New OC'er and VERY Confused!

[Arcnor]

Hi everyone.

I just finished putting together my first PC. Hey presto, it works! Woo! But now I'm trying to dip my toe into overclocking, and I've hit a brick wall. I've tried following Mr. Logan's guide, but no matter what I do, every time I launch OCCT, it ends in BSOD. The one run I managed to complete was at 3.4 GHz at 1.1V. Nothing faster will work. I've even allowed ASUS' AI Suite take a crack at overclocking it, hoping to crib its settings. It clocked up to 4.2 GHz at 1.153V, booted into Windows no problem. OCCT? BSOD. Again.

What am I doing wrong? Any theories? Could I have a hardware problem somewhere? Is my PSU screwed or something?

Please help!

Description of system follows:
CPU: Intel 4670K
Motherboard: ASUS Maximus VI Impact
CPU Cooler: Corsair H80i
Case: Bitfenix Prodigy
PSU: Corsair HX 650
GPU: EVGA GTX 770 ACX 2GB
SSD: Samsung 840 EVO
RAM: G.Skill RipjawsX 1866MHz 10-11-10-30-2 16GB
OS: Windows 7

 

[NeverBackDown]

Which version of OCCT? Which version of bios/chipset?

What is your ram set at?

Usually this won't do much but try updating to service pack 1 for windows. Has a lot of changes internally.

 

[Arcnor]

OCCT version 4.4.0. (I think).

Bios version 1002.

Already running Service Pack 1.

RAM set at its proper timings, but backed off to 1600 MHz.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Okay, update.

Ran OCCT again for 30 minutes. 4.2 GHz @ 1.23V. Backed the memory off again to 1333 MHz.

And...

SUCCESS!

(Cue KC and the Sunshine Band "Get Down Tonight" here.)

So, I guess the memory was the issue?

Okay, so once I get my CPU speed and voltage dialed in a little, any advice on how to work my memory up to where it ought to be?

Thanks for the help and patience with the n00b, everybody!

 

[Damien c]

My advice drop the cpu back to stock, then put the ram to it's rated speed and timings using the XMP setting in the bios and run Memtest86+ using the cd and test the ram.

When I have had dodgy ram in the past it's shown the errors within a few seconds but sometimes it can take a run or two to show them as well.

You might have some bad ram which is causing the crashes when you overclock the cpu and run the ram at it's rated speed.

 

[Arcnor]

MemTest86+

Okay, set everything back to optimized defaults in BIOS, set RAM to XMP profile, so it's running at its rated speed, and ran MemTest86+ (after I located the optical drive -- no USB sticks handy -- and remembered you have to burn a disk image, not the file itself... anybody want a nice shiny coaster, by the way? ).

No errors. Looks like G.Skill isn't the issue.

Oh, and I tried another OCCT run for 4.3 GHz at 1.22V (didn't change the VCore, in other words) with the RAM at 1333 MHz, and everything went fine.

So, any ideas on why the memory doesn't want to run any faster?

 

[Arcnor]

Update, Part the Second

Okay.

Memory set at 1866 MHz at stock timings. CPU set at 4.3 GHz @ 1.15V (1.168V after load line calibration kicks in).

30 minute OCCT Linpack run.

Result?

STABLE.

You may, if you are so inclined, picture a skinny white Canadian outside in the snow in shirt sleeves doing the Snoopy Dance now.

Yeah, it's not a world record or anything, but it's mine, it's stable, and the voltage and the temperatures don't terrify me. Plus, I think I have a decent CPU here -- it won't do 4.4 GHz @ 1.18V, but it will at 1.2V. I never tried for 4.5 GHz, because I'm satisfied with what I have now, but I think it could probably do it.

tl;dr: It works! WOOO!

 

[theDTP]

Just keep it under 1.3v and play away. Save that profile first

 

[ObscureParadox]

It was simply a case of voltage sortage going to the CPU for 4.2GHz, so when you put it up it was fine. So long as the ram is at 2133MHz or below then regular XMP settings should always work without any change in the memory controller voltage, but 2400MHz and above may need a boost but not always. YMMV

 

[PetetheSweet]

Please remember most of the G.Skill Ram needs to run at 1,65 V with XMP.
I manually put the voltage to 1.68 V to get it running on 1.65 V
Have a look on the Ram itself, if on the sticker is 1.65 V, look what it shows in the bios or in occt.