What is supposed to be a STABLE OC?

Hi,
I am confused as I've been out of this for a while. What does everyone consider with Mobile Xtreme CPU's is considered a stable OC? In the not all that long ago past, at least to me it wasn't that long ago, it was Prime95 bashing. Also my last experience in this was from Desktops back in the day of the first 1 GHz overclock SlotA Athlons.

It sees though this is not as relevant as it used to be. It used to be to avoid a BSOD and run Prime95 was really only one or two voltage steps up from the OS booting and being able to run normal apps. So in the end CPU tortured state assured stability. This doesn't seem true with these new CPU's

I can run 3.6 GHz @ 1.250 without a BSOD. At 1.275 I can push any normal app flooding the cpu, even coresmark2010 for 8 minutes, without a single issue. To do prime95 without an error I need 1.3250 but then within 4 minutes I am overheated.

Under the same guise as above I can even run 3.7 at 1.3625 all day on the desktop but only 1 minute to overheat in Prime95. Now I hadn't extensively tested the lower end but 1.3500 causes an error in Prime95 but I still can cpu load 100% any other normal app without error.

So to my question again for those still in the loop, what is considered a Stable O/C? Prime95 still has its place to torture CPU's but just doesn't seem as relevant as it used to be. Coresmark 2010 seems to load up the CPU more than most normal apps would that flood the CPU. So far with that I've had no issues with the CPU either. I don't know if I'd be happy just running above BSOD and before thermal shutdown without some type of CPU verification.........

 

I go by intel burn test:
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Benchmarks/IntelBurnTest.shtml

By the way, can I ask what your power adapter is rated at?

 

For me, if the the CPU can handle ~5 minutes of Core Damage, I consider it stable.

 

I use the Targus 180w power brick. I'll take a look at that, thanks...........

Edit; WOW, and I thought Prime95 heated up the CPU, HOLY I can see whay it is called BURN............

 

For me it is playing games for hours and not overheating/BSOD. At 3.6GHz/1.3375v Prime will push my CPU into the high 80c range but my TZSx will go into the high 90c range and eventually it shuts off from overheating after a few minutes. I can play games all day at 3.6GHz and my CPU never goes above 80c. Prime pushes my CPU way harder than I ever will.

 

Even that program seems to heat up the CPU more than even Prime95. Although both so far have verified my Vcores without error or BSOD to 3.458 GHz..........

 

IMO I would test that out for a few more hours since errors can still occur after the 5 min mark.

 

4 hours should be good enough unless you plan on using that those clocks for an extended period of time.

eg. I usually game for 1-2 hours straight so i do a stability test for 3-4 hours at those clocks to ensure that its not gonna crap out on me.

Some people do overnight tests, peace of mind really.

 

My main concern is the temperature; which seems to "top out" within 5 minutes. And since Core Damage is better at heating up the processor and producing errors quite quickly, I've never had any issues with clocks that passed the 5 minute test.

As an example I can run for days with my QX9300 at 12.5x/1.2875V, virtualizing multiple operating systems, converting HD video, and gaming without issue; but Core Damage will crash it after a few seconds.

 

for me , a stable OC is one which doesn't heat up the CPU or GPU above 90C in games.. i really don't care about wprime etc as nver stress GPU that much...

 

I am stable Prime95 to 3.458, I just ran 3DMark06 and FF benchmarks. At 3.725 GHz FF gave 85C and 3DMark 06 87C on TZSx. This alows for 10C plus befroe I'd hit thermal shutdown. The vcores that are error free but of course overheat on all the "BURN" apps.

I am using ThrottleStop as default to 3.2 GHz and will only go higher if required so I think this should be good for a while. I did a Xilisoft HD to MPG-2 conversion and where the P9600gave 19 FPS conversion rate at 3.7 I get 28-29 FPS coversion rate and only 82C TSZx.