i7 920@3.8ghz. Noctua NH-D14. Temps, Voltage, More OC? And a DRAM Frequency question.

[LunyAlex]

Hey there!

I'm fairly new to the world of overclocking.
Specifically, this is my first ever OC. Thought I'd push my i7 920 (D0) so it can better fit a new R9 280.

I've had an NH-D14 for a few good years. I didn't buy it for OC-ing. I bought it because at the time my temps at stock speeds were horrible during the summer (which is why I assumed I lost really bad in the silicon lottery).

So anyway, here we are.

I've successfully OC'd my i7 920 to 3.8ghz. It took 1.216V to get it stable, though (I assume this is a bit high?).

My current Temps are:
38*C Idle
62*C in Prime95


My questions are:

- Are these temps decent?
- Do you think there's enough headroom to safely push it past 4.0ghz with these here temps?
Or is it impossible to tell without trying?
(Not sure if relevant, but additionally I have a HX750W Corsair PSU and an Asus P6T Deluxe V2 Motherboard)

And a question on DRAM

So I have 1600mhz RAM in my PC . When I push the base frequency to OC my CPU, my available DRAM Frequencies automatically change as well.

Well, right now I'm left with two alternatives :Slightly underclock my RAM (~1400mhz) or Overclock it quite a bit (over 1800). Are there any general guidelines as to how much to push it, or whether to push DRAM at all? Is it better to undeclock than to push it too much?

Thank you in advance for any and all advice.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Tcase for your CPU is 67.9°C so you're only about six degrees away from max.

http://ark.intel.com/products/37147/Intel-Core-i7-920-Processor-(8M-Cache-2_66-GHz-4_80-GTs-Intel-QPI


According to Intel, the max voltage for your CPU is 1.375v, so you're well within tolerance, however, with your temps already at 62°C in Prime (How long had you run Prime when you recorded that temperature, and did you do a full run to verify stability as well? A full run, to verify stability, is 24hrs.) I wouldn't want to raise the voltage any more. You can try increasing the multiplier to gain 4Ghz and see if it's stable. If it posts, doesn't bluescreen and passes prime it should be fine as long as the temps don't exceed say 65°C, MAX.

I'd also make sure my BIOS was the most recent version before going any further. Old firmware is the enemy of overclocking. Newer firmware generally provides more stability whether overclocking or not, at least in most cases.

Why are you changing the base frequency. You should be able to independently change the CPU frequency in that BIOS as well as the CPU voltage. Using the FSB or BLCK to overclock shouldn't be necessary on that motherboard. You should also be able to manually set the RAM speed, voltage and timings, independent of any other settings.