Rampage III Black Edition: i7-990X Over clocked Folding @ Home

[V2-V3]

My primary goal is system reliability. System crashing due to overclocking instability is not acceptable to me.

This thread will focus on the ASUS Rampage III Black Edition motherboard and its ability to overclock an Intel Core i7-990X Extreme Edition CPU.

The Folding client I prefer is the Folding at Home Tracker V2 with GPU3 Client AVAILABLE HERE WITH INSTALL GUIDE (http://www.asusrog.com/forums/showthread.php?848-FAH-GPU-Tracker-V2-Installation-guide).


3249


3.6GHz
3241


System Specifications

2x ASUS GTX 580 Graphics Card 2x $469.00
ASUS Rampage III Black Edition Motherboard $559.00
Intel Core i7-990X Extreme edition 3.47GHZ Processor $999.00
Corsair Dominator GTX3 2x2GB 2400MHZ C7 Triple Channel Memory $900.00
Corsair F40 40GB SSD $100.00
Corsair AX1200 1200W Power Supply $275.00
Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit Service Pack 1 $200.00


Idle stats(22.5c Ambient Air Temperature)
Processor: Intel Core i7-990X
Load: 0%
Core Voltage: 1.144V
Temperature: 24c
Core Clock: 3.47GHz
uCLK "Uncore": 2670MHz
BCLK: 133MHz
QPI: 3204MHz
System Memory: 2x Corsair Dominator GT3 2400MHz 2GB
Voltage: 1.66V
Temperature 25c
Frequency: 1333MHz
Divider "Ratio": 2:10
Timings: CL9-9-9-24 74 1T

Intel Core i7-990X With Full Work load, Folding at Home SMP with BIG ADV: (22.20c Ambient Air Temperature)
CPU:Core Voltage 1.204V , Temperature 51c
DRAM Voltage 1.65V, Temperature 25c

AC Power Consumption: 250Watts

At stock speed the i7-990X CPu generates on average 39,000 Points per day.


4.5GHz
3242


Processor: Intel Core i7-990X
Load: 100%
Core Voltage: 1.501V
Temperature: 93c
Core Clock: 4.523GHz
uCLK "Uncore": 2847.6MHz
BCLK: 167.5MHz
QPI: 3015.4MHz

System Memory: 3x Corsair Dominator GTX 4 2533MHz 2GB
Memory Usage: 43%
Voltage: 1.66V
Temperature 25c
Frequency: 1340MHz
Divider "Ratio": 2:8
Timings: CL8-9-9-24 74 1T.

When the CPU is clocked to 4.5GHz the 990X is capable of nearly 57,000 Points Per Day.


Rampage III Black Edition OverClocking Continued


4.6GHz i7-990X
3243


Full Work load, Folding at Home: (22c Ambient Air Temperature)
CPU: 100% Load, Core Voltage 1.508V , Temperature 82c, Core Clock: 4.630GHz, uCLK Uncore 2916MHz, BCLK 171.5MHz, QPI 3087.1Mhz
System Memory: DRAM Voltage 1.65V, Temperature 25c, 1372MHz CL9-9-9-24 74 1T.
Power Consumption from the wall with no corrections for Power supply efficiency: 400 Watts

In order to push beyond 4500MHz lower temperatures were need to keep the system stable. The case side panel was removed Increasing the air flow allows the cooling system to remove more heat from the CPU.

Topping 4.6GHz the CPU can earn over 61,000 PPD! With just a 28% Overclock of the CPU's core frequency the 990X boosts a 56% increase in points per day. Now that's an impressive ratio with nearly a 2X gain in performance to clock speed.

Looking at the power consumption we see the overclocked frequency consumes 62.5% more electricity and increases the cost per point for folding.


4.8GHZ?
3248


CPU: Core Voltage 1.525V , Temperature 33c, Core Clock: 4.820GHz, uCLK Uncore 3049MHz, BCLK 160MHz, QPI 3213MHz
System Memory: DRAM Voltage 1.65V, Temperature 25c, 1333MHz CL9-9-9-24 88 1T.

At 4820MHz the Core i7 990X generates too much heat for the Thermalright 120 cooler.
Temperatures topped 100C and while the system remained stable for upwards of 12 hours I could not recommend exceeding Intel's thermal specifications as it will degrade the life expectancy of the chip.
For frequencies above 4.7GHz Liquid cooling is strongly recommended.

After increasing the core speed of the i7-990X from 3.47GHz to over 4.7GHz there is a direct gain in PPD, as well an increase in power consumption. Given the minor 6.5% added power consumption and an acceptable margin of error, Overclocking the Intel 990X is well worth it.

The next step is to install liquid cooling on the CPU and try for the magical 5GHz

Till Next Time,


ASUS RAMPAGE III BLACK EDITION RESOURCES
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ _
RAMPAGE III BLACK EDITION: UNBOXING REVIEW (http://www.asusrog.com/forums/showthread.php?2358-Asus-Rampage-III-Black-Edition-Motheroard-Review)
RAMPAGE III BLACK EDITION: SYSTEM BUILDING (http://www.asusrog.com/forums/showthread.php?2355-Rampage-III-Black-Edition-System-Build)
RAMPAGE III BLACK EDITION: OVERCLOCKING
RAMPAGE III BLACK EDITION: FOLDING AT HOME (http://www.asusrog.com/forums/showthread.php?2148-Rampage-III-Black-Edition-i7-990X-Over-clocked-Folding-Home&p=13421#post13421)
RAMPAGE III BLACK EDITION: EXTREME OVERCLOCKING
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ _

[V2-V3]

*Reserved

[V2-V3]

Anyone want to speculate if 5GHz 6C 12T folding is possible?

[Joshua_Mahr]

I think it is possible. I would like to see the PPD from that. H100 would be a good choice. That's what I have on my 2600k @5GHZ. It tops out at 73C on core #1

[Grandpa]

A 980X on a Rampage III Gene will do it but it took way to many V for me to be comfortable 1.63v. And temps were too high running (95C+) a XSPC Rasa 750 RX360 WaterCooling kit with a EK-Supreme HF Nickle water block. 127,000 PPD frame time of 00:35:12 on a 6903. I only ran 1 frame at that so I have no Idea if it was 24/7 folding stable (I doubt it was). I plan on trying again this winter when I can get the temp in the computer room down below freezeing. :)

[Joshua_Mahr]

Excuse me did you say below freezing in a room. Where do you live Antarctica?

[V2-V3]

Excuse me did you say below freezing in a room. Where do you live Antarctica?

Where I live -25*c is common during the winter. Im sure you can imagine what happens when you open a window!

[Grandpa]

Where I live -25*c is common during the winter. Im sure you can imagine what happens when you open a window!

I live in the NW corrner of Washington State on an Island (Anacortes) in the Pacific Ocean. The coldest I have seen it here is 4F but during the Winter when it is 19F outside durring the night and morning and 35F during the day time hours both windows are open with fans in them one blowing in the other blowing out. I use natures sub freezing cooling. :D It is my man cave and my wife will not bother me in there during the winter. :cool:

[Joshua_Mahr]

I am so jealous. Wish I could get out of Florida.

[Six Foot Ginger]

Nice rig and PPD

[pcjunkie209]

Nice work Travis!

[JaskarnSidhu]

Any updates on your 5ghz goal?

I have a very similar set up to you, with more of an extreme watercooling than the conventional (using TEC's).

I also have an Rampage III Extreme Black edition and have an intel i7 990x in it. Im looking at getting it up to 5gh but no luck so far. I can get it to post and boot into windows, but it fails on the stress test when i run OCCT 4.0.

I am really looking forward to your 5ghz stable attempt.