Forums » Processors, Motherboards and Memory » Processors (General) » Overclocking Intel's Core i7 920 Processor

Overclocking Intel's Core i7 920 Processor

rated by 0 users
This post has 12 Replies | 2 Followers

Top 10 Contributor
Posts 21,252
Points 945,325
Joined: Sep 2007
ForumsAdministrator
Reply
News Posted: Mon, Dec 29 2008 11:46 AM

With the introduction of the new Intel Core i7 processor architecture, the company affectionately known as "Chipzilla" has once again topped itself in terms of performance. Intel planted a gift in the Core i7 launch in the form of the Core i7 920. This is Intel's entry level Core i7 processor which runs at a stock speed of 2.66 GHz, not too far off from the high-end Core i7 965 Extreme model which runs at 3.2 GHz. While the high-end Core i7 965 sells for over $1,000, the Core i7 920 sells for a more palatable $300, considering the performance that this chip is capable of with a little elbow grease. In terms of their base technology, the Core i7 965 and 920 are the same chip--they simply run at different frequencies. While overclocking the Core i7 is a bit different compared to previous generation Core 2 processors, most of the same principles apply to these new systems.

We grabbed a new Core i7 920 processor off a retail shelf and decided to see how far we could clock it up. We want to give potential buyers an idea of what overclocking with the Core i7 is like, along with how much performance could be gained, how to deal with heat, and how power consumption comes into play. Come on by the site and take a look...

Overclocking Intel's Core i7 920 Processor



  • | Post Points: 80
Not Ranked
Posts 4
Points 50
Joined: Dec 2008
Location: Canada
Reply
mlauzon replied on Mon, Dec 29 2008 12:33 PM

 Are there any plans on doing an article on OC'ing a Core i7 965...as this is the processor I got; and have never OC'ed anything before?!

 

 

Michael
--
Intel Core i7 965, ASUS Rampage II Extreme, G.SKILL Pi Black DDR3-1600 PC3-12800 6GB CL 8-8-8-21, Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 X2, Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB, LG GH22NS30 DVD Writer, Corsair HX1000W, Windows XP Professional, Windows Vista Home Premium x64, Cooler Master HAF 932, Samsung SyncMaster 245T, Razer Tarantula, Razer Lachesis Wraith Red, Razer Destructor
  • | Post Points: 5
Top 50 Contributor
Posts 2,256
Points 47,740
Joined: Apr 2000
Location: United States, Connecticut
ForumsAdministrator
MembershipAdministrator
Reply
Marco C replied on Mon, Dec 29 2008 12:46 PM

Well, we overclocked the 965 in our launch article to just over 4GHz. With the 965, overclocking is much easier, as you can just raise the multiplier as high as your system will allow, and then fine tune by adjusting the base clock.

Marco Chiappetta
Managing Editor @ HotHardware.com

Follow Marco on Twitter

  • | Post Points: 35
Top 150 Contributor
Posts 508
Points 7,860
Joined: Feb 2008
Location: California
Reply
peti1212 replied on Mon, Dec 29 2008 1:22 PM

Oh nice, I though that the new Core i7's weren't so good at overclocking. This prooves my thoughs wrong. Nice article.

  • | Post Points: 5
Top 10 Contributor
Posts 6,174
Points 90,045
Joined: Aug 2003
Location: United States, Virginia
Moderator
Reply
bob_on_the_cob replied on Mon, Dec 29 2008 1:45 PM

Looks like some nice clocks. Just such a high cost of entry right now. $300 for a mobo and $300 for the CPU. Plus I'll need another stick of ram to make real use of the new platform.

  • | Post Points: 5
Not Ranked
Posts 4
Points 50
Joined: Dec 2008
Location: Canada
Reply
mlauzon replied on Mon, Dec 29 2008 6:28 PM
Marco C:

Well, we overclocked the 965 in our launch article to just over 4GHz. With the 965, overclocking is much easier, as you can just raise the multiplier as high as your system will allow, and then fine tune by adjusting the base clock.

Do you have a link to that article?
Michael
--
Intel Core i7 965, ASUS Rampage II Extreme, G.SKILL Pi Black DDR3-1600 PC3-12800 6GB CL 8-8-8-21, Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 X2, Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB, LG GH22NS30 DVD Writer, Corsair HX1000W, Windows XP Professional, Windows Vista Home Premium x64, Cooler Master HAF 932, Samsung SyncMaster 245T, Razer Tarantula, Razer Lachesis Wraith Red, Razer Destructor
  • | Post Points: 20
Top 50 Contributor
Posts 2,256
Points 47,740
Joined: Apr 2000
Location: United States, Connecticut
ForumsAdministrator
MembershipAdministrator
Reply
Marco C replied on Tue, Dec 30 2008 9:17 AM

Here you go:

http://hothardware.com/Articles/Intel-Core-i7-Processors-Nehalem-and-X58-Have-Arrived

Marco Chiappetta
Managing Editor @ HotHardware.com

Follow Marco on Twitter

  • | Post Points: 20
Not Ranked
Posts 4
Points 50
Joined: Dec 2008
Location: Canada
Reply
mlauzon replied on Tue, Dec 30 2008 9:27 AM
Marco C:

Here you go:

http://hothardware.com/Articles/Intel-Core-i7-Processors-Nehalem-and-X58-Have-Arrived

What I should have asked, was are you going to do an article about OC'ing -- with instructions on how to to OC the Core i7 series -- for people who have never done any type of OC'ing before?!
Michael
--
Intel Core i7 965, ASUS Rampage II Extreme, G.SKILL Pi Black DDR3-1600 PC3-12800 6GB CL 8-8-8-21, Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 X2, Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB, LG GH22NS30 DVD Writer, Corsair HX1000W, Windows XP Professional, Windows Vista Home Premium x64, Cooler Master HAF 932, Samsung SyncMaster 245T, Razer Tarantula, Razer Lachesis Wraith Red, Razer Destructor
  • | Post Points: 20
Top 75 Contributor
Posts 1,370
Points 20,925
Joined: Feb 2005
Location: new york city
Reply
ice_73 replied on Tue, Dec 30 2008 2:17 PM

i think i fell in love with intel....

  • | Post Points: 20
Not Ranked
Posts 2
Points 25
Joined: Dec 2008
Reply
Catalina588 replied on Tue, Dec 30 2008 3:15 PM

I agree we need an article on tweaking the Core i7 965.  Since the i7 is a new overclocking platform, where else but Hot Hardware would you like us non-experts to go to come up to speed?

Marco C., your team does this every day.  I don't.  How about some help?

  • | Post Points: 5
Not Ranked
Posts 2
Points 25
Joined: Dec 2008
Reply
Catalina588 replied on Tue, Dec 30 2008 3:48 PM

Casual overclockers of Core i7 using the Intel DX58SO motherboard should check out the new auto-tuning capabilities in the Intel Desktop Control Center (beta) at http://preview.tinyurl.com/7wgvzo  Even if you don't want to add voltage, there is a path to optimizing the Core i7 at spec voltage.  Beta, but worth the aggravation.

- PSK

  • | Post Points: 20
Not Ranked
Posts 4
Points 50
Joined: Dec 2008
Location: Canada
Reply
mlauzon replied on Tue, Dec 30 2008 7:10 PM
Catalina588:

Casual overclockers of Core i7 using the Intel DX58SO motherboard should check out the new auto-tuning capabilities in the Intel Desktop Control Center (beta) at http://preview.tinyurl.com/7wgvzo  Even if you don't want to add voltage, there is a path to optimizing the Core i7 at spec voltage.  Beta, but worth the aggravation.

- PSK

The above article does me no good, as I've got an Asus Rampage II Extreme mobo, with a Core i7 965, G.Skill Pi Black 6GB DDR3-1600 PC3-12800 8-8-8-21
Michael
--
Intel Core i7 965, ASUS Rampage II Extreme, G.SKILL Pi Black DDR3-1600 PC3-12800 6GB CL 8-8-8-21, Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 X2, Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB, LG GH22NS30 DVD Writer, Corsair HX1000W, Windows XP Professional, Windows Vista Home Premium x64, Cooler Master HAF 932, Samsung SyncMaster 245T, Razer Tarantula, Razer Lachesis Wraith Red, Razer Destructor
  • | Post Points: 5
Not Ranked
Posts 1
Points 5
Joined: Jan 2009
Location: Kansas City, MO
Reply
TheScavenger replied on Tue, Jan 20 2009 12:46 PM

That is a very well written and intuitive article. It should be a required read for all novice i7 overclockers. Great job Chris!

 

Josh

|Case|--- Apex MI-100 mini-ITX
|MoBo|-- Jetway NC81-LF 780G+SB700
|CPU|--- AMD Athlon X2 5050e 2.82GHz 217x13
|VGA|--- HD 3200 128MB DDR2 750/800
|RAM|--- 2x2GB G. Skill SO-DIMM 806MHz
|HDD|--- WD Caviar Black 640GB 32MB Cache
|PSU|--- Apex AL-8250SFX 250W
|HSs|--- AMD Factory Heatsink- 25° Idle
|BMs|--- 3DMark 06: 1,598

  • | Post Points: 5
Page 1 of 1 (13 items) | RSS