Gigabyte Z77 Overclocking Guide

actually just watched all this through!

very informative mate, i think you done really well in going over the most important stuff for people who are 'new' to overclocking and want somewhere to start from!
 
do you mean the windows 7 '4 spinning balls that turns into the windows logo' thing or the icon where your name is?

4 spinning balls thing=
start
type 'system configuration'
click 'boot' tab at top
tick the box marked 'no GUI boot'
restart.

if you ever want it back, simply untick.

as for the user log in bit.

delete other users and passwords.

there is a work around but i cant remember it off the top of my head as its very late, so just use google. as i remember its in regedit and its something like 'user control password'. anyway dont mess in regedit until you know EXACTLY what to change.
 
Anyone, please help.. I am a complete noob and I have some questions to ask. First of all, I want to say that I find this overclocking guide is very helpful, thanks to Tom :). Now before I ask my questions, let me tell you my specs:

i5 3570k
AsRock z77 extreme4
CM Hyper 212 Evo (push-pull fans)
Arctic Cooling MX-4
Patriot Viper 3 DDR3 1600MHz (9 9 9 24) 2x4GB
HIS 7950 IceQ
Seasonic G-650 80+Gold
Seagate 2TB SATA3 7200RPM
NZXT Phantom 410 (2 front intake fans, 1 rear and 1 top exhaust fans)

The AsRock Bios is a bit different, but I tried my best to set everything to be the exact same with Tom's settings except the CPU core voltage. I managed to get 1.080 volt at stock. When I tested at 4.0 GHz with 1.125 volt, OCCT stopped running after 8 minutes. My system didn't crash, temps are still normal I guess (75C max temp, 30C ambient temp) but OCCT just stopped running and said "Error Detected ... ". Is this a common thing with OCCT showing that my CPU needs more voltage? Or is there any other factor?
Right now, I am testing my CPU at 4.0 GHz with 1.150 volt, and OCCT has been running for 12 minutes. My target is 4.2 GHz, so I want to know whether I am doing the right thing.
 
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I also have i5 3570k but i overclocked it to 4.2 using auto voltage with quite high negative offset. That gives me to 1.163 when undrer stress but drops down to 0.9 when system is just idling. That is also fine i assume?
 
Anyone, please help.. I am a complete noob and I have some questions to ask. First of all, I want to say that I find this overclocking guide is very helpful, thanks to Tom :). Now before I ask my questions, let me tell you my specs:

i5 3570k
AsRock z77 extreme4
CM Hyper 212 Evo (push-pull fans)
Arctic Cooling MX-4
Patriot Viper 3 DDR3 1600MHz (9 9 9 24) 2x4GB
HIS 7950 IceQ
Seasonic G-650 80+Gold
Seagate 2TB SATA3 7200RPM
NZXT Phantom 410 (2 front intake fans, 1 rear and 1 top exhaust fans)

The AsRock Bios is a bit different, but I tried my best to set everything to be the exact same with Tom's settings except the CPU core voltage. I managed to get 1.080 volt at stock. When I tested at 4.0 GHz with 1.125 volt, OCCT stopped running after 8 minutes. My system didn't crash, temps are still normal I guess (75C max temp, 30C ambient temp) but OCCT just stopped running and said "Error Detected ... ". Is this a common thing with OCCT showing that my CPU needs more voltage? Or is there any other factor?
Right now, I am testing my CPU at 4.0 GHz with 1.150 volt, and OCCT has been running for 12 minutes. My target is 4.2 GHz, so I want to know whether I am doing the right thing.

Its all in the guide.... You need more volts. Might want to think about a better cooler too. (assuming youve done everything I said in the guide)
 
Anyone, please help.. I am a complete noob and I have some questions to ask. First of all, I want to say that I find this overclocking guide is very helpful, thanks to Tom :). Now before I ask my questions, let me tell you my specs:

i5 3570k
AsRock z77 extreme4
CM Hyper 212 Evo (push-pull fans)
Arctic Cooling MX-4
Patriot Viper 3 DDR3 1600MHz (9 9 9 24) 2x4GB
HIS 7950 IceQ
Seasonic G-650 80+Gold
Seagate 2TB SATA3 7200RPM
NZXT Phantom 410 (2 front intake fans, 1 rear and 1 top exhaust fans)

The AsRock Bios is a bit different, but I tried my best to set everything to be the exact same with Tom's settings except the CPU core voltage. I managed to get 1.080 volt at stock. When I tested at 4.0 GHz with 1.125 volt, OCCT stopped running after 8 minutes. My system didn't crash, temps are still normal I guess (75C max temp, 30C ambient temp) but OCCT just stopped running and said "Error Detected ... ". Is this a common thing with OCCT showing that my CPU needs more voltage? Or is there any other factor?
Right now, I am testing my CPU at 4.0 GHz with 1.150 volt, and OCCT has been running for 12 minutes. My target is 4.2 GHz, so I want to know whether I am doing the right thing.

99.9% of the time if an overclock isn't stable, you just need more volts
 
Nice video as always Tom. The importance of manual voltage settings wasnt totally new to me but great to see it examplified like that.

OK so Im a total noob to overclocks. A question that maybe could be answered in a general term.

Is there such a thing as a "optimal" middle of the road percentwise overclock (100% OC beeing the max I can get out of it) to both gain a better performance out of my cpu without hurting the lifetime of the chip to much? (Yes I know its gonna depend on the chip so noone really could say- but im after more of a broad ballpark number....)
 
I also used an ASrock board, instead of keeping it at a constant voltage I've increased the turbo voltage so rather than letting the board decide what it needs for the clock you still set it to a max just when it's not doing anything it still runs at a lower voltage.

Just wondering if you think it'll make the cpu last a bit longer?
 
Got my i7 3770k on a gigabyte Z77-UP7 mobo stable 4.5ghz @ 1.2v but I'm using samsung green low profile ram that won't overclock past 1866 regardless of timings/voltage. Previously I've overclocked this exact ram on an asus board easily to 2133+ so my question is has anybody had a similar issue with this type of ram on a gigabyte board? I also have the latest bios and still not working, must be a bios issue tho right?
Many thanks

Ben
 
Why don't you disable turbo?

In the video Tom leaves turbo on, I don't see why. Surely it wouldn't make any difference so you might as well disable it?
 
In the video Tom leaves turbo on, I don't see why. Surely it wouldn't make any difference so you might as well disable it?

If I disable turbo on the UP4 it wont overclock at all. Messed up indeed but I had to show you how to do it with the board Ive got.
 
If I disable turbo on the UP4 it wont overclock at all. Messed up indeed but I had to show you how to do it with the board Ive got.
Does that apply to all Gigabyte Z77 boards? I have the UD5.
What voltage would you recommend keeping my 2500K below? Some people say 1.35V, others say 1.4V so it would be nice to have a definitive answer. Cheers!
 
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do you mean the windows 7 '4 spinning balls that turns into the windows logo' thing or the icon where your name is?

4 spinning balls thing=
start
type 'system configuration'
click 'boot' tab at top
tick the box marked 'no GUI boot'
restart.

if you ever want it back, simply untick.

as for the user log in bit.

delete other users and passwords.

there is a work around but i cant remember it off the top of my head as its very late, so just use google. as i remember its in regedit and its something like 'user control password'. anyway dont mess in regedit until you know EXACTLY what to change.
Yeah, it's the part after the spinning doodad. Tried the first tip but that still leaves the welcome screen there. Googled a few options but they don't work either. I'm guessing it's a registry tweak of some sort.

At the risk of hijacking the thread, is it possible to have Tom shed light on this.
 
Great guide, but I still need some help.

Hello everyone, I am very new to overclocking but I really want to get started. This guide was very helpful with the basics but my bios is so completely different from the one used that I am a little lost. First of all my specs are:
i7-3770K
Intel DZ77RE-75K Extreme board
Galaxy GTX 680
32 gigs of G.Skill X series 1600
Corsair AX 850 PSU
Corsair H70 Liquid CPU Cooler
Corsair Force GT 240 GB ssd

I tried to follow the guide pretty closely and I was able to adjust the voltages but there did not seem to be options to remove the auto settings and I think the board is just automatically re-adjusting things. I tried moving the multiplier up to 4.2 ghz but when I ran CPUZ it said it was still running at 3.9. I ran OCCT with the voltage at 1.100 and it was fine at stock but I am having trouble figuring out how to move up the multiplier on this board. Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.
 
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