i7 960 OC - need some help please

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lt_wentoncha

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 20, 2005
Messages
285
Howdy all,

Specs in sig, I seem to be able to run prime for more than 5 mins with the settings below:



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Any advice on how to improve? I just reapplied artic silver 5 from manufacturer thermal compound (cooling this CPU is an H50), it did drop a few temps, but I'm at a loss on how to improve. Now, I can get up to a multi of 21 and run Futuremark just fine, but for prime stability I'm not quite sure how to fix. Thanks!
 
Hmm sig didn't post...

Proc: i7 960 D0 Stepping
Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD5
Mem: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 16GB DDR3 1600
HDD: Crucial C300 128 GB + 1 TB Hitatchi
GFX: 2x 570 EVGA 025-P3-1579-AR GeForce GTX 570 in SLI
PSU: Corsair TX950w
OS: Win7 Ultimate
 
At those temps, I wouldn't go any higher unless you can overclock higher without any voltage increases.

But yes, please give us your voltages, and it would help if we knew what your heatsink is.
 
Ewww, those temps shouldn't be happening. My [email protected], 1.375Vcore under a Hydro H70 was showing those temps, but only after half an hour of Priming.
Try reseating the cooler again, perhaps?
 
In the BIOS I set CPU vcore to 1.375 and mem to 1.4 (those GSkills are supposedly low voltage sticks).

Maybe the A5 still needs to cure? I mean it did say 200 hours...but I think it was good because idle is usually around 35-38 (then again, that's with a CPU vcore of .9 IAW CPU Z). Cooler is the H50.

Thanks.
 
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Also, should I disable HT? Is it causing heat issues, is it worth it to have it on? Thanks.
 
Always kill HT while OC'ing, then turn it back on afterwards.
 
I see your northbridge is running 3800MHz, mine is at 3200MHz.

Make sure your various multipliers aren't too high. Maybe yours are set to auto, you should manually set them to keep them from being automatically set too high; QPI and Uncore multipliers need to be set manually.

Uncore multi needs to be set at 2x your DRAM multi and for QPI I just did the lowest number that was 2x my Uncore multiplier. That should prevent auto setting from running it too high and too hot.
 
So if RAM multi is 8, Uncore should be 16 and QPO should be 36? It seems to be at that right now...I think.

Also, I noticed other odd behavior...the screen connected to my second 570 flickers, but I'm not OCing the graphics cards...
 
Flickering is more likely to be a monitor than a graphics card problem, although it could be a defective card.

I wouldn't kill the HT unless you plan to run it without HT. You need to make sure it's stable with HT on if you plan to use HT.

What's your PLL and QPI voltage? Boost the PLL to 1.9v, and the QPI to 1.3-1.35v. See if that can help you bring your vcore (and temps) down. I know for me it did.
 
Gah, I just can't get it...it just can't do prime95. What else can I tweak?

Advanced CPU Features:
CPU Clock Ratio ................................ [21]
Intel(R) Turbo Boost Tech ................. [Enabled]
CPU Cores Enabled .......................... [All]
CPU Multi Threading ..........................[Enabled]
CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E) ................. [Disabled]
C3/C6/C7 State Support ................... [Disabled]
CPU Thermal Monitor ........................ [Disabled]
CPU EIST Function ............................ [Disabled]
Virtualization Technology ................. [Enabled]
Bi-Directional PROCHOT .................... [Enable]

Uncore & QPI Features:
QPI Link Speed ..............................[x36] 7.2GHz
Uncore Frequency ..........................[x16] 3200MHz
Isonchronous Frequency ...............[Enable]

Standard Clock Control:
Base Clock (BCLK) Control .................. [Enable]
BCLK Frequency (MHz) .........................[200]
PCI Express Frequency (MHz) ............. [101]

Advanced Clock Control:
CPU Clock Drive ..............................[700]
PCI Express Clock Drive ................ [700]
CPU Clock Skew ............................ [0]
IOH Clock Skew ............................. [0]

Advanced DRAM Features:
Performance Enhance .......................... [Standard]
Extreme Memory Profile (X.M.P) ........... [Disabled]
System Memory Multiplier (SPD) ........... [ 8] 8
DRAM Timing Selectable (SPD) ............. [Quick] [Quick]

Channel A + B + C

Channel A Timing Settings:
##Channel A Standard Timing Control##
CAS Latency Time ..................[9]
tRCD ......................................[9]
tRP ........................................[9]
tRAS ......................................[24]
CR..........................................[2]
B2B........................................[Auto]


Advanced Voltage Control:

Load Line Calibration .................... [Profile 1]
CPU Vcore ......................................[1.36250V]
Dynamic Vcore Adjust (DVID)............[Auto]
QPI/VTT Voltage 1.150v .................[1.315]
CPU PLL 1.800v ..............................[1.880V]
PCIE 1.500v ...................................[AUTO]
QPI PLL 1.100v ..............................[1.340V]
IOH Core 1.100v ............................[1.340V]
ICH I/O 1.500v ...............................[1.500V]
ICH Core 1.1v ................................[1.140V]

DRAM
DRAM Voltage 1.500v .............. [1.500V]
DRAM Termination 0.750v.......... [AUTO]
Ch-A Data VRef. 0.750v ...........[AUTO]
Ch-B Data VRef. 0.750v ...........[AUTO]
Ch-C Data VRef. 0.750v ...........[AUTO]
Ch-A Address VRef. 0.750v ........[AUTO]
Ch-B Address VRef. 0.750v ........[AUTO]
Ch-C Address VRef. 0.750v ........[AUTO]
 
Your QPI looks ridiculously high. Try going lower on the QPI if you can.
 
I would work on lowering your FSB increasing multiplier on CPU to max.
 
Bummer, bclk seems to be the problem. I can get 4.0 at 160x25 with qpi multi at 20 and mem at 10.

4.2 at 200x21 with QPI at 16 and mem at 8...just doesn't cut it :/
 
lt_wentoncha said:
Bummer, bclk seems to be the problem. I can get 4.0 at 160x25 with qpi multi at 20 and mem at 10.

4.2 at 200x21 with QPI at 16 and mem at 8...just doesn't cut it :/
Click to expand...


I think this approach to over clocking this CPU makes more sense. Very nice over clock and CPU.
 
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