A question of Volatges

I've been running my i7 at 3.4GHz for a while and more recently 3.8GHz. I've had quite low voltages, right now it's at around 1.22V but I know it could go a fair bit lower. I've not had any problems while gaming and the only benchmark I've used is 3dmark06 which went fine. For the other i7 users out there is this normal? I thought it seems a little low from what I've read by other users and might be causing harm to my CPU. Temperatures have been fine, goes mid-high 40s after playing something like the new Wolf game but generally stays around the same temp as the motherboard.

 

run occt and report back with your stock temps and load temps.

http://downloads.guru3d.com/OCCT-(OverClock-Checking-Tool)-3.0.0-download-1880.html

u mention your temps being at 40c but that could be idle so u need to run some test i.e linpack and see what 100 percent load large data sets does to your temps over say a start time of ten mins or so. btw if it passes ten mins doesnt mean its necessarily 100 percent stable.

(i'm guessing you are stable re the overclock...3.4ghz on a corei7 can be quite easily obtained just by changing vcore..for 3.6ghz-3.8ghz you'll most likely need to tweak some other things. if you are on a stock cooler i'd more or less forget about reaching these speeds unless you want temps in the high 70's or so).

this is a good guide if u havent seen.

http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx..._id=1&model=P6T+Deluxe&page=1&SLanguage=en-us

 

Thanks for the reply. I ran OCCT for one hour with these results (for core 1):

Max Load Temp: 65 degress
Stock Temp: 41 degrees

I then ran OCCT Linpack for 10 min to get a max load temp of 71 degrees and stock temp of 42 degrees.

That guide is excellent. I'll adjust some of those frequencies manually rather than leaving them at Auto and maybe look at lowering the volatges while testing with linpack/memtest or something more extensively. Does everything look ok?

 

if thats @3.8ghz then happy days :banana:

i keep loadline calibration on and dont use turbo mode. my volatge (voltage) is 1.265..

 

i ran the latest memtest and it passed with the DRAM Voltage @ 1.5V, so I'll keep it there for now. I want to use Intelburntest to tweak the VCore/QPI Voltage but when I try to open it it says 'applicaion failed to initialise properly...'. I read that this is better for multi-core processors and also finds problems much more quickly. Anyone know why it wont start? I'm on Win-XP Pro 32-bit.

 

You didnt install the 64 bit version by accident by any chance?


Also what did you set your qpi voltage at 3.8ghz or did you leave it auto?

 

Drop it till it doesn't boot. Lower vcore is only ever a good thing..

 

No, the version I installed is supported by xp 32-bit.

I raised the QPI voltage and currently have it at 1.22V. It's important to raise that as well as the VCore. Probably going to try lowering them though.

 

This. I mildly OC'd my Q9550 to 3.46GHz, and have dropped the volts to 1.21v in the BIOS (1.208v in CPUz). I haven't pushed any further yet (I'm at work all the time, and when i am not, I want to play games/talk to friends/browse intarwebs etc), but when I have a day off I will be seeing how low it can go.

I'd first try overclocking higher, but no matter what I do, my computer won't boot past a 406MHz FSB (I think the NB is crapping out). It's not the chip, since 406 FSB runs fine with such low volts, but even 407 FSB results in failed IBT, even with 1.45 vcore.

 

I did over 50 runs under standard stress with IntelBurntest and they were successful. So for now my i7 is running like so:

3.8 GHz

Base Clock: 190 MHz
Memory: DDR3-1520
Uncore: 3040 MHz
QPI: 6847 MHz

Voltages:

VCore: 1.18V
DRAM: 1.5V
QPI: 1.21V

 

well nice vcore! well all other settings appear fine n dandy as well..

run it for a week as much as possible (switch mine off at night) and keep an eye on your temps. run the occasional sweep of occt n test ram with memtest. if u dont crash then have yourself a celebratory beer

 

Very nice, are you using the DO steping chip?

Amazing how much you can overclock these i7s without even hurting them.

I'm happy at 3.7, I didnt see all that much of a gain at 4ghz plus I'm on air.

I think 3.5 to 3.8 is a job well done, if its stable and cool.

 

I think you got nice temps and nice volts 4ghz or higher should be in easy reach if you want to.

 

Right now I'm running mine at 4.50ghz Using a freezone. my temps are around 37 idle and 70 load. They never reach 60 while gaming. My vcore is 1.504 right now with mostly everything on auto except qpi is at 1.40v. Are there other settings I can tweak to lower the vcore. Even for 4500mhz that seems high. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

Maybe lower your uncore speed to like 3200 to match the link with your ram

i think it was to run the nb speed/uncore at the double the ram hence 1600x2 = 3200

also turn hyper threading put that that off it really heats my cpu up and needs more voltage to keep stable.

1.5 is very high for 4.5ghz maybe you should just try 1.45 and see how it does though after 4ghz the voltage bumps seem to get stupid.

 

Thanks Kylzer! What is the max voltage for the cpu pll. If I up the volts on that can I lower my vcore? booted at 4.0ghz easy. What should I do to get the best temps and stability.. Here is a pic..

 

If im reading that right you ppl is at 1.9v....ugh yeah turn that right down to say 1.5 - 1.6v high PPL can fry your chip very quickly

Also i would up the QPI voltage to 1.30 just for extra stableness.

Heres my o'c right now

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=638086

 

Nice clocks and voltage! I dont understand why when I disable enhanced halt state it boots up at a lower voltage right away. When it's enabled I have to increase the voltage. Made it to 4.40ghz temps idle right now are
32, 28, 34, 31 vcore is 1.408

 

That's allot better than 1.5

 

OK.. So far I booted up at 4.50ghz.. did a couple stress tests and am at 1.408 volts.
Changed the qpi like you said to 1.30 and lowered the ppl. Thanks so much for the help thus far. I set the ratio at 33. then changed the qpi to 136. So my memory is now a bit overclocked as well.. Is this all ok