Overclocking i7 930 on an MSI X25 Pro-E (MS-7522) Board

MSI X25 Pro-E (MS-7522)
Intel Core i7-930 Processor (8M Cache, 2.80 GHz, 4.80 GT/s Intel QPI)
Corsair VS2GB1333D3 2048MB RAM PC3-10700H 667MHZ (1333) - x3 modules
Cooler Master V6

V6 Cooler or better is essential for the following clock settings. Stock cooler does not work under stressing conditions! Trust me, I tested it myself!


Notes:

I do not adjust any voltages in any of my overclocking profiles. I use AUTO across the board.
Voltage increases have been trialed but deemed fruitless in gaining more stability with higher Bclock.

Power usage:

With an AC clamp meter, mains supply current was measured with phase control turned on and off.
No change in power usage was noted. CPU Cvolts sits at 1.1v idle with phase control enabled and 1.3v disabled.

Under idle conditions, 500ma at 240v is measured (120 watts). Current maxes at 950ma on Prime95 max power torture test (approx 250-watts).

Under S1 Standby conditions, 430ma is measured (96 watts). Under S3, unit too small to measure, approx 10 watts.

Power usage comparisons at 133mhz Bclock and 170Mhz inconclusive. Relativly the same.

Thermal paste:

My northbridge was getting to 95'c under stressed conditions so I removed the heat sink and cleaned the stock paste off and put on some cheap no-frills white silicon paste. This worked a charm bringing the temp down to 70'c and up to 85'c under stress.
I later cleaned it and applied Arctic Silver 5 and put it all back together with similar results. I would be happy using cheap paste on an i7 at stock clock but would opt for AC5 paste when fitting high performance cooling and overclocking, mainly because I worry the cheap stuff won't LAST as long, it works good enough through, but when overclocking it's best to be safe and use the pro stuff.

Time to convert 5 minutes of MPEG2 to MP4 with different base clock:

133mhz 32sec
150mhz 28sec
160mhz 26sec
170mhz 24sec
180mhz 24sec*
190mhz 22sec*
200mhz 21sec*
* Crashes (BSOD) under Prime95 test and will not resume S3 standby state.

My current setting will convert in 23sec with Turbo Boose enabled (Invokes 22x170mhz until stressed)
Bclock: 170 with x21 Multiplier (3570mhz), Memory set on x3 (1020mhz) with uncore set on 8 (2720mhz)

Crashing when resuming from S3 stand-by state:

The only setup that will not crash when resuming S3 standby state:
Bclock: 170 with x21 Multiplier (3570mhz), Memory set on x3 (1020mhz) with uncore set on 8 (2720mhz)

These similar settings ALWAYS FAIL an S3 resume:
Bclock: 167 with x21 Multiplier (3507mhz), Memory set on x4 (1336mhz) with uncore set on AUTO (2720mhz)
Bclock: 175 with x21 Multiplier (3675mhz), Memory set on x3 (1080mhz) with uncore set on 8 (forgot to write the MHZ down)
Bclock: 180 with x21 Multiplier (3780mhz), Memory set on x3 (1080mhz) with uncore set on 8 (2880mhz)
Bclock: 180 with x20 Multiplier (3600mhz), Memory set on x3 (1080mhz) with uncore set on 8 (2880mhz)

All these settings will boot and appear to pass prime tests, but simply crash the computer on an S3 resume by powering up with black screen and full fan speeds, followed sometimes by an automatic reboot.

All CPU features disabled and all other settings on AUTO.
CPU Phase control settings will not effect.

This setting doesn't crash on S3 resume: Note higher Uncore speed.


Very similar but crashes on S3 resume:





Enable INTEL EIST and INTEL TURBO BOOST. Your multiplier will be set continuously at x22 and will change down to x21 when stressed for more than 5 seconds. When load is lifted, clock will go back up to x22.

X22 speed can be set by default with EIST and BOOST disabled, but till still underclock to x21 when under stress. I.E. No different to setting BOOST AND EIST.