Of course these boards were designed to be overclocked, so lets go over a quick and easy OC guide! Make sure to click on any image for a larger version.

Note: Just because these settings work in my case, they may not in all cases depending on the components, it is best to use this as a base or a guide and tweak from there.

Also, this guide will use an Intel Core i7 860, and EVGA P55 FTW (E657) as an example.

So today our goal is as follows:

  * Using an Intel Core i7 860, overclock to at least 4.2GHz on air.
  * Run DDR3 memory in Dual Channel at 1600MHz, 9-9-9-24.
  * Run a BClock frequency of 200MHz or higher.


1. So the first thing we want to do is go into the BIOS, and press "Load Defaults", save and exit and go back into the BIOS and navigate to "Frequency/Voltage Control"



2. Next we will adjust the following options:

  * CPU Multiplier Setting to 21x
  * CPU Frequency Setting (AKA BClock) to 200MHz
       This will give me exactly 4.2GHz (21x200)
  * PCIE Frequency Setting to 104MHz. (In some cases this can help maximize BClock)
  * QPI Frequency Selection to 4.270 GT/s
  * EVGA VDroop Control - Without VDroop
  * Bootup CPU VCore - 1.30000V (good for starting point, will likely need to increase for 24/7 stability)
  * Eventual CPU VCore - 1.30000V (good for starting point, will likely need to increase for 24/7 stability.)
  * DIMM Voltage - 1.65V
  * Bootup CPU VTT - 1.400V
  * Eventual CPU VTT - 1.400V



3. Next we will go under "Memory Configure" and adjust my memory to it's specifications. In my case, I am running 1600MHz memory so I will make the following adjustments:

  * Memory Frequency to 1067MHz (AKA 2:8).
  * Memory timings adjusted properly per memory specifications.
  * This will give me 1600MHz memory. (200x8)



4. Finally, on the "CPU Configuration" page, we will make the following critical change:

  * Intel C-STATA Tech - Disabled



5. Now, in Windows with EVGA E-LEET we are at 4.2GHz! But we are not done yet:

  * Use Prime95 or Super PI 32M to test stability
    * If these crash, increase CPU VCore one step at a time until stability is achieved.

And of course, you can always use E-LEET to increase my BClock to find the maximum stable speed you can run at!

I will be getting the p55 FTW hands down the EVGA family is turly the best in the world.  The forums are the best support and I have learned so much about my EVGA board. I will always buy EVGA products for the rest of my life.

Thanks,
Mack4033

Following Jacobs settings to a "T" i was able to hit 4.2ghz, i gave a little extra vcore of 1.32 just to be on the safe side. I have not done any stability test as of yet.

Actually...

Is that 2 sticks of 4gig or 4 sticks of 2gig? I'm not sure about the "mechanics" behind the issue, however, I've heard that using the entire memory bank may cause problems on higher overclocks. Something about the memory controller having a harder time syncin 4 dimms at higher speeds.

Sorry, cant find the post :(

Try different ram slots example red to red or black to black.
 
 
Thanks,
Mack4033

Jacob, I just wanted to say thank you so much for this guide.  I have been tinkering wiith my chipset since the last thread on the old board and have used this thing like a bible.

End results of my testing so far:

Hyper Pi on an air cooled i7 860 at 4.4 ghz
8 gb Patriot Sector 5 ram
EVGA P55 FTW Motherboard
Idle: 28 degrees celsius
Load: 64-65 degrees celsius




I can't quite get hyper pi stable at 4.5 but I did complete super pi.

Jacob - good stuff...I am struggling with CPU temp though - idle temp 41 celsius.... with Prime95 it goes up straight to 72 celsius and more if i keep Prime95 running - I have a Noctua (Noctua NH-U12P Special Edition SE2) supposedly a good AM cooler..any idea why temp goes so high? Thank Antoine.

i7860
P55 FTW
Corsair GT 1600MHZ CAS 7
Noctua NH-U12P Special Edition SE2
Corsair HX1000W

amanceron...idle temp 41 celsius.... with Prime95 it goes up straight to 72 celsius and more if i keep Prime95 running - I have a Noctua (Noctua NH-U12P Special Edition SE2)...

 
The NH-U12P is an excellent cooler, but 72C isn't unexpected for Prime95, depending on CPU voltage, ambient conditions, case fans and internal airflow.

I have the new NH-D14, which has two cooling towers and two Noctua fans. Noctua says it cools better at low fan speed than the NH-U12P does on high. Despite this my i7-860 hits nearly 70C on Prime95 blend at full fan speed. 3.78Ghz, VCore=1.39375v, VTT=1.3v. If I slow the CPU and case fans, the same test will hit low 70s. If I run Prime95 in-mem FFT, it hits mid-70s. Ambient temp about 21C.

However idle temp of 41C seems high. My idle temps (via Realtemp 3.40) at 3.78Ghz are mid-30s.

It could be your case.

One thing to consider is the internal pressure of your case. Your Corsair PSU and (most likely) GPU card are also exhausting air. With only 1 intake you will have some negative pressure, which means air will be "sucked in" via case vents. This can disrupt air flow (pathing).

Positive vs Negative pressure can be argued forever (both have pros and cons) so your best bet is to experiment.

Many thanks I will try that and will let you know. I also believe I do need to upgrade my case....
 
 

CUTE


Second board I buy will be P55 classy hopefully.

Thanks Jacob great guide

Hello,

I tried the settings suggested by Jacob. But with 2000MHz 8-8-8-24 memory (Dominator GT 2000MHz 8-8-8-24) ratio 2:10. Boot ok, windows ok but when performing the Windows Performance check... blue screen (memory dump or something like that) when the GPU during GPU test.

I decided to decrease the Multiplier to 20 instead of 21, to keep memory @ 2000MHz with XMP latencies and voltage. 4GHz. And then... everything is ok! No change with the temperature, cool and safe, but 4GHz seems to be more stable. Maybe with a small increase of Vcore... could be great to achieve 4.2 stability. But I don't want to take too much risk for the moment, I'll try to get further step by step. Tomorrow I receive additional 4GB Dominator GT kit to fill all memory slots having 8GB of DGT 2G C8.

I'm not sure this is the best OC for this configuration but this is a very good starting point and I want to thank you Jacob for this nice help.

Here bellow my configuration, and then screen shots.

EVGA P55 FTW
i7 860
Corsair Dominator GT 2000MHz 8-8-8-24
ATI HD5970
Power Supply Enermax Revolution E85+ 1250W
WD Velociraptor 300GB (tomorrow I'll receive my Intel X25 SSD ^^)

Watercooling for the CPU (but low performance for the moment as I'm in a rebuilding phase... I removed my GTX285 watercooled to plug the HD5970 air cooled... and the circuit is not optimized till next week)
Air cooling for the graphic card until next week (EKWB full cover waterblock upgrade)
Watercooling (2x Laing D5 with EKWB Dual Top acetal and Res150 rev2 reservoir with multioption link, 1x HardwareLabs Black Ice SR1 480 with 4x Noctua NF-P12 + 1x Feser Xchanger 240 with 2x Noctua NF-P12, Watercool CPU Heatkiller Rev 3.0, EKWB FC-HD5970 coming soon, Masterkleer tube 13/16mm black, Feser One F1, MX3 thermal paste)
Monitoring: Aquacomputer Aquaero (flow sensor, 4x air temp sensors, inline liquid temp sensors, emergency power shutdown with bridge on the 24pin link, usb connect for setup from software agent)

What I really appreciate (THANK YOU EVGA) is the Efleet display on my Logitech G15 keaboard! With MSI Afterburner, I get all the monitoring information of my HD5970, and with E Fleet i can display major information about OC en temp on the LCD panel. Very good idea!


 



Temperature delta is really low between full charge and idle. There the temperatures are not really optimal, but good enough to have stability during rebuilt of wc.

Cheers ;)

Very nice......

Thanks,
Mack4033

I was wondering if you guys could help me out, I followed the over clocking guide step to step. The computer boots, gets past POST  but then freezes at the point when it says "Windows Loading" and you see the windows logo. I then when back and loaded default setting and every thing went back to normal. Just wondering why it is doing that and what I can do to OC with no problems.

Computer specs:
Windows 7 64 bit
Corsair XMS3 4GB 1600MHz RAM
Intel Core i7 860
EVGA GTX 260
EVGA P55 FTW
700W Peak, 550W Continues PSU

Thanks guys.