i7 OVERCLOCKING 101
INTRODUCTION
So your interested in overclocking your new i7 or i5 cpu but your a little unsure of yourself. Hopefully this guide will help educate you a little.
Overclocking - The process of running a computer component at a higher clock rate (more clock cycles per second) than it was designed for or was specified by the manufacturer. So why would anyone want to overclock their CPU? Well there are a number of reasons to overclock with Increased Performance leading the Pack.
Increased Performance - Almost every task a PC can do from Gaming to Basic System Tasks will be faster. The increase in cpu performance also increases the bandwidth available to other components allowing them to reach their peak performance (bottlenecking).
A Cheap UpGrade - Overclocking your CPU is increasing the speed to that of a more expensive model or sometimes even faster than any model available.
Hobby - Overclocking can be Fun. There are numerous Benchmarks Threads here at Tech-Forums to participate in and Tweaking is required to move up the Leaderboard.
Educational - While some people just can't learn new tricks, as an Overclocker you will gain knowledge and hands-on experience with your PC before it's all over.
There are also a few Disadvantages to consider. With the biggest being you can damage your CPU and or other components if done improperly.
CPU Damage - Overvolting and Excessive Heat can permanently damage your CPU and other Components.
Increased Power Consumption - Depending on the amount of an overclock the increase in Power Consumption can vary.
Increased Spending - Overclocking can be Addictive. As you gain experience and confidence the Need For More Speed often includes Special Cooling Devices and Case Modifications.
HEAT
Heat is probably the most important aspect of overclocking. As it pertains to overclocking, heat is a direct result of work or the ability to do work. While your sitting at your desk reading this your pc is producing heat and it has a cooling system designed to dissipate that heat based upon the the amount of work or heat that it can produce. As you overclock your cpu you are effectively increasing the amount of work it can do or the amount of heat it can produce. So we need to monitor the heat and if needed, regulate it. As a general rule we want to keep the maximum load temperature below 80dC with a target zone of 65-70dC.
Monitoring Utilities
Most motherboard manufacturers provide some type of hardware monitoring utility on the installtion cd. Some of these monitoring utilities are reliable and some not so much. Luckily, if you have doubts about the supplied utility there are a number of alternative monitoring utilities you can download.
CPU-Z - a freeware that gathers information on some of the main devices of your system. Highly Recommended CPUID
HWMonitor - a hardware monitoring program that reads PC systems main health sensors : voltages, temperatures, fans speed. Highly Recommended.CPUID
Real Temp -a temperature monitoring program designed for all Intel single Core, Dual Core and Quad Core processors.Real Temp - CPU temperature monitoring
Core Temp - a compact, no fuss, small footprint program to monitor CPU temperature. http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/
Heat Regulation
This subject could take pages to write so I'll make this as brief as possible while still being informative. Heat Regulation can be accomplished by several methods including air and water Cooling and a few more extreme methods like phase-change, dry ice or liquid nitrogen.
Air Cooling
I'll start by saying that if your only wanting a small or mild overclock, your stock heatsink may be perfectly acceptable. If your planning on using the stock heatsink I recommend cleaning it with compressed air before you start and regularly cleaning it a few times a month. And, unless it's been done recently, you should apply a fresh coating of thermal paste between the cpu and the heatsink (more on thermal pastes below). If your wanting more cooling than your stock heatsink can provide, whether it's for a higher overclock or just for piece of mind, there are many very good options to choose from in various price ranges. The heatsink you choose should be based upon a few things like, available space, cpu model, price, availability, desired performance and newly released products. For this reason I recommend asking our forum members for their recommendations. I will link you to a few of my recommended manufacturers.
Thermalright - Ultimate CPU Cooling Solutions! USA
Prolimatech - Prolimatech
Noctua - Noctua.at - sound-optimised premium components "Designed in Austria"!
Xigmatek - XIGMATEK 富鈞科技股份有é™å…¬å¸
Sunbeamtech - Sunbeam, manufacture that provides the best CPU cooler, best Power Supply, best gaming case and acrylic case, also welcomes OEM projects.
Cooler Master Cooler Master - Ultimate provider of Computer Chassis | Cooler | Power Supply
Water Cooling
Becoming increasingly popular, water cooling is very effective if your willing to pay the price. A good setup can cost you $200+US and it may require some case modifications and it does require a good working knowledge of computer assembly. As for the cheaper, self contained water cooling systems, I find it impossible to recommend one at this time. In the future a new product may come out that changes my opinion, but at the present time they can be matched in performance at a lower price by a number of air cooling products. Once again if your interested in a water cooling system I recommend asking our forum members for their recommendations. Here are a few links to my personal favorite manufacturers.
DangerDen - Let us help you be cool!
Swiftech - Swiftech
Extreme Cooling
Phase-Change, Dry Ice and LN2 cooling methods are all extreme methods used to cool the cpu to sub-zero temperatures. Of the (3) only the phase-change option is even remotely considered an option for everyday use. And then you should be a highly experienced overclocker with money to spend on the more than occasional replacement part. You can check out my last phase-change torture test here. http://www.techist.com/forums/f10/operation-superpi-phase-change-211659/ The only phase change I've seen for sale lately is this unit made by OCZ. OCZ Technology | Products | Cooling Products | OCZ Cryo-Z
Thermal Compounds and Lapping
Regardless of the cooling method, thermal paste should be used between the cpu and the base of the cooling device used. The exterior metallic surfaces contain small imperfections that prevent the two surfaces from mating together for optimal thermal transfer. Thermal paste will fill in the small imperfections and provide a thermal interface to maximize thermal transfer. There are two main methods of applying thermal paste. Method 1 involves manually spreading the thermal paste with a spatula like device (flexible card) or with your finger (use a plastic baggie as a finger glove to avoid direct contact with the paste). Method 2 involves applying the thermal paste (about the size of a small pea or a grain or 2 of rice) to the cpu and letting the weight of the heatsink spread the paste. Once again because of new products and different usages I recommend asking our forum members for recommendations on the various types of thermal compounds, but you usually won't go wrong with Tunig TX-2.
Sometimes the imperfections in the surfaces are so severe that thermal paste alone will not provide a suitable thermal interface for proper thermal transfer. In this situation you'll want to consider lapping one or both surfaces. Lapping is the process of smoothing and leveling the surface of the cooling device or cpu's heat spreader with an abrasive surface such as sandpaper. Bewared lapping the surface will void the warranty on the product involved. Here are a few YouTube videos to watch. The process is the same regardless of the type of cooling device.
STABILITY
As an overclocker you will be pushing your cpu beyond the manufacturers operating specifications.Stability is our ultimate goal. If you can't play your games or run your programs then what good was any of it. The first step in aquiring a stable overclock is to have your system stable at its default settings. A fresh install of Windows with all the Service Packs and Recommended Updates is a good way to start. If that isn't an option then it doesn't hurt to go thru the Spyware Asylum Guide Spyware Asylum. Next you want to make sure that your drivers are up to date for all the components in your system. Your bios may also have an update available, they are often released with compatibility and performance inprovements, but a failed bios flash can leave your system inoperative. At this point in time you should be ready to perform a preliminary stability test of your system. There are many utilities available that you can use for stability testing (links below),choose one and run it for an hour. LinX will heat your system up very fast and usually crash within the first ten minutes if something is wrong, so for your preliminary run of LinX set it to run for 20 minutes.
Stability Testing Software
LinX - http://www.youwatched.com/datajay/linx(0.64).7z
Prime95 - Windows - http://mersenneforum.org/gimps/p95v259.zip
Window 64-bit - http://mersenneforum.org/gimps/p64v259.zip
OCCT - Download - OCCT Website english
Everest - Lavalys - Comprehensive IT Security and Management
Drivers
Chipset
EVGA - EVGA | Support | Download Drivers
ASUS - ASUSTeK Computer Inc.-Support-
Gigabyte - GIGABYTE - Support&Download - Motherboard - Driver
Biostar - BIOSTAR :: Download
ASRock - ASRock > Download
Foxconn - Foxconn - Support - Downloads
MSI - MSI Global ? Computer, Laptop, Notebook, Desktop, Mainboard, Graphics and more
ECS - ECS Web Site
DFI - DFI LANParty:The Best OC Platform! Overclock, Motherboard, Intel, AMD
Jetway - Jetway - Tech.On The Move - Download
SuperMicro - Super Micro Computer, Inc. | Support | Resources
Intel - http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Default.aspx
Miscellaneous - download from Guru3D.com
Video
Nvidia - Drivers - Download NVIDIA Drivers
ATI - Graphics Drivers & Software
Audio
Realtek - Realtek
Creative - Creative Worldwide: Support: Downloads: Drivers, firmware and software updates
Miscellaneous - download from Guru3D.com
INTRODUCTION
So your interested in overclocking your new i7 or i5 cpu but your a little unsure of yourself. Hopefully this guide will help educate you a little.
Overclocking - The process of running a computer component at a higher clock rate (more clock cycles per second) than it was designed for or was specified by the manufacturer. So why would anyone want to overclock their CPU? Well there are a number of reasons to overclock with Increased Performance leading the Pack.
Increased Performance - Almost every task a PC can do from Gaming to Basic System Tasks will be faster. The increase in cpu performance also increases the bandwidth available to other components allowing them to reach their peak performance (bottlenecking).
A Cheap UpGrade - Overclocking your CPU is increasing the speed to that of a more expensive model or sometimes even faster than any model available.
Hobby - Overclocking can be Fun. There are numerous Benchmarks Threads here at Tech-Forums to participate in and Tweaking is required to move up the Leaderboard.
Educational - While some people just can't learn new tricks, as an Overclocker you will gain knowledge and hands-on experience with your PC before it's all over.
There are also a few Disadvantages to consider. With the biggest being you can damage your CPU and or other components if done improperly.
CPU Damage - Overvolting and Excessive Heat can permanently damage your CPU and other Components.
Increased Power Consumption - Depending on the amount of an overclock the increase in Power Consumption can vary.
Increased Spending - Overclocking can be Addictive. As you gain experience and confidence the Need For More Speed often includes Special Cooling Devices and Case Modifications.
HEAT
Heat is probably the most important aspect of overclocking. As it pertains to overclocking, heat is a direct result of work or the ability to do work. While your sitting at your desk reading this your pc is producing heat and it has a cooling system designed to dissipate that heat based upon the the amount of work or heat that it can produce. As you overclock your cpu you are effectively increasing the amount of work it can do or the amount of heat it can produce. So we need to monitor the heat and if needed, regulate it. As a general rule we want to keep the maximum load temperature below 80dC with a target zone of 65-70dC.
Monitoring Utilities
Most motherboard manufacturers provide some type of hardware monitoring utility on the installtion cd. Some of these monitoring utilities are reliable and some not so much. Luckily, if you have doubts about the supplied utility there are a number of alternative monitoring utilities you can download.
CPU-Z - a freeware that gathers information on some of the main devices of your system. Highly Recommended CPUID
HWMonitor - a hardware monitoring program that reads PC systems main health sensors : voltages, temperatures, fans speed. Highly Recommended.CPUID
Real Temp -a temperature monitoring program designed for all Intel single Core, Dual Core and Quad Core processors.Real Temp - CPU temperature monitoring
Core Temp - a compact, no fuss, small footprint program to monitor CPU temperature. http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/
Heat Regulation
This subject could take pages to write so I'll make this as brief as possible while still being informative. Heat Regulation can be accomplished by several methods including air and water Cooling and a few more extreme methods like phase-change, dry ice or liquid nitrogen.
Air Cooling
I'll start by saying that if your only wanting a small or mild overclock, your stock heatsink may be perfectly acceptable. If your planning on using the stock heatsink I recommend cleaning it with compressed air before you start and regularly cleaning it a few times a month. And, unless it's been done recently, you should apply a fresh coating of thermal paste between the cpu and the heatsink (more on thermal pastes below). If your wanting more cooling than your stock heatsink can provide, whether it's for a higher overclock or just for piece of mind, there are many very good options to choose from in various price ranges. The heatsink you choose should be based upon a few things like, available space, cpu model, price, availability, desired performance and newly released products. For this reason I recommend asking our forum members for their recommendations. I will link you to a few of my recommended manufacturers.
Thermalright - Ultimate CPU Cooling Solutions! USA
Prolimatech - Prolimatech
Noctua - Noctua.at - sound-optimised premium components "Designed in Austria"!
Xigmatek - XIGMATEK 富鈞科技股份有é™å…¬å¸
Sunbeamtech - Sunbeam, manufacture that provides the best CPU cooler, best Power Supply, best gaming case and acrylic case, also welcomes OEM projects.
Cooler Master Cooler Master - Ultimate provider of Computer Chassis | Cooler | Power Supply
Water Cooling
Becoming increasingly popular, water cooling is very effective if your willing to pay the price. A good setup can cost you $200+US and it may require some case modifications and it does require a good working knowledge of computer assembly. As for the cheaper, self contained water cooling systems, I find it impossible to recommend one at this time. In the future a new product may come out that changes my opinion, but at the present time they can be matched in performance at a lower price by a number of air cooling products. Once again if your interested in a water cooling system I recommend asking our forum members for their recommendations. Here are a few links to my personal favorite manufacturers.
DangerDen - Let us help you be cool!
Swiftech - Swiftech
Extreme Cooling
Phase-Change, Dry Ice and LN2 cooling methods are all extreme methods used to cool the cpu to sub-zero temperatures. Of the (3) only the phase-change option is even remotely considered an option for everyday use. And then you should be a highly experienced overclocker with money to spend on the more than occasional replacement part. You can check out my last phase-change torture test here. http://www.techist.com/forums/f10/operation-superpi-phase-change-211659/ The only phase change I've seen for sale lately is this unit made by OCZ. OCZ Technology | Products | Cooling Products | OCZ Cryo-Z
Thermal Compounds and Lapping
Regardless of the cooling method, thermal paste should be used between the cpu and the base of the cooling device used. The exterior metallic surfaces contain small imperfections that prevent the two surfaces from mating together for optimal thermal transfer. Thermal paste will fill in the small imperfections and provide a thermal interface to maximize thermal transfer. There are two main methods of applying thermal paste. Method 1 involves manually spreading the thermal paste with a spatula like device (flexible card) or with your finger (use a plastic baggie as a finger glove to avoid direct contact with the paste). Method 2 involves applying the thermal paste (about the size of a small pea or a grain or 2 of rice) to the cpu and letting the weight of the heatsink spread the paste. Once again because of new products and different usages I recommend asking our forum members for recommendations on the various types of thermal compounds, but you usually won't go wrong with Tunig TX-2.
Sometimes the imperfections in the surfaces are so severe that thermal paste alone will not provide a suitable thermal interface for proper thermal transfer. In this situation you'll want to consider lapping one or both surfaces. Lapping is the process of smoothing and leveling the surface of the cooling device or cpu's heat spreader with an abrasive surface such as sandpaper. Bewared lapping the surface will void the warranty on the product involved. Here are a few YouTube videos to watch. The process is the same regardless of the type of cooling device.
STABILITY
As an overclocker you will be pushing your cpu beyond the manufacturers operating specifications.Stability is our ultimate goal. If you can't play your games or run your programs then what good was any of it. The first step in aquiring a stable overclock is to have your system stable at its default settings. A fresh install of Windows with all the Service Packs and Recommended Updates is a good way to start. If that isn't an option then it doesn't hurt to go thru the Spyware Asylum Guide Spyware Asylum. Next you want to make sure that your drivers are up to date for all the components in your system. Your bios may also have an update available, they are often released with compatibility and performance inprovements, but a failed bios flash can leave your system inoperative. At this point in time you should be ready to perform a preliminary stability test of your system. There are many utilities available that you can use for stability testing (links below),choose one and run it for an hour. LinX will heat your system up very fast and usually crash within the first ten minutes if something is wrong, so for your preliminary run of LinX set it to run for 20 minutes.
Stability Testing Software
LinX - http://www.youwatched.com/datajay/linx(0.64).7z
Prime95 - Windows - http://mersenneforum.org/gimps/p95v259.zip
Window 64-bit - http://mersenneforum.org/gimps/p64v259.zip
OCCT - Download - OCCT Website english
Everest - Lavalys - Comprehensive IT Security and Management
Drivers
Chipset
EVGA - EVGA | Support | Download Drivers
ASUS - ASUSTeK Computer Inc.-Support-
Gigabyte - GIGABYTE - Support&Download - Motherboard - Driver
Biostar - BIOSTAR :: Download
ASRock - ASRock > Download
Foxconn - Foxconn - Support - Downloads
MSI - MSI Global ? Computer, Laptop, Notebook, Desktop, Mainboard, Graphics and more
ECS - ECS Web Site
DFI - DFI LANParty:The Best OC Platform! Overclock, Motherboard, Intel, AMD
Jetway - Jetway - Tech.On The Move - Download
SuperMicro - Super Micro Computer, Inc. | Support | Resources
Intel - http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Default.aspx
Miscellaneous - download from Guru3D.com
Video
Nvidia - Drivers - Download NVIDIA Drivers
ATI - Graphics Drivers & Software
Audio
Realtek - Realtek
Creative - Creative Worldwide: Support: Downloads: Drivers, firmware and software updates
Miscellaneous - download from Guru3D.com