Please help with Biostar TZ68A+ and 2500k overclocking

[TomC25]

EDIT - FIXED

I am dumb and did not use the latest version of CPUZ, I was using 1.55 from an old flash drive.

At 4.4GHz - temps are 56C to 60C - voltage at a steady 1.272V.

Much better

Thanks for all the input and advice.



Hi and thanks for reading.

I am not sure what setting I need to change. I know you should set the multiplier to something above 33 to overclock, but my bios does not show "multiplier".

There is a setting for "CPU Ratio". Is this the setting I need to change? When I do change that from stock 33 to say, 40, CPUZ reports as 33 still.

There is also a setting for core ratios for each separate core, do I need to change those?

Is there any other setting I need to enable/disable on this board to make things work correctly?

I have never had trouble overclocking in the past, and it's frustrating that I have to ask for help now.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Kenmitch]

I think you need to go to the O.N.E page/tab and look for the following:

Turbo Mode:
1 Core Ratio Limit
2 Core Ratio Limit
3 Core Ratio Limit
4 Core Ratio Limit

Looks like this screenshot possibly ???

If you want to get 4ghz just set them all to 40 and reboot.

Of course the above is based on a quick google search and looking at the following link's photo's as he said he was running at 4.5ghz.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Biostar/TZ68A_PLUS/6.html

You could most likely leave voltages on auto but as with all overclocking you should check and see what your board is feeding your chip. Someboards tend to give way more voltage than needed....If looks resonable leave alone. If questionable change it or at least ask for opinions.

 

[TomC25]

I loaded Prime95 and noticed CPUZ was up to over 4GHz with my setting of 40.

I guess I was not doing much and cpu was at idle when I first posted.

Thank you drive through.

 

[Crap Daddy]

I keep telling everybody who ventures in "mild" overclocking with Sandy Bridge (that is up to 4.4 GHz) that things are so simple even a 6 year old child can do it. All you have to do is put that "CPU ratio" to the desired value. Leave everything else on auto! In SB you overclock the turbo freq. Don't know ehat your biostar is showing in bios but after you apply save and exit when you enter gain in bios you should see instead of 3300MHz the value 4000MHz or whatever you set your multiplier. Check your temps under load, when overclocked the stock intel cooler is no good.

 

[Kenmitch]

So the way you changed it makes you idle at 3.33ghz ???

 

[TomC25]

So the way you changed it makes you idle at 3.33ghz ???

I guess so, I did not change speedstep or any other setting and I never drop below 3.3GHz.



I am using a Cooler Master Hyper 212plus for cooling.

Temps at 4.4GHz are 58-60C. I think I can go higher, I love this chip.

 

[Crap Daddy]

I guess so, I did not change speedstep or any other setting and I never drop below 3.3GHz.



I am using a Cooler Master Hyper 212plus for cooling.

Temps at 4.4GHz are 58-60C. I think I can go higher, I love this chip.

Nice. Those temps are under stress/load I assume?

What do you mean? CPUz shows you 3300 at desktop?

 

[TomC25]

Yes, temps of 60C are when running Prime95 with 100% load on all cores.

If nothing is running and I load CPUZ the multiplier stays at 33 and never goes lower.

 

[Kenmitch]

Maybe change whatever you changed back to it's default and try the turbo multiplier settings instead like the picture I showed above. You should be at 1.6ghz at idle. What vcore does your chip show at idle and load?

 

[TomC25]

OK I loaded optimum defaults to get a look at what stock idle and load specs are.

Idle uses 16 multiplier - core temps range 29C to 33C - CPUZ reports voltage 1.296V

Load uses 34 multiplier - core temps range 48C to 52C - CPUZ reports 1.600V (!!)

Is that voltage too high under load?


Changed ratio to 40 for all cores:

Idle uses 16 multiplier - same core temps and voltage as above

Load uses 40 multiplier - core temps range 56C to 60C - CPUZ reports 1.680V

Again, is this too high for the chip? What is the best/correct way to lower core voltage in bios?

 

[Kenmitch]

Yes those voltages are not a good thing at all. It looks like your gonna have to do some playing around in there!

Does your bios look like the screenshots in the link I posted above? Would help to stear you in the right direction if it's the same.

If so you'll need to find this page with the voltages and see what the CPU Vcore mode is set to. Is it set on auto? Or what? Maybe jot down the settings starting witht he cpu vcore mode all the way down and post them.

In bios how are you changing your multiplier exactly?

 

[TomC25]

Yes my board is the same and the bios looks like your screenshots. I did find that page while doing my research before posting, but not much there to actually show how to make overclocking changes.

Voltage settings are on auto, and I tried changing CPU VCore Mode to fixed setting and making a voltage setting of 1.28V.

Voltages still went up to 1.6 as reported by CPUZ.

I changed IGD VCore setting to fixed, and set voltage to 1.28 as well, and I still get 1.6xx volts from CPUZ.

Can anyone explain what setting I need to set to make a voltage that does not spike or go above a set value, and work?

edit
Oh and I am setting multiplier by changing
1 Core Ratio Limit
2 Core Ratio Limit
3 Core Ratio Limit
4 Core Ratio Limit


Crazy, I have never had these problems before with other builds. Maybe I am getting rusty since I have not built a system since 2007 haha.

 

[Kenmitch]

Can anyone explain what setting I need to set to make a voltage that does not spike or go above a set value, and work?

If it was me I'd try the following:

Put the CPU VCore Mode back on auto. Below this setting is CPU Vcore offset is this one on auto? If so I'd set it to the lowest + voltage available and save and reboot. Then check voltages in windows at idle/load

 

[TomC25]

Thank you so much Kenmitch for following and your help, I will have to tinker more in the bios and trial\error to see what I can get to work.

Changing Vcore offset did not help.

What bothers me is even when setting bios to defaults, I still get 1.6V from CPUZ when running Prime95.

Have a good one.

 

[Kenmitch]

Thank you so much Kenmitch for following and your help, I will have to tinker more in the bios and trial\error to see what I can get to work.

Changing Vcore offset did not help.

What bothers me is even when setting bios to defaults, I still get 1.6V from CPUZ when running Prime95.

Have a good one.

Good luck

Maybe check for a bios update? Maybe try clear cmos and load optimized defaults to get back to stock. Something wacky is surely going on with your combo.

 

[Rvenger]

I think I should chime in on this one. I have a TZ68a+ with a 2500K and tweaked voltages so many times and never got an auto voltage of 1.68v. You are doing something incorrect for sure. I am going to post screen shots of my OC and I will get back to you in a minute. BTW, my voltage never exceeds 1.31v at max load.



Update - I did update to Bios Z68AF523.BST because turbo wouldn't go past 4.2ghz and the request Vcore kept changing after every boot (Never reached near 1.6v though!)

Something may be wrong with the readings of CPU-Z

Download T-Overclocker just to read the voltages and temps (Don't use the overclocking feature, never tried it)
http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/driver.php?S_ID=546

 

[Rvenger]

 

[pantsaregood]

I seriously doubt your voltage is spiking as CPU-Z reports. My GA-Z68A-D3-B3 reports voltages incorrectly as well. If you were running a 2500K at 1.68v, your temperatures would go high enough to throttle the CPU rather quickly without absurd cooling methods. To my knowledge, 1.52v is the highest voltage SB can even be set to use.

Actually, CPU-Z reports 1.056v while running Linpack at 4.5GHz. While idle, the CPU clocks down to 1.6GHz, yet the voltage reads 1.044v.

Trust the voltages in your BIOS. Unless you've enabled LLC, they're going to be lower in the OS and under load.

 

[MrTransistorm]

1.52V is the highest VID that the CPU can report to the motherboard. The Vcore can (at your own peril) be set much higher.

If CPU-z is reading 1.056V under load, then it's reading Vtt, not Vcore. Apparently CPU-z is still having trouble with a lot of Z68 boards. We needed 1.57.1 to fix the same problem on P67 B3 boards. I think 1.58 was supposed to fix it for Z68 boards, but it doesn't look like it has.

 

[pantsaregood]

Yeah. On that note, I should say I was using 1.58 before anyone accuses me of using an old version.

 

[Rvenger]

I seriously doubt your voltage is spiking as CPU-Z reports. My GA-Z68A-D3-B3 reports voltages incorrectly as well. If you were running a 2500K at 1.68v, your temperatures would go high enough to throttle the CPU rather quickly without absurd cooling methods. To my knowledge, 1.52v is the highest voltage SB can even be set to use.

Actually, CPU-Z reports 1.056v while running Linpack at 4.5GHz. While idle, the CPU clocks down to 1.6GHz, yet the voltage reads 1.044v.

Trust the voltages in your BIOS. Unless you've enabled LLC, they're going to be lower in the OS and under load.

CPU Vcore Loadline on the Biostar should be set to enabled. Disabling it actually enables Loadline Calibration. Its the opposite on this board.

 

[tweakboy]

Isnt that a outrageous vcore. 1.6v? for how much 5000Mhz ... hmmm

 

[TomC25]

fixed

 

[JTScribbles]

I think I should chime in on this one. I have a TZ68a+ with a 2500K and tweaked voltages so many times and never got an auto voltage of 1.68v. You are doing something incorrect for sure. I am going to post screen shots of my OC and I will get back to you in a minute. BTW, my voltage never exceeds 1.31v at max load.



Update - I did update to Bios Z68AF523.BST because turbo wouldn't go past 4.2ghz and the request Vcore kept changing after every boot (Never reached near 1.6v though!)

Something may be wrong with the readings of CPU-Z

Download T-Overclocker just to read the voltages and temps (Don't use the overclocking feature, never tried it)
http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/driver.php?S_ID=546

I tried the options you posted in your pics, but all it does is force my CPU to run at 1600Mhz. This shows in both the BIOS post screen and in CPU-Z. Any ideas?

 

[Rvenger]

Because the CPU is 1600mhz at idle. When its at full load it will run at 4.3ghz or your desired overclocked speed. I have C-states enabled which throttles the CPU. Having your CPU run at full speed 24/7 is a waste of power and would degrade the cpu over long term.