This is my first attempt at overclocking my i7 950 and would like some inpute as to whether there are any changes that might improve my temps or performance without increasing the CPU FREQ. i am at now. I am not looking to sqeeze the last drop of performance by ocing to the limit, but just get a bit more with a stable set up so i chose 3680mhz. Here are my settings without showing every line in my bios, so if i missed out something important i can provide:TARGET FREQ..................................3680MHZTARGET DRAM FREQ......................1604MHZBCLK..................................................160CPU MULTI........................................23QPI LINK DATA RATE........................AUTOCPU V.................................................1.2CPU PLL V..........................................1.8QPI/DRAM CORE V............................1.3DRAM BUS V......................................1.5IOH V...................................................1.35IOH PCIE V..........................................1.5ICH V....................................................1.11ICH PCIE V...........................................1.51CPU SPREAD SPECTRUM..................DISAB.PCIE SPREAD SPECTRUM.................DISAB.CIE SUP................................................DISAB.HARDWARE PREFETCHER................ENAB.SPEED STEP........................................DISAB.C STATE................................................DISAB.HT...........................................................DISAB.Timing manual settings 9-9-9-24-2NMy rig is :Coolermaster CM STORM SNIPER mid t.OS: windows 7 pro 64bit.Motherboard: Asus Rampage iii Extreme CPU: i7 950Ram: G Skill F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ (1600Mhz)Timing: 9-9-9-24PSU: Coolermaster Silent Pro 1000wHard Drive 1: W.D. CAV. BLACK 1TB (7200rpm) - O/SHard Drive 2: W.D. CAV. BLACK 1TB (7200rpm) - FSXVid. Cards: EVGA GTX460 1024MB (X2 SLI enabled)Following the advice of Alainneedle1, i have purchased and installed a Noctua NH-D14 (Very good advise) and so far have done a prelim. test for 3HRS with Prime95 and passed with temps. at max 64deg. C at an ambient of 75deg. F (24deg. C)1) Are these temps o.k. ? If not where should i be2) Are there any settings that are off?3) I was thinking of dropping my BCLK to 159 so that my DRAM FREQ. is under 1600mhz (the actual rating of my ram) as i have read that even a few mhz over rating can cause problems such as lock-ups etc. Any opinions on this?Thanks in advance,

Hey Rick! been playing, eh? I've moved to the i72600K now, but as a quick comparison - here's my last set with the 950, and as you can see it has plenty of room.. I mostly ran 4.2 on air with the Muggen II air cooler, push-pull fans, eventually going to water for the 4.4. I wasn't able to hit 4.5 (not liking to go over 80). Your temps are fine.4.200 GHz-------CPU: i7-950ASUS P6TRAM: Corsair Dominator DDR3 6GB C8--------Ai Overclock Tuner - ManualCPU Ratio Setting - 21Intel ® SpeedStep Tech - DisabledBCLK Frequency - 200PCIE Fequency - 100DRAM Frequency DDR3 - 1603 DRAM CAS# Latency - 8 DRAM ClockDRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay - 8 DRAM ClockDRAM RAS# PRE Time - 8 DRAM ClockDRAM RAS# ACT Time - 24 DRAM ClockCPU Voltage 1.33125vCPU PLL Voltage - 1.86vQPI/DRAM Core Voltage - 1.33125IOH Voltage - 1.12IOH PCIE Voltage - 1.5ICH Voltage - 1.2ICH Voltage - 1.5DRAM Bus Voltage - 1.64v (1.66 is ok)DRAM DATA REF Voltage on all - AutoLoad-Line Calibration - EnabledCPU Differential Amplitude - 800CPU Clock Skew - 100CPU Spread Spectrum - DisabledIOH Clock Skew - 100PCIE Spread Spectrum - DisabledAdvanced:C1E - DisabledHardware Prefetch - EnabledAdj. Cache Prefetch - EnabledMPS/ACPI MADT ordeg. - ModVirtual. Tech. - DisabledTM Function - EnabledExecute bit - EnabledHT - DisabledActive cores - AllA20M - DisabledSS - DisabledC-State - Disabled**************************************************************4.4485 GHz-------CPU: i7 950ASUS P6TRAM: Corsair Dominator DDR3 6GB C8--------Ai Overclock Tuner - ManualCPU Ratio Setting - 21Intel ® SpeedStep Tech - DisabledBCLK Frequency - 212PCIE Fequency - 100DRAM Frequency - 1699UCLCK Frequency - 3595QPI link data rate - 7615DRAM CAS# Latency - 8 DRAM ClockDRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay - 8 DRAM ClockDRAM RAS# PRE Time - 8 DRAM ClockDRAM RAS# ACT Time - 24 DRAM ClockCPU Voltage 1.4312vCPU PLL Voltage - 1.92vQPI/DRAM Core Voltage - 1.4250IOH Voltage - 1.18IOH PCIE Voltage - 1.5ICH Voltage - 1.2ICH Voltage - 1.5DRAM Bus Voltage - 1.66vDRAM DATA REF Voltage on all - AutoLoad-Line Calibration - EnabledCPU Differential Amplitude - 900CPU Clock Skew - 100CPU Spread Spectrum - DisabledIOH Clock Skew - 100PCIE Spread Spectrum - DisabledAdvanced:C1E - DisabledHardware Prefetch - EnabledAdj. Cache Prefetch - EnabledMPS/ACPI MADT ordeg. - ModVirtual. Tech. - DisabledTM Function - EnabledExecute bit - EnabledHT - DisabledActive cores - AllA20M - DisabledSS - DisabledC-State - DisabledWin 7-64 bit.

Keep your IOH and ICH core voltage under 1.2v always (1.2v max).You can run your rams over their manuf. speed if they are stable, mine are 2000MHz and they run at 2010MHz right now (that's nothing as far as rams overclocking).Temps are good at full load, what are they at idle?Keep CPU PLL at 1.8v.If you try higher overclock find a formula (BCLK + multiplier) to keep your rams at 1600MHz.So far so good, you can always try to lower your CPU core voltage and test again until you fail and raise it back until you pass the stress test.Remember that passing a stress test does not mean stability for FSX, you have to run FSX and see (2 hours without problems).Good luck.

Hey guys. Thanks for your replies. Thats really pushing the envolope PJ. Don't know if i have the courage to try those levels just yet. Would love to tinker with the new generation cpus, but just can't justify so soon after my present rig.Alain, i set my IOH voltage at 1.35 because i read that more voltage is required if you have two video cards. What's your view?My idle temps are 39 - 42 deg. C.Many thanks for your input. Regards,

Hey guys. Thanks for your replies. Thats really pushing the envolope PJ. Don't know if i have the courage to try those levels just yet. Would love to tinker with the new generation cpus, but just can't justify so soon after my present rig.Alain, i set my IOH voltage at 1.35 because i read that more voltage is required if you have two video cards. What's your view?My idle temps are 39 - 42 deg. C.Many thanks for your input. Regards,

IOH Vcore, NB Vcore IOH Vcore sets the voltage for the on-chip north bridge which connects PCIE2.0, GPU, Memory, and CPU.Raise IOH VCore if:Possibly needed if you overclock your north bridge (via BCLKand CPU UnCore freq.) =====You can lower it and test for stability, if good at 1.2v keep it there if not keep it at 1.35v.Your idle temp look a little high...do you have a well ventilated case? Here are mine with a 6 core at 4.50GHz

Your idle temp look a little high...do you have a well ventilated case? I have a 120mm pulling out of the rear and a 200mm at the top directly over top of my NH-D14 with another 200mm on the side about an inch from the top of the NH-D14. blowing onto it.Can i assume that my thermal paste is applied correctly if my 100% load temps are ok? Because i don't want to get into reseating my cooler if not needed.

Your idle temp look a little high...do you have a well ventilated case? I have a 120mm pulling out of the rear and a 200mm at the top directly over top of my NH-D14 with another 200mm on the side about an inch from the top of the NH-D14. blowing onto it.Can i assume that my thermal paste is applied correctly if my 100% load temps are ok? Because i don't want to get into reseating my cooler if not needed.

Your load temp are OK, that's what's important, anything under 74C is good.Can you show a pic. of your PC, I would like to see the inside?

Your load temp are OK, that's what's important, anything under 74C is good.Can you show a pic. of your PC, I would like to see the inside?

Here you go. http://i56.tinypic.com/2lnitk4.jpg