Page 1 of 1

i7 920 Core Overclocking

Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 11:02 am
by sbjlsmtj
I've looked on here to see if anyone knew a step by step type guide for overclocking an i7 core but I haven't found a "overclocking for dummies" type guide. I have never overclocked anything before, so I need a step by step process. If anyone knows of one, please let me know. I'm looking to overclock to 3.6 to 3.8. The main thing is, I still want everything to be stable, just a bit faster, esp my Ram. Any help would be great. I asked a similar question about the GX295 in that forum also.
Thanks again.

Re: i7 920 Core Overclocking

Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 11:54 am
by Bwall
Check out the review in the link here...

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/885/1/

On the bundle and BIOS page you can see the settings I used to reach 3.6 with complete stability. I don't get into "how to" in the article but I think that would be something really helpful for people as there really isn't a good guide anywhere out there for over clocking Core i7. Unfortunately other projects, my daytime job, and personal life are in the way of me writing up something.

Re: i7 920 Core Overclocking

Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 1:05 pm
by InspectahACE
on the Asus board(or any i7 board), the main thing to overclock is the BCLK. To get 3.8ghz, BCLK should be set at 180 I believe and 3.6ghz would be 160. 200 would be 4ghz on the BCLK. you will see your ram speed change when u do that though. if you have the 1600mhz dominators, then you will have to underclock them a bit to reach the OC mark you stated. I know at 3.2ghz and 4ghz your ram can be set at 1600(at least it was on my Asus board). but with 12 gigs I don't know how stable that would be at that speed so you might be stuck at lowering the speed on the ram a tad just to be stable(not sure entirely, I only have 6GB). shouldn't affect performance much if at all though since it's triple channel..I put in my 2 cents on your 295 inquiry too...oh yea, if you want to go that high, you're going to want to bump up the cpu voltage a tad too. probably around 1.4v ( hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong on all that btw lol) ..I'm no guru on overclocking, just speaking from experience I had with my 920

Re: i7 920 Core Overclocking

Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 5:21 pm
by sbjlsmtj
I tried setting everything exactly like it was set in the link posted here but for some reason...windows won't start up. It will go clear to the point that the next thing you would see is the "windows starting" screen but it doesn't go there. Just goes black and that's it. I clicked on xmp setting and windows starts with that. This is the same setting that I found from corsair on rec'd settings.

DDR3 TRI XM3S Dominator & DHX

Testing parameters for TR3X3G1333C9 /TR3X6G1333C9
TR3X3G1333C9 Data Sheet
TR3X6G1333C9 Data Sheet

Motherboard make and model: ASUS P6T Premium/Deluxe !
Each set is tested and packaged together using the following settings:
Advanced
Jumper Free
CPU Ratio Control:Depends on CPU
FSB Frequency: AUTO
PCIE Frequency: 100
DRAM Frequency: DDR3-1333 MHz
DRAM Timings Control: Manual
CAS# Latency:___________9
RAS# to CAS# Delay:______9
RAS# Precharge:__________9
RAS# Activate to Precharge:24
DRAM Voltage:_________1.50V
QPI Voltage: __________1.25 V
XMP Disabled
All settings not listed should be left at AUTO or BIOS Default
Maximum DDR3 recommended VDIMM: 2.00 Volts

If I leave the xmp setting on and try to turn the BCLK to 160...windows still won't start. Not sure what's going on or if I'm doing something wrong. I have made sure the settings are exactly like the ones in the link here but still nothing. Any ideas what's going on?
Thanks for any help

Re: i7 920 Core Overclocking

Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2009 5:27 pm
by sbjlsmtj
I have been trying to figure out why this wouldn't boot when I followed the link in this thread but couldn't figure it out. As I was looking around to find a guide that would help me along with what I was missing, I came across this guide...http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2 ... e-i7-920/3

If someone could look at this guide and let me know what they think, it would be great. I followed the guide with a few exceptions, I did the BCLK I set to 180 instead of 200, which opened the DRAM Freq up for me at 1448 (I think that was the number or at least close). I set the DRAM timing to my ram which was 9-9-9-24 and set the second timing to 2n. I booted it up and everything runs fine on it so far. I've had about a 14 degree F drop while gaming but my WOW latency has dropped to the 50's and the frame rate has came up to the 50's.

So will these settings be ok for the long term use of this computer without frying anything? It seems stable enough but I just don't know how the settings will be in the long run. As in the guide, a couple voltages are in the purple and yellow. Any ideas would be great. Thanks for any ideas or help, I need it!

Re: i7 920 Core Overclocking

Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2009 7:18 pm
by InspectahACE
Article looked good to me. I don't think it will fry anything ar those settings. I mean the cpu voltage is at 1.35v and that should be fine. I'd probably back the ram down towards the 1300 mhz range or lower if you have to(IMO, since the model numbers shown on previous post show a 1333 mhz kit). To me it looks good. As mentioned before, I'm no guru, but it(your OC) looks good to me. Especially if it lets you boot, and as long as you have adequate cooling you should be fine. The only thing I can think of that wouldn't have let you before is that before you changed the settings, the DRAM was set at 1.50V..which is rather low if I read correctly for triple channel ram. Not sure if it would keep it from booting either. I don't have the mobo so I dunno for sure on why the voltage readout colors in the bios are different. Usually when that happens its just to show they are not the stock settings.