First overclock - 3570k

[Remote_zero]

Have been using another forum, but have not had much luck.
Always liked the articles/reviews here, so thought I'd give this forum a go.

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I know there's a lot of threads just like this one, so I start by apologising for adding to it. I'm sorry. But not sorry enough to go right ahead and post it anyway

I'm at complete n00b at overclocking, but I've been reading a few guides, and rooting through this forum, and last night and today have been giving it my first try.

Some of it I'm pretty sure I understand, and some of it still baffles me a bit, but I'm sure I'll get there.

Anyway, this is what I've got. I'm not sure if I'm confident enough not to revert back to stock setting yet, but we'll see.

CPU Clock Ratio - 45
Internal CPU PLL Overvoltage - Auto
Turbo Boost - Disabled
C1E - Disabled
C3/C6 - Disabled
CPU thermal monitor - Disabled
EIST - Disabled

Vcore loadline calibration - turbo
Vcore - 1.33v (1.32v crashed on prime95 after 5mins)

Everything else set to auto, or at stock settings.

CPU z
Voltage idle - 1.320v
Voltage load - 1.308v

Voltage seems high compared to other people's, is that just a below par chip, or am I missing something?
Will this be ok for everyday use, or should I knock it back to 4.4ghz?
I'd like to use DVID for my overclock, but still don't completely understand the process. Any good guides you can point me in the direction of? Will my current settings translate over in some way?

I'm probably missing something somewhere, or making a silly mistake, any help/advice/criticism would be greatly appreciated.

 

[exar333]

Temps look great. What are you running to stress your cores (Prime/IBT/OCCT/etc) and what is your cooling setup? Other system specs always help too.

 

[Remote_zero]

Sorry, I just copy and pasted across. My specs are in my sig on the other forum.
I5 3570k, GA-Z77X-UP5 TH, 2x4gb Kingston HyperX Genesis DDR3 @ 1600mhz
CM 612s cpu cooler, AX850 psu, Fractal Arc midi case (x3 stock case fans ATM.)
Using prime95 to stress. Was going to use IBT when I think I'm happy with my setting.

 

[dma0991]

Temps look fine but the voltage could be lower. Mine will run at 4.5GHz @ 1.28V on load. It is slightly higher at idle, 1.295V because I didn't want to set LLC.

 

[Remote_zero]

Is there anything I'm missing that might help me get my voltage lower, it seems high but won't pass prime95 on anything lower.
There seems to be conflicting info on LLC. If your voltages aren't mega high, it shouldn't cause an issue, right?

 

[dma0991]

Too many variables, it could be a lemon or the motherboard isn't doing a good job. It was just trial and error for mine. I started at 1.35V and deducted 0.05V if it passed all the stability tests, usually 1/2 hour for each run. I try to keep it near 1.3V or less. I don't think it'll be a major problem unless you're in the 1.35-1.4V range.

You could try running the RAMs at the default 1333MHz without XMP profile that makes it 1600MHz. I didn't like the HyperX Genesis because it gives off errors/crashes if I set its intended 1600MHz but runs fine without the XMP profile.

 

[Remote_zero]

I actually got the overclock without the RAM using the profile.
Re-applied XMP and re-tested afterwards, and its fine.
I was hoping someone would look at my settings and tell me I'd done something wrong that was causing my voltage to rise. No matter, I'm happy with 4.5. Just need to figure out this offset voltage stuff now.

 

[Yuriman]

Lowering LLC helped a lot for lowering my voltages. The LLC implementation on my board isn't very good. YMMV.

Reducing temperatures allows you to lower voltages too, but your temps look pretty good.

You can probably safely reenable Turbo, C1E, EIST and thermal monitor. Most of these will lower your operating voltages at less than full load and probably extend the life of your chip as well as save you money in your electric bill.

Make sure you have spread spectrum disabled.

Check my guide here: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2275027

Edit: Overall it looks like you're doing most everything right. Remember that not all chips are made equal.

 

[Idontcare]

CPU Clock Ratio - 45
Internal CPU PLL Overvoltage - Auto
Turbo Boost - Disabled
C1E - Disabled
C3/C6 - Disabled
CPU thermal monitor - Disabled
EIST - Disabled

No doubt you've been told by a great number of respectable OC'ing gurus to set your bios options to the options captured above, but if you don't mind humoring me would you set the BIOS to the following and then see if you can lower your Vcc without sacrificing stability?

CPU Clock Ratio - 45
Internal CPU PLL Overvoltage - Enable
Turbo Boost - Disabled
C1E - Enabled
C3/C6 - Enabled
CPU thermal monitor - Enabled
EIST - Enabled

FWIW - if you happen to read any of my posts in this forum pertaining to OC'ing my 2600k or 3770k, all my results are obtained with the BIOS settings as I bolded above. (for better or worse, but if it is for worse then it doesn't seem to be holding back my OC's all that much )

 

[Remote_zero]

I'll certainly give it a go. Will report back.
What do you guys use for stress testing, is prime95 the way to go?

 

[Yuriman]

I use Prime, both Small FFT and blend, Intel Burn Test, and Dolphin (GC emulator) because on my particular system it's more sensitive to instability than either of the other tests. (Specifically, a build of Dolphin that uses AVX)

 

[exar333]

No doubt you've been told by a great number of respectable OC'ing gurus to set your bios options to the options captured above, but if you don't mind humoring me would you set the BIOS to the following and then see if you can lower your Vcc without sacrificing stability?



FWIW - if you happen to read any of my posts in this forum pertaining to OC'ing my 2600k or 3770k, all my results are obtained with the BIOS settings as I bolded above. (for better or worse, but if it is for worse then it doesn't seem to be holding back my OC's all that much )

This.

Your temps are actually great for the voltage you are currently using, so I would imagine they would only get better with a slightly lower voltage.

 

[Yuriman]

I don't generally like to be contrary with IDC but if you can do without iPLL overvoltage, leave it disabled. My chip doesn't gain anything with it enabled (at least before 4.8ghz) but again YMMV.

It's worth testing with it enabled for sure.

 

[Remote_zero]

Enabled the features you mentioned and got the same crash after a few mins of prime at 1.32v. Tried to lower the LLC, same crash.
I've just disabled XMP, and have got further than before, 5mins in now.
Temps seemed lower before the crash fwiw. Max is 70c atm.

I guess I've just got a hungry chip. Really appreciate the help here guys.

 

[Remote_zero]

One of the cores failed with that.
Going back up to original voltage, with the features you mentioned enabled. The temps seemed to be lower, so that's a bonus.
PLL is something that's been confusing me a bit, I've got the option to adjust this in my voltage menu, it's on auto, which is 1.800v. How does this affect things?

 

[Yuriman]

PLL voltage doesn't appear to have a large effect either way, at least for moderate overclocks. I have my PLL voltage (not to be confused with iPLL overvoltage) lowered to 1.58v, the lowest my board supports, with no change in stability. Some have suggested it might slightly lower temperatures. I figure undervolting probably won't hurt though any changes in temperatures I've seen are within margin of error.

 

[Remote_zero]

There's a lot of settings that don't seem to do much one way or another, at least to my eyes.
Am I right in thinking that temperature is more of a concern than voltage,as far as chip degradation goes anyway.
With this in mind, my temps being low at this voltage, do you think I'd be ok upping them for 4.6. I keep reading 80c is a good figure to stay under.

 

[Remote_zero]

Seem to be stable with the power saving features enabled, I did get "desktop window manager has stopped working" 5mins in, should I be concerned with this. no errors in prime yet, running about 30mins now.

 

[Yuriman]

Seem to be stable with the power saving features enabled, I did get "desktop window manager has stopped working" 5mins in, should I be concerned with this. no errors in prime yet, running about 30mins now.

I typically have random services and programs crash when I'm right at the edge of stability, but a very slight voltage bump will probably stabilize you.

 

[jkauff]

I'm running at 4.5 on an Asus P8Z77-V LX with a Thermaltake air cooler using Arctic Silver paste. Stock settings, XMP, offset mode, nothing changed but the multiplier. I haven't done much formal stress testing, but I'm a heavy user of Handbrake which pushes all four cores to 100%. During two hour transcodes, temps never get above 75, and voltage never gets higher than 1.25. Totally stable in all regards. I love this chip!