Nehalem could be overclocked to 4 GHz on a X58 motherboard. (picture: PCGH)
There had been a lot of rumors about the overclocking capabilities of the Core 2 successor. Today we learned that the Nehalem top model (default clock speed is 3.2 GHz) was running stable at 4 GHz. More OC details were revealed, too. As usual with chipsets, you need to adjust the multiplier. The QPI connection between the CPU and the chipset got a own value that you need to lower.
In the producer's test 1.7 volt were enough for 4 GHz. Furthermore the Nehalem is said to be quite cool during the procedure - air cooling is sufficient. According to the producer, more than 1.65 volt is dangerous to the integrated memory controller.
We expect the first Nehalem CPUs and X58 board in about two months. Of course we will make our own overclocking experiments as soon as possible.