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i7 860 overclocking

M

MrXROK

Gawd
Joined
Jan 31, 2010
Messages
753
Bought a used i7 860 from 1 of the sellers on these forums for $190 shipped.

I asked the seller how far the chip would overclock. Seller says the chip was in a mini ITX system and stock was more than adequate. :rolleyes: If stock was more than adequate why is this person upgrading and frequent boards that push overclocking on to the mainstream? :eek:

I've bought some of these non-overclocked CPU's from these sellers that claim never overclocked in 2 occasions and every CPU will only mildly overclock or won't overclock beyond stock at all. :rolleyes:

The seller had over 400 feedback on heatware so I thought this time would be different. WRONG!!!!

This i7 860 will not overclock beyond 3.4ghz and that's will 1.275 volts. Tried 3.5ghz @ 1.3 volts and it wouldn't even do that. Tried rasing to 1.35 volts and temp was exceeding 90C.... OCCT linpack would crash and shut down my comoupter within 5-15minutes.

Before i7 860 that I got yesterday I was cruising with my i3 @ 4.3ghz. I bought this chip brand new under $90.

In single core or even dual core optimized situations the i3 is faster. In 4 threaded applications or more the i7 860@ 3.4ghz is only mildly faster. :eek:

Now who should I sucker to get this CPU out of my hands? :mad:
 
MrXROK said:
Bought a used i7 860 from 1 of the sellers on these forums for $190 shipped.

I asked the seller how far the chip would overclock. Seller says the chip was in a mini ITX system and stock was more than adequate. :rolleyes: If stock was more than adequate why is this person upgrading and frequent boards that push overclocking on to the mainstream? :eek:

I've bought some of these non-overclocked CPU's from these sellers that claim never overclocked in 2 occasions and every CPU will only mildly overclock or won't overclock beyond stock at all. :rolleyes:

The seller had over 400 feedback on heatware so I thought this time would be different. WRONG!!!!

This i7 860 will not overclock beyond 3.4ghz and that's will 1.275 volts. Tried 3.5ghz @ 1.3 volts and it wouldn't even do that. Tried rasing to 1.35 volts and temp was exceeding 90C.... OCCT linpack would crash and shut down my comoupter within 5-15minutes.

Before i7 860 that I got yesterday I was cruising with my i3 @ 4.3ghz. I bought this chip brand new under $90.

In single core or even dual core optimized situations the i3 is faster. In 4 threaded applications or more the i7 860@ 3.4ghz is only mildly faster. :eek:

Now who should I sucker to get this CPU out of my hands? :mad:
Click to expand...


Over clocking is all luck man. Sometimes you get a great chip, sometimes you get a dud. My 860 will do 4.2 @ 1.38 without HT on and 4.0 @ 1.34v with HT on. Anything more will not pass Prime or LinX and this is water cooled and lapped. Your luck ran out, you got a bum chip. It happens. Anyone looking for an 860 to run stock would be happy to pay $90. Sell it, break even and call it a day.
 
dnottis said:
Over clocking is all luck man. Sometimes you get a great chip, sometimes you get a dud. My 860 will do 4.2 @ 1.38 without HT on and 4.0 @ 1.34v with HT on. Anything more will not pass Prime or LinX and this is water cooled and lapped. Your luck ran out, you got a bum chip. It happens. Anyone looking for an 860 to run stock would be happy to pay $90. Sell it, break even and call it a day.
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It's not luck when I buy a used one that claim never overclocked.

Only if I paid $90 for the i7.

I paid almost retail for this chip. $190... I have MC nearby I can get brand new i7 870 for 230...

Who would in their right mind would want this chip to run it stock?

If people wanted to run stock they would have bought a $299 noob special @ best buy.
 
It's hard to believe Lynnfield runs into stability problems at just 3,4GHz. Either it is the most overclocking-unfriedly chip I've ever seen or the chip you got is seriously worn out. Considering that Lynnfield chips are less than 1.5 years old at worst, it's likely the previous owner had it running under extreme voltages.
 
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MrXROK said:
It's not luck when I buy a used one that claim never overclocked.
Click to expand...

Its unlucky, yes. The orig owner really didn't know or sold you a bum chip. Sorry to hear you got the dud man, but you did ONLY pay $90. Someone would love a 860 with HT in a HTPC they encode with and at $90 its a still a steal!
 
dnottis said:
Its unlucky, yes. The orig owner really didn't know or sold you a bum chip. Sorry to hear you got the dud man, but you did ONLY pay $90. Someone would love a 860 with HT in a HTPC they encode with and at $90 its a still a steal!
Click to expand...

For the 3rd time. I paid $190 for the i7 860.

Please read posts before replying.

There's no luck involved with a used processor. Either the seller knows how far it overclocks or a complete noob to this kind of stuff. In this case the seller is not new to overclocking. Not with over 10000 posts and 400+ heatware.
 
Please do not compare i3 (Clarkdale) and i7 (Lynnfield). The i3 is half a generation ahead of the i7 and is produced on a 32nm node.
 
Oh right half generation ahead with half the cores and cache. Gotcha.
 
It may have less cores and cache, but it is still a 32nm Westmere core (very similar to the cores of the 6-core i7 processors like the i7-980x) compared to Lynnfield's 45nm. If you read a bit around you will notice that the 32nm i3 and i5 overclock WAY further than the older 45nm parts. The i3 also has a lower uncore multiplier leading to an even better overclocking ability.
 
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Sounds like a bum chip, and if what you say about the seller is true, then he likely knew it when he sold it to you.

I run my i7 860 at 3.6 Ghz, at a little over stock voltage.
It will run at 3.8 Ghz with more voltage, but runs hotter than I'd prefer, even with the large aftermarket heatsink. The 5% difference is not really worth it.
I also have a couple i3's in the house, $99 Microcenter specials. One at 3.5Ghz and the other at 3.7Ghz, both on stock voltage and stock coolers. I'm sure I could slap on a $30+ heatsink, increase the voltage, and get them up to 4Ghz. But it's not worth the money (and the extra electricity and heat) for the 8%-10% increase.

For older single threaded apps, they all seem around the same speed. It's only video compression where the 860 shines.
 
Sorry if I came out wrong. I'm just a little frustrated here. I pay nearly retail price for this processor only to find out it does 3.4ghz stable @ high voltage. I'm sure I can maybe push another 50mhz but really it's not worth it.

You know there's a gray area between the seller and buyer. I have to take seller's word for it but this day and age who doesn't overclock their system? Don't you want to know how far the CPU does overclock when you first get it? It would drive a man crazy not to find out. Especially if you are a geek. . The seller is just that. A geek. Looked like he upgrades his computer quite frequently.
 
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omniscence said:
It may have less cores and cache, but it is still a 32nm Westmere core (very similar to the cores of the 6-core i7 processors like the i7-980x) compared to Lynnfield's 45nm. If you read a bit around you will notice that the 32nm i3 and i5 overclock WAY further than the older 45nm parts. The i3 also has a lower uncore multiplier leading to an even better overclocking ability.
Click to expand...

If I want to compare i3 and i7 I can. Stop trolling!
 
sounds like you have a lot of steam to let loose because you didnt get a good overclocker. i wouldn't go as far as blaming the person who sold you it. just luck the draw. if your really unhappy with it just sell it and try your luck again.
 
MrXROK said:
Sorry if I came out wrong. I'm just a little frustrated here. I pay nearly retail price for this processor only to find out it does 3.4ghz stable @ high voltage. I'm sure I can maybe push another 50mhz but really it's not worth it.

You know there's a gray area between the seller and buyer. I have to take seller's word for it but this day and age who doesn't overclock their system? Don't you want to know how far the CPU does overclock when you first get it? It would drive a man crazy not to find out. Especially if you are a geek. . The seller is just that. A geek. Looked like he upgrades his computer quite frequently.
Click to expand...


even at $190 I dont see anywhere selling them retail to close to that.

http://www.google.com/search?source...n&tab=wf&biw=1680&bih=925&fp=1171e29483f1e40d
 
HaX said:
sounds like you have a lot of steam to let loose because you didnt get a good overclocker. i wouldn't go as far as blaming the person who sold you it. just luck the draw. if your really unhappy with it just sell it and try your luck again.
Click to expand...

I feel like an ass dumping this processor on to the forums here knowing it could only muster 3.4ghz. That's pitiful. Should I advertise "never overclocked" like the original seller? :eek:
 
that or try selling it on another forum under a different name :D
 
What board are you using? People seem to forget that a dual core can clock higher on almost every board available than a quad can. Your board may not have enough power phases to send enough juice to the chip to keep it stable. I had a P7P55 LX that clocked my i3 530 up to 4.4ghz with 1.375v but wouldn't take my X3440 quad with HT past 3.6ghz. I went to an MSI P55-GD80 and it took the chip straight up to 4ghz at 1.35v.
 
So you bought a processor that the seller was listing as "never overclocked" and now complain that it doesn't meet your overclocking metrics? The seller never claimed anything about the overclock if your story is how you present it, yet you bought it anyway, making some assumption due to the venue of the sale.

To compound the hilarity of this self-induced drama, you say you've done this twice before already. News flash, if you only will purchase a part if it achieves a certain overclock and require that assurance before sale, then get that assurance before sale. If the seller says it was never overclocked, then why are you projecting these assumptions on it, regardless of where the thing is being sold?

The seller had over 400 feedback on heatware so I thought this time would be different. WRONG!!!!
Click to expand...

IMO, leaving negative feedback for this seller would be disingenuous as well, because it doesn't seem to me like they even lied about anything. They simply made no claim about its overclockabiility. You, somehow thinking "has never been overclocked" really means "OVERCLOCKS EXTREME MAN!!!!!! I JUST CAN'T TELL YOU BECAUSE INTEL WOULD COME HAUL ME TO JAIL!!!!!!", still buy the product with no guarantee from the seller that it meets your needs. Even if you asked him outright to what level it would overclock, the fact that he said he didn't even overclock it immediately means you should pass on the sale, if you wanted a guaranteed overclock.
 
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I find out that the seller used water cooling to cool this processor by doing some investigating.

Is there any water cooler guys here that doesn't overclock? :rolleyes:

I let paypal handle this. Whatever paypal decides I'll be fine with it. If I need to dump the processor I will but I rather return it to where I bought it so I don't get stuck with reselling this pitiful CPU.

I've offered the seller to pay for all shipping fees including what he paid to send the CPU to me and ship it back. Seller declined. :rolleyes:

My motherboard is Asus P7H55D-M EVO.. Micro-ATX full featured board with 8 phase power and really easy to overclock any processor. It has 8 pin for power so no this board is good as any board for overclocking quad's.
 
You know, we are missing some information here. For one, what cooler are you using? What is your hardware setup? You say you reach 90C when you try to push it to 1.35V. Do you even know what you are doing? There are other voltages beside Vcore that need tweaking too.
 
I have a i7 860 running 4Ghz @ 1.36 volts on a EVGA P55 FTW. The thing to remember about the Lynnfield is that the PCI-E controller is on-die, and takes a bit more voltage to run high bclocks. In comparison my i7 920 only takes 1.24 volts to run 4Ghz. I am going from memory here but I believe you have to turn up the VTT voltage to get stability, not just Vcore. Turn up the VTT to 1.3 and see if that helps.

Also if a seller did not guarantee or mention any kind of overclocks in their FS thread, you can not hold them accountable if it does not clock well. Did you mention to them that you expected a certain OC from this chip?
Posted via Mobile Device
 
zaxour said:
You know, we are missing some information here. For one, what cooler are you using? What is your hardware setup? You say you reach 90C when you try to push it to 1.35V. Do you even know what you are doing? There are other voltages beside Vcore that need tweaking too.
Click to expand...

Xigmatek 1283
Asus P7H55D-M EVO
Gskill GBRL 4 gigs ddr 3 1600mhz capable.

Yes I know what I'm doing. I've been overclocking and building since I was a teenager. I'm 35 now.

It's the chip. This chip was watercooled and probably with extreme voltage. I would never buy a watercooled processor.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
Exeodus said:
I have a i7 860 running 4Ghz @ 1.36 volts on a EVGA P55 FTW. The thing to remember about the Lynnfield is that the PCI-E controller is on-die, and takes a bit more voltage to run high bclocks. In comparison my i7 920 only takes 1.24 volts to run 4Ghz. I am going from memory here but I believe you have to turn up the VTT voltage to get stability, not just Vcore. Turn up the VTT to 1.3 and see if that helps.

Also if a seller did not guarantee or mention any kind of overclocks in their FS thread, you can not hold them accountable if it does not clock well. Did you mention to them that you expected a certain OC from this chip?
Posted via Mobile Device
Click to expand...

I've already tried raising PCH and VTT voltages along with Vcore.

OCCT shuts my computer down anything beyond 3.4ghz.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
MrXROK said:
I've already tried raising PCH and VTT voltages along with Vcore.

OCCT shuts my computer down anything beyond 3.4ghz.
Posted via Mobile Device
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Shuts down, as in turns off?

Or does it stop with a error on Core whatever, freeze up, or BSOD?
Posted via Mobile Device
 
You know, PCH refers to the southbus. Overvolting it produces no producible gains whatsoever.

Honestly, I'm with others. If you can prove beyond a shadow of doubt that the seller did indeed overclock his processor, then claim that and ask for a refund. Otherwise, man up and sell it and grab another one.

FYI: I have a i7 860 here too. I had it up to 4.8 Ghz on air using a $50 mobo from Fry's. You just need to fiddle with it some more. Have you given a thought that it may be your mobo or your PSU that's unable to cope with the increased demand?

A i3 530 @ 4.9 Ghz consumes about the same power as a stock i5 750. Seeing how i7 860 consumes even more power than a i5, and given that you want to overclock it, it's reasonable to check your mobo and your PSU.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
MrXROK said:
I would never buy a watercooled processor.
Click to expand...

Ok, I'll bite.... why not?

I've water cooled every chip I've owned for years. Probably more babied than most of the other owners out there. Low volts, low temps... so what is the problem with buying a water cooled chip??

The problem is you bought a chip used. Expected to get crazy overclocks and are just pissed off cause you got a bum overclocker. The orignal seller may or may not have known this. You have no proof that he knowingly sold you a poor overclocker but feel compelled to blame him for it. Overclocking is about 10% skill and 90% luck. It doesn't sound like you've done this much over the years otherwise you'd know this already.
 
People like to get rid of their junk on the internet these days. This is why I don't buy used things over the internet. Also why I don't buy Intel CPU's anymore :D Their platforms are more unreliable. (Hint get an affordable AMD 6 core for under 199.99 from newegg)

That guy tried OCing it if he has a water cooling setup lol @ people saying they can't tell or not know, he found out it was a lemon. So he pretended he didn't know, and wrote that description. He wanted a CPU that OC'ed and he took that money and tried another with it and don't want it back.

Next time buy CPU's new from a good e-tailer like newegg or microcenter. That way you have 30 day return on it.

That's my advice mang.
 
dnottis said:
Ok, I'll bite.... why not?

I've water cooled every chip I've owned for years. Probably more babied than most of the other owners out there. Low volts, low temps... so what is the problem with buying a water cooled chip??

The problem is you bought a chip used. Expected to get crazy overclocks and are just pissed off cause you got a bum overclocker. The orignal seller may or may not have known this. You have no proof that he knowingly sold you a poor overclocker but feel compelled to blame him for it. Overclocking is about 10% skill and 90% luck. It doesn't sound like you've done this much over the years otherwise you'd know this already.
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Why? There are so many reasons. Extreme voltage pushing extreme overclocking with water for 1. Water damage for 2.

There's so many reason why I would never buy a water cooled processor.

I do have proof seller used water cooling on the chip. If I had known that I would have never bought the chip. That's a fact!

Again I'll let paypal decide. If the outcome is in my favor great if not I'll sell the CPU and move on.
 
Exeodus said:
Shuts down, as in turns off?

Or does it stop with a error on Core whatever, freeze up, or BSOD?
Posted via Mobile Device
Click to expand...

Completely shuts down. It could be due to extreme cooling damage that is making the CPU throttle than shut down. Prolonged extreme temperature can't be too good for CPU that was designed to run @ 60-70C.

I can even boot to 4ghz just can't get it stable at all.
 
Deluded said:
You know, PCH refers to the southbus. Overvolting it produces no producible gains whatsoever.

Honestly, I'm with others. If you can prove beyond a shadow of doubt that the seller did indeed overclock his processor, then claim that and ask for a refund. Otherwise, man up and sell it and grab another one.

FYI: I have a i7 860 here too. I had it up to 4.8 Ghz on air using a $50 mobo from Fry's. You just need to fiddle with it some more. Have you given a thought that it may be your mobo or your PSU that's unable to cope with the increased demand?

A i3 530 @ 4.9 Ghz consumes about the same power as a stock i5 750. Seeing how i7 860 consumes even more power than a i5, and given that you want to overclock it, it's reasonable to check your mobo and your PSU.
Posted via Mobile Device
Click to expand...


I have fiddled around with the settings quite a bit. Honestly overclocking is so automatic on Asus motherboards there's really nothing you should be fiddling other than core voltage and maybe VTT voltage if high FSB overclocking.

MY PSU is brand new I bought last month.

I'm using Antec 650 watt forget the name but it has 3 12 v rails and more than enough to overclock this system and crossfire another 5850.
 
This thread has turned into a bunch of people that have no idea what they are doing.

Intel platform unreliable? This is news to me as I've been overclocking the hell out of them for years on all different chipsets. Never had an unreliable experience with intel. buy a AMD x6? Ok but I've got a few buddies that just replaced their overclocked AMD x6s for sandy bridge and it made a huge difference in CPU dependent games like SC 2. AMD has nothing that can even compete with Intel right now. If you are a web surfing / email / pogo playing Grandma AMD is perfect for you...

Water cooled CPUs doesn't mean there was ever any damage (water or any other) or that all have been run with extreme voltage, again, more stupid assumptions and nothing to confirm what you say. Just opinions with no basis. Having a water cooled CPU doesn't mean any of the above reasons you provided are even true. I've got a buddy running custom water cooling with a stock Q9550. He just wanted cool temps and 0 noise. Some people are just after that and water cool for that reason alone.

I hope you kill the chip dicking around trying to overclock it then have to eat the $190. It sounds like your experiences with overclocking are about the same as a fat man blindly fumbling to find his junk at a urinal in a public restroom. No one would get stuck with this "bad" chip again, Karma is a bitch and she bites.
 
dnottis said:
This thread has turned into a bunch of people that have no idea what they are doing.

Water cooled CPUs doesn't mean there was ever any damage (water or any other) or that all have been run with extreme voltage, again, more stupid assumptions and nothing to confirm what you say. Just opinions with no basis. Having a water cooled CPU doesn't mean any of the above reasons you provided are even true. I've got a buddy running custom water cooling with a stock Q9550. He just wanted cool temps and 0 noise. Some people are just after that and water cool for that reason alone.

I hope you kill the chip dicking around trying to overclock it then have to eat the $190. It sounds like your experiences with overclocking are about the same as a fat man blindly fumbling to find his junk at a urinal in a public restroom. No one would get stuck with this "bad" chip again, Karma is a bitch and she bites.
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Wow talk about arrogance with no logic at all. People are after 0 degrees without overclocking. Why are you here in HARDOCP if you aren't overclocking?

If you were a bit more educated you know can't burn an intel chip without pumping extreme voltages past specifications.

You came to the thread without even reading being ignorant. Talking about how I paid $90 for this chip. Whatever. Laugh it up. I'm sure this is all amusing to you.

You probably know who I'm dealing with since you used to be moderator and i'm sure you losers point your fingers like usual.
 
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MrXROK said:
Why are you here in HARDOCP if you aren't overclocking?
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Look at my sig. Just came from a i7 860 @ 4.2 Ghz to a 2500k @ 4.8Ghz. Water cooled and overclocked for years. I built a water cooled setup for a buddy that isn't overclocked. I never said it was mine.

I know all about overclocking Intel chips. Never burned one up, never gave one extreme voltage.

At this point you are the only one we are laughing at.
 
dnottis said:
Look at my sig. Just came from a i7 860 @ 4.2 Ghz to a 2500k @ 4.8Ghz. Water cooled and overclocked for years. I built a water cooled setup for a buddy that isn't overclocked. I never said it was mine.

I know all about overclocking Intel chips. Never burned one up, never gave one extreme voltage.

At this point you are the only one we are laughing at.
Click to expand...

Who the hell is we? lol

Stupid clowns.
 
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