Beginner Z68AP-D3 guide for Intel i5 2500k

[sieze2]

After lurking on this forum I thought I would give something back, and put these setting up to help beginners have a easy start in over clocking with the Gigabyte Z68AP-D3.

This is specifically for the Gigabyte Z68AP-D3). Its based on the setup overclockers sell their bundles with and was partly pulled from another thread (I would give credit if I could remember which one!):

I have highlighted the memory tweaks in blue, so don't worry about those till you have it running stable at 4.4Ghz. You should know the memory setting are based on 1600Mhz DDR3 RAM so don't bother tweaking the memory setting if you have 1333Mhz Ram installed.

To get into the bios screen press the "delete" key when the bios screen shows on restarting the computer.

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4Ghz set-up (should run on auto settings for most people)

M/B Intelligent Tweaker

Advanced Frequency Settings - type in 40 - press "enter"
Now press F10 and press "y" then enter.


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4.4 Ghz set-up

M/B Intelligent Tweaker

Advanced Frequency Settings - 44x
CPU Ratio - 44x
Advanced CPU Core Features - Press Enter
Internal CPU PLL Overvoltage - Enabled
Real Time Ratio Change in O/S - Enabled
Intel Turbo boost tech - Auto
Turbo power limit (watts) - set to 150
Core current limits (Amps) - set to 150
Intel Turbo boost tech - Disabled
Press Esc
System Memory Multiplier - 16.00
Press Esc

Advanced Memory Settings - Press Enter
Performance Enhance - Standard
set the next line down to quick
Channel A - Press Enter
9-9-9-28 - then command rate 2
Press Esc

Advanced Voltage Settings - Press Enter
Load-line Calibration - Enabled
Dynamic Vcore - +0.050v
Dram Voltage - 1560v

Now press F10 and press "y" then enter.

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[sieze2]

Which board rev and BIOS version have you got ? I'm waiting for delivery of my Z68AP-D3 and i5 2500k. It's delayed because they are struggling to get hold of the case I want.

Its a brand new board. Not sure about the bios version, I did not update it though. I can say this is using a D2 revision i5 2500k.

Using the 4 Ghz settings it will do 4.1ghz on my system, but at 4.2 ghz it becomes unstable running prime 95. The core voltage on the 4 Ghz settings was under 1.3v (I think 1.256v).

With the 4.4ghz settings it will run faster than 4.4 ghz so feel free to up the multiplier a bit. Mine will run stable at 4.5Ghz just by changing the multiplier to 45, I have not tried any higher. The vcore at 4.4Gz is 1.368v with the above settings (according to cpuz)

I have tried to share the basic settings, that will work on 90% of chips. Certainly overclockers think so, and offer a warranty based on these settings.

The big problem I had was none of the other overclocking walk through's told how to change the core current limit. Without changing it I could not go above 4ghz. The bios screen said the chip was running at 4.2 ghz for example, but when running under load cpuz told me it was only running with a x33 multiplier. This is because if the chip is running greater than it's Max TDP of 95W it reduces the multiplier irrespective of what you set in the bios. Unless of course you increase the max core current and turbo power limit. The annoying thing is it basically ignores the overclock, and does not tell you.

If you have overclocked your cpu, you might want to check your multiplier under load. If its not what you expect, then increase the core current limit and Turbo power limit.

I bet there is someone on here who thinks they are running at 5Ghz with a Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 and actually they are running at 3.3 Ghz.

 

[sieze2]

I have this Mobo arriving next week with an i5 2500k.

In how many stages did you make the changes for the 4.4ghz set up?

Did you set to those limits then stress test or go up in increments?

To be honest I set to 4Ghz as detailed. Then 4.2Ghz with the 4.4Ghz settings, then 4.4Ghz then 4.5Ghz. I am not really interested in breaking records, just getting a bit more power out of the i5.

 

[sieze2]

Really great guide thanks for posting this sieze2. I was thinking of getting this board ages ago but got my head swayed towards the asrock 4 gen 3 as it seemed more future proof. The annoying thing is this gigabyte board has pretty much everything i would need, im not interested in cross fire so i dont need 2 8x pcie slots, it supports 2 sata 6 gbps ports which will sort my 2 ssd's no problem . As well as the good clocking of this board its pretty much amazing, it may not have the looks of others but performance and value for money is pretty amazing in my books.

Ahh decisions i dont know what to do! Asrock or gigabyte? Never owned neither always been asus!

I agree its only £85 and does nearly everything a £140 board does. Assuming you can live without running crossfire, and don't need to get those last 200Mhz out of the CPU.

 

[sieze2]

Bios Version FC release today for Revission2 boards...Support for Ivy Bridge included...I can safely say that after a whole days worth of testing, this bios is so much more stable than all previos versions.

Cool thanks for that I will give it a try.

I am finding after putting the computer to sleep, the bios forgets the x44 overclock and reverts back to a x34 multiplier (even in performance mode in the control panel). Its only fixed by restarting. Is the odds good the new bios patch will fix this? I think I am using the F3 bios currently.

 

[sieze2]

Got here by just upping the turbo multipliers:


The power draw got as high as 102w so if I go further I'll need to up the TDP.

Wow that's pretty good for just changing multipliers ! You may ultimately have a 5Ghz chip there bud !

 

[sieze2]

Morning all, a kind Sir has directed me to the Z68 owner club here =)

I have been tweaking and playing around with my OC for last few days, ive managed to get a setup as follows.

I5 2500k
4.8ghz
MB Gigabyte Z68AP-D3

M/B intelligent tweaker
Advanced Frequency Settings – Press Enter
CPU Clock Ratio – 48
Advanced CPU Core Features – Press Enter – Ensure that CPU Overvoltage is enabled
Advanced Memory Settings – Press Enter
System Memory Multiplier – 16.0
Performance Enhance – Standard
DRAM Timing Selectable – Quick
DRAM Timings - 11-11-11-28-2
Advanced Voltage Settings – Press Enter
Loadline Calibration – Level 7
CPU Vcore – 1.300v
DRAM Voltage – 1.58v (team group elite- recommended not above 1.6)


I ran prime for 6 hours, no errors, no BSOD, thought it was all gravy, temps acceptable at about 72-73c.

Closed prime, went to watch a film, loaded page buffered a bit, got 2 min in and pc hung its self, no BSOD, just locked up, i incresed core v by +0.015 and rebooted, buffered film, got 40 min in and same again but with BSOD ( message said something about cpu not responding quick enough)

My only thought with this oc is that due to me using onboard graphics, could this be choking the cpu?, can anyone recommend any thing i can try changing in the bios to try and stabilize it.

Im new to this so any advice would be great, thanks in advance
Richard

Maybe try running with a cpu multiplier of x44 and see if that's stable. By the way there are different tests you can do with prime 95 . Did you do small FFT's or large FFT's or blend ? Either way it sounds like the overclock is unstable, so as mentioned try intel burn test. If you get it stable on that, its all gravy !