Help on Overclocking Core i7-950

[bonozz]

Hello Guys

I need to overclock my core i7-950 as this is my first time for overclocking and i don't want to do any mistake or fry my CPU (Beginner overclocking):

Specs:

CPU : Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor BX80601950

MotherBoard : GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

RAM : Patriot Gamer Series 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model PGS36G1600ELK

HDD : Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

CASE : COOLER MASTER HAF 932 Black RC-932-KWN3 Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case with Side window

PSU : CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-850HX 850W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

CPU Cooler: CORSAIR Hydro H70

[wevsspot]

How much of an overclock are you looking for? 3.60Ghz is easy. Above that may require a little more tweaking. Let us know.

[GabrielT]

Well first make sure you unlock the base clock control feature or whatever your BIOS calls it. You have a x23 multiplier so what you will want to do is set the frequency above 130mhz. A Bclock frequency of 148 should bring you to 3.4GHz. When you do this you will increase your ram speed relative to the memory clock multiplier. You will want to lower this multiplier to so you do not run into trouble overclocking your ram. You want to do one at a time to find your stability.

 

Remember to turn off turbo and power saving functions. They can mess with stability.

You should be able to hit at least 3.4 GHz on stock voltages but you may need a slight increase. Keep on overclocking up from that point and testing for stability with intel burn test for quick stability input.

 

If you get to a point of instability add a touch of vCore voltage until stable and continue on if you like. You have a nice cooler but 1.4v is probably going to be your maximum vCore voltage simply because of heat.

 

After you have reached a point at which your processor takes more and more voltage to become stable pick a speed where you are comfortable with the vCore need and the voltage to the processor and start stress testing. OCCT, LinX, prime95 are good stability testers.

 

Feel free to ask about anything else. This chip should be able to get near or above 4GHz but every chip is different.

Edited December 1, 2010 by gabrieltessin

[MercuryDoun]

This post helped me alot overclocking my i7-930... you can still mostly follow it, but you will get to use the x23 Mutli instead of 21. So enjoy that benefit. This guide is for i7 920/930 so you cant follow it word for word. But you should get you started in the right direction.

[El_Capitan]

4.37GHz is a piece of cake (23 x 190) at 1.3875v.

 

There are two ways to get to 4.6GHz (though even with water cooling, temps get to the mid to high 80's during stress tests):

1. Use the 21x multiplier with higher memory voltage (around 1.48v for CPU voltage and 1.68v or a little higher for memory) with a BCLK of 220.

2. Use the 23x multiplier with higher cpu voltage (around 1.51v for CPU voltage and 1.65v for memory) with a BCLK of 200.

[Drunkdrive]

4.37GHz is a piece of cake (23 x 190) at 1.3875v.

 

Very much agree. i7 are very good at overclocking. Thats a thumbs up

[bonozz]

Sorry Guys for late reply but i had to RMA my GTX 580 and my Rig wasn't usable as my motherboard doesn't have built-in VGA so i just bought cheap Geforce 210 so i can work until my GTX 580 comes.

anyway i just used Gigabyte motherboard Smart6 -Smart QuickBoost - utility and choosed Turbo boost which overclocked my Core i7-950 to 3.6 GHZ (Bclock 150 x multiplier 24) =3600 MHZ with QPI of 2700 MHZ and core Voltage of 1.28 V and i ran Prime95 for 1.5 hour without any error.

So can you guys give me suggestions about this overclock interms of ( frequency, QPI, memory frequency, CPU voltage (i think it quiet high 1.28 V) , temperatures, should i go for higher overclocking?

 

 

CPU and RAM before Overclocking:

 

CPU and RAM after Overclocking:

 

Temperature after overclocking (Load and Idle)

[MercuryDoun]

Yeah that thing is over volting the piss outta your CPU. 1.28v is what i use to get 4.2Ghz on my i7-930... Auto OC features really do over volt alot of things. Here is what id recommend for you to get 3.6:

 

bclk = 157

multi = x23

Set your ram to whatever you can to be closest to stock settings, but lower(play with OC'in ram AFTER CPU is stable)

UCLK = 2x ram speed... if your ram is at 1200mhz... uclk needs to be 2400... 1600 = 3200

For now set your QPI to the lowest number amount you can, for my i7-930 @ 3.6Ghz it's around 6k MT/s.(sorry dont remember exact, this is again a setting you can raise once your CPU is stable)

You'll want to manually set your voltage at say... 1.2v for now... you can spend time lowering the voltage afterwards. My i7 hits 3.6Ghz at only 1.11875v, but every chip is different so might as well set it higher than what you need to get your initial OC going, then decide if you want to either raise the bclk to OC higher, or lower to voltage to make your 3.6Ghz OC as cool as possible(this will extend the life of the CPU)

CPU PLL = 1.88

QPI voltage = 1.275(might be able to go lower depending on your ram, but with my ram running at 1724mhz and 6-8-6-20 when its at 3.6Ghz i had to up the QPI voltage)

IOH = 1.1v

ICH = 1.2v

RAM voltage = Whatever rated voltage your ram is, probably 1.65v

Now these settings are a general outlay of what i use with my i7-930 at 3.6Ghz... so you obviously have wiggle room to adjust, but see if you cant boot with this and run prime95 for about an hour or two. If it passes, start experimenting, either lowering the vcore, or raising the bclk.

[Cify]

Hi, don't mean to hijack the thread but I have the exact same mo/cpu combo as the OP and didn't want to start a new thread. I am having troubles getting stable beyond 4ghz even with a vcore up to 1.45.

I've read some tutorials but this is my 1st attempt at overclocking. Is it just possible my chip wont be stable past that?

 

CPU : Intel Core i7-950

MotherBoard : GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366

RAM : DDR3 6GB (3X2GB) CL9 1600MHz PATRIOT

SSD : 120 GB PATRIOT INFERNO

HD : 1 TB HITACHI 7200

CASE : Antec 300

PSU : 620W Enermax Liberty

CPU COOLER : Megahalems Rev B

 

I'd like to get 4.2 of 4.4 just to see what my cooler can handle.

 

Current Settings

 

 

Any suggestions would be great I'm still not quite sure if i have all the ratios out in the bios.

[MercuryDoun]

Hi, don't mean to hijack the thread but I have the exact same mo/cpu combo as the OP and didn't want to start a new thread. I am having troubles getting stable beyond 4ghz even with a vcore up to 1.45.

I've read some tutorials but this is my 1st attempt at overclocking. Is it just possible my chip wont be stable past that?

 

CPU : Intel Core i7-950

MotherBoard : GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366

RAM : DDR3 6GB (3X2GB) CL9 1600MHz PATRIOT

SSD : 120 GB PATRIOT INFERNO

HD : 1 TB HITACHI 7200

CASE : Antec 300

PSU : 620W Enermax Liberty

CPU COOLER : Megahalems Rev B

 

I'd like to get 4.2 of 4.4 just to see what my cooler can handle.

 

Current Settings

 

 

Any suggestions would be great I'm still not quite sure if i have all the ratios out in the bios.

 

 

Please post your BIO's Settings, ill help you figure it you. But i need to know what you lacking. There is likely some setting or voltage or something that you missed. Happens all the time. But i CPU-z doesnt give any if the actual information that i need to help you.

 

 

[Cify]

Please post your BIO's Settings, ill help you figure it you. But i need to know what you lacking. There is likely some setting or voltage or something that you missed. Happens all the time. But i CPU-z doesnt give any if the actual information that i need to help you.

 

Thanks for your help here are my bios settings.

 

CPU Clock Ratio 24x

QPI clock ratio auto

Uncore clock ratio auto

Base clock 166

memory multi 8x

Turbo boost on

eist on

QPI clock ratio auto (can be 36x +)

Uncore clock ratio auto (can be 12x +)

dram timings auto

Load-line calibration standard

cpu vcore 1.35

qpi/vtt voltage 1.175

cpu pll 1.8

 

i think that's all the settings that are involved need anything else?

Edited December 11, 2010 by Cify

[bonozz]

Thanks for your help here are my bios settings.

 

CPU Clock Ratio 24x

QPI clock ratio auto

Uncore clock ratio auto

Base clock 166

memory multi 8x

Turbo boost on

eist on

QPI clock ratio auto (can be 36x +)

Uncore clock ratio auto (can be 12x +)

dram timings auto

Load-line calibration standard

cpu vcore 1.35

qpi/vtt voltage 1.175

cpu pll 1.8

 

i think that's all the settings that are involved need anything else?

 

 

IT IS FINE MAN, i will try these settings on my Motherboard and see if i can get stable overclocking on 4GHZ