Safe 24/7 Overclock

[Abraxus#]

I'm just looking for a bit of advice about what level I should keep my CPU OC at, to ensure it lasts a while.

It's a E6600, stock is 2.4GHz which is at around 1.2V. Currently i'm running it at 3.2GHz with idle voltage 1.376V (drops to 1.344V under load).

After 27 minutes (I couldn't be bothered to wait any longer) of dual prime95 instances on the in-place FFT test the max temp on the cores was 53'C. Intel states 60'C as the upper limit and but I don't think the CPU would normally get anywhere near 53 anyway.

I'm using an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro, which seems to work quite well.

I know it might only make 1FPS or so difference if I dropped it down to 3Ghz (which I have used long term before and only needs 1.304V idle), but I would like to get the max sensible perfomance out of it.

[npras42]

I think the level you've got is reasonably safe IMHO, but I think if you aim for below 50C then whatever clock gives you that would be best, or see if you can get the voltage even lower (I doubt it).

[zer0]

oc @stock v.

[Abraxus#]

oc @stock v.

I appreciate the brevity of your reply, but could you elaborate a bit?

Do you only think standard voltage will give the CPU a good lifespan? If so how much would 1.38V reduce it by?

Also the stock voltage seems to vary between mobo's, i've seen as high as 1.28V mentioned, I think mine auto set's it to really low (maybe 1.14V).

[bacon12]

You are fine at that vcore, have you ran prime 95 small fft torture? If not do so and see if it fails. I wold let it run for at least 12 hrs to find out.

[CaptNKILL]

I've had my CPU at 1.5v with a 940Mhz overclock on air cooling for almost a year and its been rock solid. My temps get to the mid\low 50s under Orthos small FFTs load (same as dual prime 95).

Not too worried about it frying. If it dies prematurely (ie, within the next 5 years) I'll be very surprised.

[Abraxus#]

Thanks, that's exactly the kind of thing I wanted to know.

Now I can crank if back up to 3.2 and blame you if it all goes wrong:D

[CaptNKILL]

Thanks, that's exactly the kind of thing I wanted to know.

Now I can crank if back up to 3.2 and blame you if it all goes wrong:D

:lol:

Your CPU does have a different core than mine I think. So if you get any errors or your temps get into the high 50s lower the clock speed and the voltage. ;)