First overclock of I7 950 are these settings ok?

[Bluelight]

I finally found what seems to be a stable 4ghz OC on my I7 950. The only issue I have with it is it is running a little hotter than I would like. I would like someone who knows more about overclocking (and maybe has experience with the 1st gen I7's like this) to tell me if this looks ok or if something is off:

My system is I7 950
Noctua NH-D14 with thermal paste that came with it
24gb G skill Sniper DDR3 1600
GTX 970 FTW
EVGA 650 GQ PSU


OC settings are:

191 x 21 to get 4ghz
RAM is running at 762mhz
uncore set to twice the ram
speedstep off
turbo off
no power saving stuff turned on right now

CPU voltage is set to 1.28v
DRAM voltage 1.564
VTT 1.27
PLL 1.90

IOH and ICH along with everything else is set to auto still as I don't really know what they do. I set them to 1.2 in one test but didn't see much of a difference.


During full load, my temps are around 79c after a while of small FFTs.

It was more like 75-76 before I bumped up the VTT from 1.2 to 1.27 but seemed like I needed it for stabilty.

I also tried a CPU voltage of 1.264v but it seemed to be about the same temps.


Is this temp ok?? I think the reason I bumped up the VTT originally was cause I failed the blend test but was passing small FFT. After doing that it went totally stable but added a few degrees to the max temp.

Thanks.

 

[cdawall]

The one I setup runs about the same on an OEM AIO watercooler. If it's stable temps probably fine.

 

[Bluelight]

Really?

The one I setup runs about the same on an OEM AIO watercooler. If it's stable temps probably fine.

Wow I thought with watercooling it would be much better. I actually just pulled my D14 cooler off, cleaned up the thermal paste real good, and reapplied it. It seems to have helped some. I was getting an average of 78c with a max of 80c before during small ffts. Now after I just tested it I am getting a max of 77 with an average of about 75c. I made a mess of the thermal paste the first time I installed cause I had trouble getting the cooler bolted and had to keep lifting it and putting it back down. Now that I know how to do it, it was much smoother this go.

Having said that, I still don't understand why I have seen some people with this type of setup rocking high 50s or low 60s. Hell even 65c would be great I think. I'm ok with this temp and it is stable but I really wish I could get it down to something like that. I don't think there is anything I can do with the settings unless someone disagrees. 1.28v seems to be about as low as I can do stable.. some people that had those lower temps were running 1.3v+.

My chip is a D0 which I read it supposed to be better for overclocking at lower volts but maybe my chip just is built a little hotter?

If everyone agrees that 75c is an ok temp under load, I'll call it done.

 

[cdawall]

Mines in a junk case with a cheap asetek cooler.