Help with overclocking

[Picasso]

I'm continuing a converstation with a fellow member from this thread:

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?20052-Cooling-liquids-question&p=139083#post139083

As you can see we where discussing a few different things with my desktop, and the conversation turned towards more overclocking and that my rig may be running warmer then it should currently, possibly due to incorrect settings on my over clock. I said i would post some pictures of my current settings and a kind gentle by the name of Zka17 would help me out.



important points to note is that I am fairly inexperienced with overclocking, and any that I have done occurred a while ago. I now just use a software overclocking solution that game with my motherboard (Gigabyte GA-EX58-EXTREME) called Easytune 6. It's a nice little setup for quick overclocks when one wants a boost. Also, if one can't tell from the first picture, I am use the number 1 (green) overclock, which is suppose to put it at an i7-930. Here are the pics:



I'll just go ahead and say thanks for the help in advance

[HiVizMan]

Well first of all I sincerely hope that the temperatures are wrong because if that is what they really are at idle you have a huge problem.

And I would not overclock at all, actually if they are real I would pull your water loop apart and start again, checking to see if any of the tubes are blocked or your pump is working.

Your system is easy to overclock in bios. ET6 is fine to use as once you use the advanced settings they are entered and saved in the BIOS.
The three buttons are OK, but really pretty wishy washy as an overclock goes for the CPU you have. BUT get your temps sorted out first.

[Picasso]

HiVizMan wrote:
Well first of all I sincerely hope that the temperatures are wrong because if that is what they really are at idle you have a huge problem.

And I would not overclock at all, actually if they are real I would pull your water loop apart and start again, checking to see if any of the tubes are blocked or your pump is working.

Your system is easy to overclock in bios. ET6 is fine to use as once you use the advanced settings they are entered and saved in the BIOS.
The three buttons are OK, but really pretty wishy washy as an overclock goes for the CPU you have. BUT get your temps sorted out first.

Well, according to coretemp, that is what they are...remember that is in Fahrenheit. That being said, using that easytune6 hardware monitor, it shows it anywhere between 5-15 degrees cooler depending on the core:


also i believe everything is up to snuff, but maybe I am wrong:


As far as the temps go, I'm looking at adding another radiator, once I've done the proper research and figured out the costs. It was somewhat mentioned in the previous forum link I had shown.
I also did a quick search for average temps on my cpu, and I appear to on the mark. I did notice one gentleman said his CPU was OC'd to 4Ghz and staying around 40c at idle. I wouldn't mind getting somewhere around the 3-3.5 Ghz mark once we've decieded I have all my "ducks in a row."
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2050140

[HiVizMan]

Picasso wrote:
Well, according to coretemp, that is what they are...remember that is in Fahrenheit.

Thank goodness for that. I only work in Celsius these days 😛 Very happy to be mistaken I must say.

http://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/overclocking/22106-core-i7-overclocking-guide-beginners.html

This is one of the best beginner guides on the net. You spend some time working through the basics and all will simply fall into place.

[xeromist]

HiVizMan wrote:
Well first of all I sincerely hope that the temperatures are wrong because if that is what they really are at idle you have a huge problem.

Note that he's got them displayed in F which isn't helping us any. But beyond that he's cooling both the already overclocked CPU and chipset on a single 120mm rad so perhaps temps in the 40's aren't so far off.

@Picasso - Can you please post your temps in C? You are only going to get confusion if you post them in an odd scale like that.

[Picasso]

xeromist wrote:
Note that he's got them displayed in F which isn't helping us any. But beyond that he's cooling both the already overclocked CPU and chipset on a single 120mm rad so perhaps temps in the 40's aren't so far off.

@Picasso - Can you please post your temps in C? You are only going to get confusion if you post them in an odd scale like that.

I'll Edit in another screenshot

[xeromist]

Thanks 🙂

if you like the speed it's at but want it cooler you could try lowering the voltage. Often automated OC tools will pump more voltage than necessary to ensure stability but it will also make temps higher than they need to be. Or, if you are looking for more speed I would try upping the clocks until you get instability and then either increase the voltage (at the cost of increased temps) or back the clock down until it is stable at the set voltage.

[Picasso]

xeromist wrote:
Thanks 🙂

if you like the speed it's at but want it cooler you could try lowering the voltage. Often automated OC tools will pump more voltage than necessary to ensure stability but it will also make temps higher than they need to be. Or, if you are looking for more speed I would try upping the clocks until you get instability and then either increase the voltage (at the cost of increased temps) or back the clock down until it is stable at the set voltage.

Well, I may consider bumping it up to the 2 setting, that is where I used to run it at and liked that speed, but, as I said in the other thread, that is where the coolant itself seemed to burn off at a quicker rate. Until I get another radatior in there, I don't know how high I want it over clocked due mostly to that fact.

But, for fun and games and a learning experience for me, lets toy around with the OC I am at now. YOu said lower the voltage, but as you can see on my pics, there are alot of voltages to play with. If I remember anything from OC'n at all, the one I would want to adjust is the CPU Vcore correct? Assuming I am correct in my assumption lol, where would be a good mark to start with that? 1.125? More? Less?

...always fun havin to show my noob-ness

[xeromist]

Picasso wrote:
YOu said lower the voltage, but as you can see on my pics, there are alot of voltages to play with. If I remember anything from OC'n at all, the one I would want to adjust is the CPU Vcore correct? Assuming I am correct in my assumption lol, where would be a good mark to start with that? 1.125? More? Less?

Correct, of the top 3 voltages the vcore is your main voltage. However the other two also contribute to stability so do not ignore them completely.

When decreasing voltage it's not as important but when increasing you want to make small steps. Increasing by large amounts can potentially cause damage if it does not shut off first. What increments does it allow you to change? Maybe consider .05 at a time?

[Picasso]

xeromist wrote:
Correct, of the top 3 voltages the vcore is your main voltage. However the other two also contribute to stability so do not ignore them completely.



When decreasing voltage it's not as important but when increasing you want to make small steps. Increasing by large amounts can potentially cause damage if it does not shut off first. What increments does it allow you to change? Maybe consider .05 at a time?

It appears I can adjust at .00125 at a time. At least in easy tune. Weather that works in the BIOS itself I have yet to tackle.



I'm also slowly dropping the Vcore via easy tune to see how it works out. I may have to uninstall as suggested and work through the bios. Crappy thing for me working with the bios is I currently don't have a keyboard for my ps/2 port (I do, its my cousins and I can't borrow it forever), and usb keyboards don't seem to want to work during startup/bios phase.



In the mean time, I'm looking for suggestions on a solid radiator to help with the cooling.



~update~ instead of dropping the Vcore, I decided to bump to the 2 preset because that is where I used to let it rock all the time and rather liked how the computer performed onscreen with it. Drawbacks were increased heat under load and my aforementioned coolant problem. After about an hour it seems to want to hold around 50c:



I also downloaded both CPU-z and Prime 95. Ran prime at this setting and after about 2-3 minutes it hit the 80c mark so I stopped becuase I don't believe it should be getting that high on this low over an overclock, and according to the overclocking guide that was linked, at and overclock higher than mine (3.00 vs 3.36) I should be around 70...which defeintely looks like we are back to doing better cooling first. So I'll repeat, what are some good rated radiators for a decent price? I'm hoping to stay under $100 if possible.