What is OC best value and efficiency in Intel i7 980X?

[Hugene 89]

First, I would like to appreciate the review Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition 980X. Since, I was having some queries about an overclocking which was not explained in that review, I thought to post over here. I hope that I have posted in right section and requesting you members to reply me in details. Despite the impressive performance of the Core i7 980X and the surprisingly high efficiency (Efficiency Analysis: Core i7-980 Vs Core i7 X-975), Intel has disappointed the moderate settings, Turbo Boost, a feature that increases the frequency and increases processor performance. I just want to know what is the maximum speed at which the Core i7-980X can be set without losing efficiency? I am hoping that someone will help me soon.

[Aienstaien]

You should know that the Intel Core i7-980X is an Extreme Edition version, so can easily be overclocked by increasing the multiplier. Given the circumstances, however, we wonder whether it is better to force to achieve these greater benefits under the efficiency of the processor. There is a frequency, within or beyond the limits of the Turbo Boost, which the Core i7 980X reaches maximum efficiency?! Sure, the Extreme Edition chip has 12 MB of L3 cache that can be allocated to a single operation. The Core i5 has 4MB, then there is a difference. Regardless, in many single-threaded applications, is the frequency that determines the performance.

[Rixwel]

The easiest approach to overclocking is to boost the ratio of the clock is multiplying the overclock with Turbo Boost. The system uses this parameter to produce the CPU frequency as a multiple of the base clock frequency (set at 133 MHz on all platforms Nehalem). For example, 133 MHz for a 22x multiplier permits us to have 2,933 MHz or 2.93 GHz Modern systems have different settings of the multiplier to reduce both the frequency and utilization (or technologies such as AMD Cool'n'Quiet Enhanced SpeedStep), while technologies such as AMD or Intel Turbo Boost Turbo Core multipliers apply higher to accomplish greater performance. Unluckily there is a disadvantage of increasing the multiplier. CPU producers commonly limit the maximum ratio for secure settings for the CPU is not working more rapidly than fixed. The outstanding option, typically, is to increase the base clock, which also leads to a higher frequency of the CPU. This, however, may create instability in the system with the risk that components such as chipsets and system memory are overclocked too. The overclock based on the multiplier is obviously preferable, and both Intel and AMD are well aware. The two companies use multipliers unlocked on their deals as an added edge to convince fans to pay additional to get more flexibility. AMD label solutions under the brand name unlocked Black Edition, Extreme Edition and Intel calls them.

[Quattro]

The overclock based on the multiplier is clearly preferable, and both Intel and AMD are well aware. The two companies use multipliers unlocked on their deals as an added edge to convince fans to pay extra to get more flexibility.

The AMD remains very competitive, while the 980X Core i7 Extreme Edition (unlocked multiplier and high overclocking potential) is also extreme in price, about € 1000. Features such as Turbo Boost weigh the potential of overclocking and require a closer look. Turbo Boost makes overclocking a bit more complex, because it can increase the frequency of a processor or a different ratio settings when under load (each "bin" is an increase of 133 MHz). To make things even more interesting and complex is the fact that Turbo Boost has different effects, depending on the number of threads involved. Some Core i7 LGA 1156 can interface to a core speed of 5 speed increases, two cores to four, and three or four cores of one or two increments. All these, however, depend on the model of processor. In the case of Core i7 980X, Turbo Boost was limited to two increments with a core speed under load, or two increments for two or more cores busy. Given the higher frequencies of Turbo Boost we find in mid-range models, however, the operation of this technology on the CPU peak seems content. Fortunately, you can change the settings of Turbo Boost from the BIOS if you have a motherboard equipped with the necessary settings.

[Solaris]

You can set the multiplier or separately from a six-core, but I recommend to use standard settings for Intel, and simply to increase all of a multiplier for each step of overclocking runs. There are several things to consider when overclocking. Depending on the model of motherboard and BIOS, different parameters may have different names and locations. The following are some parameters that I am aware about :

• Ensure that the processor works with the current higher when overclocked.
• The Core i7 980X has a TDP of 130 watts. This may not be sufficient to overclocking, especially if you're also increasing the tension. This item, similar to the former, allows to go beyond the factory settings.
• You can apply a fixed voltage to your CPU. This is often the best choice to reach the maximum frequency as to reduce or increase the tension (caused by SpeeStep) does not help, generally, to have a stable system.
• In Dynamic CPU Voltage Offset, you can define the voltage increase to be added to standard voltages. This is what we used to increase the CPU voltage for two of our highest overclock.

[Shutdown]

We have not applied overclock settings that would have required significant increases in voltage. There's already a lot of computing power available at levels almost standard, and we have seen that the increase in voltage has a very high impact on consumption than the increase of frequencies. Here's a simple example: we have seen that the Core i7 980X is stable at 4.13 GHz (Turbo Boost 4.26/4.4 GHz) processor with voltage +0075 V. In this setting, we measured a peak power of 322 watts. The same frequency setting to +0.25 V took more than 400W. This difference is quite significant, considering that the system is almost always idle consumes about 85 watts.

[Pollock]

All frequency settings up to a 28x multiplier, which reached a frequency of 3.73 GHz, will work seamlessly with standard voltage. You can even reduce a little the vCore, if you are planning to reduce consumption. There is no need to change the voltage to 3.73 GHz, so this setting is almost efficient. You can also try 29x multiplier, 3.86 GHz (Turbo Boost 30x, 31x at 4.00, 4.13 GHz). This approach worked steadily without any voltage increase. In any case, 3.84 GHz is the limit beyond which you need to increase the voltage to reach higher frequencies. To 4.00 GHz and beyond we increased the voltage of the processor to keep the system stable. In the case of 4.13 GHz (4.26 GHz with Turbo Boost), an offset of 30mV is sufficient. Consumption, however, grow much more than performance, with the downside of a loss in efficiency.The same goes for the fastest setting that we have achieved stable with a moderate voltage increase. We started with an offset of 250 mV, but we were able to reduce it to 73 mV. Even so efficiency is reduced significantly because consumption grows much more performance. Hope that you too will succeed.