Official GIGABYTE Forum

Over-clock your i7 920 to 4GHz or more on the GA-EX58-EXTREME motherboard

runn3R

  • *
  • 1328
  • 57
  • Admin
    • GIGABYTE UK
Hi All.

Gigabyte has announced an overclocking guide for GA-EX58-EXTREME.
It describes how to reach 4.0 GHz or even up to 4.2 GHz with your Intel i7 920 CPU. You can find it here.

Please give us your opinion on this, especially if you have over-clocked this system/setup and with what results?
ZX-S & C64 are still my favourites ;-)

runn3R

  • *
  • 1328
  • 57
  • Admin
    • GIGABYTE UK
bios profile for 4 GHz overclocking to use by EZ Share BIOS function is here. it's mentioned at page 25 of this overclocking guide mentioned earlier

ZX-S & C64 are still my favourites ;-)

Re: Over-clock your i7 920 to 4GHz or more on the GA-EX58-EXTREME motherboard
« Reply #2 on: February 10, 2009, 12:11:56 am »
Hi,

 I was hoping you could supply some settings for overclocking an i7 920 on a EX58-DS4? I have tried adapting the EX58-EXTREME instructions but to no avail.

One thing I have found is that after updating my BIOS to F4 I can no longer raise my QPI/VTT volts to over 1.495 - it seems capped at that voltage. I'm pretty sure this is the problem. ALso the voltage range for the QPI/VTT from 1.355v to 1.495v is displayed in pink on the BIOS. Do you know the significance of this?

Am I able to role back the BIOS at all?

Apologies if these sound like stupid questions - I'm new at this! :)

Badbonji

  • 356
  • 13
Re: Over-clock your i7 920 to 4GHz or more on the GA-EX58-EXTREME motherboard
« Reply #3 on: February 10, 2009, 09:50:48 am »
Whoa, that QPI is too high. Post your QPI/mem/uncore speeds, your bclk too.

My QPI for 7.8Ghz speed is set to 1.31V, 1.35 IS THE MAXIMUM you should use or the CPU will die quickly.

Try 1.4v Vcore for 4ghz, with memory 1.6-1.65V maximum.
After you manage to get it stable then lower the voltages a bit.
Keep in mind:
Max Vcore to use - 1.45V
Max QPI - 1.31V
Max memory - 1.65V

Also, you can try to raise the pll, but do not exceed 1.88V. Most chips need a notch up on this at least for 4ghz, and some need the full 1.88V. Just depends on the luck of how good a cpu/mobo you got out of the batch. Keep posting back.
for more help, try www.ocforums.com, they are friendly and have alot more expertise with overclocking than me, and that is the forums I use every day.

Hope this helps, Ben.

Core i7 965 @ 4.35Ghz 1.37Vcore
6Gb G.Skill 1600Mhz DDR3 @ 1740Mhz 8-8-8-20 1T
HIS HD5970 @ 800/1100
Gigabyte Extreme X58
X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty
256GB M4 + 150GB Raptor
EK Supreme HF/GTX480/MCP655/EK Res :D

Re: Over-clock your i7 920 to 4GHz or more on the GA-EX58-EXTREME motherboard
« Reply #4 on: February 11, 2009, 12:19:07 pm »
Hi Ben,

 Thanks for your reply.
 
 I was trying to use the settings in the PDF file above so as follows;

 BCLK - 200MHz
 Uncore - x13
 Vcore voltage - 1.4000 (or higher)
 QPI/VTT voltage to 1.515
 QPI/PLL left at auto.
 RAM down to 1200 (although I'm running 1600MHz so probably not necessary to drop so low).
 RAM voltage at 1.5

 After fiddling with the Vcore and QPI/VTT voltage I did get it to boot and it seemed stable - passed stress test for 15 mins and hours and hours of playing Crysis at full spec - but had to reset my BIOS due to an unrelated issue. Being a bit thick I didn't write down the settings and I don;t seem to be able to replicate them. I am on a different BIOS now though - F4 - which I think may have something to do with it.

 I have tried your settings too and, although it boots fine, I get blue screen after about 2 minutes of stress loading always around the 62 degree mark. It can't be the RAM as I'm well under spec and I've increased the Vcore volts a bit which has not helped. I'm flumoxed! Any ideas at all?
 I will check out the site you recommend. I may see if I can find a new BIOS. Is there anyway I can revert to the original BIOS do you know?

 Thanks again for your advice.   

Badbonji

  • 356
  • 13
Re: Over-clock your i7 920 to 4GHz or more on the GA-EX58-EXTREME motherboard
« Reply #5 on: February 13, 2009, 08:11:17 am »
I am not sure if you can downgrade a BIOS, but I am using the F5e beta as I had a bug on F4 where it wouldn't turn the pc off properly and just leave it sitting which was fixed. What is the rated ram Voltage?
You could try 1.35V for QPI, as it usually gets overclocked quite a bit or the one just before the pink, which I think is a warning of overvoltage and could damage the cpu in the longer term. Some memory needs up to 1.65V, depending on what you have. Also if temperatures are fine then you could try 1.45Vcore.
Core i7 965 @ 4.35Ghz 1.37Vcore
6Gb G.Skill 1600Mhz DDR3 @ 1740Mhz 8-8-8-20 1T
HIS HD5970 @ 800/1100
Gigabyte Extreme X58
X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty
256GB M4 + 150GB Raptor
EK Supreme HF/GTX480/MCP655/EK Res :D

runn3R

  • *
  • 1328
  • 57
  • Admin
    • GIGABYTE UK
Re: Over-clock your i7 920 to 4GHz or more on the GA-EX58-EXTREME motherboard
« Reply #6 on: February 17, 2009, 07:13:57 am »
Hi JustLeigh

yes you can downgrade your bios without any problem, the best method is to use Q-Flash utility which is built inside bios setup. to enter it just press End key during first POST screen or F8 key under bios main setup. more info how to use it you can find here:
http://www.giga-byte.co.uk/FileList/NewTech/old_motherboard_newtech/tech_qflash.htm
ZX-S & C64 are still my favourites ;-)

 ;) Could you share your bios configuration?

Badbonji

  • 356
  • 13
Who are you talking to? Might be helpful to list some specs too :P
Core i7 965 @ 4.35Ghz 1.37Vcore
6Gb G.Skill 1600Mhz DDR3 @ 1740Mhz 8-8-8-20 1T
HIS HD5970 @ 800/1100
Gigabyte Extreme X58
X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty
256GB M4 + 150GB Raptor
EK Supreme HF/GTX480/MCP655/EK Res :D

Hi all.  This is my first post and had some questions with OCing my CPU.  My current system is in my sig.

When I first got the system up and running my memory defaulted to 1066 and 7-7-7-16 timings.  I went to the OCZ forums and got help getting my memory to run at the correct speed at timings.  In order to do this I changed my BCLK to 160, the multiplier to 10, adjusted the timings manually and set the memory voltage to 1.64.

The system seems very stable after many runs with prime, vantage, games etc... I would like to shoot for something between 3.8 and 4.0 for a new OC.  I'm not sure if my V8 is sufficient to OC to 4.0

I downloaded the guide mentioned in this post but before I start making the changes I had some questions.  In the guide it says to set the QPI/VTT voltage to 1.515, but here it says not to exceed 1.4V.  Which is correct?

I am running 1600 memory vs 1333 as in the guide.  Can I leave my memory voltage and timings the way I have them and change the multiplier to 8 for the new 200 BCLK?
Core i7 920 @ 3.2GHz
Cooler Master V8 1200MM cooler
6Gb OCZ Platinum 1600Mhz DDR3 @ 7-7-7-24 2T
EVGA GTX285 @ 705/1605/1324
Gigabyte Extreme X58-UD4P
640Gb WD Caviar Black sata II 7,200rpm
Antec 900 case

Badbonji

  • 356
  • 13
Well I am using a QPI voltage of 1.35V as far as 7.4Ghz QPI (3.7x2), so I doubt you need that high. The QPI above 1.35 is in pink on the BIOS, which is like a warning that it is overvolting it. Stock QPI is around 1.15 so you shouldn't need 1.5V.

As long as the memory is running at rated speeds and timings it should not be a problem, my memory needs a small bump (stock 1.5V) to run over 1600Mhz.
Core i7 965 @ 4.35Ghz 1.37Vcore
6Gb G.Skill 1600Mhz DDR3 @ 1740Mhz 8-8-8-20 1T
HIS HD5970 @ 800/1100
Gigabyte Extreme X58
X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty
256GB M4 + 150GB Raptor
EK Supreme HF/GTX480/MCP655/EK Res :D