Overclock help i5 760 @ 4GHz

Hello all,

Firstly I would like to say sorry for the long post, and I hope you can read it all without falling to sleep

A few months back I purchased a pre-overclock i5 760 bundle as it worked out the same price as it would buying separately(Not sure how?) So I thought I’d get it pre-overclocked as I’ve never overclocked before and thought getting it done from someone who has much experience in this field would be wiser. Unfortunately I started getting random lockup's while playing games or sometimes just watching a video online(ITV Player)

So I contacted OcUK Customer Service Technical Queries and stated what was happening etc, and was told I should perform a few tests so it would be easier for them to know what was causing this issue, I put up with the random pc lockup's for a couple of months thinking hopefully it would go away and maybe just needed a OS format

Unfortunately this wasn’t the case and it became pretty annoying to say the least, So I went ahead and preformed the tests suggested by technical support team(check if problem goes at stock settings , 5 or more passes of memtest and OCCT power supply test) and from the results of these tests, It seemed the overclock was unstable as it would lockup or BSOD in Intel Burn Test at either the 2nd or 3rd test.

So I was suggested by technical support to "Raise the CPU VCore by two notches" here is where I’m concerned, The overclock currently is on CPU VCore[1.40625] (Idle: 1.408V - 100% Load: 1.416V) which going by reading online is pretty high as it is, Which increasing it by 'two notches' making it even higher. I asked this and was told "with my board there is a fair amount of vdroop even with load line calibration enabled. The voltage under load will drop somewhat, so it won't be dangerously high." Though I’m still a little concerned with increasing the voltage even further, So I’m wondering if anyone could help me try some new settings to achieve 4GHz if you could that would be most kind as I’m a noob in this field, If I can’t get it stable with messing with some new settings I guess I will have to increase the voltage further suggested by technical support.

Here are the settings for the current overclock:

Here is my system specs:

CPU: Intel i5 760
Motherboard: Asus P7P55D-E
Ram: Corsair Dominator 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit [CMD4GX3M2A1600C9]
Cooler: Corsair H50

I would again like to say sorry for the long post, but I thought I need to provide enough information as possible so it would be easier.

Thank you for reading all this!

I have the P7P55D-E LX which is a similar board and an i5 760.

My board vdroops like a bitch but it's stable.

e.g. I'm on 1.3 in bios but under load it drops to about 1.2 and I'm at 4.2

Just do what OcUK say and raise it, unless your temps are getting silly high then you should be fine.

Hmmm.

Well - use CPUz in windows to see what your volts droop to under load. They will probably read lower than the bios settings if what OCUK say is true.

As above just try more Vcore like they say if temps are acceptable.

That auto set 1.375 IMC is pretty damn high and wont be helping temps. You may be able to lower that to around 1.3 eventually (but maybe leave it up for now while trying to find your problem)

I need to set RAM to 1.66 in bios as it droops a little to the 1.65 required under load.

You could try clocking your ram down (using a lower multiplier) to eliminate RAM from your investiations, then clock it back up when the CPU is sorted.

A notch or two more on CPU PLL and PCH may help a little too - did for me.

Other things you could try are less multi - so a 4GHz with 20x200. With your 760 you've also got the option of going the other way - 22x182.

You might just have a volt hungry beast (I thought mine was bad). I run into a brick wall after 4GHz needing silly volts to get to 4.2, so I dont bother. 3.8 or 3.9 may be a sweet spot for you if you just cant get 4.0 running stably (but I'm sure you can - and if you really can't then OCUK should give you a different chip as you paid for 4GHz gauranteed).

Good luck

Oh - forgot to add my settings if they're of any use...

bclk 200
cpu multi 20
mem multi x8
qpi ratio x32
pci clock 100
ram 9 9 9 24 (XMP disabled, mem setup manual with performance enhance 'turbo')

vcore 1.375 in BIOS (CPUZ shows 1.36 at idle and 1.392 load with LLC on level 2)
qpi vtt 1.3
pch 1.1
cpu pll 1.9
ram 1.66

cpu and pci clock drive both 900mv

turbo boost, EIST, C states etc all off.

(note your IMC is my QPI/Vtt - just different names for different manufacturers)

Thanks for the response guys,

In the bios the voltage is set at 1.40625V I've checked in CPUz and the voltage at idle is 1.408V and at load it goes to 1.416V. So it doesn’t seem to droop under load, Also under CPUz the ram is stating 1.650V.

Thanks for your settings Liampope, I will try have a fiddle with them and see if I can get anything working from them, This may sound very stupid...(First time overclocker here ) I can't seem to find memory multi is it 'DRAM Frequency' ?

I also can’t seem to find my memory settings information on corsair's site, which is strange.

Once again thanks for all your help guys, Sorry if my questions are stupid, It's my first time fiddling with overclock here

Yeah probably the DRAM frequency. RAM speed is derived from BCLK x memory multiplier. On my mobo you just set the multi directly, but looks like your mobo is giving you the MHz result for convenience. I guess you have a number of options in that menu, right? If you did the maths you'd probably find your options correspond with x6, x8, x10 and maybe x12 multipliers. You're currently on a x8 multi (191 x 8 = 1528).

Oh I see.. Thanks for that Liampope understand it a bit better now. Just trying to find my memory information on corsair's site, so I can try set the memory manually can’t seem to find them just yet. Once I do I’ll have fiddle and try get the 4GHz working correctly without having to increase my voltage even more, If not i'll have to go ahead and do what OcUK advised like you say.

9 9 9 24 according to the shop. Same as my XMS3. There are lots more settings for RAM if you take full manual control, but I leave them well alone. There's options like 'standard', 'turbo' and 'extreme' for RAM on my mobo. Using the lowest sets loose 10 10 10 timings on mine. I use the middle setting which is 9 9 9 24. The highest setting still appears to set 9 9 9 24 but gives me problems (maybe it tightens other minor timings?). If you're running 9 9 9 24 auto settings with that slight downclock to 1528MHz, RAM probably isn't your problem, but just to rule it out, maybe whack your frequency down to the next lowest option (which may be 1146 if you're still at 191 BCLK) and make sure you haven't got anything like my mobo's 'performance enhance' RAM option set to 'extreme' or anything like that. Sorry I can't be more helpful but your BIOS seems to be pretty different to mine. Try that few notches up on CPU PLL and PCH.

Thanks Liampope for that,

I've been doing some tests, First I tested what OCUK advised and increased the voltage by 2 notches. From 1.40625 to 1.41875 ran IBT crashed on the 3rd test again, so I fiddled with your settings Liampope and again crashed on IBT at 2nd or 3rd test. Sometimes it would pass the 5 tests but then I would re-run it after to make sure and 99% crash on 2nd or 3rd test, with both OCUK settings and a fiddle with yours. So I guess I’ll have to contact OCUK again and see what they can do, as like you said I’ve paid for 4GHz guaranteed.

Also with OCUK overclock settings the ram is set to auto and running at 9 11 11 28.

It seems strange though it will BSOD/crash in IBT 99% of the time (Teamspeak 3 server & client running in background) when I run IBT with nothing running in background sometimes it passes the 5 tests, but most of the time it will crash is this just coincidental and that the overclock is just not stable?