this is a trial and error procedure.
-Most motherboards are saying the DRAM voltage should stay under 1.65v although i heard if the CPU uncore voltage is within .5v then it should be fine.

Questions:

I tried messing with a few OC settings in the BIOS without saving anything and i couldnt seem to change my CPU ratio/multiplier unless im missing something. i always thought they were locked on these CPUs and thats why the extreme cores are so expensive: because theirs is unlocked.

I know at stock the multiplier changes from idle and load..i believe is saw a multiplier as low as 12 all the way to 21 under stress. So, if i am unable to change my cpu ratio and have to leave it on auto, which multiplier should i base my bclk off? 20? 21?

I believe this is a related question/ statement so..i assume i should turn off turbo mode. I know that effects the multiplier...unless..i couldnt change my cpu ratio because i still have turbo enabled?

Finally, i have not been able to find much about stepping and what the difference between C0 and D0 is.

Any suggestions/comments/links are appreciated.

Thank you

Leave Turbo enabled. This will give you a 21x multiplier, and more flexibility with your BCLK. You do have to account for the extra multi when setting your voltage. I'm not sure why you can't change your multiplier. You should be able to lower it. You should have a setting to allow you to do so, but I don't remember what it's called on that particular board. DO is the newest revision. On average, DO chips allow for a higher overclock on less voltage. However, they do run hotter than CO chips at the same voltage. A DO really shines when you have water cooling, and don't have to worry about the heat so much. It would be easier to help you if we know whether you have a CO or DO.

The multipliers are locked at a maximum and minimum, and you can play with everything else in between to get the best OC possible with the best bus speed possible. Obviously you understand that the basics of overclocking with a locked chip is to raise the bus speed. Thankfully that's not really a challenge with the stock CPU bus speeds vs the bus speeds available on modern mobos, it makes one wonder why people pay such a premium for an unlocked chip.

I wouldn't use Turbo mode, that is built-in tweaking and you want your tweaking to be clean and all yours.

There isn't much of a difference between the steppings, all i7s are great clockers.

Spoken like a true non core i7 owner! Generally, the DO is a better overclocker, and Turbo does nothing to make an overclock "unclean".

 

[Studabaker]

Yeah but by how much 200MHz? I mean all those chips hit 4GHz, I say that's pretty good.

 

[italianxmna89]

turns out i have a CO.. the s-spec is slbch..

so paulieg, you think i should start off with leaving turbo mode on and having a bclk of 180? then play with the voltages until its stable?

now with regards to ram, i do not have the best ram.. mushkin 6gb ddr3 9-9-9-24...i know with low end ram i should set it to the lower frequency since the bandwith will be increased regardless.

now the cpu pll voltage is the same thing as the cpu uncore voltage right? the dram voltage must be within +/- .5v of this voltage if the dram is going to exceed the 1.65v limit. what sort of voltage recommendations would you give me for my type of ram? even if its going to stay within the .5v of the uncore voltage i still want to be on the safe side and keep it under 1.65.

thanks again for your help

 

[Studabaker]

you need to let us know the speed the ram is rated at, and you have to watch that you're not setting the bus speed to go higher than the ram can support.

as you know i'm an i7 noob, i don't own one, but i've seen em clocked a million times!

 

[italianxmna89]

i have these..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226034

which i believe are the same as..

http://www.mushkin.com/doc/products/memory_detail.asp?id=726

so the ram speed is rated at 1600mhz right? at 1.5-1.6v..

but this is something that needs to be cleared up for me... it says its rated at 1600mhz but the oc page.. (http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=95485)...people have DDR3-1600 ram at less than 800mhz...thats half of what these things are said to be rated at..

 

[Studabaker]

DDR memory is achieved by having the bus speed doubled, so DDR that says 400 is actually running at 800, etc. This is the whole concept of Dual Channel.

 

[italianxmna89]

so because mines triple channel its multiplied by 3? and do you think i would be safe in the 770-790 range? i see one user on that chart that i believe may be running the same ram as i am except hes running it at 9-9-9-27 and has his speed at 799mhz. i mean i do not want to push the limits of my ram and cpu. i want to just open the throttle a little more and cruise at a faster speed..to use an automotive analogy =)

 

[Deleted member 24505]

DDR means dual data rate,it reads/writes on the rise and fall of the clock ticks.It has nothing to do with the dual channel thing,which is 64bit+64bit data bus is faster than single 64bit.

 

[italianxmna89]

ok well i think im ready to start doing some small overclocking..maybe change the bclk to 150 for now then take it from there. are there any big "don'ts" i should be aware of that would cause my computer not to POST?

 

[Studabaker]

DDR means dual data rate,it reads/writes on the rise and fall of the clock ticks.It has nothing to do with the dual channel thing,which is 64bit+64bit data bus is faster than single 64bit.

Right, yes, I don't know why I said Dual Channel there at the end. You can run a single DDR stick after all. But yeah. Hey, excuse the guy who's drunk on father's day

 

[italianxmna89]

what program should i use to stress my core? right now i have it at 150 x 21 (turbo and speedstep on)...so far its stable using intelburn test v2.2 but its only stressing it about 50% according to realtemp v3.00...also..very noob question but does lower cpu voltage = lower cpu temps?

 

[Fleck]

what program should i use to stress my core? right now i have it at 150 x 21 (turbo and speedstep on)...so far its stable using intelburn test v2.2 but its only stressing it about 50% according to realtemp v3.00...also..very noob question but does lower cpu voltage = lower cpu temps?

http://imagepedia.net/datajay/linx.zip

website: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=201670

 

[italianxmna89]

thanks fleck!

 

[italianxmna89]

ok so right now im at 3.36ghz stable...i dont know if you would consider 3 passes with linx stable but i dont foresee my computer running all of my cores at 100% for prolonged periods of time..so i think im at a safe spot for now..

at first i got an error in linx but i increased the dram bus voltage from 1.58 to 1.6 and i got no errors...now my ram is rated at 1.5v - 1.6v but would it be safe to go any further than that? or should i stay within the limits of the ram specs?

using real temp 3.00 and while running linx the max temps i got were 71C, 67C, 67C, and 66C ...too high? also does lowering voltage decrease temps? im idling at 39, 33, 37, 36 which i think are fairly good right?

thanks again

EDIT: i cant seem to oc past a bclk of 160. i tried 170 with 1.29v but i got an immediate bsod..so i tried to lower the memory frequency but that did not help. so..i tried 165..bsod again. so i went back to 160 with 1.24v and it logged in fine but upon running linx i got a bsod. am i missing something? i have the qpi/dram core voltage to auto and the dram bus voltage at 1.6...im thinking i should give the qpi/dram core voltage a set voltage but im not sure where i should start. 1.35v?