Hot Processor - Should I Overclock?

[Imaginaerum]

Here are my system temps: http://i.imgur.com/jIZPTmF.png

 

So I'm on a now-aging i7-930 processor (I paid for a 920 and the box says 920!) but I'm afraid I can't actually overclock it and have it at temps that aren't going to murder it. Then again, I can't find a website anywhere that tells me what this line of Intel processors should run at temperature wise, so I could just be paranoid because of the super low Sandy Bridge temperatures I see everywhere.

 

I'm wondering if I should be worried about overclocking. Right now my CPU is running at close to 70C at stock settings (2.8 GHz) while folding or using Prime 95.

 

When I first got the processor I overclocked it to 3.5 Ghz without any voltage increase, and it survived 2 days with Prime 95 by got to nearly 85C. I was using a Corsair H50 at the time, and I've since switched to a Hyper 212+ EVO since I've been moving my computer a lot and I'm paranoid about leaks. I didn't see any temperature difference between the two, both with different thermal pastes.

 

I have a CM Storm Enforcer case with a 200mm fan in the front and a 200mm exhaust on the top, with a 120mm in the back and one 120mm on the Evo. They're running at whatever RPM's my motherboard defaults to, which makes them somewhat noisy so they aren't slow.

 

I don't know if that's normal for this processor, or if I should just leave it at stock settings. I also read about ambient temperatures affecting my temps, and my room is currently at 90F (I live in the desert). I don't know if that's what's causing the high temps, or if everything is normal because I'm on older hardware? Sometimes my GPU is running cooler than my processor -_-

 

My rig:

i7-930 2.8GHz

Hyper 212+ EVO (stock thermal-paste)

ASUS P6x58D-E Motherboard

6GB 1333MHz RAM (tri-channel)

Nvidia GTX 660 Ti Superclocked

550w OCZ PSU

Corsair CM Storm Enforcer Case

2x 500GB HDD in RAID 1

Also insert sound card/capture card but that doesn't seem important.

[tito]

Generally 185f and below is where you want for 24/7 load, so anything below that is perfect. The absolute max is 210f which will throttle down some benchmarks I wouldn't go pass 200f.

Keep in mind that the ambient temperature will afect a lot, you said that you live in the desert and you have a high ambient temperature, so your overclocking will be limited by this factor, let say you could run it at 4.0ghz with a max temp of 200 but the ambient temperature is around 60,the delta, I mean the difference between ambient and OC is 140 degrees. Now lets take this hypotetical OC to your current scenario with 90 of ambient, plus your delta temp it will be around 230f and the same OC wont be safe in this situation.

Hope this example helps you!

[RDilux]

i suggest to get watercooler something like the H80i or H100i for better temps and higher overclock

[Bubben]

My 920 overclocked to 3,8 on air wont go over 70c (158f) under load, and my ambient temp is usually around 25c (77f). That should provide some reference at least. I guess you could try turning off hyper threading but realistically it wont make a huge difference.

[Jeremytroid]

Generally 85c and below is where you want for 24/7 load, so anything below that is perfect. The absolute max is 210f which will throttle down some benchmarks I wouldn't go pass 200f.

Keep in mind that the ambient temperature will afect a lot, you said that you live in the desert and you have a high ambient temperature, so your overclocking will be limited by this factor, let say you could run it at 4.0ghz with a max temp of 200 but the ambient temperature is around 60,the delta, I mean the difference between ambient and OC is 140 degrees. Now lets take this hypotetical OC to your current scenario with 90 of ambient, plus your delta temp it will be around 230f and the same OC wont be safe in this situation.

Hope this example helps you!

This surprises me. I typically don't want my temps above 70C if possible, and 60C+ makes me nervous. Higher temps will affect the longevity of the chip correct?

[tito]

This surprises me. I typically don't want my temps above 70C if possible, and 60C+ makes me nervous. Higher temps will affect the longevity of the chip correct?

Yes thats right, I was just giving him the limit of the cheap, I neither would run a processor that hot, but maybe if you are benchmarking, this info might be usefull to get the higher possible clock to run some tests. I totally agree, I personally wouldnt be over 70 on those chips for my 24/7 OC. Keep in mind that I used farenheit and NOT celcius on my first post.