Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H & i7 2600 overclocking

[horne65]

Hi All.
Sorry if this has been covered before. I have used Easy tune in the past to overclock my pc but fed up with the start up procedure.

Can anyone give me an idiots guide to overclocking the CPU & memory via Bios?

I don't want to try silly speeds but enough to give it a little kick.

 

[NTMBK]

Do you have an i7-2600, or an i7-2600k? The K makes a big difference- it means that your CPU is "unlocked", which makes overclocking it much more simple.

 

[horne65]

Do you have an i7-2600, or an i7-2600k? The K makes a big difference- it means that your CPU is "unlocked", which makes overclocking it much more simple.

Sorry my mistake, the i7 2600K

 

[NTMBK]

Excellent In that case, for a simple overclock you should not need to do any more than to disable turbo boost and raise the clock multiplier. Get your motherboard manual from here: http://download.gigabyte.eu/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_ga-z77x-ud5h_e.pdf Start from page 39, and it should tell you what you need to know.

Leave your CPU base clock as it is- this clock affects things like your memory controller and PCIe controller, and raising it can cause instability. Instead you just want to raise the CPU Clock Ratio. The maths behind it is:

CPU Frequency = Base Clock X CPU Clock Ratio

The default settings are Base Clock = 100MHz, and Clock Ratio = 34, giving you a frequency of 3400MHz (3.4GHz). Set the clock ratio to get the overclock you need, and you should be done. For instance a clock ratio of 40 will give you a 4GHz processor.

Important note- remember to disable Turbo Boost! This is a "built in overclock", which will increase your CPU frequency above the normal level in certain circumstances. (By default your CPU turbos from 3.4GHz up to 3.8GHz.) If you have already overclocked your CPU, this can send it to very high clock speeds and make your system unstable.

Good luck, and remember not to push your CPU too far- you don't want to fry the thing! After you have overclocked, remember to run a program like Prime95- this will work your CPU flat out, and let you check that temperatures do not get too high and your system remains stable.

 

[horne65]

Thanks for this help, one question where do I find the turbo boost option? Have looked and cannot find it.

 

[NTMBK]

Thanks for this help, one question where do I find the turbo boost option? Have looked and cannot find it.

According to the manual, it's under Advanced CPU Core Features. Good luck!

 

[horne65]

thanks for your help NTMBK, it has been great. I have my processor running at 4ghz solid & stable with my memory as high as a dare go due to other advice.

Do you or anyone else know how High my i7 2600K will go whilst remaining stable?

Does any know if a memory upgrade is worth while from my current Kingston HyperX Genesis DDR3-1600 8GB Dual Channel Memory Kit x2?

reason for all the sudden performance cravings is that I have now joined the 21st century and installed a Samsung evo ssd which has speeded things up no end.