i7 940 - Breaking The 4Ghz Barrier

Discussion in 'Processors and motherboards Intel' started by Punisher64, May 7, 2013.

  1. Punisher64

    Punisher64 Guest

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    I recently upgraded to a buddys old EVGA x58 setup that has 6 gigs of corsair 1333 ram and an i7 940. I want to OC this guy, but my extent of OC'ing has been my old Q6600 rig. Can the 940 hit the 4Ghz barrier? Also, what cooler would be good for this setup (Keep in mind I have a Lanboy Air case). And what settings should I change/use to hit this barrier?
     
  2. nhlkoho

    nhlkoho Guest

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    Is it a C0 chip or a D0 chip?
     
  3. BLEH!

    BLEH! Ancient Guru

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    This. D0, easy, C0, good luck.
     
  4. Punisher64

    Punisher64 Guest

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    It is C0/C1
     

  5. nhlkoho

    nhlkoho Guest

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    Like BLEH! said, good luck. A friend of mine just upgraded his computer with the new i7 and gave me his old D0 920 chip to replace my C0 chip. My C0 920 was only able to get to 3.6 while being completely stable. And this was on water cooling.
     
  6. Punisher64

    Punisher64 Guest

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    I know he said this one has been up to 3.7 stable no problems on his Nocta cooler. Would it be better to not even worry with OC'ing this or do I have room since it is still stock? Also, what is the main difference between C0/C1 and D0 stepping?
     
  7. BLEH!

    BLEH! Ancient Guru

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    Refined design so that it uses less voltage/power and makes less heat. My old 950 was a D0, could just about hit 4.4 on air with that @ 1.45 V. My current westmere chip (think 980X), can just about manage 4.6 at the same voltage. A D0, you might be lucky to hit 3.6-3.8 at the same level.
     
  8. nhlkoho

    nhlkoho Guest

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    You could still overclock it. Just don't expect miracles.
     
  9. Veteran

    Veteran Ancient Guru

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    C0 steppings you will be lucky to get 3.8 fully stable, avoid them nowadays.
    D0 steppings are much better and will/should get you a fully stable oc at 4ghz with all settings in the bios on auto..nice and easy.

    Start tweaking the bios and you should be able to go higher!
     
  10. BLEH!

    BLEH! Ancient Guru

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    Also turn hyperthreading off, that should give you more headroom and allow for less voltage. I've never personally seen any use for it, shaves 10C off temperatures and about 0.05 V off core voltage needed.
     

  11. Punisher64

    Punisher64 Guest

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    So what is the C1 for?
     
  12. Veteran

    Veteran Ancient Guru

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    Slightly better than a c0 but not as good as the d0.
     
  13. biggi_

    biggi_ Guest

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    So the C0/C1 is better than normal C0 though?
     
  14. PurSpyk!!

    PurSpyk!! Master Guru

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    I have a I7 920 c0/c1 stepping, overclocks to 4.0Ghz with no issues. Was running like this since I bought the chip, using a Thermalright Ultra 120 Xtreme cooler with 2 fans in push/pull configuration.
     
  15. Veteran

    Veteran Ancient Guru

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    There is no way a c0 will be stable at 4ghz. Show me proof please of either
    Linx (20 passes max memory)
    Occt(linpack)- 1hr
    4 hrs of Prime 95.
    Intel Burn test ( 20 passes max memory)

    I guarantee that your c0 will fail these stability tests in seconds not minutes! It will not even make one pass which takes around 5 minutes on max memory.

    Just because you can oc a cpu to 4ghz does not mean its stable.
    I can oc my cpu to 5ghz but there is no way it would be stable even if it booted into windows.

    Saying that however it is a 940 so you may be in luck because of the cpu clocks starting point but i still doubt it.

    As you can see from this thread its difficult to get a 940 to 4ghz and stable.
    http://www.overclock.net/t/946426/overclocking-i7-940

    @Punisher what is the batch number on the cpu? You can find it on the top and on the original box that it came in.

    Personally i wouldnt bother with a 940 or 950. Get a 920 or 930 d0 and you will get 4ghz easy with all settings on auto. Forget c0/c1 chips as there crap. Good in 2008/9 not very good at all in 2013, Also you may be buying a cpu that may bottleneck you cards if you go sli.....Beware!
     
    Last edited: May 8, 2013

  16. PurSpyk!!

    PurSpyk!! Master Guru

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    I was 100% stable, I no longer have the 920 in my machine, running a 990x now. I ran all the stability test and the cpu passed, maybe I was lucky. I ran prime overnight, plus all the other tests.
     
    Last edited: May 8, 2013
  17. CrazY_Milojko

    CrazY_Milojko Ancient Guru

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    I don't think so, because I have i7-920 C0 capable of running @ 4.095GHz (21x 195) fully stressed 24/7 with HT enabled. I've tested it with Prime95 and Linx for 3 days non-stop 24h/day without any single problem, that rig is operative from 21st February 2013 as a main gaming rig of my oldest son: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.571163152911743.135393.100000541915126&type=3 ...but I didn't uploaded yet all pictures of that rig, I will do that in next week or two.
    Main thing about i7-920 C0 overclocking beyond 4GHz is how lucky you are to get a good OC capable chip (and of course how OC capable is MB you are using paired with that CPU), but also good CPU cooling counts too.
    Here are the main info about that rig, that i7-920 C0 is currently runing @ 4.01GHz (21x 191) mostly because while gaming there in is no point to run it @ 4.095GHz with GPU like GTX 660 (at stock GPU/mem frequencies).

    CPU: i7-920 C0 @ 4.01GHz (21x 191) HT enabled, Vcore is I think: 1.375V, I'll check batch number later because curently I'm at work
    MB: GigaByte GA-EX58-DS4 (rev. 1.0), BIOS F12O
    RAM: 24GB, 6x 4GB DDR3 1866MHz, Patriot Viper 3 Series (Black Mamba Edition, PV38G186C9K), 1.5V
    CPU cooler: Corsair H70 Core + push-pull 2x fan Xilence 120x120x25mm 12V
    thermal compound between CPU and CPU cooler: Arctic MX-2
    PSU: Recom RC-PE750Plus Power Engine
    GPU: Palit GeForce GTX 660 2GB GDDR5
    SSD: Intel 520 Series model: SSDSC2CW120A3, 120GB...

    If more info, data or screenshots is needed I'll provide them tonight when I get back from work.
     
  18. CrazY_Milojko

    CrazY_Milojko Ancient Guru

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    But I agree with you about i7-920/930 D0, most of them OC easy to 4GHz and even more with descent MB and CPU cooler better than Intel stock 1366 BOX CPU cooler. I guess I was just lucky enough to get extremely good i7-920 C0 speciment.
     
  19. Veteran

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    I guess your lucky as i only ever heard of 2 others that were stable that hit 4ghz out of many forums.

    But with regards to the OP the fact still stands that most c0/c1 chips are not very good and should be avoided especially when buying in 2013.
     
  20. Punisher64

    Punisher64 Guest

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    Meh, I bought the setup for $200 and sold my old Q6600 rig for $400. So I got an upgrade and made $200 bucks...win win for me I say! :banana::banana:
     

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