Need help overclocking i7 940

[fvjuke]

Hello guys,

I need some guidance in overclocking my i7 940.

I want to start slowly and as my knowledge increases, I want to bring it close to 4ghz.

I have started to read some of the posts from NickN (bit-tech guide and video from NCIX) and am starting to be a bit familiar.

I want to start on stock cooling until my TRUE 120 arrives.

[NickN]

Use this beta of RealTemp to confirm the temps on the processor

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/sho ... count=2735

link is in the post

Confirm the readout on the Palm matches Realtemp. If it does under a full load the Palm readout is correct.. if it doesnt, use the reading in RealTemp instead

There has been some discussion about i7 and the temps sensors out there. Coretemp will not read the i7 CPU correctly and even some BIOS have been said to report temps incorrectly

As for clocking it.. what you said is that simple... raise BCLOCK, vcore if necessary, confirm the memory is running the correct or close to the correct speed and the temps under full load are in order..

thats it


As for it it will be stable without raisng vcore.. that is problematical and I cant guess about it... If its not stable then start bringing vcore up in values of .05 till it trims in. Most should be able to run a 940 at 1.35-1.40v Vcore

[NickN]

forgot...   In realtemp Properties.. change the tJMAX to 100 for all 4 cores in the SETTINGS so the readout is calibrated correctly.. make sure to apply the change

after that, keep the temp at a MAX of 78c under a full OCCT load test

FSX will never, ever run that processor that hot so if you are under 78c with OCCT 1hr test with the tJMAX set to 100c in Realtemp,... your good to go

I could guess that you would either

A: Not need to raise vcore

B. Need to raise vcore just a tad

to do 3.4..   probably not at all

[fvjuke]

Great Thanks again NickN.

[fvjuke]

Ok, I did some test with occt using bclock of 145 and not changing anything else.

[NickN]

you cant damage the CPU unless it hits 100c

The lower value is what we use becasue the thermal limiting system will kick in right around 80-85c and slow the processor down to keep it cool

If you were hitting those 80c+ temps and did not change Vcore (set to AUTO) and only running 3190 then I suspect the heat sink may not be sitting on the CPU correctly.. thermal compound was too thick, PSU is too weak (would eliminate that if a decent 750watt unit is installed) or the tower airflow is very poor with a high room ambient temp

[fvjuke]

Hello NickN,

thanks for your reply.

My room is at 21c, my tower airflow seems very good with this Antec 900 (all the fans are running), my PSU is a good Corsair 750W.  RealTemp is giving me 34c at idle.

Don't know what is wrong with that.  I will have to go back to my shop and see if they can help.  May be the heatsink was not installed correctly.

[fvjuke]

Ok, I just installed a Thermalright 120 and my temps are great.

Need some help here.

I increased the bclock to 155
Set the multiplier to 22
Set vcore to 1.225v

passed occt with temps below 60c.

How do I know if my RAM is running ath the right speed ?

CPUz tells me it is running at 465mhz with FSB/DRAM ration of 2:6 and NB frquency of 2480mhz.

Do I need to play with the RAM settings in the bios ?

Looking forward to your help.

[NickN]

Ok, I just installed a Thermalright 120 and my temps are great.

Need some help here.

I increased the bclock to 155
Set the multiplier to 22
Set vcore to 1.225v

passed occt with temps below 60c.

How do I know if my RAM is running ath the right speed ?

CPUz tells me it is running at 465mhz with FSB/DRAM ration of 2:6 and NB frquency of 2480mhz.

Do I need to play with the RAM settings in the bios ?

Looking forward to your help.

Get the latest version of CPUz which updates for Bloomfield because something is not right with those numbers


You should have QPI LINK in CPUz showing

http://www.cpuid.com/download/cpuz_149.zip

post the CPU and MEMORY tabs here


On that heat sink you should have no problem going to 4GHz but Vcore will need to come up to somewhere between 1.28 and 1.40, lower is better

The memory multiplier in the BIOS will set the memory speed with BCLOCK check the ratio and it should display a value close to 1600, perhaps a little under. Memspeed in CPUz should read 800MHz for DDR3 1600

DRAM Frequency - 1600MHz in the BIOS if BCLOCK is 200




Look here.. this is 920 on P6T but it is similar


http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2008/1 ... e-i7-920/3

[raptorx]

Guys, I just got an unexpected Christmas boner..ah, I mean bonus

and I'm seriously thinking of taking that + selling off my MB, CPU, RAM (done!) to get one of these i940s.

[fvjuke]

Ok guys, I have been doing some tests and I will need you help again.

Nick, I used the settings mentionned in your link (bit-tech) but I had to increase the vcore to 1.4v for it to boot into Vista and it did not pass the occt test, I had a BSOD as soon as it started to push the cpu.

[NickN]

[quote]Ok guys, I have been doing some tests and I will need you help again.

Nick, I used the settings mentionned in your link (bit-tech) but I had to increase the vcore to 1.4v for it to boot into Vista and it did not pass the occt test, I had a BSOD as soon as it started to push the cpu.

[fvjuke]

Hello Nick,

Yes I had disable the turbo mode and tried disabling the TM function but again it failed the OCCT 1 hour test.

[NickN]

hmmmmmm

I would think that would have been stable

You may want to go over to the OCZ forums and post this to Tony or one of the other devs.. I am not sure what they are suggesting for QPI/Dram voltage on those sticks..

[fvjuke]

Hello nick,

I will go on that forum and see what they have to say about this.

According to CPU-Z, my memory is at 760mhz 9-9-9 25 on 1T.