Lowering voltage on i7?

M

merc1170

n00b
Joined
Apr 9, 2009
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So this might be a bit noobish question because I haven't touched my i7's voltage before but I've read that it's possible to lower the voltage a bit even with a little OC'd CPU and this might lower the temps a bit. I'm curious to know, what voltages under the default are still good (if there are any) at around 3 - 3.2GHz on a D0-stepping 920?
 
It is certainly very possible. I believe the Vcore voltage defaults to about 1.25v. I had mine lowered to about 1.2v in BIOS and could still run the C0 at 3.6 GHz! It's all about finding the right working combinations and eventually settling on that 'sweet spot.' Try to lower the voltage to about 1.18v (or thereabout) and increase it incrementally as you increase the CPU frequency. Remember to test all of these settings for stability.
 
vanilla_guerilla said:
why, are your temperatures high at default voltages?
Click to expand...

Nope, just like to have as low temps as possible.

PC_User said:
It is certainly very possible. I believe the Vcore voltage defaults to about 1.25v. I had mine lowered to about 1.2v in BIOS and could still run the C0 at 3.6 GHz! It's all about finding the right working combinations and eventually settling on that 'sweet spot.' Try to lower the voltage to about 1.18v (or thereabout) and increase it incrementally as you increase the CPU frequency. Remember to test all of these settings for stability.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, I'll try it out :). Did you notice any temp changes?
 
Well I lowered my voltage from 1.25 to 1.18 and can't see any difference in idle temps but load temps have gone down for about 3-5*C. I'm running at 3.2GHz and I think I can still lower the voltage a bit.
 
let us know how it works! I am extremely interested as the high temps are keeping me away from i7 as I want to build a silent PC and you can't have that with hot components :D
 
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