Z77X-D3H/3570K My personal findings.

Right, I thought I would make a thread to show my findings while overclocking with this board/cpu.

I believe I didn't get a very good chip for overclocking, but thats fine. I don't have the cooling to push it very far anyway.

I testing my overclocks by running Prime95 for half an hour each time. If it failed, or crashed within that time, it was unstable. If it didn't fail or crash, I considered it a pass for the purpose of my tests, and I proceeded to the next step.
As a base for my overclock, I used the following settings:

Multiplier: 40x
Turbo, and all power saving options disabled.
CPU voltage: 1.115v
CPU PLL: 1.65v
CPU LoadLine Calibration: Turbo

Those are pretty much the only settings I felt the need to play with.
Also I can't stress enough, how necessary LoadLine Calibration is when overclocking, as the vdroop on my board was quite bad. 1.205v in the bios, was turning into around 1.165v in windows, during full load. Setting LoadLine Calibration to Turbo, turned that 1.165v in 1.225v. A little higher than the setting I have in the bios, but thats fine. It's better than having the vcore drop by 0.040v during full load.

Anyway, onto my test results:

I have them written on paper, so for quickness, I will just post a pic of the results, instead of typing them out:



Crash: This means windows would not boot, or the computer crashed before the windows loading screen would appear
Post: This means the computer booted into Windows no problem, but then either blue screened, or froze.
P. FAIL: This means Prime95 failed at some point during the half hour test (usually in the first 5 mins)
Tick: Obviously means Stable (for the half hour test)

I should mention that I am using a Corsair A50 CPU cooler.
My temps started at around 60 degrees at full load, at 1.115v
Towards the end of my tests, the temps at full load were almost reaching 90 degrees, which is why I stopped at 1.315.

1.315 is where I am currently at, which so far is stable. 4.4ghz is where I am looking to stay with the current CPU cooler I am using.

Anyway, thats what I have so far. If anybody would like to use my tests as a rough guide for their overclock, they are welcome to do so. Don't hold me responsible though, if something breaks

Nice to see someone else that's methodical.

yeah, well in the past, i've usually done what I think most people do, and slap the vcore to 1.3v, up the multiplier to whatever speed im aiming for, and hope for the best.

This time I figured it would be a good exercise, to do it properly.

Edit: I should update my signature now.. lol

Very good. Thank you for posting your findings What RAM are you using?

Is the Z77 the same as the X bar the marvell controller and additional few hardwares feats?

@DarkShadow - you can do a side by side comparison of those two boards over at Gigabyte. I'm not sure if there are any BIOS differences. I bought a Z77 D3H, as it suits my needs, and I did not want to spend money on features that I do not want or need. It runs my 3570k fine @ 4.4Ghz.

That is a really good way to do it and thanks for the results.

So you're saying you get temps of 90 degrees when at 1.315v which is only stable at 4.40GHz? That's a bit hot isn't it?

Nice table but would be better if you had load temp next to every over clock that was stable. I might do the same sort of thing when I get the 3570k.

Temps would be a good addition.

I have found that when i prime tested mine (2500k @4.2) It reached 72C on 1.225V. I was worried but when playing games (even for a long while) i barely reach 60C.

90C is high though.

Vimes said:

@Darkshadow - you can do a side by side comparison of those two boards over at Gigabyte. I'm not sure if there are any BIOS differences. I bought a Z77 D3H, as it suits my needs, and I did not want to spend money on features that I do not want or need. It runs my 3570k fine @ 4.4Ghz.

Click to expand...

Thanks Vimes, I thought as much when I did the side by side comparison.

Just a little concerned about these load temps - But on the other hand, I'm still rocking an E6300 at 2.8GHZ so an upgrade is much needed.

mufc802 said:

So you're saying you get temps of 90 degrees when at 1.315v which is only stable at 4.40GHz? That's a bit hot isn't it?

Nice table but would be better if you had load temp next to every over clock that was stable. I might do the same sort of thing when I get the 3570k.

Click to expand...

90 degrees was the max I saw when running 1.315v vcore, yes, which is why I stopped there.

Im guessing with normal use/gaming, I wont see temps that high, but still, I think its safe to stop where I am for now.

As for the temps for each stable overclock, it increased pretty evenly with each speed increase.

4ghz - 60-65 degrees
4.1 - 65-70 degrees
4.2 - 75-80 degrees
4.3 - 80-85 degrees
4.4 - 85-90 degrees

DarkShadow said:

Thanks Vimes, I thought as much when I did the side by side comparison.

Just a little concerned about these load temps - But on the other hand, I'm still rocking an E6300 at 2.8GHZ so an upgrade is much needed.

Click to expand...

I understand, in regards to those load temps. But I have a £12 cooler on my 3570k at 4.4Ghz and when it runs under full load, Prime95, it typical gets to 75c at around 1.224v. LLC has been left on normal on my Z77 D3H as there seems no significant voltage drop and it is less "dramatic" when applying the voltage offset when at the maximum clock.
I did flip the lid on the CPU and that did help to make it run cooler.

well you have a better cpu than me. I cant get 4.4 stable without 1.315v

Luck of the draw
I just set my vcore to normal and popped the multiplier to 42 initially and that also ran fine.
I have not bothered trying anything above 44.

Unless you have read much different yours seems to not be typical of what I have read in the amount of voltage needed for the comparably low overclock achieved.

well I believe the normal voltage is about 1.185. I can get 4.2 stable at 1.195, so im not far off that I guess...

Nice, logical testing there Sounds like you may have been unlucky with your cpu, I found 4.3ghz stable at 1.2v ish but found that anything about needed big voltage increases for small multiplier bumps.

AndyH_Lufc said:

Nice, logical testing there Sounds like you may have been unlucky with your cpu, I found 4.3ghz stable at 1.2v ish but found that anything about needed big voltage increases for small multiplier bumps.

Click to expand...

yeah, I dont think I got the greatest overclocker ever, but I've gotten it to 4.4, which im happy with. I may get a Corsair H100 in the future, and then try pushing it further.

Oh btw, im pretty sure its 100% stable now at 4.4. Played a couple of hours of Max Payne 3 earlier, and it never missed a beat. Rock solid so far.

well 4.4 is still pretty good,about 4.7 on the SB

Have you tried messing about with the CPU PLL and modifying that inline with the Vcore?

could you elaborate on what you mean by "modifying inline with vcore" ?

When I was doing some research I was told that if you are leaving it stock you can reduce the PLL voltage down to a safe minimum of 1.710 and if overclocking a safe max of 1.89, Obviously we'll stay well away from these figures but they did say to increase from the stock 1.8 to help stability whilst overclocking, I've got the same chip and board and I'm testing a few overclocks out at the moment.

Currently at 4.3GHz, 100x43, 1.18 +0.05, most others now auto, but when I launch EasyTune, it says target Vcore is 1.305, which I don't get, but it's stable and max temps of 75 during Intel Burn Test