New to overclocking

[Squid]

ok thanks for the help in advance.

I just built this
Cooler Master HAF 912 Plus
850W Corsair Enthusiast Series 850T
Intel Core i5 3570K
ASUS Z77 Sabertooth
Corsair 8GB KIT PC3-12800 DDR3-1600
Noctua NH-D14
(and i had a) ASUS GTX470
OCZ Agility 3 120GB SSD

I'm looking to get to around 4.3/4.4Ghz and i have a couple of questions. i read that the CPU could be set to 4.1Ghz on stock volts. What other setting do i need to change in the bios if any.

Also about What to change to get the memory to it correct settings. I have been reading abit about overclocking but just need help starting.

Thanks

Barry

 

[Deejeta]

Each chip will be different, some need more voltage than others to achieve the same overclock. Plenty of great info on this forum, eg:
http://forum.overclock3d.net/showthread.php?t=45604
Your memory will most likely have a XMP profile to load - this has the speed, timing, voltage etc.
You have a great overclocking board with a decent cooler. No reason why 4.3/4.4 isnt attainable. Just educate yourself about the asus bios, ivy bridge overclocking etc and start off with a simple overclock. Stress test. etc.
Best of luck mate.

 

[Squid]

Thanks Deejeta

 

[Squid]

Ok. so now i'm at 4.0Ghz tested for 10 hours, max temp's was 51c. All i did was change the XMP profile for the memory and the core ratio limit to x40. still on stock volts i'll try x41 next. should i be changing anything else?

 

[jamesriley94]

You'll need to change core voltage sometime soon.

I don't really see the point of testing for 10 hour at a clock speed you won't be keeping?
Put it up to 4.5ghz and test. Keep raising the voltage until it's stable. You should easily be able to hit 4.5ghz with your rig.

 

[233Kosta]

Ok. so now i'm at 4.0Ghz tested for 10 hours, max temp's was 51c. All i did was change the XMP profile for the memory and the core ratio limit to x40. still on stock volts i'll try x41 next. should i be changing anything else?

When you quote "stock volts" do you mean the AUTO setting on the board? I suggest you run a manual voltage as giving the board free reign to do what it likes can have unintended and sometimes fatal consequences. My P8Z68 did try on a couple of occasions to run my 2500K at 1.6V which is stupid to say the least if you don't have liquid nitrogen or liquid helium, AND you want the chip to live to see another day.

Once you start bumping up the voltages, don't be afraid to go to 1.25, that should be pretty safe with an NH-D14. Do watch the temps closely as well, just in case you got dodgy TIM under the heat spreader. Up to about 65-70 degrees you should also be OK. That's going by Sandy Bridge experience by the way. If anyone has better suggestions about staying safe - be my guest, I know there are minor differences from SB to IB, just not sure how they translate into overclocking.

 

[iBeInspire]

Auto = ''Do what you want motherboard''
Set the stock volts yourself, so you don't fry something

 

[Squid]

lol blond moment ment to say Auto and thanks James i'll try to get 4.5Ghz stable over the next day or so.

 

[B3rni3]

Definitely do not run auto volts when overclocking.

To give you an example the auto overclocking feature on my rig put my cpu at 4.1ghz at 1.38 volts or something very near to 1.4v. I did the overclock myself and I got 4.6ghz at 1.336v.

So if it thinks it needs that much volts at that speed you can be sure at anything higher it would have mad volts.

The auto volts are never good. As Kosta said stick it at something like 1.2v and bump it up until stable. Bump up in small increments though.

 

[233Kosta]

For whatever it's worth - mine does 4.5 at 1.27 volts, so an Ivy Bridge should be somewhere around the 1.24-1.26 mark. In any case - anything below 1.3 I consider safe for short runs.

Since you're using an ASUS board, install TurboV EVO if you haven't already, in TurboV, set 1.225 as your base line Vcore, run up the multipliers and to minute long Prime runs. Chances are - if it's going to be unstable at this stage - it'll be properly unstable and fail within the first 10-15 seconds. Once it fails, note down the Vcore and multiplier, bump it up a bit more to say 1.25 and repeat. This way you'll get a basic feel for what your chip can do. It's a good idea to assess your chip's thermal performance at various Vcore values. Just set a stable multiplier for that particular Vcore and run Prime for 20-30 minutes. Again - this is just so you can get the feel for temps.

Then it's time to decide what temps you're comfortable with. I'm happy with anything up to about 60-65 *C, but others may not mind higher or may prefer lower.

Once you're comfortable with a certain Vcore temperature level - go up to the highest multiplier the previous tests showed stable. If it doesn't fail in the first 10 minutes - stop it, bump Vcore down by the smallest increment and repeat until it does. Then bump it back up and follow the procedure below:

Bump up the Vcore by the smallest increment you can and rerun the test. Repeat until it passes a 1hr run and then leave overnight. If it's not dead in the morning - it'll be fine for everything else you do.

If at a later date you encounter an instability - don't hesitate to bump the Vcore up 1 increment to see if it may fix it. If it needs much more than 1 or 2 increments after an overnight prime run - look for problems elsewhere.

Also make sure you've switched all the power saving features it comes with. They f-cked up my overclock pretty badly for a while, causing failures at low power mode, but after I did that and forced my VRMs to maximum frequency - rock solid for about 14 days now.

 

[jamesriley94]

For whatever it's worth - mine does 4.5 at 1.27 volts, so an Ivy Bridge should be somewhere around the 1.24-1.26 mark. In any case - anything below 1.3 I consider safe for short runs.

Since you're using an ASUS board, install TurboV EVO if you haven't already, in TurboV, set 1.225 as your base line Vcore, run up the multipliers and to minute long Prime runs. Chances are - if it's going to be unstable at this stage - it'll be properly unstable and fail within the first 10-15 seconds. Once it fails, note down the Vcore and multiplier, bump it up a bit more to say 1.25 and repeat. This way you'll get a basic feel for what your chip can do. It's a good idea to assess your chip's thermal performance at various Vcore values. Just set a stable multiplier for that particular Vcore and run Prime for 20-30 minutes. Again - this is just so you can get the feel for temps.

Then it's time to decide what temps you're comfortable with. I'm happy with anything up to about 60-65 *C, but others may not mind higher or may prefer lower.

Once you're comfortable with a certain Vcore temperature level - go up to the highest multiplier the previous tests showed stable. If it doesn't fail in the first 10 minutes - stop it, bump Vcore down by the smallest increment and repeat until it does. Then bump it back up and follow the procedure below:

Bump up the Vcore by the smallest increment you can and rerun the test. Repeat until it passes a 1hr run and then leave overnight. If it's not dead in the morning - it'll be fine for everything else you do.

If at a later date you encounter an instability - don't hesitate to bump the Vcore up 1 increment to see if it may fix it. If it needs much more than 1 or 2 increments after an overnight prime run - look for problems elsewhere.

Also make sure you've switched all the power saving features it comes with. They f-cked up my overclock pretty badly for a while, causing failures at low power mode, but after I did that and forced my VRMs to maximum frequency - rock solid for about 14 days now.

You can't really compare Sandy volts to Ivy volts at all.
Ivy's all over the place tbh.
I get 4.5ghz from 1.195v, another user here needs 1.22v, and there was one user here that got it stable on something ridiculous like 1.05v. Doesn't really mean a thing on Ivy tbh...


On another note; where in Sheffield do you get 170mbps download speed?! That's a joke, I'm lucky to get 5mbps...

 

[Pugsport]

On another note; where in Sheffield do you get 170mbps download speed?! That's a joke, I'm lucky to get 5mbps...

bt have just started doing complete fibreoptic internet in the larger citys (this is a test run to see how it gose) but the fibre gose all the way to the house not just the cabinet at the end of the road and gives awesome speed

 

[233Kosta]

You can't really compare Sandy volts to Ivy volts at all.
Ivy's all over the place tbh.
I get 4.5ghz from 1.195v, another user here needs 1.22v, and there was one user here that got it stable on something ridiculous like 1.05v. Doesn't really mean a thing on Ivy tbh...


On another note; where in Sheffield do you get 170mbps download speed?! That's a joke, I'm lucky to get 5mbps...

I see your point on voltages, however the method holds for what I do. The numbers are irrelevant up to the point when they become unsafe. I've also seen a range of voltages required by SB to attain 4.5, some as low as 1.22, others - as high as 1.38. Guess I got lucky with mine. Point is, in general IB need less than SB and should produce less heat (unless Intel f-cked you over with the TIM under the IHS).

I live in the student village next to Norfolk Park. It just so happens internet is supplied by ASK4, who were kind enough to leave the taps open one September night and allow me to take that measurement. They promise me 70, the average steady speed stays between 80 and 95, depending on the load and what ASK4 feel like. At uni I managed to clock it at 300+, but that was in the evening when few people use that monster of a connection.

 

[Squid]

OK so I've now got an overclock of 4.6Ghz running 100 x 4.6 at 1.272v and temp's 60,65,64,64. I've tested on Prime for 10 hours so i think it's stable. Does that seem to be ok or am i doing something wrong.:huh:

 

[Squid]

Bump:huh:

 

[dragoonk]

Bump:huh:

Seemss to be fine, what bump? did it fail?

 

[Squid]

Seemss to be fine, what bump? did it fail?

No the Bump worked just fine you answered what i was looking for.

Thanks

Squid