I am currently running the following system - i7-930 noctua nh-d14 CPU Cooler GA-X58A-UD3R motherboard 3x2GB Corsair XM3 RAM (timings 9-9-9-24) This is my first venture into overclocking so I need some advice. I have done some research online and used some other templates to get me started. I have overclocked currently to 3.6Ghz and stress tested using Prime95 for 10 hours and 20 passes of Linx and it seems very stable. I have been gaming on it as well with absolutely no problems. Temps in Prime95 were about 60-61C load so I don't want to go to much higher than that. My aim is to reach 4Ghz with minimum voltage/heat. Here are my current settings Advanced CPU Features: CPU Clock Ratio ................................ [21x] Intel(R) Turbo Boost Tech .................. [Enabled] (3.6Ghz) CPU Cores Enabled ............................ [All] CPU Multi Threading .......................... [Enabled] CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E) ................... [Enabled] C3/C6/C7 State Support .................... [Enabled] CPU Thermal Monitor ......................... [Enabled] CPU EIST Function ............................ [Enabled] Virtualization Technology ................... [Enabled] Bi-Directional PROCHOT ..................... [Enabled] Uncore& QPI Features: QPI Link Speed .............................. x36 Uncore Frequency .......................... x20 Isonchronous Frequency ..................[Enabled] Standard Clock Control: Base Clock (BCLK) Control ................ [Enabled] BCLK Frequency (MHz) .....................160 PCI Express Frequency (MHz) ........... [100] C.I.A.2 [Disabled] Advanced Clock Control: CPU Clock Drive ..............................[700mV] PCI Express Clock Drive ................... [700mV] CPU Clock Skew ............................. [0ps] IOH Clock Skew ............................. [0ps] Advanced DRAM Features: Performance Enhance ...................... [Standard] Extreme Memory Profile (X.M.P) ......... [Disabled] System Memory Multiplier (SPD) ........ [10] DRAM Timing Selectable (SPD) .......... [Expert] Channel A + B + C Channel A Timing Settings: ##Channel A Standard Timing Control## CAS Latency Time ......................9 tRCD .......................................9 tRP .........................................9 tRAS .......................................24 ##Channel A Advanced Timing Control tRC ........................................ Auto(27) tRRD .......................................Auto(4) tWTR ...................................... Auto(4) tWR ........................................Auto(8) tWTP .......................................Auto(19) tWL ........................................Auto(7) tRFC .......................................Auto (60) tRTP .......................................Auto(4) tFAW ......................................Auto(20) Command Rate (CMD) ................1 ##Channel A Misc Timing Control## Round Trip Latency ...................Auto(59) Advanced Voltage Control: CPU Load Line Calibration .................[Standard] CPU Vcore ...............................1.23750V (1.20000v) QPI/VTT Voltage 1.150v ............1.175v (1.175v) CPU PLL 1.800v .......................Auto(1.800v) MCH/ICH PCIE 1.500v ...........................Auto(1.500v) QPI PLL 1.100v .......................Auto(1.10v) IOH Core 1.100v .....................Auto(1.10) ICH I/O 1.500v .......................Auto(1.50) ICH Core 1.1v ........................Auto(1.10) DRAM DRAM Voltage 1.500v ..............1.640v DRAM Termination 0.750v [AUTO] Ch-A Data VRef. 0.750v [AUTO] Ch-B Data VRef. 0.750v [AUTO] Ch-C Data VRef. 0.750v [AUTO] Ch-A Address VRef. 0.750v [AUTO] Ch-B Address VRef. 0.750v [AUTO] Ch-C Address VRef. 0.750v [AUTO] Where do I go from here? I want to do it gradually to reach 4Ghz and will carry out regular stress testing. Any advice on what settings to change/tweek? Thanks guys
You say you don't want to go much past 60-61 degrees? If you want to hit 4ghz, you're gonna have to bite the bullet as you'll be very lucky to keep it under 75-80 degrees. 85 shouldn't be frowned on at that speed.
Fair enough mate. I can always downclock it after if I wish to. What do you think my next steps will be?
Okay, first off, take speed step off. Bump the BCLK count to 191 CPU clock drive to 900mv Load line calibration set to it's highest (is that extreme?) CPU Vcore 1.3 QPI/VTT to 1.3 QPI PLL to 1.3 Check the Mem speed at that point; it'll be running out of spec. The QPI link speed will need tweaking, but i can't recall off the top of my head... That'll be around the 4Ghz mark. Check the voltages, these are only rough; you may need more or less.
If the system has issues (not posting/not loading windows/not stable) It'll be the QPI link speed. You want to set the ratio to twice the speed of the memory. Approx. I think.
I dropped vCore and QPI slightly and link speed is just under double my memory speed. Testing stability now with Linx and temps are hovering around 77C. Is this temperature safe?
Yep, that's a brilliant temp. These chips cut out at 100 to prevent damage. Anything below is fair game. Expect to spend the whole bankholiday weekend tweaking now. You sir, have just been bitten by the overclocking bug.
You are spot on there mate. Just at 3.8 Ghz at the moment, and so far, it's stable after 10 passes of linX. My temps are at 70C but I need to reapply the thermal paste as I think I put a tiny bit too much on. Will then gradually reduce voltages to as low as possible. Will be replacing all the fans in my Corsair 650D to Noctua fans as well. As I am now getting into overclocking, it has got me thinking about watercooling. There is no doubt, overclocking is definately a bug.
How do you guys 'gradually' reduce voltage if you have to spend hours running a bench? I mean does the system lock up as soon as too little or too much voltage is used? I'm reluctant to tinker with my settings as I don't want to subtract 0.5 something or other, run a 5 hour stress test, have it fail, try again etc etc etc.
that is generally the only way you can do it safely, once you get to know your system, how good your chip is, your board, cooling etc, it becomes relatively easy I think
my 950 for example, i know that it requires a big voltage jump to hit 4ghz but will sit quite happily at 3.8 on a much lower voltage
My 920 sits pretty at 1.2V for 3.8GHz. My old 930 was an abysmal overclocker and needed 1.45V for 4GHz.
At the risk of getting shouted at, I use IBT (IntelBurn Test). A 5 minute run seems to weed out problems that take hours in Prime. It certainly seems push the CPU more as temperatures to get a little hotter. So even if you used that as a preliminary test, and then sit what you think maybe be a more final setting in Prime for 12 hours you have won a whole lot of time.
At the risk of getting shouted at, the only testing I do is F@H, or if I'm benching, then obviously whatever bench I'm doing at the time. Just OC it, use it, if it crashes, up voltages/reduce speed, have another go. Don't see the point in stressing it for the sake of stressing it.
I'm considering doing my first ever overclock using the same CPU, but I doubt I'll try and reach 4Ghz. Might just see if I can get a nice stable 3.6 and be happy with that.
Would you mind sharing your settings for your oc? Seeing as we have pretty much the same board (P6T vs P6T Deluxe would be the same in this respect?) ? I am running 3.8ghz with cpu voltage of 1.25. Would you say there'd be much temp difference between 1.25 and 1.2V?
Just try reducing the vcore a bit at a time, there are no blanket settings. Everyones setup is different, so just have a play!. I'm running 4.2 @ 1.28v you may need 1.4v to get there, it's far better to just learn your own system.
this! you can get a rough guide from others, but because of the difference between chips, you could have a massive voltage difference to get to say 4Ghz, my 950 needs 1.39v to be stable @4ghz
I suppose if you're a -real- idiot (IE: Me.) : You can use an In-OS Overclocking application to gently step the voltage back, that doesn't always show up voltage deficiencies, however, This thing, while being an AMD, will bench at 1.525, yet refuses to start with anything less that 1.575. So your Mileage will vary between chips, Just experiment and tweak as you go along. It's not hard to work out a knack for it, especially if it's a motherboard you're familiar with.
