Overclocking I7 950

S

shaun671

New Member
So I finally got a good cooling system installed (h50 + push/pull Antec tri-cools) and a few more case fans and i'm looking to start OCing my CPU. Ide like to hit 4-4.2ghz from the stock 3.06, which shouldn't be too much of a problem seeing how a lot of people have hit this pretty easily. My questions is do I need to touch anything regarding the memory? Like the divider or frequency. From what I know I just increase the fsb in increments and reboot the system and this should automatically adjust the memory settings without me touching it. Is it a problem that the memory will be running faster than its rated?

I did a test OC yesterday and I was able to get it to 3.5ghz and the system booted fine but as I tried to hit 3.6ghz the system wouldn't boot and when the startup prompt appeared it said the the overclock failed and gave me the option to reboot using the default settings. Does this mean I need to increase my voltage? And if so how much do I increase it by?

My specs are in my sig.

Also, for anyone looking to upgrade their cpu cooler I highly recommend an h50/tri-cool fan setup. On the stock h50 fan using a cheapo thermaltake fan as a push fan and the stock corsair one as a pull an hour of prime95 pushed me up to 85*c.....now with the new fans and 5 HOURS OF PRIME95 it didnt even get over 60*c....amazing improvement
 
Crap now the computer wont get passed the initial start up. It goes through the BIOS prompt and everything then gets stuck right before booting windows and just sits there with the cursor flashing. Any ideas?
 
I was able to get the system running again. The changes in the BIOS accidentally changed my primary boot drive so I got it fixed. Now, I still have a problem with going over 3.6ghz. When I hit 3.5 I checked and the vcore was automatically adjusted for me, so I think my mobo already does it automatically.

Again, so I need to change anything regarding the memory frequency? Or should I not worry when it says the target frequency is like 1900mhz instead of the regular 1600 its supposed to be at?
 
Overclocking is all about doing it manually. you don't want something doing it for you. manually set your voltage for the CPU, as well as timings, speed and voltage for your RAM.

If it's unstable, increase voltage.
 
I'll post some BIOS settings when I get back from work today. I think the only difference in our setups is the RAM. Did you have to enter your timings manually to get the RAM to run at 1600?
 
Yea I saw your sig our setups are practically identical. I had to manually set the timings and speed of the memory, the mobo automatically underclocked it
 
Quick question why are you looking at such a high overclock for your machine when every program on the market will run perfectly fine on it on stock clocks and will do for a long while yet. And on a brand new chip aswell :confused:
 
Mostly for benchmarks and I just pretty much like to squeeze what I can get out of any system. Plus crysis on very high settings on the stock clock still runs a little choppy, I want to see if the OC will increase the fps.

I know not many programs out there wont even utilize the stock clock and quad cores but I usually do it just for personal preference. Im sure more than half the people on this forum are OC'd and dont really need to be, just something we do to get more performance/dollar
 
Are you sure the choppyness in crysis is related to the processor i have a 930 on stock clocks (never been off them) and crysis runs absolutely fine on max settings. Most of the time frame rate related issues are related to the gpu or ram try looking at them nice system though man.
 
Thanks, no im not 100% sure if its due to the cpu bottlenecking but from what I heard crysis is very CPU instensive so I figured an OC should help it somewhat. Might be by graphics card im trying to run it on 1920x1080 on max settings and although the gtx460 is a beast in itself it seems like crysis might be its kryptonite haha

thanks for the complement though man, did a lot of research before purchasing the system. Figured if im gonna build a system from ground up i might as well try and do it right.
 
Hsv_Man said:
Quick question why are you looking at such a high overclock for your machine when every program on the market will run perfectly fine on it on stock clocks and will do for a long while yet. And on a brand new chip as well :confused:
Click to expand...

Why wouldn't he?! :P Personally, I overclock to see significant increase of performance when I play games as well as seeing how far I can push my system. I've seen my 3DMark06 score go from around 13,584 marks to now 20,317 marks and that's from a 2.8 GHz stock speed with no overclocks on any components to a 3.8 GHz speed with memory at 1833 MHz stable and my GPU core clocks increased a smidge. I think it's rewarding to see the outcome :)

Computers are just like sports cars: people who don't know how to tune or build just buy overpriced Alienware or Dell XPS systems and call it good whereas the majority of us here enjoy taking the time to build the system and then tune it for maximum performance. It's simply more gratifying to see a $1,400 build blow the crap out of a $2,000+ system, simply by tuning and carefully choosing the right parts that compliment each other.

No offense to any of you who have invested in Alienware or Dell XPS, or any other high-end computer build from a manufacturer.
 
OK, to OC to 4.2. (Settings not mentioned are default values.)

Overclock Tuner - Manual
CPU Ratio - 21
SpeedStep - Disabled
BCLK Freq. - 200
DRAM Freq. - 1600
DRAM Timing - (Your Settings, 7-8-7-24 I Think)
Timing Mode - 2N
CPU Voltage - 1.325 (Go up a little if needed, I personally won't go above 1.375 or so)
Load Line Calibration - Enabled

Under Advanced Settings - CPU Configuration - Intel HT Tech - Disabled

Mine is very stable at 4.2 with these settings.

Now, I personally wouldn't game at these settings. I only run benchmarks and limit them to 10-15 minutes. Main thing to watch is heat, but I think your cooler is adequate.
For gaming, I'd run it around 3.6. A compromise - Significantly faster than stock, but not overly stressing the CPU with heat or voltage.

Let me know how it works on your setup. :)
 
Ahhh finally got it to reboot at 4ghz...problem was I was upping the blck and not downclocking my ram frequency so I was trying to run it at like 2000mhz. Right now settings are:

Vcore: 1.24V
Blck: 175
Multiplier: x23
Dram Frequency: 1750Mhz
Timing: 7-8-7-24

Is it necessary (or beneficial) to adjust the Speed Step, Timing Mode, Load Line Calibration, and disable HT?

*edit* Should be monitoring the core temps? Or the CPU temps in Speedfan? Realtemp/Speedfan shows the cores around 85*c but the CPU temp says 72*c. Which is true? This is with about 30 mins of Prime95 running right now, not idle
 
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I'm surprised you got a post with the RAM so high. I keep around 1600 or below. If your Vcore voltage is set manually, 1.24 probably isn't enough for loaded stability. I think by specifying a multiplier you effectively disable speedstep anyway. Load Line Calibration will keep Vcore more constant (minimize Vdroop) (Personal preference). Disabling HT technology helps keep temps down.

You need a little something to run to assess stability. I sometimes use Cinebench for a quick check, a lot easier on the system than Prime95.
 
I'll check out Cinebench. I was just reading on other forums and it seems like some people were able to get stability at 1.25 Vcore and since Prime95's been running fine for going on an hour i'll try to keep it where it is and if it becomes unstable i'll bring it up a little.

Are the temps okay to be bouncing around 80*-87*c for the cores?
 
That's a little warm for my conservative tastes. That's the reason I don't use Prime 95 with a high overclock. No point in subjecting the silicone to those temps when no normal program you run will come close to that load. I stay under 80C - Preferably under 70C, (again, personal preference)
 
Hmm awesome I moved my tower out of the corner under the desk and the temps dropped 10*c lol now its stable around mid 70*c haha. Prime for about 2 hours now.
 
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