Love your i7 920 ?

K

Kangg

Ad Blocker - Banned
Joined
Jun 8, 2004
Messages
1,994
:)

I just have to say I was hesitant about jumping on the Bloomfield aka i7 bandwagon .....

It's been about 1 week now. Love this combo I got !
Retail i7 920 SLBCH, batch 3841A437, Pack date 11-25-08.
Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R F3 bios
6 GB kit of Corsair XMS3 TR3X6G1600C9.

Have had her at 4.0 GHZ, 3.9 and 3.8 GHZ. could not get her stable past 3.8. She would run windows ok at 4 and 3.9 but as soon as I stressed her with Prime 95..... Blue Screen.:mad:

So after tweaking, testing, more tweaking I have finally settled on 3.8 GHZ for everyday use.
Thats 200 bclock, dropped multi to 19 so I could run my ram at rated speed.
Memory is at 1600 MHZ, 9-9-9-24 Timing @ 1.64 volts. But the amazing to me thing is I was able to drop my CPU voltage down to 1.325 in bios from 1.350 (where I started at). Under a full load she now only gets up to 68 on the hottest core vs 71 at 1.35v.
CPU-Z voltage in Windows reads 1.296 and does not budge at all ! This is on Air with my ol trusty Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme with a 1366 bolt thru kit with Arctic Cooling MX2.

I gotta say I'm loving this setup :D

In gaming she just feels overall "smoother" than my Q6600 @ 3.6 did. Some games it's noticable and some it's about the same. Where she shines is in Photoshop, DVD Fab 5 and just Windows apps in general. Damn this rig is fast fast fast. :eek:

I had a little buyers remorse last weekend after leaving Microcenter and dropping 629 bucks including tax for just a CPU, Motherboard and Memory. But now ????????


Worth every damn penny, at least in my book. Good stuff Intel, Gigabyte and Corsair, good stuff !!!!!!!!! :p
 
Same speeds I am running :) Except I have faster memory but that makes pretty much zero difference. I couldn't get 200bclk on the RAM you are using though, so congrats.

The system screams. I am very happy with my purchase. We have a very similar CPU batch (I have a 3841A and it was packed on the same day as yours) and I have about the same OC ceiling. I can boot at 4.2GHz but anything beyond 3.8 requires too much voltage to aircool 24/7 imo.
 
I just upgraded to the system in my sig...from an AMD 4400 (Toledo core, 939 socket)/DFI Lanparty mobo/2gig DDR 400/win xp system. I bought that in early '06 and it was a great system, but damn the i7 is smoking.

Looking back at my old newegg orders, this was '06:
OCZ Titanium 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit Desktop
$229.99

and '09:
G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit
$209.99

What a difference a few years makes.
 
I'm a bit older than I once was, so my overclocking tends to be a little... off the peak shall we say. I've started to value things like headroom (margin), low Vcore, low temps, etc. Boring, yes, but even with that conservative attitude I'm running my '920 at 3.5GHz, below stock Vcore! Congrats on 3.8+ but I'll leave that to you younger folks. :) Makes me feel good that there's 300MHz+ left in my CPU that I'm not tapping.

I've gone through an E6400 65nm dual core, Q9450 45nm quad core, then this i7 920. I must say that the upgrade to the i7 from the Q9450 feels so much more effective than the E6400->Q9450 upgrade did. I don't know how but I guess it was the memory controller. My only regret now is that my video card can't keep up anymore. (/me patiently waits for Larrabee...)
 
spock said:
I'm a bit older than I once was, so my overclocking tends to be a little... off the peak shall we say. I've started to value things like headroom (margin), low Vcore, low temps, etc. Boring, yes, but even with that conservative attitude I'm running my '920 at 3.5GHz, below stock Vcore! Congrats on 3.8+ but I'll leave that to you younger folks. :) Makes me feel good that there's 300MHz+ left in my CPU that I'm not tapping.

I've gone through an E6400 65nm dual core, Q9450 45nm quad core, then this i7 920. I must say that the upgrade to the i7 from the Q9450 feels so much more effective than the E6400->Q9450 upgrade did. I don't know how but I guess it was the memory controller. My only regret now is that my video card can't keep up anymore. (/me patiently waits for Larrabee...)
Click to expand...

Can't wait for my (stock clocked)E6400 -> (To be OC'd)i7 920

Shipping as we speak :D

I can't wait !
 
spock said:
I'm a bit older than I once was, so my overclocking tends to be a little... off the peak shall we say. I've started to value things like headroom (margin), low Vcore, low temps, etc. Boring, yes, but even with that conservative attitude I'm running my '920 at 3.5GHz, below stock Vcore! Congrats on 3.8+ but I'll leave that to you younger folks. :) Makes me feel good that there's 300MHz+ left in my CPU that I'm not tapping.

I've gone through an E6400 65nm dual core, Q9450 45nm quad core, then this i7 920. I must say that the upgrade to the i7 from the Q9450 feels so much more effective than the E6400->Q9450 upgrade did. I don't know how but I guess it was the memory controller. My only regret now is that my video card can't keep up anymore. (/me patiently waits for Larrabee...)
Click to expand...


Younger? lol I just turned 48 last month. :p
 
Suprfire said:
Can't wait for my (stock clocked)E6400 -> (To be OC'd)i7 920

Shipping as we speak :D

I can't wait !
Click to expand...


I am upgrading from the same chip. :D Mine is out for delivery as we speak. I can't wait to get off work and hook it all up. How big of a difference should I expect? I mainly use my rig for gaming. I don't want to think it will be too huge and be let down. My e6400 is OC'd though.
 
I am in the middle right now. I have everything but CPU and Motherboard. Just dont know if I fully want to make the change to i7 from my E8400. I dont overclock, but I am a Gamer and Movie Decoding fool!
 
I've got a P6T Deluxe\OC Palm but no chip or memory. Just having difficulty in pumping out the cash for this right now after I just stepped up to a 295.
 
Yeah, I think I'm enjoying it :) I'm still in the transition phase, sitting on two computers with entrails hanging out lol (watercooling) :) 920 @ 4ghz is no joke, I hope I still have some headroom to grow, too ;) I've got biostar mobo, can't really complain although it does have its own quirks, it allows 21x multiplier unlike Asus p6t I tried earlier :)
 
spock said:
I'm a bit older than I once was, so my overclocking tends to be a little... off the peak shall we say. I've started to value things like headroom (margin), low Vcore, low temps, etc. Boring, yes, but even with that conservative attitude I'm running my '920 at 3.5GHz, below stock Vcore! Congrats on 3.8+ but I'll leave that to you younger folks. :) Makes me feel good that there's 300MHz+ left in my CPU that I'm not tapping.

I've gone through an E6400 65nm dual core, Q9450 45nm quad core, then this i7 920. I must say that the upgrade to the i7 from the Q9450 feels so much more effective than the E6400->Q9450 upgrade did. I don't know how but I guess it was the memory controller. My only regret now is that my video card can't keep up anymore. (/me patiently waits for Larrabee...)
Click to expand...

I too must be getting old :p

I have the same exact config as the OP and love it every bit as much. I've gone easy on the OC, only went up to 3.6Ghz with VID level vcore. I know it's stable up to 3.8Ghz with a tiny vcore bump, but haven't really explored it since 3.6Ghz on i7 kills my Q6600 at same speed. I play tons of RTS gaming, where the i7 really shines for gaming and is under appreciated in mainstream reviews. Only Sharkyextreme and Firingsquad actually thought that somebody might play something other then FPS games :eek:
 
yes, I love my i7 920... 3.8 here 200x19 with mem @ 1600... it's damn fast...
 
i'm in the same boat as you are, i bought one from Microcenter last weekend, i'm picking up the rest of the parts tonight and starting the build, hopefully my chip will have the same good results as yours
 
spock said:
I'm a bit older than I once was, so my overclocking tends to be a little... off the peak shall we say. I've started to value things like headroom (margin), low Vcore, low temps, etc. Boring, yes, but even with that conservative attitude I'm running my '920 at 3.5GHz, below stock Vcore! Congrats on 3.8+ but I'll leave that to you younger folks. :) Makes me feel good that there's 300MHz+ left in my CPU that I'm not tapping.

I've gone through an E6400 65nm dual core, Q9450 45nm quad core, then this i7 920. I must say that the upgrade to the i7 from the Q9450 feels so much more effective than the E6400->Q9450 upgrade did. I don't know how but I guess it was the memory controller. My only regret now is that my video card can't keep up anymore. (/me patiently waits for Larrabee...)
Click to expand...
I've been overclocking since I was 12 or so (look at my registration here, I was born in '85, and I read HardOCP for a while before registering). I still push them hard :) Never broken a CPU from overclocking, though.
 
I'm building my i7 920 as I type. Hopefully I'll have the system built and running at the end of this weekend. I can't wait. :D

Edit: One question. What's it like to upgrade from a AMD 64 X2 4200 Manchester to a Core i7?
 
GushpinBob said:
I'm building my i7 920 as I type. Hopefully I'll have the system built and running at the end of this weekend. I can't wait. :D

Edit: One question. What's it like to upgrade from a AMD 64 X2 4200 Manchester to a Core i7?
Click to expand...

If your starting the build now, barring major distractions, you should have it up and fully running before the end of tonight, it won't take all weekend. The all weekend part should be the tweaking, overclocking part :D

And for the record, you are amazingly multitalented. I doubt I could type much of anything while I was in the middle of a new system build ;)
 
GushpinBob said:
I'm building my i7 920 as I type. Hopefully I'll have the system built and running at the end of this weekend. I can't wait. :D

Edit: One question. What's it like to upgrade from a AMD 64 X2 4200 Manchester to a Core i7?
Click to expand...

I went from a x2 3800 to i7.

I can't explain the difference between the two.
 
arkk said:
I went from a x2 3800 to i7.

I can't explain the difference between the two.
Click to expand...

i'm upgrading from an x2 3800 as well, i was planning on holding off till summer for the RAM prices, but the damn thing finally died, fortunately Microcenter had a great deal on the CPU, and RAM is starting to fall

i can't wait till i'm finish building
 
tritonj said:
i'm upgrading from an x2 3800 as well, i was planning on holding off till summer for the RAM prices, but the damn thing finally died, fortunately Microcenter had a great deal on the CPU, and RAM is starting to fall

i can't wait till i'm finish building
Click to expand...

I have similar reasons as well to why I'm starting this build early. Originally this build was going to be watercooled as my current system was at the time and I wouldn't start building until the end of February or the beginning of March. Well, shit happened just the other day when I found out that my Koolance Exos 2 (an external unit containing pump/rad/fans/reservoir) peed all over itself and back in the desk :eek:. Everything else was okay but I deemed the Exos unrepairable.

Now that I don't have to wait for my funds to replenish for waterblocks compatible with the i7, I've decided to start building pronto. I'm a little disappointed to go back to air for the time being but I bet going from my OCed 4200 X2 (2.4GHz) to an i7 920 is going to be more than mindblowing.
 
tritonj said:
i'm in the same boat as you are, i bought one from Microcenter last weekend, i'm picking up the rest of the parts tonight and starting the build, hopefully my chip will have the same good results as yours
Click to expand...

I got mine from Fry's when it was on sale on x-mas day, first time when 920 went for $230, MC followed the suit a couple of weeks later. It was a spur of the moment thing, that cpu was lying around for a couple of weeks until I've decided that I'm gonna do i7 build, after all :D Finally, I did it and have no regrets... except now I'm thinking I need a second gtx280 to do SLI :D
 
Went from a q6600 that ran 3.6ghz daily to now running my i7 at 4.2ghz daily. I love my new build. evga x58. Stuffing 3 285s in there tonight when i get home from work :) So far the highest ive booted was 4.5ghz but it crashed on me trying to boot up any games. Needs more voltage ;)
 
veedubfreak said:
Went from a q6600 that ran 3.6ghz daily to now running my i7 at 4.2ghz daily. I love my new build. evga x58. Stuffing 3 285s in there tonight when i get home from work :) So far the highest ive booted was 4.5ghz but it crashed on me trying to boot up any games. Needs more voltage ;)
Click to expand...

WOW, Nice!
 
I was reading the first post thinking yea yea yea, you probably just upgraded from an x2 3800+ or something and think that your rig is amazingly fast. At the same time I'm thinking my Q6600 @ 3.6 would probably put up a good fight. Then I read this and I just stopped thiking...:p
"In gaming she just feels overall "smoother" than my Q6600 @ 3.6 did."
 
alik4041 said:
I was reading the first post thinking yea yea yea, you probably just upgraded from an x2 3800+ or something and think that your rig is amazingly fast. At the same time I'm thinking my Q6600 @ 3.6 would probably put up a good fight. Then I read this and I just stopped thiking...:p
"In gaming she just feels overall "smoother" than my Q6600 @ 3.6 did."
Click to expand...

Then my step up from a E8400 should be quite noticeable?
 
Summit71 said:
Then my step up from a E8400 should be quite noticeable?
Click to expand...

Yes, in non-GPU limited situations, you'll definately notice a difference. FPS games won't seem very different at all (not counting UE3 based games), but RTS and flight sim games will get anything from a small noticeable boost to a very large boost. And anything non-gaming related will be a fairly hefty boost as well.
 
moshpit said:
Yes, in non-GPU limited situations, you'll definately notice a difference. FPS games won't seem very different at all (not counting UE3 based games), but RTS and flight sim games will get anything from a small noticeable boost to a very large boost. And anything non-gaming related will be a fairly hefty boost as well.
Click to expand...

SWEET! I do alot of Video Editing and Decoding, so this will be VERY helpful. Thanks!
 
Summit71 said:
SWEET! I do alot of Video Editing and Decoding, so this will be VERY helpful. Thanks!
Click to expand...

In that area, the i7 will take the E8x00 and throw it on the floor, stomp on it, kick it across the room, and then proceed to take a long and satisfying pee on it. In other words, the i7 will be faster :p
 
moshpit said:
In that area, the i7 will take the E8x00 and throw it on the floor, stomp on it, kick it across the room, and then proceed to take a long and satisfying pee on it. In other words, the i7 will be faster :p
Click to expand...

LMAO!!! Thats all I needed to know! :D
 
moshpit said:
In that area, the i7 will take the E8x00 and throw it on the floor, stomp on it, kick it across the room, and then proceed to take a long and satisfying pee on it. In other words, the i7 will be faster :p
Click to expand...
And that's what it will do to it's brother coming from intel. Imagine what it will do to a rival like AMD :D
 
Mine is blazing. The ceiling on my chip is a bit lower than I'd like but that's ok. I got one out of the 3841A batch and I've settled on 3.93ghz at 1.31 vcore. To go up to 4.05ghz needs about 1.39vcore...just not worth it to run the chip that hot for no real world benefit.
 
You all have me talked into it. I just ordered everything from the Egg except the Processor. Going to Microcenter for that. Wish me luck on it being a successful build! lol
 
Summit71 said:
You all have me talked into it. I just ordered everything from the Egg except the Processor. Going to Microcenter for that. Wish me luck on it being a successful build! lol
Click to expand...

Good luck on a successful build! I know you'll love that combo at least as much as I have so far. It's been a dream machine for me. I have so much overclocking headroom that I'm barely scratching that I might be able to get away with a 2 year run on this combo. CPU/mobo combos usually only last me a year at best.
 
I'm another one making the leap to i7 from my 2.5 year old 2.4 C2D...also going from 2 7950GT's to a single 285 GTX. I can't wait to get it all put together to see the differences. Seeing threads like this just makes me more impatient! lol
 
largefarrva said:
I'm another one making the leap to i7 from my 2.5 year old 2.4 C2D...also going from 2 7950GT's to a single 285 GTX. I can't wait to get it all put together to see the differences. Seeing threads like this just makes me more impatient! lol
Click to expand...

LMAO, thats what happened to me. I was gonna wait. But seeing all this just made me want it NOW! :D
 
Just finished my build and love my I7 920

New system is EVGA X58
6gigs Corsair Dominator 1600
I7920 GTX 260

10 Passes on LinX No Errors have done this 5 times now with it using all the ram.
1.275 volts in bios, hoping after a couple days to push 4ghz with HT on.

920.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top