Question Overclocking guidance needed: GA-X58A-UD3R+i7 920

[ppal79]

Hello Experts,

This is my first post: I'm new to overclocking and just done one with below configuration but need guidance on stability

Board: Gigabyte X58A UD3R revision 1 & 8 Gig DDR3 Memory
CPU i7 920 2.8 GHz is raised to 4.01 GHz (21 x 191) with
Vcore 1.4v,
Memory 1.66 v

Then i'm running Prime 95 torture test in blend mode with 8 threads for last 12 Hrs and all 4 CPU core temp is around 58-68 degree C using HWMonitorSMC2.

Reading all forums apparently it looks good to me but can someone please confirm if this overclocking can be considered as absolutely stable or may be i'm missing something.

Any help and guidance is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

Reading through these;

Overclocking a I7 920 over 3.6ghz

my dad wants to take his Bloomfield chip up higher with a hyper 212 evo and I think he needs the nzxt kraken X41 that I have to do that. I'll update this with his cpu Z picture when I get the chance. I'm familiar with overclocking newer chips. I have a 4790k overclocked to 4.7ghz for God sake...

forums.tomshardware.com

https://www.overclock.net/threads/g...h35tCCYJ2Ys-1630597470-0-gqNtZGzNA1CjcnBszQnl
I think you're in the clear. Regarding stability testing, you're going to have to leave the tests run overnight. The longer the better. You can also try and fire up daily tasks to see if your overclock is producing merely heat or if your platform is better than it was for day to day tasks(for you at least, not us).

though which stepping do you have? What cooler are you working with? No overclocks on the memory? BIOS version for your motherboard?

 

[ppal79]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

Reading through these;

Overclocking a I7 920 over 3.6ghz

my dad wants to take his Bloomfield chip up higher with a hyper 212 evo and I think he needs the nzxt kraken X41 that I have to do that. I'll update this with his cpu Z picture when I get the chance. I'm familiar with overclocking newer chips. I have a 4790k overclocked to 4.7ghz for God sake...

forums.tomshardware.com

https://www.overclock.net/threads/g...h35tCCYJ2Ys-1630597470-0-gqNtZGzNA1CjcnBszQnl
I think you're in the clear. Regarding stability testing, you're going to have to leave the tests run overnight. The longer the better. You can also try and fire up daily tasks to see if your overclock is producing merely heat or if your platform is better than it was for day to day tasks(for you at least, not us).

though which stepping do you have? What cooler are you working with? No overclocks on the memory? BIOS version for your motherboard?

Thank You so much for the guide, i thought of pushing the i7 920 to 4 Gig could be risky but just giving a try if it can be stable else i have to move down.
and I'm using H60 and couple of G-skill 4 G stick @1600 and F6 BIOS version, though having some checksum error after i updated the BIOS from F1 to F6, no clue what to do there. Tried with new CMOS battery also, still the checksum error is randomly occurring.

Below are the details for the step up

CPU ratio: 21x
BCLK freq.: 191
QPI ratio: x36
Uncore ratio: x16

XMP: Disabled
Memory multiplier: 8
Memory performance: Standard
DRAM timing: Auto

CPU vcore: 1.4 v
QPI/Vtt: 1.335 v (pink)
CPU PLL: 1.88 v
IOH & ICH: 1.2 v
DRAM: 1.66 (pink)
rest all voltage in manually set same as default or just a step up

Let me know any correction i need to do for the stability, btw prime 95 is still running as i had mentioned before. its been last 16+ hrs and CPU core are still at the same range - 68 degree c max

Thanks.

 

[lga1156_ftw]

Thank You so much for the guide, i thought of pushing the i7 920 to 4 Gig could be risky but just giving a try if it can be stable else i have to move down.
and I'm using H60 and couple of G-skill 4 G stick @1600 and F6 BIOS version, though having some checksum error after i updated the BIOS from F1 to F6, no clue what to do there. Tried with new CMOS battery also, still the checksum error is randomly occurring.

Below are the details for the step up

CPU ratio: 21x
BCLK freq.: 191
QPI ratio: x36
Uncore ratio: x16

XMP: Disabled
Memory multiplier: 8
Memory performance: Standard
DRAM timing: Auto

CPU vcore: 1.4 v
QPI/Vtt: 1.335 v (pink)
CPU PLL: 1.88 v
IOH & ICH: 1.2 v
DRAM: 1.66 (pink)
rest all voltage in manually set same as default or just a step up

Let me know any correction i need to do for the stability, btw prime 95 is still running as i had mentioned before. its been last 16+ hrs and CPU core are still at the same range - 68 degree c max

Thanks.

I always had a rule to stay below 1.45v vcore on 45nm like lynnfield and 1.425v on bloomfield 32nm . Actually 1.400v is really safe if you can keep it cool with good AIO or aircooler. VTT/QPI is the problematic one, you can cause fast degration above 1.35v on 32nm and even 45nm. I would stay below 1.325v (1.35 absolute max) on the VTT and maybe bump up the vcore if needed, make sure the voltages wont fluctuate idle/under load that much, tweak the Load line calibration setting for that.

Never had any problems with 1.65 dram voltage, just dont raise it more for 24/7 use. PLL voltage up to 1.90v is fine.
Lower QPI ratio helps with stability, Uncore frequency helps with performance but going too high and you get stability issues and need to go crazy with the VTT, after you found max stable Cpu frequency you can mess about with uncore ratio, im running 3,6ghz (uncore) on my lynnfield x3470, however bloomfield is different and getting these kinda results is harder.

 

[ppal79]

I always had a rule to stay below 1.45v vcore on 45nm like lynnfield and 1.425v on bloomfield 32nm . Actually 1.400v is really safe if you can keep it cool with good AIO or aircooler. VTT/QPI is the problematic one, you can cause fast degration above 1.35v on 32nm and even 45nm. I would stay below 1.325v (1.35 absolute max) on the VTT and maybe bump up the vcore if needed, make sure the voltages wont fluctuate idle/under load that much, tweak the Load line calibration setting for that.

Never had any problems with 1.65 dram voltage, just dont raise it more for 24/7 use. PLL voltage up to 1.90v is fine.
Lower QPI ratio helps with stability, Uncore frequency helps with performance but going too high and you get stability issues and need to go crazy with the VTT, after you found max stable Cpu frequency you can mess about with uncore ratio, im running 3,6ghz on my lynnfield x3470, however bloomfield is different and getting these kinda results is harder.

Thanks for the recommendation, i'll adjust voltage accordingly and test further and yes im using load line calibration Level1, forgot to mention before. However my current setup p95 test for 24 hrs kept temp below 70c so OC part more or less heading towards stability but currently struggling with the BIOS checksum issue. restored back the old version F1 but still it stuck in checksum with OC settings! not sure if the voltages are the reason.

 

[lga1156_ftw]

Thanks for the recommendation, i'll adjust voltage accordingly and test further and yes im using load line calibration Level1, forgot to mention before. However my current setup p95 test for 24 hrs kept temp below 70c so OC part more or less heading towards stability but currently struggling with the BIOS checksum issue. restored back the old version F1 but still it stuck in checksum with OC settings! not sure if the voltages are the reason.

If your getting cmos checksum error try replacing the cmos battery,