Overclocking experts required :)

[Wasted]

I have been running my system for a little over a year, after getting myself a new case that would provide decent airflow for o/c i followed the guide in Custom PC magazine for o/c my i7, but after a random period it would lock solid.

I ran PrimeFFT for 3 hours CPU temp doesn't go over 80 @ 3.8Ghz and yet it crashes at a random point during the night. Even a modest o/c to 3.17Ghz with the same voltage settings locks the computer solid after a random amount of time with the temp not surpassing 50.

Memory was not o/c passed 1600 limit just under, and since i got the system i have been running it at 1600 and it is stable at that now.

CPU Voltage 1.275v (Tried all the way up to 1.45v to gain stability)
CPU PLL Voltage 1.99v
CPU and PCI Spread Spectrum where disabled
Memory voltage 1.64v also tried it on it's default (SPD config CAS , memory capable of CAS 8)

A friend of mine says that mainboards suffer from something called 'burn in' and once they have been used for a long period un-o/c you can't o/c them. Is this correct and i need a new mainboard to o/c or does my system need some advanced tweaking in other areas?

Cooler is a Titan Fenrir, paste is the stuff it came with and yes i have removed the compound applied new and reseated.

Thanks in advance, going to whimper pathetically for hours if i can't o/c it

[osprey4]

Overcloaking?

[Wasted]

Overcloaking?

Fixed, thanks for your helpful advice

[JLK03F150]

Reset your CMOS and start over on the overclock.

What's the make & model of your motherboard, RAM, power supply?

Are SpeedStep & C1E disabled? Is the PCI-e bus manually set to 100MHz?

The Prime95 Small FFT (8 threads) is good for checking CPU stability and max core temps, but the Blend is good for testing RAM & total system. You need to do both.

[Wasted]

I reset the CMOS every time before starting the overclocks.

Mainboard ASUS P6T Deluxe V2
RAM 6Gb Corsair Dominator Cas 8
PSU is 740W StealthXStream
All parts installed at the same time from new.

Speedstep was disabled and the PCI was manually set to 100

I don't know what you mean by C1E.

I see what you are saying about Prime, but i would play games for hours before it would lock after a random period, mostly a few hours after i finished playing and while watching an avi and once during duel boxing EVE. With the temps not higher than 80.

[JLK03F150]

C1E works with StepStep. One lowers the CPU multiplier and the other lowers CPU voltage.

[Wasted]

Speedstep was disabled and the multiplier manually set at 20.

There are 2 places where speedstep was featured in the BIOS both where disabled, didn't disable anything to do with CPU voltage, does anyone know what it's called in the ASUS BIOS? Fucking manufacturers, don't see why they can't standardise the names on the same chipset..

[JLK03F150]

It's called C1E Support and it is located under the Advanced tab, CPU Configuration section.

I just downloaded the manual - from China. Real speedy download. lol

[Wasted]

Found a BIOS line reading 'C1E Support' and disabled it, also i saw in the screen shots of the magazines walk through that 'CPU differential amplitude' was set at 900ma i have set this as that too.

Now i will run Small FFT 8 Threads for an hour then Blend for an hour @ 3.17 Ghz, if all goes well i will go for 3.8Ghz.

[JLK03F150]

Here's another guide for you to read. Miah has lots of experience overclocking i7 CPUs. I'm still running a Core2 Duo.
3 Step Guide To Overclock Your Core i3, i5, or i7 – Updated! | Overclockers

[osprey4]

Fixed, thanks for your helpful advice

I don't know. Maybe you're a Romulan.

[JasmineTF]

Overcloaking?

He needs the Romulans to help him out with that one.

[RicheemxX]

Make sure you bump your speeds slowly, test then bump some more. I don't know how hot the i7's generally run but damn 80C seems pretty damn hot to me!!

[Wasted]

Make sure you bump your speeds slowly, test then bump some more. I don't know how hot the i7's generally run but damn 80C seems pretty damn hot to me!!

I7's can run as hot as 100 according to Intel but below 80 is fine, especially considering at that temperature i have gone from 2.6 to 3.8Ghz

Thanks for all your help seems stable for now, will report back with more information as and when something goes horribly wrong, or it's fine for a week or 2. Looks like it was C1E State being enabled or the CPU differential amplitude or both.

Also i found this guide:

3 Step Overclocking Guide – Lynnfield | TechREACTION

and this BIOS terminology table:

http://www.techreaction.net/wp-conte...erminology.jpg

[JLK03F150]

The overclock guide is by the same guy as the link I posted - miahallen.

The term guide is nice.

I'm interested to hear if you stay stable.

[Wasted]

Stable at 3.76Ghz, think the problem was having the memory multiplier set too high. Despite it being less than the rated speed of the memory it would still crash unless i dropped the memory down to something ridiculous, nice and stable at 1507, but would die at 1524..

Settings are as follows

CPU Multiplier - 20x
Speedstep - Disabled
Bclk - 188
DDR3 - 1507
CPU Voltage - 1.3
CPU PLL Voltage - 1.9
QPI/DRAM Core Voltage - 1.3
DRAM Bus Voltage - 1.64
CPU Differential Amplitude - 700ma
CPU and PCI Spread Spectrum - Disabled
C1E - Disabled
C-State Tech - Disabled

All other settings on Auto or their default.

Tests
2 Hours Prime95 FFT
2 Hours Prime95 Blend
8 Hours of various Games
12 Hours of downloading

Been stable for the last 48 Hours now.

Whether it was the memory being set too high or the C1E and C-State being enabled, i wouldn't have bothered trying if i hadn't had somewhere cool like Techimo to ask for advice. Thanks for your help.

[Networker4321]

I have been running my system for a little over a year, after getting myself a new case that would provide decent airflow for o/c i followed the guide in Custom PC magazine for o/c my i7, but after a random period it would lock solid.

I ran PrimeFFT for 3 hours CPU temp doesn't go over 80 @ 3.8Ghz and yet it crashes at a random point during the night. Even a modest o/c to 3.17Ghz with the same voltage settings locks the computer solid after a random amount of time with the temp not surpassing 50.

Memory was not o/c passed 1600 limit just under, and since i got the system i have been running it at 1600 and it is stable at that now.

CPU Voltage 1.275v (Tried all the way up to 1.45v to gain stability)
CPU PLL Voltage 1.99v
CPU and PCI Spread Spectrum where disabled
Memory voltage 1.64v also tried it on it's default (SPD config CAS , memory capable of CAS 8)

A friend of mine says that mainboards suffer from something called 'burn in' and once they have been used for a long period un-o/c you can't o/c them. Is this correct and i need a new mainboard to o/c or does my system need some advanced tweaking in other areas?

Cooler is a Titan Fenrir, paste is the stuff it came with and yes i have removed the compound applied new and reseated.

Thanks in advance, going to whimper pathetically for hours if i can't o/c it

I have been using MSI Afterburner for all my O/C tasks. Parameters can be set ( and stored on the left side of the GUI, total of five different settings. On the right are the graphs that show actual CPU temps, voltages, core clocks, shader clocking and other desired attributes. I do believe this product is just next-gen Riva tuner but I like it much better.

But no, I have rigs I built where I never did any O/C for at least a year and had no issues. Those were all Gigabyte and Foxconn mobo though, no ASUS.

Good Luck!

[Wasted]

This just in, stable at 3.8 with memory speed of 1154 CAS 8.

It does crash sometimes when i start a video file. This could be unrelated as i have just had 1 card die and the other maybe was taken partially with it. They will be replaced with a pair of 460's soon so i can't check that part yet.

One of the guides i looked at said to o/c the IOH voltage 1.3 for a single card or 1.35 for 2 cards did it mean the PCI IOH or the normal IOH i would suspect the former rather than the latter considering the comment.

Anyone come across this before?

[Aaron_8015]

Nice, what stepping is the i7 and what temps are you getting?

[Wasted]

Nice, what stepping is the i7 and what temps are you getting?

D0 stepping 45 Idle 86 Full load air cooled with a Titan Fenrir in a monstrous Antec, but i havn't tidied the cables or put the sides on, so i think that will go lower once it has proper case airflow.

Think i will try a 21x and lower the QPI so i can get the memory frequency higher.