Post Your Overclock!

[sygnus21]

As a random question:
I ran Prime95 while I went to class for an hour, and when I came back, my computer was frozen. Keyboard and mouse lights were off, screen frozen on the screensaver.

Perhaps this means my CPU isn't stable at FACTORY clock?

~Lordbob

A lot of people will tell you that the system isn't stable if it fails prime95, but to me, if you've never had any issues with the system other than a prime95 fail, and the system is at stock speeds, well.

Remember prime95 puts a lot of stress on your CPU and generates a lot of heat, so if you have a stock CPU cooler it could be that the CPU over heated and shut down thus causing the freeze.

CPU overheating is a common cause of Prime95 failures. Prime95 pushes your CPU harder than almost all programs so it's entirely possible that it's much hotter when running Prime95 than any other program you run including games. It's worth opening up your machine and making sure that your CPU heatsink and fan are working properly. I've seen drops of 5 degrees centigrate in Prime95 just by cleaning the dust out of a CPU heatsink. Modern CPUs use lots of power and they can get very hot if anything is wrong with their cooling system. Most computers come with monitoring programs which can display the current voltages and various temperatures in your computer. If you don't have one then you may be able to find a program on the internet which is compatible with your motherboard. A free program which works with most hardware is SpeedFan. Motherboard Monitor is compatible with many older motherboards made in 2005 or earlier. You can use a monitoring program to check that your CPU temperature is reasonable. The temperatures reported by those programs are not all that accurate but it's still worth the trouble of comparing with other peoples' temperatures. You can find them by doing an internet search on the name of your CPU and "peak idle temperatures".

Torture test your CPU with Prime95 - What Do You Do If The Test Fails?

I will say however that outside of a heating issue you should be able run prime95 for at least few hours (3 or more) before it fails, so if it fails within an hour, that "could" be a problem. Shut the PC off and re-run the program and see what happens.

My two cents.

 

[thehappyman]

Core I7 980X Overclocked to 4 Ghz (was orig OC'd to 3.73 Ghz by Alienware) - I upped the Core Turbo Multipliers from 28 to 30 in Bios. Only 1 HD 5970 Video Card.
View attachment 131256

View attachment 131257

Nice rig, runs very cool.

The core speed idle issue, do you have EIST enabled?

If you don't, I'd say Core Temp is reading core speed wrong.

Did you get that Intel OC'ing app?

Pretty low core voltage, is that normal for the I7 980X?

Hi Dave 76 - Yes, it's a nice rig - it runs very cool (though it is water cooled). The entire rear panel area feels almost cold to the touch and the main fan is almost off most of the time. Really strange to have a rig run so very quiet (its a nice change). Under full load, the main fan will speed up though. I haven't yet tested it with a program like Prime95. My last rig was an Intel quad core and it was water cooled too but it needed multiple fans (which were always on), made a ton of noise, got really hot on the real panel (even with no load), and only ran at 3.3 Ghz.

The core speed idle question ? - well the CPU CORE NON TURBO RATIO is still at 25 which maybe explains why CORE TEMP reads the multiplier as being low under "no load".

The Intel Speed step is enabled as well as the Hyper threading and the Turbo Mode is ON.
In the 980x the turbo mode is independent of the number of active cores as long as the TDP isn't reached.

Which Intel OC'ing App are you referring to ???

The rig came "Overclocked to 3.73 Ghz" by Alienware - I just increased the Core Turbo Ratios to 30. I haven't changed the voltages yet. I've been monitoring temperatures with CPUID HW Monitor and CORE TEMP and have yet to see any temp go over 55 C, even under full load for a while.

Just my guess, but I guess its the Turbo Boost which is getting the rig up to 4 Ghz. But what puzzles me is why CPU-Z always shows me at 4 Ghz (loaded or not) whereas Core Temp only shows a multiplier increase when I apply a heavy load. Can CPU-Z read my core multipliers ????? Or is my Core Speed always at 4 Ghz ????

It would be nice to run faster but I'm pretty happy with the speed of this now - I don't want to take any foolish chances for that last "bump". It seems run run cool and is 100% stable.
What do you mean "Pretty low core voltage for a 980x" ??? What core voltage are people usually applying to a 980x ???

 

[thehappyman]

That's a pretty good voltage reading - 1.056v. What's your QPI/Vtt voltage and CPU VCore voltage set to in your BIOS?

Also your temps reading?

Hi sygnus21 - My Bios only lets me set three voltages - An Ioh which is set to 1.1 volts and a Cpu Vcore offset which is set to 100 mV and a QPI/Uncore voltage. I wish I had more control over the individual voltages but they didn't design this Bios that way.

The higest Temp I have seen yet is 55 degrees C under full load for a few minutes, using CPUID HW Monitor and CORE TEMP. The rig is water cooled.

 

[sygnus21]

Well for a MB with limited BIOS options/voltage tweaking your temps and CPU voltages are damn good!

Since your CPU is unlocked I'm guessing you have a CPU clock ratio multiplier of 30?

 

[thehappyman]

Well for a MB with limited BIOS options/voltage tweaking your temps and CPU voltages are damn good!

Since your CPU is unlocked I'm guessing you have a CPU clock ratio multiplier of 30?

Thats what all the CPU Core Multipliers have been set to. Alienware uses a "custom" MB made by Intel. It's mATX. I actually like the smaller case (it still holds a HD 5970 and 4 HDD's) Only weighs 50 pounds.

 

[Lordbob75]

Well, I have had a FEW instances of freezing, but it appears to be hardware related rather than software.

My CPU is water cooled, so if it's a heat problem.... :shock:

I am just confused as to why it is crashing instead of just failing the test...

~Lordbob

 

[sygnus21]

Well for a MB with limited BIOS options/voltage tweaking your temps and CPU voltages are damn good!

Since your CPU is unlocked I'm guessing you have a CPU clock ratio multiplier of 30?

Thats what all the CPU Core Multipliers have been set to. Alienware uses a "custom"

I'm assuming you mean the Extreme chips, which are the only unlocked chips. The 920 - 960 are locked, so that means their multipliers are fixed to certain point.

Using my experience with the 930, the highest multi is 23, for the 950, it's 24.

Well, I have had a FEW instances of freezing, but it appears to be hardware related rather than software.

My CPU is water cooled, so if it's a heat problem.... :shock:

I am just confused as to why it is crashing instead of just failing the test...

~Lordbob

No sure about the crashing issue. I would run it again and watch it and the temps.

 

[Lordbob75]

Well, I have had a FEW instances of freezing, but it appears to be hardware related rather than software.

My CPU is water cooled, so if it's a heat problem.... :shock:

I am just confused as to why it is crashing instead of just failing the test...

~Lordbob

No sure about the crashing issue. I would run it again and watch it and the temps.

They never hit much over about 60.... But I can do that when I have time to sit and watch for over an hour.

~Lordbob

 

[sygnus21]

When you say it crashes, do you mean the entire program or just one of the workers?

If the whole program freezes, that sounds like a program program issue. If one or two workers stop, the the program is telling your your cores aren't stable.

 

[Lordbob75]

When you say it crashes, do you mean the entire program or just one of the workers?

If the whole program freezes, that sounds like a program program issue. If one or two workers stop, the the program is telling your your cores aren't stable.

Neither. The entire computer freezes, with no power to the keyboard and mouse. If there was a sound playing when it froze, it stay playing that sample of sound on the speakers.

~Lordbob

 

[sygnus21]

That sounds like something else other than prime95, or that prime95 is crashing the system, which is odd. Have you checked for an updated version? - Prime95 (64bit) - 25.11 Download - EXTREME Overclocking. this the 64-bit version. That's the one I'm using without issue.

 

[Lordbob75]

Sygnus, I will give that one a shot. The interesting thing is that this freeze has occurred before as well (while NOT running Prime95), but I have never managed to figure out the cause.

~Lordbob

 

[sygnus21]

If you've been having freezes prior to using prime95 then I can pretty much guarantee prime95 will fail now if run. In this instance it will confirm what you already suspect – the system isn’t stable. I would be trying to figure out what’s going on there instead of worrying about prime95.

Memtest your memory.

My two cents

 

[thehappyman]

When you say it crashes, do you mean the entire program or just one of the workers?

If the whole program freezes, that sounds like a program program issue. If one or two workers stop, the the program is telling your your cores aren't stable.

Neither. The entire computer freezes, with no power to the keyboard and mouse. If there was a sound playing when it froze, it stay playing that sample of sound on the speakers.

~Lordbob

Hi Lordbob - Are you saying that when the Computer freezes the Keyboard and Mouse loose power too ??? Are they connected via USB ?

 

[Lordbob75]

When you say it crashes, do you mean the entire program or just one of the workers?

If the whole program freezes, that sounds like a program program issue. If one or two workers stop, the the program is telling your your cores aren't stable.

Neither. The entire computer freezes, with no power to the keyboard and mouse. If there was a sound playing when it froze, it stay playing that sample of sound on the speakers.

~Lordbob

Hi Lordbob - Are you saying that when the Computer freezes the Keyboard and Mouse loose power too ??? Are they connected via USB ?

Yup.

I will give MemTest86 a try tonight.

~Lordbob

 

[hi87]

i7 930 @ 4.2GHz/1.33v

CPU-Z Validator 3.1

 

[Dave76]

Hi Dave 76 - Yes, it's a nice rig - it runs very cool (though it is water cooled). The entire rear panel area feels almost cold to the touch and the main fan is almost off most of the time. Really strange to have a rig run so very quiet (its a nice change). Under full load, the main fan will speed up though. I haven't yet tested it with a program like Prime95. My last rig was an Intel quad core and it was water cooled too but it needed multiple fans (which were always on), made a ton of noise, got really hot on the real panel (even with no load), and only ran at 3.3 Ghz.

The core speed idle question ? - well the CPU CORE NON TURBO RATIO is still at 25 which maybe explains why CORE TEMP reads the multiplier as being low under "no load".

The Intel Speed step is enabled as well as the Hyper threading and the Turbo Mode is ON.
In the 980x the turbo mode is independent of the number of active cores as long as the TDP isn't reached.

Which Intel OC'ing App are you referring to ???

The rig came "Overclocked to 3.73 Ghz" by Alienware - I just increased the Core Turbo Ratios to 30. I haven't changed the voltages yet. I've been monitoring temperatures with CPUID HW Monitor and CORE TEMP and have yet to see any temp go over 55 C, even under full load for a while.

Just my guess, but I guess its the Turbo Boost which is getting the rig up to 4 Ghz. But what puzzles me is why CPU-Z always shows me at 4 Ghz (loaded or not) whereas Core Temp only shows a multiplier increase when I apply a heavy load. Can CPU-Z read my core multipliers ????? Or is my Core Speed always at 4 Ghz ????

It would be nice to run faster but I'm pretty happy with the speed of this now - I don't want to take any foolish chances for that last "bump". It seems run run cool and is 100% stable.
What do you mean "Pretty low core voltage for a 980x" ??? What core voltage are people usually applying to a 980x ???

Your Alienware should come with Intel's Extreme Tuning Utility.
Dell's Alienware Club forum, IXTU

Dell recommends only using the AutoTune feature and that you choose the 1st option, "Stay within the manufacturer's limits".​

If you decide to use the Manual Tune feature, users should be knowledgeable about advanced PC hardware settings. Improper settings can permanently damage the PC.​

Sounds like that's what you want, Manual Tune feature, the disclaimer sounds like it lets you do more than the BIOS will.​

Intel’s new Extreme Tuning Utility - Here is a quick review with some screen shots.​

Read about this a few days ago, most were saying it's the same as most mobo OC'ing utilities, ok for a small OC but not good for higher OCs.​

If it lets you have a few things to play with it might be helpful, or looks like it might be a good monitor/info utility. ​

EIST is Speed Step, it's likely CoreTemp and CPUZ may not be programed for your CPU.​

The CPUZ snip showed a multiplier of 30 at 4GHz and 1.056v, that's really good low voltage, haven't seen any X980 OC'ed specs so was wondering if that is normal.
The IXTU app might be good for getting the true system readings under various loads.​

 

[sygnus21]

EIST is Speed Step, it's likely CoreTemp and CPUZ may not be programed for your CPU.

The CPUZ snip showed a multiplier of 30 at 4GHz and 1.056v, that's really good low voltage, haven't seen any X980 OC'ed specs so was wondering if that is normal.​

The IXTU app might be good for getting the true system readings under various loads.​

Hi Dave, CPU-Z and Core temp does work with those chips. As for the voltage, yeah 1.056 is very good. I asked about it earlier, but didn't get much info since he said he has limited access to the BIOS.

As for the 30 multiplier, since the chip is unlocked, 30 is very possible, and would be normal on that chip. Not to mention that achieving a 4gig OC on it really isn't all that hard. I can do 4+ gigs with my locked i7-950, so an unlocked i7-980x doing it is nothing.

Having that low CPU voltage definitely keeps temps down and I'm betting he could push that chip higher, 4.3 or more? But with limited BIOS options I wouldn't push too much.

 

[Lordbob75]

So I ran MemTest86+ for a few hours (only 2 passes) and it came back clean.
To be honest, I think the motherboard might be a bit borked, but I don't know how to tell.

The thing is that it normally works just fine.

~Lordbob

 

[sygnus21]

Does the board have any diagnostic lights?

Also, you can check your BIOS to see if it keeps a record of issues the MB is having. Most motherboards usually keep such a record in the BIOS; you might check the maintenance section of the BIOS, should be something like a log.