my i7 920 D0 is a dog

H

haadij404

2[H]4U
Joined
Apr 3, 2006
Messages
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I bought an open box mobo and I always figured that was my hindering my overclock. I was able to borrow my brothers C0 920 and test it out and sure enough, my D0 sucks.

Not stable over a 19x multiplier even with a 180 BCLK. Tried everything to get it above 3700mhz. Gave it a lot of volts, messed with all those VTT and QPI settings. Nothing would goose it past that. Tried disabling hyper threading and still the cocksucker refused to even boot with a 20x multi.

To add insult to injury it needed 1.35v just to get stable at 3.7ghz :eek:

Popped my brothers C0 in and bam 4ghz with minimal tweaking. Even runs cooler :mad:

So yes the moral of my story is buying a D0 doesn't mean you are automatically getting a good chip.

Yes I know 3700 is nothing to sneeze at but needing 1.35v for stability? C'mon now.
 
Well not all cpu's are made the same in terms of how well you can overclock. Trust me I learned that the hard way back in the older AthlonXP cpu days.
 
I have a C0 that I can't get past 189 fsb or 3.6 GHz no matter what kind of voltage I throw at or what settings I adjust. Originally I was a little unsatisfied that I didn't get a chip that could exceed 4.0 GHz, but eventually I decided that a 35% overclock on an all ready exceptional CPU would tide me over.

Unless you have some reason that you need an insanely overclocked chip I wouldn't put too much thought into being satisfied with a 24/7 overclock of 3.4 GHz or higher. It may not make your e-peen feel the best, but its still a screaming fast chip that should tide you over for several years.

No sense in selling it for a loss just to try again as you could end up in the same situation since D0 chips outside of the early batches haven't been all that special.
 
I have my C0/C1 which won't run on a BCLK of more than 200MHz stable. I can still get to 4.190GHz with turbo mode on relatively easily. As for voltage, I wish mine only needed 1.35v for stability. Mine needs 1.475v to run at 4.0GHz.
 
this is a list of i7 batches:

Favorable batches (best at the top):
3838B079**
3837B194**
3838A755*
3837B317
3837A909
3837B080
3841A505
3838B096
3839A606
3839A626
3835A766
3838A937
3841A625
3839A557
3838B266

Unfavorable batches (worst at the bottom):
3836A772
3837A769
3837A768
3838A685
3841A43x-
3842A938--

check these figures on your cpu and see if it's listed here...also, try to get one of the more favorable batches
 
Igneos79 said:
this is a list of i7 batches:

Favorable batches (best at the top):
3838B079**
3837B194**
3838A755*
Snip...................
Click to expand...

The D0 I just bought from Microcenter isn't listed in your post. Mine is from batch number 3910A643.
 
Igneos79 said:
well, you got a bad batch...try to sell it and get a better one if it's that important
Click to expand...

I wasn't all that concerned about it honestly. I didn't bother to do much in the way of research on it. I didn't really get to choose. I just got to choose between one C0/C1 that they had and this D0. In any case if I can get 4.0GHz out of it I'd be happy. If not I can throw it in another machine and go back to using my C0/C1 chip which I know will do 4.0GHz or better.
 
FoxhoundOp said:
Sell it and buy another one.
Click to expand...

That's the plan. I already got it listed on craigslist at a good price so I am hopeful I can get rid of it within the next few days.

I also got the" Your order is ready for pick up" email from Microcenter... new i7 here I am come :D

another thing, my 920 isn't on that list. batch # is 3849A925.
 
I couldn't find anything specific on my batch number. Also from what I gather the batch numbers aren't even a good way of figuring out what to expect on Core i7 CPUs. I'm just going to give this one a try and see what I get out of it. I'm hoping it will do as well as my C0/C1 with less voltage.
 
I have been telling everyone that the stepping doesn't matter too much. Just because you gt a d0 stepping i7 doesn't mean your will get an uber overclocker. Getting a good overclocking CPU is just luck of the draw and does vary within batch at the most as Dan mentioned.
 
Oh, I quoted the wrong person. Sorry. :D
about that phase change.: is there any kit of water cooled phase change available? I was thinking of something like air cooled phase change coolermaster v10 combined with corsair hydro h50. I mean, just like h50 but with added tec. If there is a kit like that up to 150 bucks, i'd buy it for sure.
 
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Phase change units are expensive. The Thermaltake Xpressar is the cheapest one I know of and it's around $400 I believe. The version integrated into their Xaser Chassis costs around $799.99. All the other units I know of cost over $1,000.
 
Just to add my 2 cents. My C0 I7 in sig wont do much past 180 bclk either no matter how much voltage I throw at it either. In fact my 3.77 24/7 (prime95/linx stable) OC requires 1.43volts. Yes I was very annoyed at first and totally shocked to see it needed that kind of voltage and still not crack 4.0 but that's how it goes sometimes. Shes (knock on wood) rock solid stable and temps are super good so ya what can ya do. I run 1.43 vcore w/ vdroop on and +125 vtt @ 3.77ghz. Meh so what, 200mhz more = what? 100-200 more vantage points and maybe in certain games in certain situations 1-3 fps? So be it I will live. :)

I love my setup and when I get 2 GT300's to replace my 260's it will be even better. :)

/The end
 
Igneos79 said:
well, you got a bad batch...try to sell it and get a better one if it's that important
Click to expand...

Where did you see information indicating it was a bad batch? I couldn't find hardly any mention of it anywhere and the one place I did find it mentioned was on the EVGA Forums and almost nothing in that thread pertained to the processor or it's batch number. I did go through some threads at Xtremesystems.org but I still didn't find anything too specific. The general consensus over there seems to be that processors from the same batch can produce wildly variable results.
 
Dan_D said:
Phase change units are expensive. The Thermaltake Xpressar is the cheapest one I know of and it's around $400 I believe. The version integrated into their Xaser Chassis costs around $799.99. All the other units I know of cost over $1,000.
Click to expand...

tnx for the info. About batches: i haven't found his particular batch anywhere nor was i looking for it. I don't know what's the opinion on that forum about batches, but I do know that certain batches oc better then others. There is a higher chance that a cpu from a known "good batch" will overclock better then the one from a bad batch. I have yet to find a thread that says 2 cpu's from the same batch oc with great difference. If you can find one, then i would sooner bet on mobo or cooling or human incompetence for the low overclock. If you can go to the store and hand pick your batch, I beleive you would profit very much. But then again, this is a bit of speculation that has yet to be confirmed.
 
haadij404 said:
I bought an open box mobo and I always figured that was my hindering my overclock. I was able to borrow my brothers C0 920 and test it out and sure enough, my D0 sucks.

Not stable over a 19x multiplier even with a 180 BCLK. Tried everything to get it above 3700mhz. Gave it a lot of volts, messed with all those VTT and QPI settings. Nothing would goose it past that. Tried disabling hyper threading and still the cocksucker refused to even boot with a 20x multi.

To add insult to injury it needed 1.35v just to get stable at 3.7ghz :eek:

Popped my brothers C0 in and bam 4ghz with minimal tweaking. Even runs cooler :mad:

So yes the moral of my story is buying a D0 doesn't mean you are automatically getting a good chip.

Yes I know 3700 is nothing to sneeze at but needing 1.35v for stability? C'mon now.
Click to expand...

Jesus... some of you are so spoiled. Remember 100mhz OC's? :eek: On refrigeration?
 
Igneos79 said:
tnx for the info. About batches: i haven't found his particular batch anywhere nor was i looking for it. I don't know what's the opinion on that forum about batches, but I do know that certain batches oc better then others. There is a higher chance that a cpu from a known "good batch" will overclock better then the one from a bad batch. I have yet to find a thread that says 2 cpu's from the same batch oc with great difference. If you can find one, then i would sooner bet on mobo or cooling or human incompetence for the low overclock. If you can go to the store and hand pick your batch, I beleive you would profit very much. But then again, this is a bit of speculation that has yet to be confirmed.
Click to expand...

I did get to hand pick this Core i7 920 D0 I picked up on Friday. The other choice was a C0/C1 stepping chip in the old box. So I opted for the D0. :) What I've been reading indicates that the larger differences in chips from even the same batch is the voltage needed for the overclock. Some require very little while other CPUs require a great deal. My C0/C1 overclocks to 4.0GHz+ rather easily. It just requires an obscene amount of voltage to do so. However, the voltage increase doesn't seem to make it worse for wear temperature wise as the temps for it are in the realm of reasonable as I'm using air cooling with it right now and I haven't had any problems with these settings.
 
What temps are you guys getting? I am running 4ghz 1.4 voltage in bios and getting 85ish load priming on water? Decent temps or a little high?
 
aZn_plyR said:
What temps are you guys getting? I am running 4ghz 1.4 voltage in bios and getting 85ish load priming on water? Decent temps or a little high?
Click to expand...

That seems about right for the voltage you are pushing through. I get around 70 under water with prime 95, my voltage is 1.32. I'm only running at 3.6 GHz as my CPU refuses to go above this no matter how much voltage I throw at it.
 
aZn_plyR said:
What temps are you guys getting? I am running 4ghz 1.4 voltage in bios and getting 85ish load priming on water? Decent temps or a little high?
Click to expand...

Those temperatures seem about right to me. Typically my Core i7 920 idles at 47c-50c depending on which core we are talking about and it reaches temperatures not normally in excess of 66c. This is while I am playing games. Under full load when running OCCT, it reaches about 84c.

Specs:

Core i7 920 C0/C1 batch #3843A807
Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme -1366 RT
EVGA X58 3X SLI Classified (141-BL-E759-A1) BIOS Version: SL21T
Voltage: 1.475v. :eek:

It may only require so much voltage because I've left both Hyperthreading and Virtualization Technology enabled. For a 4GHz clock speed that can't be easy to do.
 
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Dan_D said:
Typically my Core i7 920 idles at 47c-50c depending on which core we are talking about and it reaches temperatures not normally in excess of 66c. This is with air cooling.

Specs:

Core i7 920 C0/C1 batch #3843A807
Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme -1366 RT
EVGA X58 3X SLI Classified (141-BL-E759-A1) BIOS Version: SL21T
Voltage: 1.475v. :eek:

It may only require so much voltage because I've left both Hyperthreading and Virtualization Technology enabled. For a 4GHz clock speed that can't be easy to do.
Click to expand...

Question: Is 1.250v vcore + 200mv cpu vtt = 1.425v total core voltage?
I set this to without Vdroop.
 
vjcsmoke said:
Using Water Cooling?
Click to expand...

yes, water

it wont pass most of the ridiculous tests you people would put it through, but it hasn't bsod yet on me.. I watch movies, torrent, produce music in ableton, and play TFC 24/7
 
Igneos79 said:
I was thinking of something like air cooled phase change coolermaster v10 combined with corsair hydro h50. I mean, just like h50 but with added tec. If there is a kit like that up to 150 bucks, i'd buy it for sure.
Click to expand...
A TEC is not phase-change.
vjcsmoke said:
Question: Is 1.250v vcore + 200mv cpu vtt = 1.425v total core voltage?
I set this to without Vdroop.
Click to expand...
No, VTT is not the same as Vcore.
 
Imaulle said:
yes, water

it wont pass most of the ridiculous tests you people would put it through, but it hasn't bsod yet on me.. I watch movies, torrent, produce music in ableton, and play TFC 24/7
Click to expand...

Yea I thought my 4.0ghz was stable @ 1.25vt, crashed when I was encoding an HD movie (was using up all 8 threads at 100% for 4-5 hours straight) and died an hour or so into it, restarted and bumped it to 1.275 and encoded the same movie just fine. :eek:

I also had it running at 4.4ghz before on air but it would die pretty quick into any stress. (Never gave it enough volts cause temps became an issue) 5.2ghz is somewhat pointless if it's not stable because you'll never get to use 100% of it.
 
Zero82z said:
A TEC is not phase-change.

No, VTT is not the same as Vcore.
Click to expand...

Cool thanks.

Well I have my i7 920 D0 overclocked to 4.1 ghz at 1.25 vcore + 200mv vtt, vdroop off.
So I'm not sure it's necessary to overvolt the thing to 1.475 to get 4.0?
Unless this is an individual chip thing.
I had it at 4.2 ghz initially but it BSODed on me so I detuned it to 4.1ghz at 195x21.

Looks to be stable now. Ran prime95 blend for a while, the only thing is it ran too hot, nearly 100c per core when blend was running.
I think I might need to remount. But that's gonna be a pain in the butt. :(
 
vjcsmoke said:
Cool thanks.

Well I have my i7 920 D0 overclocked to 4.1 ghz at 1.25 vcore + 200mv vtt, vdroop off.
So I'm not sure it's necessary to overvolt the thing to 1.475 to get 4.0?
Unless this is an individual chip thing.
I had it at 4.2 ghz initially but it BSODed on me so I detuned it to 4.1ghz at 195x21.

Looks to be stable now. Ran prime95 blend for a while, the only thing is it ran too hot, nearly 100c per core when blend was running.
I think I might need to remount. But that's gonna be a pain in the butt. :(
Click to expand...

It is an individual chip thing. I've heard of chips from the same batches needing wildly different voltages to run at similar clock speeds. Mine requires 1.475v to run stable but then again I left HT and Virtualization Technology enabled. So that might account for why I have to do it that way. I need those features so I don't turn them off.
 
What does Virtualization do?
I've got Turbo enabled and Hyperthreading enabled but I think I disabled Virtualization.
 
Virtualization is for running virtual machines, I don't think it will add any overhead.

Hyper-threading is useful for multi-threaded applications (video encoding etc.) but for most programs it won't matter, but it does increase your temps by a lot, so you can try turning that off.
 
My temps at idle are (pending on the core) anywhere from 38 -42( depending on ambient) usually. At full linx load max ram usage etc never hit over 80 on any core and thats 30 passes. Prime 95 blend never passed 74 on any core and that ran for 10 hours. I run with virtualization off( i don't need it) and turbo and HT on. I run 180bclk x 21 mult. This chip is just a voltage pig and I've grown accostumed to the idea that it is. As long as my temps are soild I'm ok with that. Oh and under normal usage like say after hours of gaming (depending on core) usually top out at a max of 60-62ish per core.

Like now for example I just got through playing NFS:Shift for about 2 hours and no core ever passed62. In fact real temp reports a max of 60 57 62 59 repectively cores 1 -4. Currently idling with just [H} forums open and TS running in the background at 39 37 41 36 respectively cores 1-4.

Hope this info is usefull for whoever needs it as a base line. One caveat, I'm always in a room with A/C. Although in a warm house last winter with the heat on and toasty I never saw temps much different so just a fyi. :)
 
Blazestorm said:
Virtualization is for running virtual machines, I don't think it will add any overhead.

Hyper-threading is useful for multi-threaded applications (video encoding etc.) but for most programs it won't matter, but it does increase your temps by a lot, so you can try turning that off.
Click to expand...

Normally when I overclock I turn off Virtualization. I've heard that it can limit your results but I've never really done any testing on that. I leave it on because I use the feature.
 
My temps using on OCZ Vendetta 2 at 3700mhz with 1.35v while running prime95 (small fft's) is around 80c. Highest core is like 83c and lowest like 76c.

It can get it up to like 90c if its a hot day :(
 
First off you up there need a new CPU cooler or water....

And also why should it matter which batch it was there all "supposed" to be the same but they get different batch #'s because one day the actual techs worked and the rest of the week were the guys intel picked up off the street.
 
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