Overclock i7-920 or upgrade CPU?

[Alaric]

Well, if it helps, it was an AM2+ platform with a Phenom X4 9850 on a M4A785-M mobo. Setting the PCIe at 105 was asking for trouble if anything (HT, etc.) was overclocked at all. Over 105 was instant BSOD and no chance of recovery. I didn't know if it had something to do with the specific AMD setup or not. After the second time I quit trying. LOL

 

[freeagent]

SSD is fine, just have to reinstall windows most likely. Take out 6gb ram. Turn off c1e and all that power save stuff. Turn on LLC, drop your memory speed down to 1333, and increase you bclk. I don't think there is any need to increase pcie frequency right now. If it is a c0 cpu chances are its not going to like 200 bclk, but you never know. I had a UD7 first rev, it was a little weak compare to my R3F. You might have to use some extra vcore to get around the sag. Don't be shy with the qpi voltage, your gonna need it once things get moving.

 

[UltraTaco]

I was never able to boot above 196 bclk on my 920 c0.
*even after raising pcie to 106*

 

[freeagent]

I was never able to boot above 196 bclk on my 920 c0.
*even after raising pcie to 106*

I had a 965XE E.S. as my first 1366 CPU, and it was of course a c0.. iirc it didn't appreciate the 190s too much. But I was using that gigabyte board, so the CPU didn't really have much of a chance anyways haha

Just kidding, sorta.

I've played with raising pcie a little bit, cant remember what it was on.. maybe 939 or 775? I don't remember.. sometime anyways.. I ended up scribbling my hdd I think so I didn't play with that again lol.

 

[loulis]

Hello guys and thank you all for your answers! I was away and didn't have access to internet...

I use the PC as a DAW (digital audio workstation), I do not play any games. I think I'll go for the OC.. But I want the highest frequency I can get that it is going to be 100% safe. So, maybe I am ok with 3.6GHz. I don't want to change any setting that will affect SATA - I do not want to kill another SSD (and yes, killing them is possible with OC from what I have read googling). I also would like not to remove any memory. I need the 18GB to load sample libraries..

I'll have a look at the 3-step guide you gave me and post back.

 

[UltraTaco]

Good for you and everyone else! 3.6ghz is very safe

 

[loulis]

Quick question just to be safe: which BIOS setting could affect the SATA? (I do not want to burn another SSD) Does raising the BCLK or some voltage setting affect the SATA? Or is it only the PCIe frequency only? (which should be left at 100)

 

[UltraTaco]

Leave pcie at 100 and dont touch it. Read the guides. To get to 3.6ghz, all you need to do is keep raising bclk. Also drop ram and uncore multipliers because they will cause ram and uncore frequency to rise as well. If you get into stability issues, begin adding a little bit of vcore voltage, keep the rest of the voltages at their defaults. For 3.6ghz, you wont need much of a bump in vcore(unless very weak chip). Also, this is usually at lowest, but check anyways that your qpi link speed is at lowest as well.