Trying to push the i7 920

MavericK

MavericK

Zero Cool
Joined
Sep 2, 2004
Messages
31,952
Hey guys,

Probably have been similar threads in the past, but I didn't see any in recent history.

I've been trying to push my i7 920 (C0/C1 stepping, got one when it first came out) to the 4 GHz mark. I'd had it running stable at 3.8 GHz for a long time, with 1.35 VCore, and just recently I've decided to try to hit 4 GHz. I managed to push it up to 3.9 GHz with no additional changes, but when I tried 4 GHz (200 FSB x 20) the computer booted fine, loaded into Windows, but when I started running Prime95, about 2 minutes later the computer locked up and then BSOD. Before that, there were no issues with temps (all cores hover around 65-70C at load, using a Vigor Monsoon III), so I'm wondering what the issue is. Could it be related to low VCore? I've read that pushing it beyond 1.365V can be dangerous, so I'm not sure how much more leg room there is to raise it.

All other settings are as follows:

BCLK = 195 (trying to get it up to 200)
VCore = 1.35 V
QPI Voltage = 1.35 V
DRAM Voltage = 1.66V
PLL Voltage = 1.96V (not sure about this one, I think this is what I've got going though)

HT off, Turbo off, C1E disabled, SpeedStep on (has been off for the majority of the life of the proc, but I figured I'd like to have the low-power idle speeds.)

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.
 
dont be too sad about 4GHz, I cant even hit 200(I havent gone to the voltage limit though)
 
So I take it you have a board that allows you to change the multiplier then? I'd do that but I don't believe this one does, I could never get it to change in the BIOS.
 
Well, oddly enough, I got it stable at 3.9 GHz in Prime95 for like a half hour, but when I went to play ArmA2 I was in-game for about 5 minutes and the computer BSOD'd again, same as when I tried to push to 4 GHz. :(

Not sure what else there is to do. Could try upping VCore, I guess. Maybe 3.8 GHz is all this will do.
 
I agree. While 4Ghz may sound nice, 3.8Ghz out of an original 2.66 chip isn't shabby and you won't notice a difference anyway...
 
The early Core i7 920 (C0/C1 steppings) are kind of a crap shoot as to if they will allow you to join the 4GHZ club. I have not been able to do it myself, just luck of the draw.

D0 stepping and above though is a whole 'nother story.

A question though, what motherboard are you using? An original release board I am to assume, since you have a release Core i7?
 
Wyluliraven said:
The early Core i7 920 (C0/C1 steppings) are kind of a crap shoot as to if they will allow you to join the 4GHZ club. I have not been able to do it myself, just luck of the draw.

D0 stepping and above though is a whole 'nother story.

A question though, what motherboard are you using? An original release board I am to assume, since you have a release Core i7?
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's in my sig, Asus P6T Deluxe (V1).
 
BSOD is more likely memory corruption. If the CPU blows up it just tends to hang. Try backing off the memory clock. I'm pretty sure when I'm running 4ghz on my i7 I've got the memory multiplier at 6x and uncore at 16x.
 
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