Widescreen Gaming Forum

Yeah I meant to say within reasonable temp limits regarding the speeds it gets used to. Odd that you're getting 1.25v stock, as most info I've read on these says 1.2v is stock.

I am resistant to the idea of going more than 1GHz over stock speed, which would be 3.66GHz. If I can get it to run just as cool and stable at 3.8GHz though, that would be icing on the cake.

Yeah, as I said, 3.8GHz runs fine at the same volts and temps as 3.6GHz for me. 3.2GHz runs with slightly lower voltage and slightly lower temps, but they're not enough of a drop to make it worthwhile over 3.8GHz. Particularly with stronger fans. :)

It's entirely feasible that the 'Auto' setting for Vcore on this board is giving the chip more than it needs, and that it would, in fact, be quite happy doing stock speeds at significantly lower voltages - I seem to remember one chap 'extreme undervolting' and having his 2.66GHz i7 920 running stock at less than 1.1v... both idle and load temps took a serious dive with voltage that low.

I know that 'Auto' on Vcore with this board likes serious overvolting when you turn BCLK up - leaving everything on Auto bar BCLK (with that set to 150 from a stock 133) means the board pumps 1.34v into the chip. Even though the chip isn't running that fast... it sure runs hot with that much juice...

Well you're using two fans on your TRUE, I may go with the Titan Fenrir, which just has one. So I don't know if my results will be the same.

I could go with a setup like you have and use two 4 pin fans attached to the MB though. I basically want it quiet at idle for movie watching but I think if you setup the speed control via the MB it's not auto regulated like the Fenrir is, you have to manually adjust it in the BIOS, which would be a pain every time I start a game.

What MB are you using btw?

Gigabyte EX58-UD5. It was a bundle deal with a D0 stepping i7 920.

I'm using a Zalman MFC-1 Plus to control six fans. On minimum they're close to inaudible (and temps, while high, aren't too bad...) while on high they're fairly loud but it's the 'whoosh of air' noise you get from high-power fans. Less annoying than the rattle my pedestal fan gives when it's cooling the room. (No AC, unfortunately, as the room where this i7 is has a nasty tendency to get up to 32*C or so in the afternoons, then not lose that heat until 3 or 4am...)

I did a test with another system yesterday - downstairs in a cooler room Q6600 @ 3.2GHz was idling at 30*C. Up to the room where the i7 is... 40*C. I reckon the 920 would lose 10-12*C off it's load temps, and probably 5-8*C off it's idle temps if I moved it downstairs.

Gigabyte EX58-UD5. It was a bundle deal with a D0 stepping i7 920.

I'm using a Zalman MFC-1 Plus to control six fans.

I'm looking at the Gigabyte MBs too. I actually like the slightly older X58s they have better because they offer up to 2000MHz memory standard without an OC. Most say you don't get much benefit over 1600MHz on an i7, but on most Gigabyte X58s you have to OC just to get that.

As for the fan control, I prefer a setup that is auto speed regulated. I get side tracked easily and being 51, my memory isn't what it used to be. I'd probably launch games forgetting to crank up the speed all too often, which can be hard on the CPU. I've still yet to see anyone carry the Titan Fenrir in the US though, why I don't know. Newegg carries 3 of their CPU coolers, just not that one.

Yeah, the Gigabyte X58 boards seem less... trouble laden than any of the others. I can't get Sleep mode to work when BCLK is more than about 10MHz over spec, though. Although that issue seems standard across all X58 boards. The Asus boards don't appear bad, but aren't as well specced as the Gigabyte boards and in the UK cost just as much.

I'm going to be building an as-small-as-possible ultra-low-power HTPC (dual core Atom with nVidia Ion mobo) soon, so need to order some more kit. Will be custom building a wooden case for it. Might stick up a build log if I can be bothered. ;) (Spending spree again... but this is a present for someone...) on the topic of the Fenrir, you got PM.

On the subject of fans, I have RealTemp in my startup folder. I leave the fans on ~9v most of the time, and only turn them up if they look to be getting warm, or down if I want it as quiet as possible. Crysis, Oblivion, Cinematic Mod Half-Life 2, GRID, DMC4... none of them get the CPU over 65*C average. Even on a day when it's idling at 50 'cause the room is 34*C - only things that really push this CPU is encoding (never breaks 72*C) or a stress test. I can't stand auto fan regulation after a board years ago that could never get it right - it was always either turning the fans off (system overheating very fast) or whacking them up to max and leaving it there even after the CPU was 20*C under the 'max' threshold.

I'm yoinking your thread.

I'm currently at 3.6ghz, just as a trial run. Voltages are, compared to you anyway, pretty high. Leaving them up here, then slowly reducing them.

Vcore : 1.31v BIOS, 1.280V load
QPI : 1.335v

Ratio : x20
BCLK : 180



I think temps are acceptable considering I should be able to lower the voltage. This is after 1 hour of prime.

I will put it up to 3.8 now and test for stability, if so then i'll reduce the voltages down as far as they can go. I don't think I'll try for 4ghz. People have said they've managed to do it on a UD3R, but i don't want to push it. 8)

_________________
Formerly eZ`

Follow me on twitter: @theg00seberry and find me on Steam

First, don't trust Hardware Monitor for temps on a Core i7. Download RealTemp 3.00 and use that. Far more accurate. Also, use LinX as a stress test once you've tried Prime95. It will guaranteed get you temps 10*C+ higher than Prime, and it'll hammer the RAM at the same time.

Those temps are good for 3.6GHz at 1.3v, IMO. Provided they're correct.

Set the BCLK to 200 and the multi to 19x for 3.8GHz - for some reason the 19x multi on 200BCLK is more stable for me than 20x multi on 190BCLK. Needs more voltage to be happy on the 20x multi.

When I'm done with thesis, I'm gonna watercool this i7 to get temps down more, then I'll probably see if it'll do 4-4.2GHz without too much of a voltage boost.

I just tried 190BCLK x20 for 3.8ghz, and even with 1.337v on the vcore, windows would BSOD. So I'm back down to 3.6ghz now and just slowly reducing the vcore.

Not sure if I should change my QPI volts? They're on 1.31v atm. I read it should be about 0.33v less than your RAM? Dunno if that's true. My RAM is on 1.66v.

Trying Real Temp 3.00 now. The readings are almost identical to Everest. In fact Real Temp says they're 1-2C lower.

Have only run linX for 10mins, but temps are giving the same as Prime atm, max 67C on one of the cores.

I think i'mna try dropping the multi to x19 and seeing where I get, as 19x200 would be just what I want, will keep the RAM at optimum speed too.

_________________
Formerly eZ`

Follow me on twitter: @theg00seberry and find me on Steam

I just tried 190BCLK x20 for 3.8ghz, and even with 1.337v on the vcore, windows would BSOD. So I'm back down to 3.6ghz now and just slowly reducing the vcore.

I did it 'quick 'n' dirty' - 1.35v Vcore, see where it'd boot, take it down until stable, then drop voltage to reduce the temps. But the 20x multi needs more Vcore for some reason. In my experience.

Not sure if I should change my QPI volts? They're on 1.31v atm. I read it should be about 0.33v less than your RAM? Dunno if that's true. My RAM is on 1.66v.

QPI within 0.5v of DRAM, or damage to the memory controller. I tend to call it 'within 0.4v' to be on the safe side. 1.33v QPI is good, might want to try 1.35v (safe maximum) as I couldn't get RAM stable until 1.35v with my Corsair sticks.

Trying Real Temp 3.00 now. The readings are almost identical to Everest. In fact Real Temp says they're 1-2C lower.

Ah, that was Everest? *wibble* Everest is fine.

Have only run linX for 10mins, but temps are giving the same as Prime atm, max 67C on one of the cores.

Set it to, say, 4096MB RAM, 50 runs (you don't have to let them complete until the final stress test, it'll take ages) and give it some time. Temps'll rocket.

I think i'mna try dropping the multi to x19 and seeing where I get, as 19x200 would be just what I want, will keep the RAM at optimum speed too.

Good plan.