OC'ing my Core i7 920

[wafflehammer]

After reading

http://www.techist.com/forums/f10/time-oc-my-i7-920-a-219539/

I decided I would do a bit of overclocking myself. I modeled my voltages/clocks by his in this thread and she seems to be doing stable. I tried easing my way up to this point but I kept getting random BSOD's ( 0x00000124 VTT voltage too low according to someone in that thread..but even after upping it and then turning back to default it kept saying it ) so I just went with his configuration and it seems to be doing fine.

Is there anything wrong with where it's at? I know the temps are super high but that's because dust is all over the heatsink and I have no way of cleaning it till I get some canned air . Using a xigmatek s1283 heatsink with a 1366 bracket. Gonna upgrade the default fan to a scythe x fan that puts out about 30 more CFM that + cleaning it should drop temps quite a bit.

Oh yea, in the bios when i adjusted the VTT setting it was pink instead of white like the rest. It's at 1.355V ( I don't think it even showed up in hardware monitor after I changed it to this)...is there anything wrong with having it that high?

EDIT: Actually my current fan does about 56CFM, the new scythe x I'm gonna put on it does 110CFM ..so it's basically double the air flow

EDIT2: Here is a superpi run. Tomorrow I'll OC my GPU and do a 3dmark run

 

[S0ULphIRE]

You don't need to worry about the canned air, just take off the heatsink and clean it with a toothbrush. No chance of damaging anything that way, just remember to ground the HS before you put it back onto the CPU again. For cleaning non-detachable parts inside the case some people feel more comfortable with canned air, but anything you can easily take out it's like...why wouldn't you? You'll be able to clean it better anyway.

I'd doubly recommend doing that actually, as by now your thermal paste might need a redo.

 

[wafflehammer]

You don't need to worry about the canned air, just take off the heatsink and clean it with a toothbrush. No chance of damaging anything that way, just remember to ground the HS before you put it back onto the CPU again. For cleaning non-detachable parts inside the case some people feel more comfortable with canned air, but anything you can easily take out it's like...why wouldn't you? You'll be able to clean it better anyway.

I'd doubly recommend doing that actually, as by now your thermal paste might need a redo.

well i had plans on giving it a quick clean out soon...and I"m gonna use the canned air because everything else needs cleaned out too ( psu, GPU, all fans all horribly dusty).

After you mentioned that, I might go ahead and just take off the CPU and clean it that way since i'll probably have to take it off to replace the top fans in my case and redo my paste.

Also, do you think lapping it would help any? I read somewhere you shouldn't lap the i7's but i'm sure lapping the heatsink couldn't hurt and it might help with the uneven temps ( core 2 is always like 4-5 above the lowest)

EDIT:

http://service.futuremark.com/home.action;jsessionid=A07017415479553B729AAEA1503EE359

19,648 3dmarks (3dmark06)

 

[Slaymate]

What voltage are you changing with the 0x00000124 bsod? A lot of bios call the CPU VTT voltage by a different name, DRAM/QPI Voltage is the term used by a lot of bios.

As for lapping the i7, mine is lapped and running cool as can be.

 

[S0ULphIRE]

Also, do you think lapping it would help any? I read somewhere you shouldn't lap the i7's but i'm sure lapping the heatsink couldn't hurt and it might help with the uneven temps ( core 2 is always like 4-5 above the lowest)

Unless you're gonna go for a crazy overclock (and by that I mean above 4.6Ghz) you don't need to lap anything. My spread is about 5c most of the time too, and I was only stopped by my mobo. So yeah, unless you're looking for an EXTREME oc, there's really no point to lapping. At least on i7s anyway.

 

[wafflehammer]

What voltage are you changing with the 0x00000124 bsod? A lot of bios call the CPU VTT voltage by a different name, DRAM/QPI Voltage is the term used by a lot of bios.

As for lapping the i7, mine is lapped and running cool as can be.

can't remember the full name but it does have VTT voltage in it....but I had it set at 1.25 by default....then I changed it up like 2 notches...but after that i reset to default then reread that topic and just copied his settings for now.

probably gonna take it up to at least 3.6 whenever I clean my computer and replace all the fans



EDIT: thanks soul for that info

 

[Slaymate]

Your heatsink has exposed heatpipes at the base making contact with the cpu, correct? On those types of heatsinks you need to make sure that there is thermal paste in the little gaps between the heatpipes and the actual base of the heatsink, plus the regular application of thermal paste to the cpu.

 

[wafflehammer]

Your heatsink has exposed heatpipes at the base making contact with the cpu, correct? On those types of heatsinks you need to make sure that there is thermal paste in the little gaps between the heatpipes and the actual base of the heatsink, plus the regular application of thermal paste to the cpu.

really? yea heatpipes do directly touch..but it was pretty smooth (i don't think there was any gaps) ..but i'll check and reapply the paste whenever i change my fans out

 

[Slaymate]

The gaps are small so there barely noticable. Just rub a little paste along each side of each heatpipe, the paste should be just barely visible. It doesn't seem like it should matter but it will make a difference, or it should unless the paste was already there. In which case you'll be the same

 

[wafflehammer]

The gaps are small so there barely noticable. Just rub a little paste along each side of each heatpipe, the paste should be just barely visible. It doesn't seem like it should matter but it will make a difference, or it should unless the paste was already there. In which case you'll be the same

eh i just with with like a piece of rice on the chips and put the heatsink on :\ (both times..when i had the stock ..then when i put this one on...when i took it off the first time it looked like it spread out good so i stayed with that technique)


EDIT: anyone that has ever(or currently) owned the NZXT tempest have any tips for wire management? I don't have any in the way of airflow really..but most are still visible :\ but unless I cut or mod this case I really don't see where I can stick anything else (either doesn't stretch or it won't fit behind the mobo tray :\ it's already kinda bulging )....