Core i7 860 overclocking options

[colt92]

Hey guys,

 

Today I did the stress test to enter in the forum's CPU OC Database, when I thought that I may not have overclocked my i7-860 in the best way possible. When I overclocked it, I had to turn the voltage up quite a bit (it's currently at 1.3V+.125V) and it was still bluescreening with high-demanding single core applications, so I had to disable TurboBoost so the system could be stable. And now I'm wondering whether I should instead lower the base clock and enable TurboBoost.

 

Thoughts/opininions/experiences you would mind sharing?

[Lotus]

Hey guys,

 

Today I did the stress test to enter in the forum's CPU OC Database, when I thought that I may not have overclocked my i7-860 in the best way possible. When I overclocked it, I had to turn the voltage up quite a bit (it's currently at 1.3V+.125V) and it was still bluescreening with high-demanding single core applications, so I had to disable TurboBoost so the system could be stable. And now I'm wondering whether I should instead lower the base clock and enable TurboBoost.

 

Thoughts/opininions/experiences you would mind sharing?

You're doing a BCLK overclock. You have to turn up more things than just the CPU voltage because you're overclocking everything. You can't just assume that its the CPU that is causing the instability. BCLK overclocks are very problematic for this reason.

[colt92]

Thanks for the reply Lotus,

 

I also took care of the RAM. It's currently running at 1400MHz CL8. It was originally 1600MHz CL9. I tested it with Memtest 86+ and passed.

 

But I'm pretty sure it was the CPU because with Turbocore it reached about 4.4-4.5GHz and I only had problems with single core applications. But if you think it may have been something else, your help is well received.

[Lotus]

What is your QPI voltage and Uncore? There are more things than just memory and CPU. Remember, EVERYTHING gets overclocked with a BCLK overclock. The usual culprit (when not CPU) is actually a bus speed instability. Either of those two settings at stock voltages can lead to problems.

[colt92]

QPI voltage is 1.3V

What are you referring to with "Uncore"? I don't remember all the specifics, I did it a few months ago with a guide.

[Lotus]

QPI voltage is 1.3V

What are you referring to with "Uncore"? I don't remember all the specifics, I did it a few months ago with a guide.

It's just things part of your CPU that aren't your CPU cores, like cache.

[colt92]

Uncore frequency is 3150MHz, QPI frequency is 5.6GHz and RAM voltage is 1.64V

 

I hope that's good enough (or at least close to what you were asking...).

[Lotus]

Try lowering your QPI frequency. I don't know if yours works that way, but on my I think you can go as low as 4.8 whatever. That might be what's causing the instability. There isn't just a frequency, there's also a corresponding voltage for the parts. Then there's also multipliers. I lowered my uncore multiplier from 16x down to 12x to make my system more stable and better isolate the CPU despite it being a BCLK overclock.

 

Honestly it all varies so much chip by chip and overclocking using BCLK is just very difficult to start with.

[colt92]

QPI multiplier is at the lowest value already (x32) and I can't modify the uncore multiplier.

I only modified RAM voltage, QPI voltage, and Dynamic VCore (which is at +.125V). Everything else is running on normal or auto.

I know it's very difficult, that's why I decided to keep TurboBoost off when I saw it was stable. I just wondered what is preferrable, a higher BCLOCK without TurboBoost or a lower one with it. If it's not really going to make much difference, I'll just leave it like this.