• Home
  • Forums
  • Register
  • Featured
  • Reviews
  • Guides
  • Contact

Intel Core i3, i5, and i7 – 3 Step Overclocking Guides


Posted by miahallen on 07 Sep 2010 / 94 Comments
Tweet



Introduction

So many users are searching around the net these days looking for advice about which components to purchase and how to overclock.  This guide is not meant as a comparison between AMD, and Intel.  This guide assumes you’ve already decided to purchase an Intel based system, and takes you to the next step…..deciding which one.  The emphasis here is on value, overclocking, and overall system performance.  If you want to continue searching out other opinions, please consider each suggestion with caution. Some will undoubtedly be great, some will not.  This isn’t a comparison test, but a simple overview of the different choices from Intel and their inherent strengths and weaknesses.

Overclocking guides

Once you’ve made your decision and purchased your system, the overclocking guides below will help you gather a better understanding of how your system works, and will give you a very methodical approach to overclocking it.  If you have not yet made your purchase decision, continue to read below to assist you with your decision.  After you have selected your hardware, please come back to visit the overclocking guide pertinent to you.

3 Step Overclocking Guide – Sandy Bridge

3 Step Overclocking Guide – Bloomfield & Gulftown

3 Step Overclocking Guide – Lynnfield

3 Step Overclocking Guide – Clarkdale

 

Micro-Architecture

When the Nehalem Micro-architecture was introduced to the world in the fall of 2008, everyone took notice.  The Intel Core series of CPUs that started with Conroe in 2006 was very strong, but I’m not sure anybody anticipated that Intel would be able to be successful with two micro-architecture generations in a row.  So, when Nehalem first hit the scene, it was a shock and awe campaign.  Not only did Intel have the performance to stay well ahead of the competition, they actually improved on the previous generation so greatly, that a large quantity of users already on the stellar Core 2 Duo/Quad platform were compelled to upgrade without skipping a generation.  Since AMD has not had anything competitive from an outright performance standpoint, Intel has cornered the high end market for quite a while.  What follows is a brief look at the various platforms that Intel has introduced since Nehalem’s release.

First we have the Nehalem family which consists of 45nm quad core CPU’s

  • 4-core Bloomfield (Core i7 920 to i7 975) – socket 1366
  • 4-core Lynnfield (Core i5 750 to i7 875K) – socket 1156

Next is the Westmere family which consists of 32nm, dual core, quad core (Xeon only), and hex core CPU’s

  • 6-core Gulftown (Core i7 970 and i7 980X) – socket 1366
  • 2-core Clarkdale (Pentium G6000, Core i3 530 to i5 655K) with integrated GPU’s – socket 1156 only

There are many other versions of CPUs designed for the enterprise (Xeon) and the mobile markets.  I will not include any details about them within this guide; some of the Xeons are virtually identical to the desktop counterparts and may be worth considering.  For more details, please see this wiki about Xeon CPUs.  The mobile equivalents won’t even fit into the desktop sockets, so I won’t spend any time on them.

Clarkdale

All Clarkdale CPUs feature two pieces of silicon; the first chip contains the dual CPU cores and L3 cache, it is manufactured on a 32nm node.  The second chip is the graphics core, memory controller, and PCIe controller and is manufactured on a 45nm node.  The pictures below should help you understand a little better.

Clarkdale package

Clarkdale package

Clarkdale die map

Clarkdale die map

The new 32nm lithography is very exciting and powerful, and overclocks very well, unfortunately with Clarkdale, the 32nm CPU is tethered to the older technology which creates some unique challenges when overclocking.  The memory controller is dual channel and officially supports up to DDR3-1066.  Memory and graphics performance are both fairly limited with Clarkdale.  If you plan to run multiple graphics cards, I’d recommend an X58/LGA1366 based system.

Pentium G6950

Currently, there is only one Pentium CPU based on Clarkdale, the G9650.  This is a very good budget buy, and has very good overclocking potential, but lacks Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology and Intel® Turbo Boost Technology.  It is also limited to only 3MB of L2 cache.

Core i3 530, 540, 550

These CPUs are similar to the Pentium G6950 but add Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology. They also come with 4MB of L2 cache.

Core i5 650, 660, 661, 670, and 655K

These CPU’s are very similar to the i3’s but add Intel® Turbo Boost Technology.  The i5 655K has an unlocked multiplier for maximum freedom in overclocking.  The i5 661 differs from all other Clarkdale based CPU’s because its integrated graphics core runs at 900MHz instead of the standard 733MHz in the rest.

Lynnfield

These CPUs are manufactured on the 45nm process.  They have dual channel IMCs and PCIe controllers built into the CPU die.  This is the closest Intel has come so far to integrating an entire system on a single piece of silicon for the desktop market (that will all change next year with Sandy Bridge, but that discussion is for another time).

Lynnfield die map

Lynnfield die map

Each core has its own 256KB of L2 cache, and all four cores share 8MB of L3 cache.  The memory controller is dual channel and officially supports up to DDR3-1333.  Lynnfield CPU’s are known for their extremely high memory speeds and for very good value in the quad core marketplace.  Similar to Clarkdale, I would recommend to anyone interested in multiple graphics cards, that you consider an X58/LGA1366 based system for additional PCIe bandwidth, just like Clarkdale, these CPU’s have only 16 PCIe lanes built in.  All Lynnfield CPUs include Intel® Turbo Boost Technology.

Core i5 750 and 760

The only things that separate the i5 Lynnfields from their i7 siblings is their exclusion of Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology, Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (Intel® VT-d) and Intel® Trusted Execution Technology (Intel® TXT).

Core i7 860, 870, 880, and 875K

So, these are just like their i5 siblings, except that they include all three technologies missing from the others.  Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology, Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (Intel® VT-d) and Intel® Trusted Execution Technology (Intel® TXT).

Pages: 1 2

Written by miahallen

Well, I was playing with computers ever since my Dad got a Commodore 64 when I was 6 years old (1986), when I was 10 (1990) he bought a custom build 486DX33, and I was in love. Mostly back then I was just a kid playing games, but my fascination with computers had a start. Because I had no money of my own, I was stuck playing with my Dad's computers, and really couldn't "play" too much. So in 1998, the year I graduated, I spent some of my college savings to by a "computer for school", haha. It had two Voodoo2 12MB 3D accelerators in it, so you can imagine how much school work was done on it ;-) It had an AMD K6-233 that I had a really mild OC on, but my custom computer builder friend Aaron had done all the work. So I can't really take the credit there. My fascination with graphics just kept growing and growing over the years, and I was constantly in a struggle to keep my games looking as sharp and smooth as possible. OCing played a big role. My whole world was rocked in 2004 when I was deployed to Iraq as a US Army soldier. The whole year I was there I had a cheap IBM Thinkpad R40 with a 2GHz Celeron, 1GB DDR-333 RAM, a 60GB 4200RPM HDD, and ATI Radeon Mobility graphics (same technology as a 7000 series with only 16MB of memory). It started out rough as I was really into Command and Conquer Generals at the time, and the machine would only play the C&C slide show LOL. So, I downloaded PowerStrip, and OC'ed the GPU by 40%...amazingly, the game was playable! Things changed dramatically in 2007 when I met a guy named Matt while I was stationed in Japan. He introduced me to www.ocforums.com, and the "Benchmarking Team" there. I had not had much interest in benchmarking previously, I always though of myself as more practical. But, I thought I'd play along and I joined the team. My first introduction to an actual competition was was is "The Raptor Pit", "Forum Warz 2008" in the spring of 2008. I was running a Q6600 and an 8800GTX. With air cooling I was able to bench my Q6600 at over 4GHz, and tore up the competition in my class. Overall OCF won the Forum War in 2007, Winter and Summer of 2008, and 2009...that means five in a row. I was not part of the first one in 2007, but the four since then, I have participated in. After winning the 2008 Winter and Summer Warz, Tom's Hardware Guide announced they were looking for nominations for individuals to compete in their first ever international overclocking competition, called "Overdrive". I was nominated, and chosen to compete in the North American semi-finals in Los Angeles in November 2008. I was placed on "Team IRONMODS" as they only had two guys, yet three man teams were allowed. We won the semi-finals in LA, and our prize was a trip to Paris the following month, to compete with the best in the world. The following month, Ton, Jake, and myself flew to Paris as "Team USA" to face off against the best from Taiwan, France, Germany, and Italy. It was a very intense competition, but after two heated days of battle (16 hours of benching), we emerged the victors. Amidst our celebration, Ton and Jake officially invited me to join "Team IRONMODS" on a permanent basis, and I graciously accepted. Ton, aka "TiTON", is a world renown case moder, and is also very well known for some of the AMD overclocking he has done. Jake, aka "CPT.Planet", is a genius overclocker, and a really fun guy. The team has a great synergy when working together, we really have complementary styles. After winning the world championship in December 2008 things were a bit quite for a couple months, then in the spring of 2009 I received an invitation to the 2nd annual Gigabyte Open Overclocking Championship "GOOC". I would compete in the North American semi-final in LA, where the winner would win a ticket to the world championship in Taipei Taiwan during CES in June 2009. The competition was tough with 14 of the best from North America gathering for a 1 on 1 competition of OCing. But once again, I completed the competition well, and rose above the others. I won 1st place and the trip to the world finals in Taipei. My luck ran dry in Taipei where I started off with a bad motherboard, and went through 5 more during the course of the competition due to various reasons. Despite the poor finish in Taipei, I have high hopes to redeem myself next year.

Related Posts


[Review] Zalman CNPS8000A – A Simple Top-Down Cooler
January 14, 2011
3 Step Overclocking Guide – Sandy Bridge
January 4, 2011
3 Step Overclocking Guide – Lynnfield
September 7, 2010

94 Comments


Chris Madsen
10 hours ago



Great guide, but outdated now. Nothing for newer generation processors?

Derek Mohijar
3 weeks ago



This is possibly one of the most enlightening posts I have ever read. The i7 processor looks cool. Thanks for posting about it.

Derek

Imposta per il programma
2 months ago



Hi there, everything is going well here and ofcourse every one is sharing facts, that’s truly excellent, keep up writing.

buybd
3 months ago



Great goods from you, man. I have understand
your stuff previous to and you’re just extremely great.
I actually like what you have acquired here, certainly like what you are saying and the way in which you say it.
You make it enjoyable and you still care for to keep it sensible.

I cant wait to read far more from you. This is really a great website.

MSI
4 months ago



This is great, and what about these performance compared to MSI gaming laptop?

Jual Jam Tangan Online
6 months ago



I do accept as true with all of the ideas you’ve offered to your post.

imgur
1 years ago



Enterprises having a large website with a lot of traffic influx will require
the reseller hosting package. A dedicated rented machine can be rented for operating complex web applications and for the multiple sites interconnected to your business.
Just – Host is loaded with tools that will help you with every need you have.

Alternate reality games
1 years ago



Awesome things here. I am very glad to peer your article.
Thanks so much and I am looking ahead to touch you.
Will you please drop me a mail?

despedidas de soltera granada
1 years ago



If you desire to grow your experience only keep visiting
this web site and be updated with the hottest information posted here.

USA funny videos 2015
1 years ago



Watch the mice, cats, and dragons come alive on your screens while sponge bob figures out how to fit into triangular pants instead of a square one.

If you are depressed you are at risk for heart disease. You – Tube has gotten known as the most obvious
site for amusing features, or in fact any sort of feature
from music features to games occasions.

youtube subscribers
1 years ago



We’re a bunch of volunteers and opening a brand new scheme in our community.

Your web site offered us with valuable information to work on. You’ve performed
an impressive job and our entire group will be grateful to you.

ed australia
1 years ago



I know this website presents quality depending articles or reviews and additional data, is there any other web site which presents such stuff
in quality?

photography galleries
2 yearss ago



Thhis іѕ a topic that iѕ close to my heart… Ҭake care!
Wheге ɑre your contact details thouɡh?

Oslo
2 yearss ago



Pretty great post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really loved browsing your blog posts.
After all I’ll be subscribing in your rss feed and I am hoping you write once more very soon!

Krups Kaffeevollautomat
2 yearss ago



Hi there I am so glad I found your blog, I really found you by error, while I was searching on Askjeeve for something
else, Anyways I am here now and would just like to say thanks for a fantastic post and
a all round enjoyable blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time
to look over it all at the moment but I have book-marked it and
also included your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be
back to read more, Please do keep up the excellent work.

sdc com energy assistance milwaukee
2 yearss ago



This program offers the borrower a price cut on the lender’s variable rate.

From twine wheeled, the process billet was apprehended just
by thread is used up. Former Olympic decathlete Bruce Jenner says Jamaican sprint sensation Usain Bolt is delusional if he thinks he’s the greatest
athlete of all time because he’s just not well-rounded
enough.

Seilzug
2 yearss ago



They are longer, made from heavy-duty materials,
and more expensive than the regular ones. If
you want to hear what is really going on, then this is the technology that you need.
Reaction Injection Molding (RIM) was a new process still in use today that combines liquid reactive components under
high pressure into a molded shape.

Philomena
2 yearss ago



The STM industry professional and STM news research industry
people can subscribe the daily scientific newsletter,
daily medical newsletter, daily STM newsletter, weekly
scientific newsletter, weekly medical newsletter and
weekly STM newsletter. Don’t focus on what’s wrong,
because you’ll only perpetuate it, focus on the good things in life
and be grateful for them. The enraged Bharati slapped the back of
the constable said reports.

Main Page
2 yearss ago



My Daughter Wendy told me about Main Page that you can get to help your MLM Business grow. Many other companies charge a lot of money for these services but MarketHive charges absolutely nothing at all. Take a look at http://freemarketingtools.net/blog to see for yourself. Thank you Pietila Finton

Subscribe Via RSS
2 yearss ago



Hi there to every one, the contents existing at this website are genuinely remarkable
for people experience, well, keep up the good work fellows.

shovel knight nvidia
2 yearss ago



Shovel Knight surprises and delights with its level design throughout the entirety of
the adventure. Some 15 minutes of shovelling later, the path was cleared, the plane refueled and went airborne.
Spider-Man had to battle the Green Goblin and New York was the perfect place for this epic encounter.

ZADE
2 yearss ago



You will have to sign up for an account with both websites if you want to use these services. Depending on your topic and competition from other websites, the CPC (cost per click) or CPM (cost per mille ??? what it will cost you to show your add to a thousand people) will vary. The gift vouchers you receive are at a certain value and you can use that to create an advertising campaign on both Google and Facebook.

clothing labels iron on
2 yearss ago



I pay a visit day-to-day some websites and blogs to read content, except
this blog presents quality based articles.

transport tycoon ipad vehicles
2 yearss ago



You can sharpen your reminiscence skills by
routinely playing these video games. If there’s anyone you could make a fool of yourself
in front of, it’s your guy. This game puts the players in war simulations similar to that of the war in Iraq.

games
2 yearss ago



I believe that is among the such a lot important
info for me. And i am happy studying your article.
However want to statement on few normal issues, The website
style is perfect, the articles is in reality excellent :
D. Excellent process, cheers

asian shemale webcam
2 yearss ago



Truly when someone doesn’t know afterward its up to other users that they will assist, so here it
happens.

yellow october
2 yearss ago



The Silent Shard

This may possibly be rather handy for a few within your work opportunities I want to do not only with my web site but

Ruth
2 yearss ago



I am in fact thankful to the holder of this web page who has shared this fantastic article at here.

homemade cellulite cures
2 yearss ago



I think this is among the most important info for me.
And i’mglad reading your article. But want to remark on few
general things, The web site style is wonderful, the articles is really nice :
D. Good job,cheers

time surfing internet
2 yearss ago



Continuity does not necessarily mean to continue doing small
tasks and waste your time on these tasks that only show a small return. Although to be fair,
I do have successful SEO (search engine optimization) colleagues who do.
Traditional strategies have always been associated with an immense budget and
market research requirements.

www.youtube.com
2 yearss ago



Listening to music doesn’t give you the full richness you will experience on the i – Phone 5s, but it is good
enough so you won’t have to buy an extra mp3 player.
There are plenty of other options though, depending on what’s important to you
and how much you want to spend. The tech specs have improved and the phone even notifies the user
with a bleat if it is left behind.

braverman
2 yearss ago



Really glad I found this wonderful information, thanks

best refrigerator brand
2 yearss ago



Really easy job Today we are going to remove those, remove the housing, pressing upwards
on it and locking the bottom two and loosen refigerator the top one.

fifa 15 ut coins for sale
2 yearss ago



I think what you said was actually very logical. But, think
on this, suppose you were to write a killer headline? I mean, I don’t wish to tell you how to run your website, but what if you added a headline to maybe get a person’s attention?
I mean Intel Core i3, i5, and i7 – 3 Step Overclocking Guides
| TechREACTION is kinda boring. You ought to glance at Yahoo’s front
page and watch how they create news headlines to get people interested.

You might try adding a video or a pic or two
to grab people excited about everything’ve written. Just my opinion, it could bring your
posts a little livelier.

internetmarketingtoolsdownload.com
2 yearss ago



hello! , I like a person’s writing a whole lot! ratio we all keep up a correspondence added close to your own content for America online? I actually demand an experienced within this house to settle our challenge. Perhaps which is you actually! Looking ahead to appearance a person.. SurveyFunnel – WordPress Survey plugin for Survey maker

http://www.theironsarebest.com
2 yearss ago



Great blog here! Additionally your site so much up very fast!

What web host are you using? Can I am getting your affiliate
link on your host? I want my web site loaded up as
quickly as yours lol

swing copters hack
2 yearss ago



Most West Rim excursions have you back by early evening. It is crucial for ones flight sim to provide some life
like reality pertaining tor your own development in flying knowledge.
It travels over Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the Western U.

Andre
2 yearss ago



This feature is already available on LG Optimus Pad, Asus Eee Pad Me – Mo and Transformer, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.
The processing speed is further boosted up by 512MB of RAM.
Quytech offer i – Phone application development, iphone application development india
, mobile, i – Phone software development and other such hand-held application software development.

Bacaselengkapnya
2 yearss ago



Hampir semua handset Black – Berry seperti Black – Berry Bold,
Black – Berry Curve, dan lain-lain, telah dipasang dengan aplikasi ini.

• Kamera bisa merekam video hingga resolusi 1080p HD.
Ka-Glom adalah aplikasi games yang saat ini tersedia gratis (dalam
jangka terbatas) untuk para pengguna smartphone Black – Berry.

Best probiotic for constipation
2 yearss ago



Hi there! I know this is kind of off topic but I was wondering which blog platform are you
using for this site? I’m getting tired of WordPress because I’ve had issues with hackers and I’m
looking at alternatives for another platform. I would be great
if you could point me in the direction of a good platform.

cloud hosting providers comparison
2 yearss ago



I do accept as true with all of the ideas you’ve offered to your post.
They are really convincing and will certainly work.
Nonetheless, the posts are too short for novices. Could you please lengthen them a little from subsequent
time? Thank you for the post.

live webcams
2 yearss ago



When you use the slow juicer you’re going to love the delicious orange juice, almond milk and apple juice that
you are able to get out of this juicer. The process
of analyzing a fishes natural habitat and then trying to mimic it in an aquarium is known as biotyping.
This effect is found not only in chimneys but also in tall buildings.

cloud computing linux
2 yearss ago



Hi there, just became aware of your blog through Google, and found that
it is truly informative. I am going to watch out for
brussels. I’ll be grateful if you continue this in future.
A lot of people will be benefited from your writing. Cheers!

the best supplements for weight loss
2 yearss ago



Manny oof old fatt burners used to contain ephedra,
a traditional Chinese hefb also known as ma huang. To hdlp prevent deep vein thrombosis at your workplace, you should periodically take short breaks in daytime.
This short cut can also gget you in big trouble; taking diet pills with out
the care of a physician can land you in the hospital or worse.


« Older Comments




Leave a Reply

  Cancel Reply


subscribers

0

followers

Visit the TechReaction.net Forums
  • Sponsor


  • Find us on Facebook

  • Sponsors

  • Popular Categories

    Adapters AMD Apple ATI Audio Cases Cloud Computing Contests Cooling Displays DVD Events Extreme Featured Gaming Guides HTPC Hyper-v Intel Interviews Memory & Storage Microsoft Mobile Modding Motherboards & Chipsets Networking Nvidia Overclocking Peripherals Portable Devices Power Supplies Previews Processors PS3 PSP Reviews Site News Software Storage Uncategorized Video Video Cards Web XBOX 360
  • Categories

    • AMD (124)
    • Apple (10)
    • ATI (45)
    • Audio (41)
    • Cases (131)
    • Cloud Computing (3)
    • Contests (2)
    • Cooling (125)
    • Displays (2)
    • Events (24)
    • Extreme (55)
    • Featured (132)
    • Gaming (62)
      • PS3 (3)
      • PSP (4)
    • Guides (32)
    • HTPC (16)
    • Hyper-v (2)
    • Intel (104)
    • Interviews (1)
    • Memory & Storage (110)
    • Microsoft (14)
    • Mobile (7)
    • Modding (32)
    • Motherboards & Chipsets (83)
    • Networking (6)
    • Nvidia (43)
    • Overclocking (159)
    • Peripherals (109)
    • Portable Devices (37)
    • Power Supplies (15)
    • Previews (23)
    • Processors (64)
    • Reviews (369)
    • Site News (41)
    • Software (19)
    • Storage (5)
      • Adapters (3)
    • Uncategorized (94)
      • DVD (3)
    • Video (5)
    • Video Cards (51)
    • Web (2)
    • XBOX 360 (3)



Copyright © 2012 TechReaction.net - PC Hardware Reviews, Guides, How-To's and News.