Nice guide.
 
The problem is that the stability testing isn't being done with the right test. Intel burn is absolute rubbish and so is OCCT. The Prime Blend test is and should be the accepted standard for stablity testing. Appox. 10 hours is the complete loop of K tests and nothing is better for stablity testing far as I'm concerend.

chevell

Nice guide.

The problem is that the stability testing isn't being done with the right test. Intel burn is absolute rubbish and so is OCCT. The Prime Blend test is and should be the accepted standard for stablity testing. Appox. 10 hours is the complete loop of K tests and nothing is better for stablity testing far as I'm concerend.

Thanks for the comment chevell, but you should read a little more closely before critizing 

Straight out of the guide:
Determining methods for finding a stable overclock are highly controversial, everyone has their own definition of a stable system, but when I refer to “stable” in this guide, I am referring to the stability of your selected “stability test.”  So for a power user or gamer who wants a reliable system that won’t ever crash due to an overclock pushed too far, you’d need to test with a program that will load all of the cores and threads applicable to your CPU, OCCT and IntelBurnTest are two popular choices.  OCCT uses the same algorithm as Prime95 but has a more friendly interface.

Fantastic guide. You should be a professor of this stuff if there were a position like that. I have experience with previous socket types but I just couldn't grasp the whole LGA1366 socket overclocking... It was just too different and obtuse.
 
But thanks to this guide, through your process of elimination and isolation, GREATLY helped in the understanding and teaching why something may not be working, and helped me understand the platform is actually quite streamlined. Many thanks and I'll report back with my results!

very nice guide...very informative indeed!

This is an amazing resource!  Thank you.
 
Much better temp results than the quick and easy attempts others often suggest!
 
I do have one question and it may relate specifically to my RAM, but you suggest pin-pointing timings more than focusing on higher CPU Host Frequency.  However, to this noob, it raises the question of which timings to shoot for?  The ones per the ration we set (2:8 in your example number one) or closer to the actual frequency we're we're trying to wring out of the chips?
 
Thanks again!

miahallen, thanks for the guide.  I feel much better going thru it than my first OC about a year ago.  
 
You mention QPI frequency in your intro, but not later during the step by step.  Does it make any difference if you set the QPI clock ratio before or after you follow the OC steps?
 
Also, any reason not to push above 200 BCLK?  I'm shooting for 220 which would alow my to OC my RAM within your 10% guidelines.

holy crap Iv read all this stuff I cant make any sense of it , go backwards to go forward ? Iv read  so many forum threads im in a state of total confusion
If any one knows a simple setup step for the 920 please let me know i guessed i should of just asked before getiing so confused by different comments and threads I can rebuild a motor and a transmission build a computer etc but you know this dosnt have to be this complicated , most of the stuff iv tried my pc reboots then goes into safe mode and restarts ? I have all x58 evga equipment . please help

vqlive: it definitely is confusing, especially if it's the first time you've ever done it.  Then again, so is rebuilding a carburetor, checking and adjusting valve timings, and my favorite simple-and-complex-all-at-the-same-time, synchronizing throttle bodies.  It helps if you've overclocked older chips, with just a front-side bus and clock multiplier to worry about.  I'd recommend you set your board to stock (select Load Defaults in the BIOS), and if you like you can, for now, select the "Dummy Overclocking" option in the BIOS which will give you a decent initial performance boost, THEN google 'overclocking' in general and read up on the terms and technology.  This guide assumes you have some familiarity with overclocking, what the terms relate to, and a basic understanding of the Gulftown/Bloomfield core i7 architecture, which is quite different from previous Intel/AMD cpu's.  If you're serious about learning this, go forth and read, there's lots of good stuff in the forums.
 
miahallen:  Thanks a TON for giving me an organized framework to think about the various settings in the BIOS and how they relate to what's actually happening in the system.  As I said, I've been overclocking for a loooooong time and have watched the game get more and more complex; once the manufacturers started embracing overclockers and not fighting us, they've opened up a veritable Pandora's box of controllable settings, and it's never been quite clear to me what exactly is doing what.  I have a much better understanding now, and I really appreciate your fantastic effort.  I'm now very curious about all the other BIOS settings I can change, and would like to know where to look to eek out that extra 5% of performance.  Any suggestions where I should start reading?
 
Thanks again, and well done, Sir.
 
EDIT:  As I'm now going through and systematically adjusting settings in my system, I realized there's an area that isn't really addressed in your guide but that seems to be causing me some stability issues, and I'm wondering if you could comment.  I know you talk about adjusting the CPU VCore voltage in relation to the temps seen in the testing, but I had something weird happen.  My VCore on Auto was initally ~1.15, and I just left it alone and started adjusting the QPI/VTT voltage.  I had passed a round of tests and rebooted to go back into the BIOS, and the machine wouldn't even post.  I shut it down completely, rebooted, and nothing.  I also had noticed during that test that while CPU-Z saw I have 6GB of ram, task manager and IBT were only reporting 4GB.  So I reset the CMOS and while the computer booted back up I googled reasons for the memory discrepancy, and quickly found people suggesting the VCore setting might be too low.  On getting into the BIOS, low and behold the 'Auto' setting was now providing 1.05V to the CPU, a drop of 100 mV!  I quickly manually reset VCore to 1.15V and all was well, until I tried pushing bclk to 200--the computer would post, but refused to boot into windows.  Initially it would reboot as soon as the windows logo appeared, so I upped QPI/VTT, then it would go through the glowing logo but crash before actually loading into the desktop, so I'd up it some more.  I finally had to increase the QPI by 150mV to get the system to boot into windows, when I remembered that the VCore might need some extra juice, as my temps during all testing were topping out around 52deg C.  But in your guide you don't really discuss when it's appropriate to increase VCore, and when you should rely just on increasing the QPI/VTT.  So I rebooted and increased VCore to 1.25, backed down the QPI/VTT a bit, and am currently resuming incremental testing.  Do you have any thoughts on that?

I wish this guide focused on the 965ee :D