Pre-Overclocking Baseline Measurements

Faster speed for computer components usually requires more voltage which, in turn, generates more heat. Excessive heat contributes to component failure and reduces the life of electronic components. It's a delicate balance and I will be closely monitoring voltages and temperatures during my overclocking project.

I took my first reading in BIOS right after I turned on the computer:

CPU Temperature: 38C/100F
Motherboard Temperature: 24C/75F
CPU Fan: 1767 RPM
VCore Voltage: 1.288
2.3V Voltage: 3.232
5V Voltage: 4.966
12V Voltage: 12.038

There are 5 fans in the Antec Nine Hundred case: two 120mm infront (one set to Low and the other set to Medium), one 120mm on the side (set to Low), one 120mm fan in the rear (set to Low), and one 200mm fan on top (set to Low).

I allowed the computer to idle for 15 minutes.

I then started ASUS PC Probe, Everest Ultimate, and SpeedFan to get temperature and voltage readings:

ASUS PC Probe:

Motherboard Temperature: 28C
CPU Temperatyre: 37C
CPU Fan: 1767 RPM
VCore Voltage: 1.18
3.3V Voltage: 3.23
5V Voltage: 4.97
12V Voltage: 12.04

Everest Ultimate:

Motherboard Temperature: 28C/82F
CPU Temperature: 36C/97F
Core #1 Temperature: 40C/104F
Core #2 Temperature: 42C/108F
GPU Temperature: 53C/127F
Disk Drive Temperature: 25C/77F
CPU Fan: 1795 RPM
CPU Core Voltage: 1.18
3,3V Voltage: 3.23
5V Voltage: 4.97
12V Voltage: 12.04
+5V Standby: 4.90

SpeedFan:

Motherboard Temperature: 28C
CPU Temperature: 37C
Disk Drive Temperature: 25C
CPU Fan: 1786 RPM
VCore Voltage: 1.18
3.3V Voltage: 3.23
12V Voltage: 12.04

I ran 2 instances of Super Pi mod 1.5 XS, each instance calculating 32M digits of Pi. One completed in 21 minutes and 9.890 seconds. The other one completed in 21 minutes and 17.562 seconds. Both instances pegged both cores of the CPU at pretty much 100% utilization during the calculations. I ran 2 instances because I have observed that running just one instance of Super Pi in a dual core system kept one core fully occupied while barely utilizing the other core.

During the 20th loop (out of 24 loops) of the Super Pi calculations, I captured the temperature readings from Everest Ultimate and SpeedFan. Both tools showed Motherboard temperature at 32C, CPU temperature at 49C and 50C (the temperature reading of both cores was 55C) and fan speed at 1795 RPM and 1805 RPM. The slight discrepancy is due to both tools not taking readings at exactly the same time.

I then ran the Everest cache & Memory Benchmark. The results are as follows:

Memory:

Read: 6781 MB/s
Write: 4818 MB/s
Copy: 5399 MB/s
Latency: 71.3 ns

L1 Cache:

Read: 62647 MB/s
Write: 42522 MB/s
Copy: 85039 MB/s
Latency: 1.1 ns

L2 Cache:

Read: 20119 MB/s
Write: 16018 MB/s
Copy: 22003 MB/s
Latency: 4.5 ns

I followed this with running the Everest Stress Test for 5 minutes. Twice during this test, the ASUS Probe warned of CPU temperature exceeding 60C, but the computer continued running properly.

The last test I ran was 3DMark06. Nighthawk scored 8537 3DMarks, with the breakdown as follows:

SM2.0 Score = 3725
SM3.0 Score = 3709
CPU Score = 2338

The details of this test results can be viewed here.

Tomorrow is when I start tweaking the BIOS for overclocking.