GrogMon88 Posted August 11, 2011 Posted August 11, 2011 (edited) I've been looking around online for some tips and suggestions on possibly overclocking my computer, but I know doing so can be... disastrous in the wrong hands. I want to be careful because this is my first personally made gaming PC and a very hefty investment! If anyone has suggestions on settings or perhaps programs to help me monitor or tweak my bios to get some added performance, I would appreciate whatever is offered. I'm really interested if there is a popular community used desktop monitoring program to display temps for system hardware? I'm new to all of this, so I won't be offended at all if you talk to me like I know nothing of the matter... there is a good chance I don't. This will be a good learning experience and hopefully I'll be able to pay it forward someday. ****Below is a target cpu speed and ram speed I was shooting for**** If you think you have some suggestions for better heat management and/or performance feel free to comment ______________________________________________________________________ Picture of Rig Included Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit Inside: ASUS Sabertooth x58 Intel Core i7-950 LGA1366 G.SKILL Ripjaws PC3-12800 3x4GB ( F3-12800CL9T-12GBRL) Corsair CMPSU-850TX X2 Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 1 GB GDDR5 Western Digital Caviar 1TB Cooling: Cooler Master HAF ATX Mid Tower Case + Added Intake 200x30mm CoolerMaster Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus Universal Direct Contact Heat-Pipe 120mm Fan CPU Cooler Arctic Silver 5 3.5G Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Grease CPU Heat Sink Compound Current BIOS: Configure System Performance ---------------------------- Target CPU Frequency: 3703MHz Target DRAM Frequency: 1614MHz CPU Level Up [AUTO] ---------------------------- Ai Overclock Tuner [Manual] OC From CPU Level Up [Auto] CPU Ratio Setting [23] Intel® SpeedStep ™ Tech [ENABLED] BCLK Frequency [161] PCIE Frequency [100] DRAM Frequency [DDR3-1614MHz] UCLK Frequency [AUTO] QPI Link Data Rate [AUTO] ASUS/3rd Party UI Priority [ASUS Utility] >DRAM Timing Control 1st Information: 9-9-9-24-5-128-13-8-24-0 CAS# Latency 9 [9 DRAM Clock] RAS# to CAS# Delay 9[9 DRAM Clock] RAS# PRE Time 9[9 DRAM Clock] RAS# ACT Time 24[24 DRAM Clock] RAS# to RAS# Delay 5[Auto] REF Cycle Time 128[Auto] WRITE Recovery Time 13[Auto] READ to PRE Time 8[Auto] FOUR ACT WIN Time 24[Auto] Back-To-Back CAS# Delay 0[Auto] 2nd Information: 1N-59-60-63 Timing Mode 1N[2N] Round Trip Latency on CHA 59[Auto] Round Trip Latency on CHB 60[Auto] Round Trip Latency on CHC 63[Auto] 3rd Information: 6-6-18-10-10-10-7-6-4-7-7-4 WRITE To READ Delay (DD) 6 [Auto] WRITE To READ Delay (DR) 6 [Auto] WRITE To READ Delay (SR) 18[Auto] READ To WRITE DELAY(DD) 10[Auto] READ To WRITE DELAY(DR) 10[Auto] READ To WRITE DELAY(SR) 10[Auto] READ to READ Delay(DD) 7[Auto] READ to READ Delay(DR) 6[Auto] READ to READ Delay(SR) 4[Auto] WRITE to WRITE Delay(DD) 7[Auto] WRITE to WRITE Delay(DR) 7[Auto] WRITE to WRITE Delay(SR) 4 [Auto] ***Please Key In Number Directly!*** CPU Voltage Control [MANUAL] CPU Voltage [AUTO] CPU PLL Voltage [AUTO] QPI/DRAM Core Voltage [1.30000] IOH Voltage [AUTO] IOH PCIE Voltage [AUTO] ICH Voltage [AUTO] ICH PCIE Voltage [AUTO] DRAM Bus Voltage [1.54] DRAM DATA REF Voltage on CHA [AUTO] DRAM DATA REF Voltage on CHA [AUTO] DRAM DATA REF Voltage on CHB [AUTO] DRAM DATA REF Voltage on CHB [AUTO] DRAM DATA REF Voltage on CHC [AUTO] DRAM DATA REF Voltage on CHC [AUTO] ************************************* Load-Line Calibration [Enabled] CPU Differential Amplitude [AUTO] CPU Clock Skew [AUTO] CPU Spread Spectrum [Enabled] IOH Clock Skew [AUTO] PCIE Spread Spectrum [Enabled] __________________________________________________________ Thanks guys and girls! -Greg Edited August 11, 2011 by GrogMon88 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boinker Posted August 11, 2011 Posted August 11, 2011 If that will pass a stability test then its great. I would keep the temps under 85c full load under occt linpak or prime 95 just to be good and safe. Basics. Use a stability tester to make sure your system is stable and do so while monitoring temps. Use core temp and hardware monitor to monitor temps of motherboard and processor. To stability test the system you cab go two different ways. Either prime 95 or occt are well regarded and good testers. I use both. After that you can put everything back to stock and run the test for a couple hours to see how everything holds up temperature wise. This will give you a stability base line and temps at stock. After this set the c3 c1e and speedstep off and begin overclocking. I would run it up 200 MHz or so and do a stability test for 30 minutes until you are unstable or nearing your temp ceiling or goal for overclock. See the guide ill post if you are unstable. After the goal target has been reached run prime 95 blend test for 4-10 hours to verify stability and your done. When you get around 80c or so its time to verify stabity if that happens before 3.80ghz. Good luck and here is the guide. http://www.overclock.net/intel-cpus/538439-guide-overclocking-core-i7-920-930-a.html Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
IVIYTH0S Posted August 11, 2011 Posted August 11, 2011 First- Welcome to OCC!! Second- Read this guider here, it's what got me to where I'm at http://www.techreaction.net/2010/09/07/3-step-overclocking-guide-bloomfield-and-gulftown/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrogMon88 Posted August 12, 2011 Posted August 12, 2011 (edited) Thanks guys!!!! @boinker I ran my setup with Prime95 (8 workers) with some minor tweaks to the bios after going through that guide. Below is a screenshot of Prime95's results along with the data collected from 3 monitoring tools. A few Questions: -I'm a little confused. When you said run it up to 200MHZ do you mean BCLK Frequency 200? If so what should my CPU Ratio be? Like 18 or 19? for 3600ghz or 3800ghz -Also is the setup for this 200MHZ a kind of free range test? As in it will continue to up the CPU Ratio Setting until the computer fails? or am I being a complete noob in comprehending this? -You mentioned to turn off speedstop. Should this be turned back ON when I determine everything is all good and dandy? @IVIYTH0S Thank you for the greetings I read through the article and downloaded almost all of the monitoring tools mentioned and will do another read through tomorrow for some more tips and tricks. Helped me a lot in deciphering the jargon in the above linked article. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ New BIOS Setup **Changes in BLUE** Configure System Performance ---------------------------- Target CPU Frequency: 3703MHz Target DRAM Frequency: 1614MHz CPU Level Up [AUTO] ---------------------------- Ai Overclock Tuner [X.M.P.] CPU Ratio Setting [23] Intel® SpeedStep ™ Tech [DISABLED] BCLK Frequency [161] PCIE Frequency [100] DRAM Frequency [DDR3-1614MHz] UCLK Frequency [AUTO] QPI Link Data Rate [AUTO] ASUS/3rd Party UI Priority [ASUS Utility] >DRAM Timing Control 1st Information: 9-9-9-24-5-128-13-8-24-0 CAS# Latency 9 [9 DRAM Clock] RAS# to CAS# Delay 9[9 DRAM Clock] RAS# PRE Time 9[9 DRAM Clock] RAS# ACT Time 24[24 DRAM Clock] RAS# to RAS# Delay 5[Auto] REF Cycle Time 128[Auto] WRITE Recovery Time 13[Auto] READ to PRE Time 8[Auto] FOUR ACT WIN Time 24[Auto] Back-To-Back CAS# Delay 0[Auto] 2nd Information: 1N-59-60-63 Timing Mode 1N[2N] Round Trip Latency on CHA 59[Auto] Round Trip Latency on CHB 60[Auto] Round Trip Latency on CHC 63[Auto] 3rd Information: 6-6-18-10-10-10-7-6-4-7-7-4 WRITE To READ Delay (DD) 6 [Auto] WRITE To READ Delay (DR) 6 [Auto] WRITE To READ Delay (SR) 18[Auto] READ To WRITE DELAY(DD) 10[Auto] READ To WRITE DELAY(DR) 10[Auto] READ To WRITE DELAY(SR) 10[Auto] READ to READ Delay(DD) 7[Auto] READ to READ Delay(DR) 6[Auto] READ to READ Delay(SR) 4[Auto] WRITE to WRITE Delay(DD) 7[Auto] WRITE to WRITE Delay(DR) 7[Auto] WRITE to WRITE Delay(SR) 4 [Auto] ***Please Key In Number Directly!*** CPU Voltage Control [MANUAL] CPU Voltage [AUTO] <----- Not sure what a good target would be for this. I just left it auto. But was wondering if 1.275 might be sufficient as mentioned in boinkers link? CPU PLL Voltage [1.86] QPI/DRAM Core Voltage [1.30000] IOH Voltage [AUTO] IOH PCIE Voltage [AUTO] ICH Voltage [AUTO] ICH PCIE Voltage [AUTO] DRAM Bus Voltage [1.50] DRAM DATA REF Voltage on CHA [AUTO] DRAM DATA REF Voltage on CHA [AUTO] DRAM DATA REF Voltage on CHB [AUTO] DRAM DATA REF Voltage on CHB [AUTO] DRAM DATA REF Voltage on CHC [AUTO] DRAM DATA REF Voltage on CHC [AUTO] ************************************* Load-Line Calibration [Enabled] CPU Differential Amplitude [AUTO] CPU Clock Skew [AUTO] CPU Spread Spectrum [Enabled] IOH Clock Skew [AUTO] PCIE Spread Spectrum [Enabled] I'm thinking that from these results the computer is stable. But any recommendations for tweaks or complete changes will still be greatly appreciated. What do you guys think? I did a stock setting test and my highest temp was on core #0 for 63 C I'm also planning on running Prime95 for the full recommended 16-24 hours to fully determine stability if anyone else recommends that? Edited August 12, 2011 by GrogMon88 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
IVIYTH0S Posted August 12, 2011 Posted August 12, 2011 I'd only do the long P95 run once you've settled as high as you want to go. Goodluck! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrogMon88 Posted August 12, 2011 Posted August 12, 2011 I think this is good enough for me honestly. I don't know if I'll need more more speed than this for a good long while. With that in mind, do you think the results from the p95 test were sufficient? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
IVIYTH0S Posted August 13, 2011 Posted August 13, 2011 Yeah, maybe try IntelBurnTest for maybe 20 passes and see if it can do it Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrogMon88 Posted August 13, 2011 Posted August 13, 2011 What would you consider a good temperature ceiling for that test? 85 as well? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
IVIYTH0S Posted August 13, 2011 Posted August 13, 2011 What would you consider a good temperature ceiling for that test? 85 as well? It should be higher, idk by how much. You let me know! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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