How much further should I go?

[afterglowefx]

I just completed my first OC on my first PC build.

First off,
Q9550 w/ Xigmatek s1283
Asus Rampage Formula
4 GB Mushkin DDR2 1066 (running at 824mhz @ 5-5-5-15 and 2v)
4870x2 (already OCed to 800 / 975)

Right off the bat I upped the FSB on my Q9550 to 412 to get 3.5ghz. I left voltage on auto and temps got up to 64C running Prime95. I went back in and changed the voltage to 1.25. Under load this drops to 1.18v, and temps have dropped to 60C. However ambient was around 25C; at 22C ambient last night temps dropped further to 56C under load in Prime95.

NB was running at 51C w/ auto voltage. I went in and lowered that to 1.3v and temps dropped down to 42C.

So, the only settings I've changed are NB/CPU voltage, RAM voltage/timings, and the FSB. I'm still running Prime95 from last night (running small TFTs; I also ran blend after changing the memory timings for two hours), and have been stable for 16 hours with temps ranging from 56-61C depending on ambient.

Should I OC more? Any other settings I should adjust? I'm currently just shy of a 20,000 3dmark06 score (19,975, up from 16,500 pre-OC).

Edit: I should add that this is for 24x7 use.

 

[kyeana]

you could defenatally push it more if you wanted to, maybe even hit 4.0, however anything above 3.2~3.4 will give you better benchmarks but will give you very little real world results. Play some games and if everything is working like you want it to then you dont have any reason to do any more overclocking (unless you are really interested in those benchies).

 

[danbfree]

I would say 50 degress is the warmest you would want to run your CPU for 100% stable, 24/7 use without starting to shorten the life. Watch lowering your voltages in general as it can cause instability especially when doing anything heavy like gaming/folding/encoding. With voltage you want to start at stock and add a little as you go higher with your OC. If it's running that warm, add more case cooling and clock down down a bit. I personally think you started really high with your OC. That's actually a pretty impressive OC but your temps are pretty high. You may not like hearing this but since you want 24/7 stability you may want to settle for 3.2GHz. So you have a choice of shooting for 20,000 marks or 100% stability and normal CPU life. Can't really have both unfortunately.

 

[kyeana]

^ if its prime95 stable then the voltages are fine...there is absolutuly no reason to put them any higher then they have to be as it will only increase temperature.

And imo as long as its under 65 with prime95 then you dont have to worry about it. Running any other program will not even compare with prime95 running small FFT's in terms of temperature.

 

[boulard83]

Kyeana is right, i hit like 56-58 on prime but when i play games ( like crysis ) my temps is 45-48 and 26-27 idle whit a CM-690 fully loaded whit fans and a tiny Minityphoon as cooler (running a E6850 @ 3.6 1600fsb 1.4325 vcore prime stable).

The minityphoon have a 92mm fan and 6 heat pipe.

 

[afterglowefx]

Thanks for all the replies. The temps seem okay to me - when I was running stock cooling it was hitting close to my max temps with no OC. As to voltage instability, I would think that 24 hours (I stopped it a bit ago) of Prime95 should more than prove that it's stable.

However, I tried playing the Crysis demo a bit ago to test it out, and was getting tons of corruption. Flashing pixels, rendering anomalies, the works. I went back down to 2.8ghz and it's gone. I wonder what was causing it?

 

[kyeana]

thats odd. Have you done any overclocking of your video card?

Is the vid cards drivers all up to date?

Do you have the PCI frequency locked to 100 in your bios when your overclocking?

 

[CompuTronix]

afterglowefx,

From the Core 2 Quad and Duo Temperature Guide - http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/221745-29-core-quad-temperature-guide


Section 6: Scale

Scale 2: Quad
Q9x50: Tcase Max 71c, Stepping E0, TDP 95W, Idle 16W
Q9x50: Tcase Max 71c, Stepping C1, TDP 95W, Idle 16W
Q9400: Tcase Max 71c, Stepping R0, TDP 95W, Idle 16W
Q9300: Tcase Max 71c, Stepping M1, TDP 95W, Idle 16W
Q8200: Tcase Max 71c, Stepping M1, TDP 95W, Idle 16W
Q8200: Tcase Max 71c, Stepping R0, TDP 95W, Idle 16W
Q6x00: Tcase Max 71c, Stepping G0, TDP 95W, Idle 16W

-Tcase/Tjunction-
--70--/--75--75--75--75-- Hot
--65--/--70--70--70--70-- Warm
--60--/--65--65--65--65-- Safe
--25--/--30--30--30--30-- Cool


Tcase = CPU temperature
Tjunction = Core Temperature

Hope this helps,

Comp

 

[afterglowefx]

PCIE is locked to 100 and I'm running Catalyst 8.11. My 4870x2 is factory OCed from 750/900 to 800/975. I've had corruption in the Crysis demo before but updating my drivers fixed the issue.

Comp - Looks like I'm in the green (literally!). Thanks