miahallen
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Hello eVGA community 
I've looked around the web, and all of the mainstream sites have overclocking guides of some sort, but they're a bit too tame for an user who REALLY wants to learn how to push their system to the limit
I've spent a lot of time over the last few months writing, revising, and attempting to perfect overclocking guides for the latest generations of Intel CPUs. Many of you may have seen the previous revision posted at overclockers.com. But I really wanted to take that guide to the next level. These guides are not OCing templates....those are already plentiful, but have very limited effectiveness.
I've seen way too much "give me the settings" type of trial-and-error overclocking going on. If you are serious about pushing your system, a methodical approach is the fastest, and most effective way to do so.
I felt the best way to start was with an introduction comparing the different choices for LGA1156 and LGA1366 platofrms, and it turned into a buyers guide. It should be a good reasource for power users looking for a recommendation on which series to purchase.
Intel Core i3 i5 and i7 Buyers Guide
I broke the overclocking portion of the guide down into three parts, so that I could tailor each section to the specific audiences's needs. I ended up with three very thorough overclocking guides that avoid the fluff, and focus on the good stuff.
3 Step Overclocking Guide - Gulftown and Bloomfield
3 Step Overclocking Guide - Lynnfield
3 Step Overclocking Guide - Clarkdale
As you work through the guides, take your time and do it right. If you run into problems, take note of where you are at in the process. Take a screenshot of the problem if possible. Start a new thread and attach pertinent screenshots and all of the relevent system information. Then we will do our best to help you achieve a good solid, hardcore overclock 
Any comments and criticizms are very welcome. Although I have striven for perfection, I know these guides are still far from it. 
If anyone is interested in following my work, please do so here, thanks 
post edited by miahallen - 2010/12/27 16:51:02
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Bluebrains
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Re:3 Step Overclocking Guide - Bloomfield and Gulftown
2010/09/20 15:02:07
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Congratulations on a very well written and informative introduction to overclocking of the Bloomfield and Gulftown processors. I printed it out(12 pages)and read the first half of it this morning at a local bookstore. I think many readers will benefit from the the "table comparing the terminology used by the four major enthusiast motherboard manufacturers. " I think you put in a lot of thought into the organization of this article and it shows. I will continue with "Sample overclocking goals..." tomorrow.
post edited by Bluebrains - 2010/09/20 15:23:21
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Trilogy3337
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Re:3 Step Overclocking Guide - Bloomfield and Gulftown
2010/09/20 18:26:01
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I just finished reading your guide, very nice and an extreme amount of effort put in to it. Should help alot of people get to nice stable OC's.
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Lvcoyote
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Re:3 Step Overclocking Guide - Bloomfield and Gulftown
2010/09/20 22:23:45
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In regards to IOH voltage,
"If you are running a single PCIe card (graphics card), give the IOH Core 1.1V, if you are running more than two PCIe graphics cards, increase it up to 1.15V, three graphics cards 1.2V, or four graphics cards 1.25V."
Whats the recommendation for two cards in SLI??
Also a downloadable .pdf file would be awesome!
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miahallen
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Re:3 Step Overclocking Guide - Bloomfield and Gulftown
2010/09/20 22:34:15
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Thanks Lvcoyote....fixed :)
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Corsair_Mike
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Re:3 Step Overclocking Guide - Bloomfield and Gulftown
2010/09/21 12:26:13
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Great job Miah, VERY thorough.
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miahallen
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Re:3 Step Overclocking Guide - Bloomfield and Gulftown
2010/09/21 15:42:55
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Thanks Mike 
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upstartxt
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Re:3 Step Overclocking Guide - Bloomfield and Gulftown
2010/09/21 17:05:19
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Sorry if this is a stupid question, but if we follow the guide using Sample #1 due to our system being very similar, we can still (given that we get lucky with CPU batch and cooling, etc.) exceed the goal of a 3.6ghz overclock with a 920, right? Y
You just keep going in Step #3 until you can't go any farther, which may or may not be faster than 3.6ghz?
Or do I have this wrong?
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miahallen
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Re:3 Step Overclocking Guide - Bloomfield and Gulftown
2010/09/21 17:22:47
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Great question :)
Yes! Absolutely!.....those samples are only examples of what you could do.....feel free to set your own goals and try to reach whatever you want.....I only created the sample systems to give a frame of reference for my explainations :)
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upstartxt
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Re:3 Step Overclocking Guide - Bloomfield and Gulftown
2010/09/21 18:50:56
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Okay awesome!
I would call myself a beginner overclocker, although I have had some limited prior experience. This guide makes everything very clear to me, especially how you explain how you have to isolate each thing, and then hit the CPU Host Frequency last, which I used to do first and then try to adjust everything at once, then move up again.
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miahallen
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Re:3 Step Overclocking Guide - Bloomfield and Gulftown
2010/09/22 05:32:51
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OK....I updated the OP "sticky style"  If you guys want to see this stuck...please make it known ;)
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upstartxt
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Re:3 Step Overclocking Guide - Bloomfield and Gulftown
2010/09/22 11:32:18
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Question since this is an EVGA forum, in your guide you say to start out by setting the QPI/VTT voltage to 1.2V
Looking at your terminology guide, this means on EVGA boards that you are talking about the CPU VTT Voltage. However, on EVGA boards, the options are given in mV intervals above some unknown default value (Ex: +0mV +25mV, +50mV, ....). You say that 1.15V is the default, so does that mean I should set to +50mV to get to 1.20V?
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upstartxt
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Re:3 Step Overclocking Guide - Bloomfield and Gulftown
2010/09/22 15:07:17
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I also have been getting some really weird results for step 1.
I started out at 1.2 CPU VTT Voltage, and was able to get up to 190 bclock and do 3 passes of IntelBurnTest no problem.
Upon restarting to continue, the machine wouldn't post. I reset CMOS, and tried raising my CPU VTT Voltage by the smallest increment possible. Still wouldn't post. I did this all the way up to 1.275V and still no change.
I then went back down to 180, still no post.
I then went all the way back to 150 bclock. Finally I am able to post. I then start increasing bclock again, and at 180 I needed to increase to 1.325 in order to post. Passed IntelBurnTest at this setting. Then I continue on, and again no post. No matter what CPU VTT.
So I figure 180 is my limit, so I come back down to last good settings (180 bclock and 1.325V CPU VTT), and no post again.
How come settings are able to pass IntelBurnTest one time, then when I try them again I can't even post? I seem to be getting this over and over, where I can pass a burntest at one moment, then I try again with same exact settings and I can't post.
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upstartxt
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Re:3 Step Overclocking Guide - Bloomfield and Gulftown
2010/09/22 18:11:22
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Yep. I have done some more testing and it is now clear that if I hit a point where I go too high on the bclock, I must go all the way back down to 150 and work back up in 10 mhz increments or no setting above 150 will work if I go directly to it.
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Lvcoyote
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Re:3 Step Overclocking Guide - Bloomfield and Gulftown
2010/09/22 18:24:32
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Are you changing the memory divider to keep the memory speed low as you raise the BCLK?
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forrestang
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Re:3 Step Overclocking Guide - Bloomfield and Gulftown
2010/09/22 18:27:12
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upstartxt
I also have been getting some really weird results for step 1.
I started out at 1.2 CPU VTT Voltage, and was able to get up to 190 bclock and do 3 passes of IntelBurnTest no problem.
Upon restarting to continue, the machine wouldn't post. I reset CMOS, and tried raising my CPU VTT Voltage by the smallest increment possible. Still wouldn't post. I did this all the way up to 1.275V and still no change.
I then went back down to 180, still no post.
I then went all the way back to 150 bclock. Finally I am able to post. I then start increasing bclock again, and at 180 I needed to increase to 1.325 in order to post. Passed IntelBurnTest at this setting. Then I continue on, and again no post. No matter what CPU VTT.
So I figure 180 is my limit, so I come back down to last good settings (180 bclock and 1.325V CPU VTT), and no post again.
How come settings are able to pass IntelBurnTest one time, then when I try them again I can't even post? I seem to be getting this over and over, where I can pass a burntest at one moment, then I try again with same exact settings and I can't post.
I ran into a similiar problem. I was OC'ng with that 1333Mhz memory, and was attempting use a 2:6 mem divider, with a much lower multiplier, and higher FSB. I did this because to raise the QPI higher on that memory, I would have to change them mem divider to keep from overclocking my RAM. And it did something just like yours. It was rather annoying, no post, so I would have to reset the mobo as the only way I could get it to post. I figured maybe just some settups do not like having that high a high FSB? For reference around 170 QPI was no problem, but around 180-190 was around the point where my pc said, "go to hell for raising my QPI this high." Maybe I just didn't find the right change to get the QPI that high? Another thought, are you making sure you're not OC'ng your memory too?
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upstartxt
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Re:3 Step Overclocking Guide - Bloomfield and Gulftown
2010/09/22 19:38:08
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@LVcoyote: I was trying to isolate the bclock and uncore as the guide tells me to do, so I turned down my CPU multiplier to x15, and my Ram divider to 2:6. My RAM is rated at 1600mhz, so at 180 it's only running at 1082 mhz, which shouldn't be a problem right?
@forrestang: See above for Lvcoyote, I don't think I am oc'ing my RAM? I ran into problems at 180-190 QPI as well. It's just so weird how building up to 180 works (150, restart, 160, restart, 170, restart, 180, restart), but going straight from 150 to 180 causes no post.
Also, I am using Intel Burn Test and it only loads my CPU to 50%, despite selecting 8 threads (I have a 920 with HT on).
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upstartxt
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Re:3 Step Overclocking Guide - Bloomfield and Gulftown
2010/09/22 20:16:56
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BTW what kind of frames in BC2 are you getting with that setup forrestang? I play also, trying to get better fps is the reason I am doing this 
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futuremark2
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Re:3 Step Overclocking Guide - Bloomfield and Gulftown
2010/09/22 20:20:16
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it's just leaving uncore frequency to 16x, setting Vcore to desired voltage, changing one setting to 4.8GT from auto, setting memory frequency to the nearest memory mhz, changing bus speed from 133, all the other voltages need not to be messed with, im at 4.4ghz on an i7 with just an increased Vcore, everything else stock volts
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forrestang
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Re:3 Step Overclocking Guide - Bloomfield and Gulftown
2010/09/23 07:22:33
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upstartxt
BTW what kind of frames in BC2 are you getting with that setup forrestang?
I play also, trying to get better fps is the reason I am doing this
I know what you mean about the incremental changes vs. all at once, even when you know what changes will work. Its funny how that works hunh? As for fps, I will try to remember to look, I never have. W/everything maxed though, it appears to run smoother than my last setup on low settings. So it seems to be really smooth.
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smoothie
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Re:3 Step Overclocking Guide - Bloomfield and Gulftown
2010/09/23 08:48:00
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Awesome guide!
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miahallen
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Re:3 Step Overclocking Guide - Bloomfield and Gulftown
2010/09/23 21:01:03
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upstartxt
Question since this is an EVGA forum, in your guide you say to start out by setting the QPI/VTT voltage to 1.2V
Looking at your terminology guide, this means on EVGA boards that you are talking about the CPU VTT Voltage. However, on EVGA boards, the options are given in mV intervals above some unknown default value (Ex: +0mV +25mV, +50mV, ....). You say that 1.15V is the default, so does that mean I should set to +50mV to get to 1.20V?
Correct upstartxt
Yep. I have done some more testing and it is now clear that if I hit a point where I go too high on the bclock, I must go all the way back down to 150 and work back up in 10 mhz increments or no setting above 150 will work if I go directly to it.
This may seem pretty strange...but your rig is "stable" at 180MHz bclock....what's going on here is difficult to pinpoint....but something is triggering the BIOS to recover from a bad OC unecessarily. Change you memory multiplier up to the next level, and the CPU multi up to x16, and see if you can proceed through step 2 without any more weird symptoms
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HalloweenWeed
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Re:3 Step Overclocking Guide - Bloomfield and Gulftown
2010/09/24 15:14:34
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When I was OCing I seen a weird thing happen similar to what some of you described, but a bit reversed. I OCd to 181 OK, but then hit a brick wall. Was able to push it to 182, that's it; and even then that one extra clock was a bit shaky, took exact other settings to stabilize it. I was fiddling around with all the settings, and asking help (ppls told me I couldn't do more than that with my cooler), I ran LinX (and P95) alot. Then, suddenly, I was able to OC faster, up to 191 with no explanation. It was like something broke-in and started running right. The same settings that wouldn't work above 182 now went to 190 without a prob! (x20, Turbo on, HT on.) I have no logical explanation for it. I was then limited only by temps (max Vcore).
I guess my point here is just don't give up, keep trying if you are having trouble reaching your goal.
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dyno0919
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Re:3 Step Overclocking Guide - Bloomfield and Gulftown
2010/09/25 22:42:05
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This is an awesome guide man! I will definitely use it for sure!
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OV3RCLK4
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Re:3 Step Overclocking Guide - Bloomfield and Gulftown
2010/09/26 19:54:39
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You should mention the difference in GPU Bottlenecking with the new i7 980x compared to a i7 920 in your buyers guide. Even though 6 cores are far away from being used in games, the bottlenecking aspect should still be there. So with 4 GTX 480's in quad SLI, an i7 920 should need a higher overclock than a 980x to get the full potential of the GPU's. Correct me if I'm wrong.
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miahallen
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Re:3 Step Overclocking Guide - Bloomfield and Gulftown
2010/09/26 22:01:42
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Clock for clock, there is virtually zero difference between Bloomfield and Gulftown. So IMO the only tangible difference is in the actual OC achieved...Bloomfield will almost always OC to 4GHz and Gulftown will almost always OC to 4.2GHz.....in some cases, I've seen Bloomfield up to 4.5GHz and Gulftown up to 4.7GHz stable.....but in both examples, the 5% increase in clockspeed is not worth the 300%+ difference in price IMO.
Bottlenecking is a complex subject with way too many variables to isolate down to just CPU VS GPU.
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hashiee
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Re:3 Step Overclocking Guide - Bloomfield and Gulftown
2010/09/28 22:45:59
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Nice, great move to make this a sticky !!!!!!
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skimtneer
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Re:3 Step Overclocking Guide - Bloomfield and Gulftown
2010/09/29 21:09:50
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rjbarker
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Re:3 Step Overclocking Guide - Bloomfield and Gulftown
2010/09/30 11:35:43
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A quick question re: step 1.......I can understand wanting to know the highest possible QPI that your 920 / 930 chip can reach......sort of....as in my limited experience with Bloomfield OC'ing they're pretty much guarenteed 180 - 200 Mhz...
In the case of my 980X, I have no desire to get my QPI anywhere near the highest possible as I obviously have unlimited Mlt to work with.
Actually, I have been in the process of trying to get my 980X 100% solid stable at 4.1 Ghz (simply using a x31 Mult), but have found that I'm having some "issues" getting P95 Blend test stable beyond 5-6 hrs.....LinX Max Memory x 25 passes and P95 Small FFT no problemo.....huh!
Presently I'm testing (Vdroop Disabled)
vCore 1.38v - Load 1.4v
vTT + 125mv - Load 1.4v
Managed t get all 3 stability tests to run flawlessly at:
133 x 30 4 Ghz
vCore 1.33v - load 1.34v
vTT +125 mv - load 1.39v
RAM 2:12 8-8-8-24-1T @ 1.65v
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mikegk
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Re:3 Step Overclocking Guide - Bloomfield and Gulftown
2010/10/08 07:49:19
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I really appreciate all the work that went into this! As a newbie to overclocking, I have a question. Step 1 sets the CPU clock ratio to x15. Then later, bclock is adjusted from 133 to 150. The CPU frequencies expected in CPU-Z are listed, but I must be missing something in my calculations. Should not all frequencies be 2250 (CPU clock ratio 15 x bclock 150MHz)? Sorry if this question is really elementary, and I’m missing something simple.
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