Do you overclock?

[Kougar]

I've got a quad core Q6600 processor at the moment, and it's default clock is 2.4Ghz. At the moment it's running quite happily at 3.0Ghz using air cooling only (Zalman CNPS9500 cooler).

Was thinking about pushing it a little more, but my temps are around 55C under load so I don't want to try it long term.

There have been some great CPUs this past few years in terms of overclockability (is that a word!?), so I thought it would be interesting to see who else has.

I just upgraded my computer, my previous one was a Q6600. Those are very nice chips, and I ran mine anywhere from 3.2GHz to 3.6GHz using watercooling.

If your have DDR2-800MHz RAM I suggest you try 8 x 400 = 3.2GHz settings with a 1:1 memory ratio. That will give you the performance sweet spot. Anything beyond 3.2GHz will get extremely hot extremely fast, and 3.2GHz may get pretty warm with your current cooler. I wouldn't suggest the above settings if I thought it would be a risk though, anything above 70c for the cores is about my limit.

Very nice work there Khaotic, that's a huge overclock! It might sound like a silly question, but what is the wooden block in the bottom right of the pic? Is that just supporting something, or is it a component?

Looks like a wooden block. The watercooling pump is sitting on top, and the block is probably there so he can shorten the length of the tubes is my guess.

Out of interest, how far do you think an air cooled i7 920 could go?

Depends greatly on if it is a C0 stepping or D0 stepping... if you look at his CPUZ screenshot he has a C0 stepping... that's very good results for a C0.

D0 steppings are significantly better (But are just now coming to market), and if you make sure to get a D0 you will pretty much be guaranteed a 4GHz overclock. In fact I'm still testing mine... I am at 4.2GHz with full stability using LinX, Prime95, Memtest, and some 3D games.

For CPU temperature monitoring I recommend RealTemp. The latest versions include support for NVIDIA GPUs and some other nifty bits. Link

 

[Ian]

Thanks for the comprehensive post Kougar! I've got DDR2-800, so I'll give that a go as 3.2 sounds like a comfortable middle ground

Have you noticed much of a performance improvemend since moving to the 920?

 

[Kougar]

I have not had the chance yet to test my usual programs! I've been having to much fun overclocking like a madman, and I don't want to use my usual programs until I'm confident in the stability. I think I'll be sticking with 4.2Ghz though, anything more is taking to much vcore than I'm comfortable with.

I can say that with a single 750GB hard drive and stock settings, Windows 7 installed in under 17 minutes from the first mouse click until reaching an idle desktop. I don't remember Vista being anywhere nearly that fast.

 

[sushrukh]

I'm also using a Q6600 with a clock speed of 3200 Mhz.I'm on air cooler.The cooler is Thermalright Si128 with a Vantec 120mm fan.My temps are around 52-55.So, i won't overclock it anymore.

 

[Ian]

I'm now also running at 3.2 thanks to the advice above - my temps are around 55C under load, but I need to create a better airflow path inside my case which should help things out.

 

[sushrukh]

I'm running my CPU within a Cosmos S chassis.So, there shouldn't be any heat related issues.Though i know that i can upgrade to a better HSF but my current set is serving me fine.

 

[Psikea]

i do not overclock anything dunno y , just have it all workin at its based freqz

 

[sexytool]

I thought CoreTemp was officially an Intel information tool.
That's why it has the warning in the readme;

"All AMD K8 CPUs are supported starting with the early SH-C0 stepping and up. The latest 65nm BH-G1 and DH-G1 revisions give inaccurate readings."

Finding your max warranty covered temperature (Intel);
http://processorfinder.intel.com/Default.aspx
Select your processor family and then click on the link on the far left in the column sSpec#

For AMD i'm not sure if they allow overclocking at all.
A mate of mine in the I.T industry stated that intels' warranty now covers over-clocking as long as you don't go over a core voltage of 1.4 volts and common sense tells me it'd be best not to go over your Maximum warranty covered temperature even under load.

I run an e7300 @ 3.33Ghtz with max temps hitting 72 degrees with stock cooling.
I think i got pretty lucky there.

It's rather annoying to find that Tj.Max is not an accurate representation of your max warranty covered temperature; remember that you should not go over the temperature listed on the intel site.

 

[Kougar]

Not a bad overclock for the stock cooler!

A mate of mine in the I.T industry stated that intels' warranty now covers over-clocking as long as you don't go over a core voltage of 1.4 volts and common sense tells me it'd be best not to go over your Maximum warranty covered temperature even under load.

To clarify, the voltages that void Intel's warranty depend on the processor in question. Specifically it depends on the processor family and the process size the CPU was fabricated on. Either way, 1.4v is enough to void your warranty on just about any currently sold Intel CPU's. For example, anything above 1.3625v on your E7300 will void its warranty. Link

The temperature itself isn't used to determine the warranty, it is just a specification of the temperature range the processor is guaranteed to operate normally within. If a CPU gets hot enough it will go unstable, overclockers will be familiar with this as the temperature will always affect the range of the overclock and it's apparent stability.

Also, AMD does support overclocking, as they release numerous Black Edition CPU's with the CPU multiplier unlocked... for anywhere from $60 to less than $240 for their high-end part. The only mutliplier unlocked Intel CPU cost $999.

 

[sexytool]

Thanks i was a bit surprised myself as well
I achieved this in summer too when it was ~40 degrees Celcius / 105*F.

Also thanks for the heads up on the Black Editions i didn't realise they were actually warranty covered. Last two years i desired a change and have worked in the manual labouring field so i've had no real reason to keep up with the latest processor information in depth.
1.3625v is rather an odd number. Wonder how they hit that number.
1.1875v is enough for me i think, i'm totally stable at this voltage.

Oddly enough, Vcc and Vtt are max warranty covered 1.45v however;
You will see a drop in lifespan of the unit, if it runs at all after exceeding 1.45v
From what i'm gathering, Intel will warranty cover any voltage and any temperature, as long as it's not sustained or rediculously outside the expected maximum ranges, e.g 3.0v

So a 1.6v clock to 80 degrees C would be covered by warranty if done for only 10 minutes. However you could also expect a degradation in expected lifespan, if the processor survived it at all. (Mine did ! )

 

[WindowsGeek]

I got my 2.6 GHz AMD Athlon 64x2 5000+ up to 3.1 GHz.

I have an ECS motherboard with an nVidia 7050M-M chipset in it.

By the way, does anyone know what the maximum voltage for the AMD 64x2 5000+?

 

[sexytool]

Any processor should handle 1.6v without frying.
The thing is, if you're running stable at 1.3v there's no need to increase it.
Increasing the voltage will simply burn out pathways quicker due to the increased heat.

That's where the heat from OC'ing realistically comes from. It's not from the actual over-clock but rather the over-voltage required to make that OC stable and work.

I noticed very close to NO change in temperature on my C2D when i overclocked it.
Then again my voltage is up from 1.1 to 1.18...

To get a 40% OC like i've got, previous processors usually needed to push 1.4 to 1.6 volts.

 

[Thrax]

Not every processor has the same maximum voltage, and no processor on the market should be run at 1.6v for extended periods of time.

The highest safe operating voltage for air-cooled CPUs is 1.5v, and that's on 65nm Core 2 Duos/Core 2 Quads.

 

[Kougar]

I'd say 1.40-1.50 is at the maximum safe range for that specific CPU, and also assuming you have good enough cooler to keep temps at 65C or lower.

3.1GHz is a decent overclock for that processor, you won't get much more out of it.

 

[sexytool]

Well, going back a few years 1.6v was the minimum you could run an athlon XP, X2 or Pentium 4 at any reasonable overclock. Any lower and regardless of motherboard, the system simply wouldn't boot.

These days 1.2v seems realistically like over-kill, i DO agree there.
However there have been many, many instances of people running 1.6v or even up to 2.2v for years. Safely.

 

[msdos622wasfun]

A while back I started overclocking my Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300, but the thing just wasn't stable. Just got one blue screen after another. Turns out that I had some bad RAM -- now that I've upgraded to Windows 7 x64, I put 4 GB of fresh RAM in, and my system is running perfectly at 3.0 GHz. Maybe I could take it further, I don't know ... to be honest, overclocking is not something I am an expert at. But at least I figured out what the problem was, and now I have a fast, stable system.

 

[sexytool]

These days there is only a few small things to worry about. If you want to maintain your intel warranty then you cannot go over a certain voltage & you'll have to find out what it is.

Secondly is wether the system will boot or not with your over-clocked settings. Obviously trial and error is the case here. Every system is different. Every CPU is different. There is a 10% odd margin for differences/errors in the intel manufactoring process.

Thirdly is temperatures / stability. Generally if your system is Blue screening or hard locking and restarting, your motherboard/ram is crap or you are over-heating. I have a Core2Duo e7300 running completely stable at 3.33ghtz up from 2.66 - on stock cooling & with no voltage mod.

EDIT: Your nVidia 780i chipset and 800mhtz kingston ram will be the limiting factors of your over-clocking. My ram is 1600mhtz OC ready and the g31 series intel chipsets are server chipsets. They're designed to perform & be stable. I sacrificed the potential to go to 4ghtz with my processor to get a decent chipset since i hate nvidia chipsets around the 700 generation.

 

[linuxdudex12]

NO, and I never will subject my CPU to this. Overclocking the CPU is bad in my book. I'm not even going to supply a reason, just my opinion.

 

[paradigmx]

I don't believe in overclocking, what you gain in performance, you lose in reliability and longevity. The last time I had an overclocked computer, it was an old Celeron that was 333mhz and was overclocked to 450mhz, and it had nothing but problems.

 

[catilley1092]

Where is the control to adjust these settings? I've typed in every hint that I can think of, but can't find them.