5.3 Everyday E

All in this page is with AIR Cooling

Settings not-safe: Everyday eco-OC Extreme 5.3Ghz@Air

Use this setup for 3d benchmarks, playing games etc.

Do not use it for folding, burn tests etc., - the life of you CPU might be short.

Warning: on-load vCore gets out of Intels specifications which is <1.52v

Warning: temperature with Megahalem reach close to 90c when stressed on all cores (recommended is <72c).

Where I live, power is expensive and it is completely out of question to not use some kind of power strategy for everyday use. On the MSI P67A-GD65 and 2600K I discovered,with a load of inspiration from Englishman on msi-forum, and from lots of experiments on different setups, that my best setup is using Intel Turbo Boost to do the OC. The good thing about the setup, is that it use low power, and it really push it when I need the extra ressources. Extra ressources can run it hot, like if I run Intel Burn Test, OCCT, Prime95 and other tests. But in normal operations it wont really get hot.

Compared to my other setup where I also use EIST etc, to throttle things down when not used, this setup actually throttle things up. What I mean is, that when I need a little CPU power, like when playing games, the CPU might go to 3.4 GHz (what the CPU is made for), if even more CPU power is needed, it will raise further until it hits up to 5.3 GHz. The other OC setups mentioned are constantly going from idle x16 to work x53, meaning that I heat up the system more ineffectively.

The CPU in this setup use less than 6 watt idle, but will instantly burst to 5.3 GHz when stressed. Temps goes from around 30c on the cores to below 90c, which mean that I avoid CPU throttling.

idle vs stress

BLCK and Multiplier is untouched. EIST, Intel Turbo Boost, Intel C state etc. is enabled. Voltage is upped a little more than Intel say is safe, but It wont blow anything.

Some indication on power usage and speed when running 3dmark06, 1.20 (basic version)

1) Adjustments worked in BIOS 1.8D, but these new screens are from 1.9. Raise the CPU vcore until the system is stable. When unstable you typically get a Windows BSOD x124 error, and you need to up the vcore a bit.

2) Raise the core ratio limiter

3) Enable some power management.

As long as only one cores are working hard, the cores will run at 5.3 GHz, if 2 or 3 cores are stressed all of them will be running 5.2 GHz, if four are stressed the frequency will be limited to 5.0 GHz.

I can easily get it stable with more, but vcore is really start sucking around here. I did it for some days, and logged the vcore. Running 5.3ghz, 5.3ghz, 5.2ghz, 5.2ghz under certain touture tests, ends up pushing the vcore to 1.62v.