My i7 920 is clocked to 3.61Ghz. At that it's perfectly stable. You can clock beyond 4Ghz but it isn't worth the risk.

I don't like my chips barbecued in molasses

I guess getting that last MHz is all important, even if you can't really perceive any difference.

I really really really do not understand why you want to overclock higher than 4.0 GHZ. Just how much you think it would go anyway? 4.1? Lets say 4.2 max.

200 MHZ difference will give you about 2-3 % better perfomance in games. Thats like 1.5 FPS. The only real difference in a slightly higher overclock is in numbers, and thats only if you care about benchmarks. Only if you want to run 3D Mark Vantage, and want that slightly better score to submit to futurmark for show off.

Everything has its limit, and for some reason, it seems to me you have reached that limit. 4.0 GHZ is pretty decent imo, and if I were you, I would keep it that way, since its rock solid like you say.

For reference, I have a C2D E6400 (2.13 GHZ stock), running at 3.20 GHZ with RAM speeds at 800 MHZ (1:1 FSB:BUS ratio). Its a +50% overclock exactly, and I am happy with it. Temps go as high as 52 C with Prime 95.

Oh and one more thing: Why did you choose the 930 over the 920? They only have a mere 133 MHZ difference, not worth the extra money, imo.

rothdave1 mentioned this:

Additionally with the i7 920s and 930s they sell so effectively that chips binned as 975X are sold as i7 920 (i.e. week 45-49 2009).

I bought my I7 920 right around that time. Is there any batch numbers I could look at to see if my chip is actually a 975x.

Yessir, I'm trapped in my office when I get home I'll get them to you. The 930's didn't exist at the time that only applies to the 920's. The chips are 920s not the unlocked 1,000 dollar monsters, but were initially binned as such. Also, I typed up a wall of text to respond to the hysterics about OC'ing being bad and then server/form crapped the bed and I'm not doing it again.

Maybe if you had overclocked just a liiiiiiittle bit more you could have typed it faster and got it posted

Honestly, its almost as bad as fishermen and lures or mechanics and carburetors. 

Bah, forum prolly crashed because server is overclocked.

I7 920 super A+  batchs include 3849B018, 3849B028, 3849A832-837, but if you have a starting number of 3845,3846,3849 you more than likely have a really exceptional chip.

Thanks for the numbers but I am out of luck.

My Batch# is 3923A366

I have a 920, how do u find out your bitch exactly?

LOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!

I think you mean your "batch"

yeah.. how do u find that

Dunno.

It should be on the sticker on the box your CPU came in. It will say batch number. i also think it is stamped on the chip but I don't think you wanna take your heatsink and thermal paste off to find the batch number.

Maybe, maybe not, tinker with it see what happens. My 930 is from a shifty batch and it runs 3.8 with reasonable volts and temps. You never know, unless you have one of those batches I mentioned and then you do know.

I am thinking about doing some tinkering to bring my processor up from 2.66 to 3.2 but I am kinda nervous. I know once I do some over clocking it will be easy just like my first build (my current I7 rig). I have looking into it quite a bit but I think until it is at least a yr old before I start changin it.

I know if you do overclocking right it is fine. Same as tuning a cars engine to run smoothly but I will wait until I can get a good book or mag that shows the process step by step. I am just so happy with this build right now I don't want to fudge it up. I had a custom built comp for five yrs and while it worked it always seemed to be lacking but this comp just keeps on cookin.

I understand your nervousness, but the overclock speeds you are looking forward to are easily reached with an I7 920.

I own an EVGA X58 classified motherboard that will "dummy" overclock my I7 920 automatically to 3.35Ghz. Checking the settings of the dummy overclock afterwards, I found that the CPU voltage merely went from, 1.15v to 1.25v... which is still an extraordinarily mild bump.

An important thing often overlooked by amateur overclockers (referring to CPU's), is the quality and speed of the RAM being used.  I am not saying that everyone need to upgrade their RAM to do a CPU overclock... I'm just pointing out that when you bump your CPU to higher speeds, typically your Ram gets bumped too.  So be sure to check the RAM speed before booting into your new CPU speed, you can normally and separately adjust your RAM speed back "down" to normal.

 Me too... it has three settiings, How exactly do you go about bumping it up, is it merely a matter of flipping the other two switches on the mobo up.. or one down another up?

Can you explain how and If I should use it too?

I have 6 gigs of Ram, not sure of the speed.

It's been a completely stress free option for me... and as long as you have adequate cooling (average/normal cooling), you should be "gellin".  I am assuming since you have the classified, you did'nt go cheap on the cooling so, here it is:

Open up the BIOS : During start-up and boot cycle repeatedly tap the DELETE key.  This will bring you to the BIOS screen.

On opening screen go to Frequency/ Voltage Control... highlight and hit enter.

On the next page, the very first thing on the list is Dummy O.C..  Highlight it - hit enter - Enable It.

Once enabled, you can see about halfway down the list the Clock speed that will be attempted.  Don't worry, it will be OK, the computer will not boot up if the settings are not good. (In that case, just push the RESET CMOS button on the back of your computer to put your BIOS back to default settings).  Although, I am confident this will not happen with a DUMMY OC.

Back to the point... after enabling the dummy OC, hit the F10 key to save and reboot.

After your computer restarts you can track all of your CPU and RAM speeds and monitor temps using simple programs like CPU-Z or your proprietary EVGA E-LEET TUNING UTILITY.

Enjoy your faster rig.

PS... I'm a huge fan of your art, here and with MAXSTYLES.  I think I have almost all of your innovative and unique skins.

Aaaahh...you lucky guys...reset button for BIOS default huh?

EVGA classified FTW!!!

For better results (higher overclocking) you can try Overclocking manually. At least thats what I would do.

Hey now! Nothing wrong with using lures if you are fishing!

Sigh...I only had to reset BIOS settings twice in my life, and you dont know how annoying it is, to have to remove my graphics card, because the reset BIOS jumper is right under the gfx card