MSI Z77 MPower Issues

[JTB]

Originally posted this in technical support but I've been told by OcUk to post it here. So I was wondering if anyone else knows what's wrong here.

Hello, I was wondering if you could help me.

Yesterday I purchased an MSI Z77 MPower motherboard, everything seemed fine, me and my friend did a boot test before installing the board inside the case and everything was running as it should.

When we finished installing all of the components and putting the finishing touches to it, we decided to overclock the CPU, here is where i'm having an issue. After applying the overclock we ran a series of stress tests with prime 95 for one hour and 30 passes of intel burn test at very high. The overclock seemed to work fine, I was getting 4.8GHz @ 1.38v with temps not exceeding 78c

the board is very stable and looks great, the problem I am having however is that the CPU does not idle at 1.6ghz anymore like it should, it remains at 4.8ghz with 1.38v using 30-38w but at no load, also all the led phase indicators at the top of the board remain constantly lit as if it is under load.

When the system is set back to stock settings using optimized defaults in the bios everything works as it should with the exception of the led phase indicators which sometimes work properly.

I have also tried using the OC Genie set to 4.2GHz but all of the above issues still remain.

EIST (intel speed step) is enabled but this makes no difference.

The current system is;

i5 2500k
Corsair H100i
Avexir 2 x 4gb
Reference pny GTX 580
Z77 MSI MPower Big Bang
Corsair AX860

There are other people on the internet having the same issues as me, as I have searched for many hours looking for a way to rectify the issues i'm having, there is even a post on overclockers forum outlining the same problems that I am having (minus the phase light issue). Unfortunately I can't find any answers to these problems and all of the questions have been ignored.

I have already set the power settings to balanced to try and resolve it, but nothing that I am doing seems to work.

I'm not sure if this is a problem with the motherboard or if this is how it is actually designed to operate, either way I don't feel comfortable leaving the CPU running at 4.8GHz constantly as I don't want to damage the rest of my system.

The entire system was carefully monitored with Core Tempt and CPUZ
Idle temps were between 25-35c
And on full load they never exceeded 78c

Any help would be highly appreciated, otherwise I feel that I will have to return the board and pick out another one as like I said I don't feel comfortable leaving it constantly running at 4.8GHz.

Thanks a lot,

Jordan.

 

[JTB]

When you say it's a motherboard issue, I assume you mean it happens to some people's board and not others? Because I've seen a screenshot of someone's overclock at 4.5 and it was downclocking perfectly fine according to him. Can't post the image right now as I'm on my phone at work but ill find it if required. If this is an issue with the board what do you recommend I do? Take it back for a replacement (same board) or get a different board all together?

 

[JTB]

To be honest it actually makes sense, I actually asked my friend why people were getting low(ish) overclocks on these boards considering it was built for overclocking. I'm not really any sort of expert when it comes to this stuff but I'm a little disappointed, not sure about keeping this as my old Gigabyte Z68 was clocked to 4.4 and I've spent over £600 on upgrades.

Do you know about the issue with the phase lights, because they're still constantly lit up even ruinning standard settings @ 3.3 (the CPU is downclocking)

 

[JTB]

8 Pack,

Hypothetically speaking, say I kept my Z77 motherboard, and I overclocked it to 4.8GHz and left it like that, how it was previously.. With no idle. What sort of damage/problems could I encounter? Damage, wear to parts and electricity bills?

And what would you do in my situation if you weren't happy with leaving it at 4.2-4.6 after spending all this money on upgrades? Seems like the best option would be to buy a new motherboard all together but i'll see what you say first.

 

[JTB]

Using manual voltage providing you stay within the usual parameters for IVY and keep heat under control there will not be much damage at all. As for electricity bill its going to be very little a CPU only really draws current when active. When Idling at 1.3 or 0. whatever due to speedsteping it will make no negligable difference.

Its a silicon lottery you buy any CPU you cant decide what you want it to clock to. I am sure in this case its not the board limiting your overclock but the silicon you have in hand. If I have a CPU that does not clock so high I sell it and get another until one does. Having said this most users two hundred mhz makes no difference at all to the apps they run. I benchmark so every mhz makes a difference.

You have to way up the cost and hastle vs potential improvement. I will get a M Power later this week and I will post back on how my clocking goes on it.

Excellent, thanks for your help!