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[O/C]3 Step Guide to Overclock Your Core i3, i5, or i7

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I want to ask something: Can I follow this tutorial when I want to overclock my Intel i5 760 CPU on my P7H55 motherboard? Is there a notable difference between overclocking in a P55 and H55 motherboard? Thanks in advance!
 
Really enjoyed this guide, but still have few questions.

1) What about CPU's with unlocked multiplier (or any other that allows to reach max clocks without using max mult)? I have i7 980 (not X) and Rampage 2 Extreme MB that allows to use TB mult forced. Using max mult and bclk will be 26*200=5200MHz that is unreachable. Should I use max mult or bclk or there is some mix that grands more frequency\stability?

2) Previously I had i7 920 and I managed to OC my mem with 1600 stock clock to 2Ghz. Should I try to use these OC settings with my new 980 or IMC wouldn't manage to handle it?
 
1st of all - thank you a lot for such useful guide!

I've made everything step-by-step and I'm in few steps (I mean bclk mhz) from my target.

I'll be very thankful if You could help me with some advice.

I want my new i7 980 to run on 4.6GHz, so that's my final goal.

I have i7 980 CPU, Rampage 2 Extreme MB and KHX1600C9D3 mem (6 modules 2GB each 12GB total) 1600MHz 9-9-9-27 timings.

So my current setting are:
BCLK = 195
CPU Mult = 23
Mem Mult = 8
Uncore Mult = 18
CPU Vcore = 1.4625v
Uncore Voltage = 1.4v
DRAM Voltage = 1.65v
IOH Core = 1.2v

Mem Timing set manually following by stock memory spec.
LLC On, HT On, Virtualization Off, CPU and IOH SpeedStep Off, all power savings Off.


I also have a new water cooling system with 2 radiators EK waterblock and only one CPU on them.

On these settings I've passed 256MB IntelBurnTest with 10 loops.

After IntelBurnTest 256MB All threads 10 loops with 195 bclk and 1.5v core voltage, max temperature has reached 90 degrees Celsius.
But 1.5v is still not enough to pass the test on 200 bclk( (So +0.0375v on CPU Vcore is not enough for +5 mhz on bclk)

Should I try harder on CPU Core voltage or I've already reached my limits?

About 2GHz mem:
I've been forced to increase QPI voltage to 1.4v to pass the test on 200 bclk with 18 Uncore multiplier.
It would be bad if +400MHz on mem will require more QPI voltage (and it seems that it will)
Seems that Gulftown's IMC is much more weaker then Bloomfield's one. Or maybe my CPU is unlucky(
 
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256MB is not a very difficult test. I'd use "ALL" instead of "256MB" and just run 3 loops (even 2 would be enough for basic testing).

But it seems you've reached the limit of your cooling for that chip. Have you already verified you have good water block mount? And what TIM are you using? Sounds like they're fine and you just have a warm chip....but I thought I'd ask anyhow.

Concerning the IMC, 12GB is more difficult, sorry I missed that. I was saying that in general, Gulftown is about equal to Bloomfiled in the IMC dept. But 12GB at DDR3-200 is above average on either platform....so you're results are not abnormal.

What if you compromise your goal a little and shoot for 180x25? That would allow you to aim for DDR3-1800, and 4500MHz on the CPU.....you should be able to hit those goals from the sound of it :)
 
Oh you mean All available memory) It would take a while.

I've also used another test method:
In the beginning I've set CPU mult to max value (26) and start increasing bclk by +5 per step with 1.5v cpu vcore.

Every time I hit the limit I reduce CPU mult by 1 until 22.
And every time I reach 4.5GHz - prime95 begins to find errors.
4.6 is the goal but instability begins earlier.

About cooling:
I have Gigabyte case with integrated liquid cooling system.
It was actually not the best choice so Ive decided to "buff" it with EK waterblock (with additional backplate) and Alphacool radiator

Don't remember the name of my TIM but I've used it with my old CPU and was pretty happy with it.

My CPU in idle state on 200*22 1.46v has only 30 degrees while MB is 38 and NB is 45. I don't think that its a cooling problem.

Actually there is a 1 big question for me:
I've tested my new CPU in many different ways and it really seems to me that it is an unlucky chip. Should I try to change it for another one? (yep I want it to run 4.6 VERY much)
 
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It seems to me, if you are dead set on 4.6GHz, then you need to try another CPU, or increase your cooling. You could continue to try different OCing parameters, but I think you'll be dissapointed by wasting too much time and not getting anywhere. :(
 
I've already spend enough time for overclocking this chip and enough money for water cooling. There's no sense to continue.

Here is a temperature statistic after lite stress test:
tempb.png

Cannot be sure but it seems to me that 14 degrees difference between warmest and coolest cores is not OK.

Gonna try to exchange this chip.

Thank you very much for guidance and personal advices, they are very useful!

BTW In your guide you pay significant attention on some theoretical basics of core die and chipset architectures. It was actually the most interesting for me.
Do you plan to update your guide with how frequency voltage and temperature are depending on each other?
(I mean something like:
Increasing frequency > increases temperature > increases resistance in a conductor > reduce effective voltage etc..)
 
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I am attempting to start my overclock at 150 MHz with a multiplier of 9.

All 4 sticks of RAM are DDR3 1600, but slots 3 and 4 on the SPD tab are showing a max bandwidth of 10700. Why?

Also, if you look at the memory tab, my frequency is showing as 202.5 MHz. Shouldn't this value be 450 MHz?

CPU-Z-1.jpg
 
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Get the timings and voltage information off of the stickers applied to the memory modules, then manually set those values in BIOS. Sounds like you have the memory timings set to auto.
 
Get the timings and voltage information off of the stickers applied to the memory modules, then manually set those values in BIOS. Sounds like you have the memory timings set to auto.

The stickers say 9-9-9-24 so I changed both channels to this. These timings were under the standard timing section. There were a lot of advanced timings, but I left those on auto.

This did not fix my issue.
 
What is a RAM divider? I'm isolating my bclk and so I lowered my CPU and RAM multipliers to their lowest settings - 9 and 6 respectively. My RAM should be running at 150 x 6 = 900/2 = 450 in CPU-Z.
 
You will have to set the speed of the memory manually as well, should be in the memory options in BIOS.
 
I had a feeling CPU-Z was flawed and I was right. I tried the second to last release, and the memory is showing up correctly, as is the CPU multiplier. w00t

I still don't understand why it says the maximum bandwidth is 10700 for my DDR3 1600 2x2GB RAM kit in slots 3 and 4 though. :shrug:
 
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Is it ok if I just keep the memory timings on auto. That is what I had it set to when I ran prime to test stability of my bclk. I'm running memtest right now with the timings on auto still.
 
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It should be fine, I would just check cpu-z to make sure that they aren't a lot looser than rated.
 
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