Maximum PC

So I haven't OC'd anything in since the Northwood days.... I played a little with a Q6700 I had but the memory was too slow / crap to be worth anything. I am going to try to use this as a place to seek advice and share results.

Current system specs:
i7 930 (Pretty sure it is D0)
Asus P6T SE (Cross flashed to a P6T)
3x2GB Patriot Viper DDR3 @ 1600mhz
2x GTX 460 in SLI (ordered, currently has a cheapie Nvidia card)
Corsair H50 (currently only one fan in a push (into case) setup).

I am currently running at 4 Ghz, but I am getting too hot. I will post settings and some more details when I get home tonight.

Thoughts on a custom loop? I don't want to spend lots and lots of money considering I have already purchased the H50. I am not against removing the H50 as I do have another system to install it in.

2011.01.04

Here is the method I used to Crossflash my P6T SE board: http://www.overclock.net/online-deals/586111-newegg-ob-p6t-se-145-cross.html

CoreTemp and CPU-Z from my work over the weekend:


Current settings:
Multiplier: 20
BCLK: 200
CPU Voltage: 1.3V
CPU PLL Voltage: 1.96V
QPI/DRAM Core Voltage: 1.35
DRAM Bus Voltage: 1.66 (setting to 1.65 jumps to 1.66, I could go to 1.64 though)
CPU Diff: 1000mV

Everything else is Auto.



I believe the high temps were recorded while we were streaming video to the xbox? I don't recall doing anything (let alone anything intensive) after the reboot other than that. Although it might still have been a little warm from the Prime95 run?

Right now it is sitting idle at 40, 40, 41, and 42* C for each core. Not sure what the ambient temperature in the room is, but it is cool. The thermostat on the wall just outside the room say 64*F.

[reserved space]

How hot is too hot?

I'd start by adding a second fan to your H50 ... it makes a substantial difference when you're pushing serious temp through the rad. I'd also consider replacing the stock fan with a high-volume fan as well .. the more air you move over that rad, the better it will perform.

Start with a decent second fan, though.

Do you have other concerns with this build? Noise, for instance?

Oh .. and thanks for reminding me that I've been lazy and neglecting my own build.

I have to see what fans I have. I don't mind a little noise though. I do have a package of fans to put in there. Might make my own "fan" controller and over volt the fans a bit.

I am thinking about creating a duct to suck the air from H50 out OR give it a fresh inlet. One of the two. Need to keep my other temps down especially since I'll be stuffing two huge graphics cards in there soon. Might swap cases though. This one feels really small to start with.

As far as how hot is too hot, I saw it get up over 80 C while running Prime 95. I have left the thermal throttling on just for now. While P95 was running the multiplier was dropped from 20 to 12. (4 Ghz down to 2.4Ghz). Temps fell but the clock didn't go back up till about a minute after shutting off P95.

Ok, 80C is pushing it a bit. I certainly wouldn't run at that temp on a daily basis but as a Prime95 result, you're doing quite well.

Adding a second fan should push that down 3-5C, so now you're in the 'safe zone'. In my experience with these chips, if you hit 75C during a Prime95 run, you'll hit about 70C while folding and 60-65C during heavy 'real-world' workloads and gaming.

If you're happy with 4GHz as your target speed, I don't think you'll need a waterloop. You're well within range of a stable OC at that speed .. just some tweaking and you'll be good.

Turn off the thermal throttling and Turbo, though. They'll mess with your results and you'll have trouble finding ideal settings.

Turbo has been disabled. Only reason I have the thermal throttling on is to keep things safe while working. I figured if it drops the multiplier that is better than other bad things happening while working on results.

Temps were a bit over 80, I think the throttling kicked in and dropped them down before they got over 90. I have to admit that I walked away because I figured everything was in good shape (used your thread as a guide). I'll have to see what adding another fan does.

Right now I think 4.0 Ghz is a good goal for me. I think it'll be pretty stable but I won't know till I get the temps down and turn off the throttling.

Interesting!

http://www.overclock.net/water-cooling/ ... s-mod.html

Interesting .. saves you the cost of a new block.

In fact, I have a pump, rad and some tubing .. maybe I could use this to build my loop using my H50 as a block rather than spending $80 to buy a new one. Hmmm.

Thanks!

Apparently modding the H50 is kind of a big thing.

http://www.overclock.net/water-cooling/ ... iator.html

What kind of CFM fans should I be shooting for?

The ones I have are "Silent" ones that claim 44.73 CFM.

iirc, mine are both in the 40 - 50 cfm range?

I'll dig into my thread to confirm.

Edit: ok, I checked and my Scythe fan is rated at 63cfm .. the other fan I'm using is a stock case fan.

So 47 isn't great, but it isn't fail either. I might go back to stock clocks for the up coming weekend (LAN Party) and invest in better fans for after. I don't want to unmount the H50 more than once for just a fan change. Next time I unmount it it is going for a big upgrade.

I found my temps jumped when I pushed from 3.8 to 4.0 and again to 4.2 .. but both of those jumps required a voltage boost.

You didn't post your settings so I don't know where / if you bumped the volts but if you back off to stock volts, you'll run very cool with that H50 and more than fast enough for gaming.

2nd post updated with settings and screenshots.

Had to re-flash back to the P6T SE... the computer was unstable with the cross flash. It wouldn't always boot quite right.

My OC is still stable. Need to get another fan in to "pull". Did the H50 come with extra screws? I don't seem to have them...

Yikes .. that sucks.

Mine didn't come with screws .. had to dig into the man-cabinet to find some.

No biggie. I only flashed it so I could get SLI. I'll just have to put the other card in my wife's computer

I had a LOT of dust. After this weekend I'll probably unmount the H50 and really clean it out and see about mounting another fan on it.

I am debating the modding and/or going to a full loop in a full tower case.... we'll have to see what happens with taxes.

Ah taxes .. mine are going to pay off my jeep.

I will probably (hopefully) be responsible and pay something off.