I7 950 on Asus P6X58D-E, require advice on best voltages & clock speeds?

[bodgeup]

Hey peeps,

I've got an Intel I7-950 on an Asus P6X58D-E Motherboard and currently live only changed the multiplier from x23 to x24 and that's it. I have tried changing the BCLK setting to higher values than the default 133mhz, but each time it seems like the PC is actually getting slower & less responsive. I have researched lots & lots of guides & posts online but it seems like they are all different? Some will advise you to keep the vcore & QPI/DRAM voltages low, whereas others advise to raise these voltages to values bordering on the max limits. So I'm a bit stuck.

I have been trying to perform a modest OC to get to 3.5GHz, I have the MULTI @ x24, the BLCK @ 146, the vcore @ 1.225v, the DRAM @ 1.64v & the RAM @ 1433mhz. It boots fine and I can run IntelBurnTest 10 times without any errors, but like I mentioned when I OC my PC it seems to become very sluggish with normal use even though IBT gives the same Gflop result.

I have tried adjusting the other voltage settings manually from the guides I found but it doesn't seem to help. One thing I will state is that I have mixed brands of DDR3 (I know this isn't a good idea but can't get around this at present) and that also require different Voltages and slightly different timing. I have 1x 2gb OCZ gold @ 1333mhz, 1.65v, 1x 2gb Adata @ 1333mhz, 1.5v & 1x 2gb Micron tech @ 1333mhz, 1.5v. Could it be my RAM that is causing this issue when i try to OC?

Anyone got any ideas? It's only a minor OC so would assume my CPU & MOBO would handle it with ease, but it appears not. When I say the PC is sluggish I mean when in Win 8 the programs seem to take longer to respond to inputs & also take longer to load than without any OC and also I get freezing of the windows.

At the moment ive gone back to Multi x24 & BLCK @ 133mhz so my PC runs smoothly, but id like to find a solution as from what ive read my I7-950 should OC with ease.

Also can anyone point me to a reliable OC guide for my HW and that has guides for different speeds & the correct voltages for those config's? I've found a few for I7-920 & 930 which are very detailed but the 950 uses different voltages I think so need one for the 950. (I tried following that guide for I7-930 OC's @ 3.6GHz, 3.8GHz & 4ghz but the results were unstable)

Thanks for the reply in advance.

Bodgeup

 

[inzone]

Since you have a mix of ram that don't match you should not be overclocking by the BLCK, you should be just using the multiplier. For one thing the Asus bios will have the AI tuner and the settings to do an automatic overclock, there should be three options to set the cpu overclock and these options have all the settings preset so all you have to do is choose one.
If you don't want to do it that way then raise the multiplier to 25 then 26 until you get to your target speed. Keep the BLCK at 133 and you shouldn't need any voltage raised until your over 4ghz.

As soon as you can you should get a matched set of ram and for that Mb I believe you want 1.65v triple channel ram. Your current mishmash of ram is causing the slowdown and the BLCK should be left alone until you get the correct ram.

 

[bodgeup]

Since you have a mix of ram that don't match you should not be overclocking by the BLCK, you should be just using the multiplier. For one thing the Asus bios will have the AI tuner and the settings to do an automatic overclock, there should be three options to set the cpu overclock and these options have all the settings preset so all you have to do is choose one.
If you don't want to do it that way then raise the multiplier to 25 then 26 until you get to your target speed. Keep the BLCK at 133 and you shouldn't need any voltage raised until your over 4ghz.

As soon as you can you should get a matched set of ram and for that Mb I believe you want 1.65v triple channel ram. Your current mishmash of ram is causing the slowdown and the BLCK should be left alone until you get the correct ram.

Yeah thought RAM would be the issue, so I'm going to stop attempting OC'ing till I get a new set. I have been doing the MULTIPLIER OC myself but my I7-950 only goes upto x24 so not got much option there as its default is x23. Is that cause I have a locked CPU? Its a D0 revision I7-950. I thought that gen of I7's were all unlocked by default?

I've just tried a slight OC of BCLK at the moment to 143 & MULTI @ x24 which gives me 3.43GHz but my RAM is at 1433mhz. It works and IntelBurnTest runs fine but I still get the sluggishness when in windows, is that the RAM again?

Thanks

 

[inzone]

You may have a locked cpu and if that's the case then your only option to overclock is by the BCLK and without the correct matching ram you'll have problems. Once you get a matching ram set you should be able to overclock past 3.5ghz and your motherboard may have some options that you haven't noticed yet. In the Advanced tab there should be an AI overclock setting and if set to cpu level up you can choose a preset overclock that contains all the settings already.

 

[fil1p]

Hey,

You have an intel i7 950, its a first gen i7, and it has a multiplier locked to 23, that is normal. You can go up to a multiplier of 24 with Intel Turbo boost, but thats about it. To overclock that i7 you would have to raise the BCLK.

Hope this helps!

 

[bodgeup]

Hey,

You have an intel i7 950, its a first gen i7, and it has a multiplier locked to 23, that is normal. You can go up to a multiplier of 24 with Intel Turbo boost, but thats about it. To overclock that i7 you would have to raise the BCLK.

Hope this helps!

So can i get I7-950's that are unlocked? if so what do i look for to know?

Also can anyone advise me of some decent settings i can try to OC my CPU to around 3.6 - 3.8ghz safely?

Or any decent sites that are reliable?

thanks

 

[inzone]

Any time you want to get an unlocked Intel processor you have to look for a letter after the model number. 990X , 980X, 3770K, 3570K, 3930K, 3960X and so on , that's how you identify an unlocked cpu. Without changing your motherboard you will have to get a 980X or 990X to have an unlocked multiplier and unless you can find one on ebay they are very expensive in stores.

http://www.amazon.com/Intel-i7-980X-Extreme-Edition-Processor/dp/B003922WES

The i7-970 is a six core cpu that is a model above what you have and while a locked cpu can be overclocked by the FSB to 4.1ghz as this person says in their feedback;

I did few minor changes to get 4.1 Ghz on a stock intel CPU cooler that came with the i7-970. Changed stock CPU Vcore voltage to 1.3750v and the Bclock 133mhz to 170mhz.

There are various cpus from different architectures that will fit the LGA1366 socket and are unlocked in addition to what I listed above, i7-965, 975, so by doing a Google search you may find an online store that has one or ebay is the only other place to pick one up.

 

[bodgeup]

Any time you want to get an unlocked Intel processor you have to look for a letter after the model number. 990X , 980X, 3770K, 3570K, 3930K, 3960X and so on , that's how you identify an unlocked cpu. Without changing your motherboard you will have to get a 980X or 990X to have an unlocked multiplier and unless you can find one on ebay they are very expensive in stores.

http://www.amazon.com/Intel-i7-980X-Extreme-Edition-Processor/dp/B003922WES

The i7-970 is a six core cpu that is a model above what you have and while a locked cpu can be overclocked by the FSB to 4.1ghz as this person says in their feedback;

I did few minor changes to get 4.1 Ghz on a stock intel CPU cooler that came with the i7-970. Changed stock CPU Vcore voltage to 1.3750v and the Bclock 133mhz to 170mhz.

There are various cpus from different architectures that will fit the LGA1366 socket and are unlocked in addition to what I listed above, i7-965, 975, so by doing a Google search you may find an online store that has one or ebay is the only other place to pick one up.

Ive just tried an OC again using what ive learned here about my RAM, I have upped my BCLK to 166 & multi @ x24, then reduced my dram so it stays at 1333mhz. Also boosted my vcore to 1.25 & QPI to 1.3.

and so far so good. looks like the ram was the problem all along, just need to get a new set but tripple channel sets are hard to find now.

 

[bodgeup]

Found out that it was my RAM that was causing my issues when trying to overclock. So i have overclocked to 4gz but set the DRAM speed to 1331mhz. Now its very stable even with my vcore @ 1.25 & QPI @1.3. So thanks guys, cant choose any one user as the person who gave me the solution as each of you helped.

 

[inzone]

Choosing the solution is based on who helped you the most along with who gave the answer that solved the issue so it's a combination of things and when you have multiple responses people generally do that. In the future when you post another thread keep that in mind, sometimes a thread can go to a second page with 20 to 30 responses and people do choose a solution even with that many responses.