I7 Overclocking Info

[jwenham 1]

Ive ordered all my components from New Egg and while I wait for them to get here I have been looking for info on setting up a OC on my new i7 system. I have ordered the 940 and went with 1600 Ram. Here is the link to the info: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2008/11/0...l-core-i7-920/1I thought it was a good read.

[Guest JimBrown]

It is. Had a look at it a few weeks ago.I also ordered all my components recently (Christmas eve, heh. Boxing day sale started then) from NCIX. Went with a 920 on a P6T Deluxe, 6gb Mushkin 7 8 7 20 1600 and a BFG 260 OC Maxcore.Got an email late last night advising that all but one of the parts had shipped. Checked tracking but nothing yet. I suspect that the shipment was too late for yesterday's pickup (UPS) and that it will be picked up tomorrow. So I should see it sometime next week.Only problem is that the RAM is backordered. (Will be shipped when available, no extra charge.) No ETA at the moment. When the rest of the bits get here, and if the RAM is still backordered, I think I'll use the $25 gift card they included to purchase some cheap RAM and have it express shipped so I can at least get the system built and operating. Then sell the RAM when the Mushkin shows up.I'm very anxious to get this system up and running. I'm moving from an ancient (!) P4 3.2 ghz with 2gb ram at 400mhz on a P4P800 Deluxe with a 7600GT.I think I'll notice a bit of a difference. :-)...jim

[jwenham 1]

I know how you feel. I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas! All my parts are scheduled to arrive Monday the 5th except for the CPU Cooler Thermalright 120 extreme which will be here Thursday the 8th. I will probably start building it Friday night after the rug rats go to bed as to not be disturbed. I plan on setting it all up stock and load everything up and Overclock later. Untill then I have been reading all I can about it and I cant wait to get started. Good luck with yours friend! Please post your results.Happy New Year!

[Arklight1 140]

www.hardocp.comThe Definitive site (IMO) for OC'ing.The i7's are a breeze to OC though.

[Guest JimBrown]

Please post your results.Happy New Year!

And a Happy New Year to you too!Will definitely post results once I get 'em. Heh....jim

[jwenham 1]

Arklight,Thanks for the link, best explanation I have seen so far. I have read many others where they go about changing all kinds of other settings and then start having all sorts of stability issues. This shows that it might be advantageous to just keep it simple and let the system adjust itself based on the BCLK alone. Thanks again!

[Arklight1 140]

Arklight,Thanks for the link, best explanation I have seen so far. I have read many others where they go about changing all kinds of other settings and then start having all sorts of stability issues. This shows that it might be advantageous to just keep it simple and let the system adjust itself based on the BCLK alone. Thanks again!

Np!They are very easy to overclock, and with a decent cooler like the Thermalright Ultra120 eXtreme 1366 RT there is a pretty good chance you can go quite far. I had mine at 4.0 ghz without really having to change much of anything in the bios (I even had the voltage set at "Auto"). lol

[Guest D17S]

Entirely agree. Buss speed and CPU volts should be the only adjustments required. Plus, I understand the i7 has a thermal throttle that needs to be deactivated in the bios. Once a FltSim-er gets into those esoteric settings like memory speed/timings and buss voltages any performance improvement in the Flight Simulator's gameplay becomes only argumentative. Additionally, there becomes a Very real chance of permanently damaging equipment. The best strategy is to just leave that to well-healed Ubertweakers. So, a 920 at 3.9Ghz describes a BCK at 3.9/20=195Mhz. It just went there, and Primes?

[Arklight1 140]

Entirely agree. Buss speed and CPU volts should be the only adjustments required. Plus, I understand the i7 has a thermal throttle that needs to be deactivated in the bios. Once a FltSim-er gets into those esoteric settings like memory speed/timings and buss voltages any performance improvement in the Flight Simulator's gameplay becomes only argumentative. Additionally, there becomes a Very real chance of permanently damaging equipment. The best strategy is to just leave that to well-healed Ubertweakers. So, a 920 at 3.9Ghz describes a BCK at 3.9/20=195Mhz. It just went there, and Primes?

As far as any thermal throttling is concerned, I have not had to mess with anything involving that in the Bios. C1E is present but I never disabled it. The only thing I disabled for this OC is the Speedstep which automatically increases the core speed at times. Though, I must admit, leaving it on did not seem to affect stability at all. I have been oc'ing for a long time, but this i7 just hasn't required me to mess with all the little things in the bios. The funny thing is that so far just about everybody I have spoken to has had a similar experience with their i7 920 paired with the Asus P6T Deluxe. I of course went in 5 point increments when messing with the core speed, but yep, 3.9, stable in Prime. I did not even set the voltage on the processor, I just left it at auto and it has been running great. I have since put it back at 3.6 ghz because I did not really see that much of a performance increase over 3.9 or 4.0 ghz (more than likely due to my single GTX 280 bottlenecking my processor). It also helps that my wife keeps our thermastat set at 68 degrees. lolKeep in mind though that I also did have to change my ram divider, but that is hardly an issue since the ram jumps right up when oc'ing anyways. Other than that, my DRAM voltage is locked at 1.50v.

[Guest D17S]

It would be interesting to see what Vcore the bios autoset. If you can get a trial copy of Everest, their 'system stress' screen runs a realtime Vcore and coretemp graphic. Also check the clocks with CPUZ to make sure the O/C is actually occurring. It sounds odd that Otto would be able to autoramp Vcore enough to sustain 3.9Ghz. But hey, mobo mfgs are getting better at this all the time. Regardless, your point remains well taken. Ubertweaking all kinds of bios settings is not necessary to get the goods. Also, FS is strictly CPU limited once a user has an 8800GT or above. A 280 is way beyond what FS can use and will not limit the sim's CPU based performance. In the P35 bios, Speedstep and C1E are functions that - Decrease - the multiplier when the system is under low-load, then restore the preset multiplier when a load is presented. For instance, I use Speedstep with my Q6600 to reduce my multiplier to 6X under low-load, then back to the full 9X under load. At a 400Mhz FSB, this runs a low-load CPU clock of 6x400=2.4Ghz and a loaded 9x400=3.6Ghz. That might be a strategy for an i7/920 too with its standard 20x multi. That might let a user run at a lower CPU clock for regular stuff, then upClock for FSimin'. 300Mhz of i7 goodness is a terrible thing waste.

[Arklight1 140]

It would be interesting to see what Vcore the bios autoset. If you can get a trial copy of Everest, their 'system stress' screen runs a realtime Vcore and coretemp graphic. Also check the clocks with CPUZ to make sure the O/C is actually occurring. It sounds odd that Otto would be able to autoramp Vcore enough to sustain 3.9Ghz. But hey, mobo mfgs are getting better at this all the time. Regardless, your point remains well taken. Ubertweaking all kinds of bios settings is not necessary to get the goods. Also, FS is strictly CPU limited once a user has an 8800GT or above. A 280 is way beyond what FS can use and will not limit the sim's CPU based performance. In the P35 bios, Speedstep and C1E are functions that - Decrease - the multiplier when the system is under low-load, then restore the preset multiplier when a load is presented. For instance, I use Speedstep with my Q6600 to reduce my multiplier to 6X under low-load, then back to the full 9X under load. At a 400Mhz FSB, this runs a low-load CPU clock of 6x400=2.4Ghz and a loaded 9x400=3.6Ghz. That might be a strategy for an i7/920 too with its standard 20x multi. That might let a user run at a lower CPU clock for regular stuff, then upClock for FSimin'. 300Mhz of i7 goodness is a terrible thing waste.

My apologies, I called it Speedstep, but it is the Turbo function in the bios that I leave off. The actual name escapes me since I do not use it. Just testing different settings, at 3.6 ghz with Prime95 going for a while, the Vcore sets itself at 1.27v.Normally I would agree with your assessment of the graphics card being somewhat limited in FSX, however, I play at 2560x1600 with 4xFSAA and 16xAF so a GTX 280 is one of my only options (in fact, right now, it is my only option since a 4870X2 provides sub-par performance in FSX). A GTX 260 would be "ok", but would begin to take a dive when I started running FSAA/AF in some of the games I play. Besides, I got my GTX 280 SSC for $369 at Newegg during the holidays. :) If I don't end up using the Evga Step-Up program for a GTX 295, I might pick up another GTX 280 SSC. FSX seems to support SLI and yield some good results at this resolution, not to mention, a single GTX 280 bottlenecks my i7. The Core i7s whe used with SLI seem to scale very well so I will see how that goes when the time comes.

[McCrash 3]

Ive ordered all my components from New Egg and while I wait for them to get here I have been looking for info on setting up a OC on my new i7 system. I have ordered the 940 and went with 1600 Ram. Here is the link to the info: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2008/11/0...l-core-i7-920/1I thought it was a good read.

Your avatar is the funniest one I have ever seen! lolol

[Guest simjunkie]

Don't underestimate what fast DDR3 will do for graphics in FSX. Run on no less than 6Gb DDR3 1600, CAS8. No need to increase vDIMM beyond 1.64v or QPI beyond 1.35v. Fast DDR3 plus i7 @ 4+GHz will get you your money's worth in FSX. -jk

[Guest Alphahawk3]

Don't underestimate what fast DDR3 will do for graphics in FSX. Run on no less than 6Gb DDR3 1600, CAS8. No need to increase vDIMM beyond 1.64v or QPI beyond 1.35v. Fast DDR3 plus i7 @ 4+GHz will get you your money's worth in FSX. -jk

I am at 3.4ghz right now with the 920 working at 1600 DDR3....my cooler will not let me go to 4ghz....will I see much difference if I go to 4ghz and what cooler would you recommend? Here is the one I use. It just can't move enough air.http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16835106124 Regards

[jwenham 1]

I am at 3.4ghz right now with the 920 working at 1600 DDR3....my cooler will not let me go to 4ghz....will I see much difference if I go to 4ghz and what cooler would you recommend? Here is the one I use. It just can't move enough air.http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16835106124 Regards

This is what I went with http://www.quietpcusa.com/Thermalright-Ult...er-P507C61.aspxI read one one review that it performed running the CPU @ 100% load only 3 deg c hotter than a water block setup.