First Time OC: i7920 on p6t Deluxe v2 Help?

Hi-
I am a newbie when it comes to overclocking and would like to crank up my 17 920 retail a bit. I have a p6t deluxe vt MB with 12 Gig Dominator 1600 Ram running at 8-8-8-8-24 Using XMP Profile 1 at 1.66V.

I am completely new at this, so basic level instructions please...
I am running the turboVutility.. should I use it or bios?

I want a very modest OC to start with, maybe low 3's?

Thanks Everyone!

Scott

i have the gigabyte ud5 board,it has a utility called easytune 6 i did not use that to overclock my system.

i always overclock from bios.

Bios Setings?

What Bios Settings would should be used to get low to mid 3's out of 920?

Dunno what kind of cooling you have, but keep in mind that is going to affect your temperatures which are in turn going to affect your overclock and the advise given to you. (Other than use the BIOS over software)

System and Cooling SUmmary:
ASUS p6t Deluxe V2
Retail Core i7 920
12 gb Dominator 1600 at 8-8-8-24 1.66v
EVGA OC gtx 260
pc pOWER AND cOOLING 750 sILENCER
WD Velociraptor 300 Main
WD RE 1gb Data Drive

Cooling:
Retail Intel CPU HeatSink and Fan with Artic Silver Thermal Paste
PCI Slot Exhaust Fan High
120 MM TriCool at High Rear Fan
Domintor Memory Fans
Northbridge Fan on High
CPU temp normal usage around 44-49C
MB Temp Normal Usage 41-44C
CPU Temp during Performance Test 64 at high of 55C
MB Temp during Performance Test 64 at about 50C

scorbit1 said:

System and Cooling SUmmary:
ASUS p6t Deluxe V2
Retail Core i7 920
12 gb Dominator 1600 at 8-8-8-24 1.66v
EVGA OC gtx 260
pc pOWER AND cOOLING 750 sILENCER
WD Velociraptor 300 Main
WD RE 1gb Data Drive

Cooling:
Retail Intel CPU HeatSink and Fan with Artic Silver Thermal Paste
PCI Slot Exhaust Fan High
120 MM TriCool at High Rear Fan
Domintor Memory Fans
Northbridge Fan on High
CPU temp normal usage around 44-49C
MB Temp Normal Usage 41-44C
CPU Temp during Performance Test 64 at high of 55C
MB Temp during Performance Test 64 at about 50C

Click to expand...

I would definitely get a better Heatsink and Fan instead of using the stock Intel stuff, their HS is really not designed to cool anything other than normal, and that includes ambient temps.

With a good HS and Fan combo, you'll be able to lower those temps by at least 10 degrees, I lowered mine by 15 degrees with a CM V10 using AS 5 and waiting for it to seat and seal right before I OC my CPU.

My load temps, when playing WoW rarely get up to the mid 40's, usually about 39 to 41 degrees, unless it gets really warm in this room.

There are a lot of good HS/Fan combos out there, and I really can't recommend one over the other, too many variables, like the room you have in your case, etc.

Good luck with you OC'ing and keep us posted how it goes

Two Questions

1. Can anyone recommend a nice safe start in the low 3's for my current setup? Where do i start?

2. Can anyone recommend a great non-h20 colling solution. The V10 has been mentioned.

Thank YOU!!!

First of all. There is no sure overclock level that you can reach. Trial and error is the best way to go. Even with an extremely high voltage, both CPU and NB ones, there is no guarantee that the one chip that you have reaches even a moderate frequency.

If you want to be as safe as possible, just raise the FSB in small increments. Run Prime95 torture test for 5 mins or so, if it seems stable, go back to BIOS and raise it again. When it hits an unstable point, go back to the setting it was stable at, or raise the Vcore a bit (the slight risk of breaking something is there, but...). Then repeat the FSB tweaking. If you don't seem to get good results, then you can try lowering the FSB and upping the multiplier. After maxing the multiplier (and if it has been stable at every setting), you might want to up the FSB again. Trial and error.

FSB

Thanks!
When you are discussing FrontSide Bus, that is tweaked via the BCLK Setting yes?

BTW- whats a safe celining temp for the i7 920?

Depends a lot on your motherboard. Haven't used what you have. Read around.

For the safe temp, 70-80 is a good point to stop pushing it. It will operate fine at higher temps, but for comfort, stop there.

Thanks!
I actually performed my first OC last night. Here is what i did:
Set to XMP 1 for my Dominator Ram (8-8-8-24 at 1600)
Decreased the Mult to 19
Increaed the BCLK to 164
All other left at auto
(by the way- the increased my Performance Test 64 rating from 2000 to 2400!)

This ran great at 3.1
Temps looked good.

I then increased the BCLK to 200 at 19 Mult and it booted fine at 3.8. I only ran it for about 5 minute with temps in mid 70's then went back to 2.66 until I get a better heasink and fan.

Look like I am on right track?

Prime95 small FFT(or FTT, can't remember ATM) testing for 30 mins after the final reached clockspeed you're going to keep is recommended, more like mandatory in fact. Otherwise, if it seems stable and performs well, congrats, you have followed the instructions well enough to achieve a nice OC. :=) Still, increasing the BCLK in smaller increments would've been the "correct" way to do that, but as long as it worked, fine.

Also, check your RAM when you go high in OC. If the Dominator runs at too tight timings and too high ratio, it may ruin the OC and cause unstability.