OC i7 930?

johndh · 09 Jul 2010

I've never looked at overclocking before so I'm wondering what I could do with my current machine:

COOLERMASTER SILEO 500 QUIET MID TOWER CASE
Intel® Core™i7 Processor i7-930 (2.80GHz) 4.8GTs/8MB Cache
ASUS® P6X58D-E: DDR3, USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, 3-Way SLI
12GB SAMSUNG DDR3 TRI-DDR3 1333MHz
1GB ATI RADEON™ HD 5770 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE, 7200RPM
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE, 7200RPM
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
800W Quiet Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
TITAN FENRIR EXTREME DIRECT TOUCH COPPER CPU COOLER
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD

I've had a look at the cpu temps:

At idle it's stable at 34 deg C. If I run adobe Premiere CS5 and export a video clip in 1080p HD, the cpu stabalises at 62 deg C at 3ghz. with all cores running at about 80% capacity.

I was thinking along the lines of overclocking to 3.5ghz or even 4ghz, but not sure of how to do it, or what to look for regarding limits.

Cheers

John

johndh · 09 Jul 2010

Just to update those cpu temps.

Managed to load up the cpu to 100% with video coding. CPU stable at 67 deg C. and case temp 35 deg C.

steve-pressman · 09 Jul 2010

I can't help you with the over clocking but I can tell you I am running the same processor as you are and mine is running @ stable at 4.0GHz pre-over clocked from the manufacturer.

I7 processors do tend to run warm I would suggest that you download Prime 95 and run that for an hour to get a real feel of your temps that will give you a better understanding of your processor temps.

I can also tell you over clocking is not all it is cracked up to be, when I run @ stock settings I am hard pressed to see any real difference compared to the over clock. I have seen your specs and they are impressive, but if you really want to make your rig super fast invest in a decent SSD drive that is what makes all the difference in speed as far as I can tell.

I will warn you that running at 100C will burn your processor out in no time I had a cooling issue with my first Rig and it was running at 100C doing the Prime 95 test I had to RMA it, they put in a new cooler and processor as I had damaged the old one with the Prime 95 test, still under guarantee luckily enough.

Have attached a couple of pics of my temps.

Steve

smarteyeball · 09 Jul 2010

steve-pressman said:

I can also tell you over clocking is not all it is cracked up to be, when I run @ stock settings I am hard pressed to see any real difference compared to the over clock.

It depends on what tasks you are performing as to how much of a noticeable difference there is.

In some areas there is no discernible difference between stock and 4.0ghz - but in others, it can be very noticeable indeed.

*********

As for overclocking with that board and chip, it can actually be pretty easy to hit 3.5-4.0ghz.

The first step when overclocking is to read and then read some more.

However, here are a few very broad outlines for OC'ing the i7

► Do not exceed 85c on the cores while stress testing. (Prime95, IBT, LinX)

Daily use will not reach those temps.

► Don't go above 1.3625 actual vcore. The amount reported by CPU-Z in Windows is always lower than what is input in the BIOS due to Vdroop

► Disable power saving features like Speedstep and C1E.

► DO NOT leave the CPU Voltage option in the BIOS on AUTO - when you raise the BCLK, it will always 'over compensate' and use more volts than necessary.

(the higher the volts, the higher the temps)

Adjusting the BCLK will also adjust your RAM speed. You can use different multipliers to try and come close to your native 1333mhz.

Some RAM kits will Overclock a fair bit, others not much at all, so it's best to keep as close to the 'native' speed as possible.

Have a read through https://www.sevenforums.com/overclock...ing-guide.html

TBH, it's not the best guide - but it's a start.

When overclcking, the two biggest dangers are excess voltages and heat.

If those two are kept within the 'safe' limits - you won't risk permanently damaging anything.

My apologies for the 'vagueness' of this post, but it's pretty late here and I'm rather

sygnus21 · 10 Jul 2010

+1 Nice post smarteye and good tips

Here's another guide to check out.... 3 Step Guide To Overclock Your Core i3, i5, or i7 – Updated! | Overclockers

And as stated....

smarteyeball said:

The first step when overclocking is to read and then read some more.

This can't be stressed enough. Overclocking done wrong will kill/destroy your system!!! Even if the system boots up now, it will die an early death if the volts/temps are too high or wrong!!! READ READ and READ!!!

Fumz · 11 Jul 2010

johndh said:

I've never looked at overclocking before so I'm wondering what I could do with my current machine:

Intel® Core™i7 Processor i7-930 (2.80GHz) 4.8GTs/8MB Cache
1GB ATI RADEON™ HD 5770 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11

What is it you want to accomplish? If the idea behind overclocking is better game performance, then I don't think you're going to see very good returns. Even at stock settings, what's holding game performance back is the 5770, not the cpu.

smarteyeball · 11 Jul 2010

From a pure games perspective, that's correct. @ stock, the 5770 is the bottleneck.

(Although a few heavily CPU dependant titles will benefit regardless)

But if the OP does a bit/ a lot of CPU intensive tasks (like CS5 ,encoding etc) then it's worth it.

johndh · 11 Jul 2010

Thanks for everyones input, very helpfull.

The main applications for this machine:

Photoshop CS5
Adobe Premier Pro CS5
Capture NX2 (might bin this unless Nikon sort out various issues soon)
Lightroom 3

Media streaming via LAN to a Sony WS Telly.

Photoshop can give the machine some stick, but the biggest monster is Prem Pro, particularly when rendering and transcoding media for final output, including transcoding on the fly of 1080p media.

At the moment I cannt get the machince stable in its standard form, so I might have been premature in asking about OC in the first place.

John

sygnus21 · 11 Jul 2010

johndh said:

At the moment I cannt get the machince stable in its standard form, so I might have been premature in asking about OC in the first place.

Yeah, you'll definitely want to get a handle on that to establish a baseline, otherwise you're just chasing ghosts.

gamingaccess · 09 Nov 2010

steve-pressman said:

I will warn you that running at 100C will burn your processor out in no time I had a cooling issue with my first Rig and it was running at 100C doing the Prime 95 test I had to RMA it, they put in a new cooler and processor as I had damaged the old one with the Prime 95 test, still under guarantee luckily enough.

Have attached a couple of pics of my temps.

Steve

Hello Steve

I have a BIG problem
I had an AMD processor and I sold it because Intel was supposed to be "better"

However, now I regret doing that

When I export a movie with Adobe Premiere CS5, the temperature goes up to the 90s

can you tell me, how long were you running your processor at 100C before it damaged?

Today I was exporting a movie in Premiere CS5 with Gaussian Blur set to 7, and man, for a minute or two the temperature of Core #3 reached 96C

With AMD it was always 65C max

What voltage should I have in order to run my processor at 3800 Mhz?

I think the problem was that my voltage was set to 1.35V, that's too high for 3800Mhz

I think I can run 3800Mhz at 1.30V, somebody please confirm that

Right now I exported a movie, and the temperature reached 89C

From what I read here, that might damage my CPU

Next CPU I will go with AMD for sure, I don't want to risk anything, but I can't overclock to 4.2Ghz with my Intel Core i7 875k

I can't even overclock to 4Ghz

My max speed I think will be 3600Mhz-3800Mhz

Please help me overclock properly, and help me understand the limits of my processor

Thanks :)