Is it safe to overclock an I7 950 for the first time?
Is it safe to overclock an I7 950 for the first time?
Hello everyone,
I've been pushing my old I7 950 overclocked for VR use, raising its clock from the stock 3.06ghz to 4ghz. This is the first time in six years that I've done an overclock since building it. I'd like to post my specifications and settings, ask a few questions, and see if others can confirm whether this is safe.
Current setup:
- I7 950
- Noctua D14 cooler with NT-H1 thermal paste
- 24GB G Skill sniper 1600 DDR3 RAM (9-9-9-24)
- EVGA 650 GQ power supply
- Asrock x58 Extreme MB
- EVGA GTA 970 FTW graphics card
- Multiple case fans
Settings I'm using and testing in Prime95:
- Overclock level: 175 x 23 for 4.02ghz
- QPI frequency: 6.300GT
- DRAM frequency: 700MHz
- Uncore frequency: 2800MHz (Vdroop off)
- CPU voltage: manual @ 1.275V
- DRAM voltage: 1.564V
- VTT: 1.2
- Spectrum: off
- Speedstep: off
- Turbo: disabled
- All other voltages: auto
Current temperatures are around 74-75°C during testing. I expect to run it for an hour and think it's stable unless it crashes.
Questions:
- Are these temps acceptable? They seem reasonable, but I'd like to lower them to about 68°C at full load. I plan to switch to higher-end paste later. Any tips to reduce heat while keeping 4ghz?
- Are my current settings fine? Do you have any suggestions for adjustments?
- I also have another build (191 x 21) with similar voltages. Will performance and heat be similar in both setups?
- Even though the BIOS sets it at 1.275V, CPU-Z shows 1.248V. Why does that happen? It seems to drop every time I change it in BIOS.
- Lastly, during my first Prime95 run, core #2 was only at 50%. After restarting, all cores returned to full speed. Is this normal? Should I consider increasing the voltage slightly?
Thanks for your help!
I struggled to achieve anything stable with the current configurations and moved to the 191x21 layout using a 1.28v vcore. RAM remains at 1.56, running at 756mhz with VTT at 1.2.
Using this configuration, I've performed fprime small FFT analyses for more than an hour without any crashes, unlike the previous setup which would take around 25 minutes before a BSOD.
I'm feeling more confident about this setup but intend to run it for up to eight hours. My other concerns remain, and I'm still seeing around 76c, which I believe should be lower.
I plan to adjust the voltage slightly and possibly increase VTT, though I'm uncertain if that will lead to a stable and cooler output.