Xross Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 After a period of letting the system 'burn-in' it was time to start the tweaking. OS = Vista Ultimate 64 Bit This is the entry level i7 processor (920) with a stock clock rate of 2.67 Ghz. It is still $700+ USD less expensive than the 'Extreme' version (965) which has a clock rate of 3.2 Ghz. So can an entry level processor run with the top of the line 'Extreme' version...on air? See for yourself: Note core speed of 3.6 Ghz at a Vcore of 1.312v (I just reduced this voltage and it's still rock steady...and cooler). As the core, uncore, QPI and Memory multipliers are 'locked' in the upward direction on a 'non-Extreme' processor a bit of basic math is necessary to keep the other paths happy. Here's the memory speed (720x2= 1,440 Mhz) with 12GB of DDR3 on board: Using core temp to monitor things (true temps) while extreme stress testing (Prime95 Blend Test x 8): These temps are well within reason for these speeds and extreme stress testing (note 4 cores (8 threads)) at 100% for an hour and a half. They are well below Tj Max so even with thermal throttling enabled it would not need to protect the processor at these modest temps. Only reason the test was stopped was to protect the system from a passing thunderstorm. More later but I'm more than convinced there's not enough 'head room' in an 'Extreme' processor to warrant the ridiculous price point and more than enough head room in an entry level processor to leave the extreme in it's dust. As always, do not overclock what you don't understand and can't tolerate replacing. I am intentionally pushing these things around fully accepting the risks (mitigated by research, methodology and quality components) to find a modest overclock for daily use. Summary: Stock Clock Rate = 2666 Mhz New Clock Rate = 3600 Mhz ----------------------------------- 3600-2666= 934/2666*100= 35% Overclock from stock Compared to Extreme 965: 920 at 3600 965 at 3200 ------------------ 3600-3200= 400/3200*100= 12.5% Performance Gain over Extreme Processor (and $700+ cheaper). Next stop 4 Ghz on air? (50% Overclock) We'll see... Your mileage may vary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
custard~SPARTA~ Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 To think I worry if my C2D E6600 goes over 45c you're pushing yours too 75c (I know thats for testing) what temp are you going to accept as ok for general gaming? The reason I ask is if I clock my CPU to 3Ghz it starts to shove out so much heat this has a nock on effect that my case cannot get rid of the heat without all the fans running at 100% (this is too noist for me) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xross Posted April 24, 2009 Author Share Posted April 24, 2009 Custard just a follow up to our chat this is quite risky stuff and I can't in good conscience recommend it. The impact to MTBF is impossible to calculate but heat and electronics have never played well together. Things will fail anyway but if it fails while it's overclocked what gets the blame? I had an E6600 that I lapped and it overclocked to 3200 Mhz quite easily on an EVGA board (and would have gone much higher) but both it and a Q6600 were extremely finicky with lots of 'holes' on an ASUS platform. So I went with EVGA for this and other unrelated reasons but ultimately the build quality does not compare to ASUS. Both catastrophic failures I've had (very modest OCs/temps) came from losing EVGA MoBos. They have a great community and BIOS like butter but the hardware quality was lacking. To answer your question final gaming temps are still TBD. If I had to guess I'd say low/mid 50s for extreme gaming and only on the core(s) involved at max settings. This is a high estimate for safety. You really can not compare the two architectures (65nm C2D and 45nm i7) in terms of temperature or much of anything else. This is still very early in the process for me and I've got plenty to learn. Right now the GPU concerns me more than anything with idle temps approaching the stress test temps on the CPU. Still considering a single loop w/c setup for the GPU as it's such a blast furnace. Peace, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xross Posted May 17, 2009 Author Share Posted May 17, 2009 Moving slowly due to concern over MTBF I've made a small incremental adjustment while continuing to lower voltages.. The current results. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The Stress Test (4 cores x 8 threads): The Load on CPU - 100% The Temps at Stress Load after app. 2 hours (Lower Voltage / Higher Clock Rate) CPU-Z Stats (Higher Clock Rate/QPI Link @ Lower Voltage) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xross Posted May 19, 2009 Author Share Posted May 19, 2009 Well there you have it 50% OC.... 4 Ghz on Air!! 50% OC - 4000-2667=1333. 1333/2667x100=50% Also 25% faster than an 'extreme' 965 - (4000-3200=800. 800/3200x100=25%) Note core voltage lower than 3600 Mhz setup which was 1.312v. 1600 Mhz (800x2) on 12GB of DDR3 Temps while running Prime95 Blend Test - 4 Cores/8 Threads - Lots of tuning got the temps down to the range 3600 Mhz was running as well at lower voltages. Thermal throttling was disabled for all testing. I doubt I try going beyond this and will dial it back for a daily o/c but it's nice to know that it's not only possible but very stable with room to spare on these new processors. Extreme processors are fine but are really just 'binned' (we used to call it 'test select') parts. With the additional multipliers in play on the i7's it would be nice to have access to them but certainly not worth the current price of admission. 4 Ghz on Air!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
custard~SPARTA~ Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 Good job, thanks for road testing my upgrade path ta mate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xross Posted May 20, 2009 Author Share Posted May 20, 2009 Good job, thanks for road testing my upgrade path ta mate lol np bud, I live to serve... I did dial the CPU speed back to 3800 Mhz by reducing it's multiplier to 19. As mentioned the multipliers are only locked upward on the non-extremes (was true w/C2D also) This has the benefit of keeping the QPI and Memory speeds high while taking a bit of stress off the CPU and lowering it's voltage. This will probably be my daily driver and it is quite quick and responsive. I'm reworking the HDDs now in anticipation of dual booting Vista 64 and Windows 7 at some point. Then it will be brought on-line in the main console and this rig goes off for a refurb....always somethin' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xross Posted June 20, 2009 Author Share Posted June 20, 2009 Decided against the dual boot setup for now. After much procrastination (and against my better judgement) I opted to go with Vista Ultimate x64 which I already had a copy of on hand. Dual booting in my experience is a major pain in the back side as you're constantly trying to keep two environments set up properly and to your liking. So for better or worse I'll ride the Vista parade for a while and let Windows 7 gel a bit. May be a big mistake but I had to commit to something and with SP2 out I'm comfortable with it for now and I hope all of my apps/widgets will work...fingers crossed. Night Shot (Please excuse the poor focus..shutter speed was very slow): (V10 Cooler spans nearly the entire width of the mobo; the red lights are on the down draft portion for cooling the RAM) (Extra spot fan in foreground added to aid cooling the GPU) Not a very good pic (looks better in the flesh) but about as good as I could do sans tripod...shows the general look. The End....? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MedicSN6 Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 WOOHOO!! STABLE IS ABLE!!! Nice, pic. How about some daylight shots of the riggins? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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