Need advice on OC'ing Asus Sabertooth Z77 with i7 3770K

Totally Dubbed

Totally Dubbed

Totally Dubbed

Associate
Joined
5 Jan 2010
Posts
475
Location
London
UPDATE 12/11/12:
Thought to update people again:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1291703/ivy-bridge-overclocking-guide-asus-motherboards/800#post_18498293

4.5ghz OC stable.
The problem i had ALL THIS TIME, was a FAULTY RAM DIMM -> meaning OC's were impossible...as it was also failing on STOCK:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1320660/...stable-system-on-stock-clocks-prime95-failing



Hey OC'ers!

So I've got my build up and running, and I went straight in pretty much for OC'ing.

I've clocked atm to 4.4ghz, with 1.25v on the vcore.
I ran Prime95 for over 7hrs30mins, and it came up with only 1 error, after 6hrs45mins testing (stopping 1 worker, out of the 8 in the process):
[Sep 30 00:53] FATAL ERROR: Resulting sum was 4.417117661945961e+071, expected: 229043359113193.7

After googling, it seems memeory or vcore related?
My RAM is the vengeance 1600mhz 16GB CL9 - running 9-9-9-24 timings.

Would anyone care to share their OC profiles - I don't really want to OC to something like 4.8ghz+ but 4.4-4.5 is reasonable enough for me, as I want to keep temps down.

Temp wise - I got the Antec920 working away.
I got liquid temps peaking no higer than 35c (liquid temp)
I got motherboard sensors around 55-40c (CPU and vcore being the hottest ones)
Realtemp gives me a MAX peak at around 80c, but is around 60c (after around 3hrs) and around 70c (after around 7hrs)
The peak 80c, comes I think when prime is running, and the antec has to start cooling.

I shall take print screens of the bios now, and post them :)

Cheers for any help!
 
Last edited:
Krono5 said:
Do you want to use offset mode or normal vcore control?

For me I get an extra 100Mhz from the same voltage not using offset, but then the voltage is constant whereas on offset it goes down to 1.08v or so most of the time when not under full load.

I have the P8Z77 pro so fairly similar biosso i'll see if I can grab you some settings.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply!
Honestly - I don't really mind or care about the mode bro.
I went for manual simply because I felt 1.0xxx v was too low for the CPU to run properly.
Maybe a false assumption on my part?
 
Krono5 said:
there seems to be 2 potential problems with offset I have found, firstly you can get BSODs a little more easily with the Vcore changing all the time along with C-states/Speedstep or one of the other power saving settings. Iirc I disabled one of these as I started having issues and it fixed it.

Secondly in offset mode motherboards like to pump way too many volts through at higher clocks so you end up with bigger and bigger negative offsets (-0.1 etc). This causes problems when approaching 5Ghz as the offset is also active when it clocks down to 1600mhz and the voltage can go sub 1.0v. Which will inevitably cause crashes when the CPU clocks down and is undervolting itself. IB won't clock that high with acceptable temps on anything less than the extreme end of cooling so shouldn't be a problem for most chips.

I'll go grab my bios settings now.
Click to expand...

Cheers for that!
I'm letting my RAM test go on for a little while, then will provide screenies :)!

Really appreciate the fast reply guys!
I'm overall happy with what I got so far, as I'm surprised I haven't had major crashes (I did have 2 crashes beforehand, when i FIRST built the system: 1 being the actual asus OC thing that crashed it....2nd was me just playing around at 4.5ghz lol)
FYI: I have uninstalled all SOFTWARE based OC things - like that turbo V evo thing that asus provide - it hoenstly just annoyed the hell outta me if anything.

So I'm quite impressed that, with a random pick at around 1.25v I'm getting near stable (considering almost 7hrs, is not a short stress test)
I feel I might need to manually put the VRAM voltage up a notch - maybe to 1.5 or so - as I think it might be lower, due to it being on auto (if memory - literally - serves me right :D)
 
Legendary mate! Thanks a lot. I'll do some tweaking.
As for bf3. I need to investigate that. Simply because i feel that the game is a little choppy sometimes. I feel it has something to do with the gfx. For some reason or another, i feel the gfx isn't doing its job.
Ie. When i had paint open and was dragging images, there were lines moving, it wasn't smooth. I had lucid mvp that came with it too, which i don't know if it is actually helping either.
Finally one thing that's weird is the cpz, that doesn't pick up the memory of the gfx!
 
Ok here's my bios currently - or what it was at, when I got that Prime95 error:



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us




Uploaded with ImageShack.us




Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us


Here's AFTER (copied settings) - I'll do some benchmarking.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us




Uploaded with ImageShack.us




Uploaded with ImageShack.us




Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us
 
Last edited:
So far I'm hitting 4c-7c higher temps (within minutes of prim95 running) - fan is running a little faster in RPM - coping with the temp change.

I also should state, I have no idea about iGPU - i know that's the GPU within the i7...but I have no use for it. Should I disable that?
Went ahead and disabled it.
No need for iGPU or virtu when I got a GTX660ti...Rather use the GFX fully.

A few things, whilst browsing the bios:
-High precision timer is enabled - is that ok?
-My PCIeX16_1 link speed I've set to GEN3 instead to auto - is that recommended?
 
Last edited:
Right - I hit that same error, but within several minutes.
Suggestions are welcome :)

Now I'm back on my original settings, but with RAM voltage up a notch - and blimey, temps are around 80c, peak at 90c which is dangerously high.
 
Last edited:
Krono5 said:
You shouldn't be messing with RAM and/or GFX overclocking at all until you've got the CPU sorted otherwise you'll have no idea which is causing any errors. Best to eset the bios and start again only touching cpu things until you have it stable at an OCyou're happy with, only then moving on to RAM.

I do not know why you have an offset value of 0.090v. I hope you didn't copy mine as That is very high and I specifically stated to start at a lower multi and zero offset to find what works best for your cpu.

iGPU should be disabled as it's only real use is with lucid mvp which is buggy as hell.

hpet and PCIeX16_1 link speed are both fine although I don't see why you'd neeed to change them from auto.
Click to expand...

hehe I did foolishly copy your settings - JUST to see the outcome.
Outcome was fast problems and heating.

-As for the auto things - I felt, maybe it would not go to gen3 for example.
-iGPU wise - cheers for confirming.
-You are very right about isolating the problem and not going all out - I'll do that if this overnight prime95 gives me any errors.

Will be running for over 6hrs before I go to sleep :)
 
Krono5 said:
Out of curiosity what core voltage was cpu-z showing with those settings?
Click to expand...

I didn't even check mate - but right now, I got 1.248v-1.256v (whilst prime is buzzing) lol

I tweaked my core v a little - I think it's that, that's triggering the fatal errors on prime.
When I have it as something else, it comes really quick.

I'll print screen bios, when I finish testing after tonight - be it a fail or successful prime test.

richy850 said:
ive treaked my settings now gone back to offset so voltage drops when idle.

should i use load line ultra high
cpu power phase extreme
dram power phase extreme

thanks
Click to expand...


Hi there - check the print screens above.
If you got specific questions, please create a new thread ;)
 
Right after 7hrs of Prime95 - I didn't have a single error - I'll do a re-run tomorrow, but the Antec was a little noisy for me to sleep comfortably - that antec is a trouper :)!

Bios + temps (temp wise, one screenshot is with prime running, the other is with a 10min cool-down):

27602420.png


after10mincooldown.png


121001021023.png


121001021019.png


121001021012.png


121001021007.png


121001021002.png


121001020955.png


121001020949.png


121001020940.png
 
Last edited:
Might try it :)

Edit: I'll run a 12hr bench today, and see if 4.4 is stable - If it is then I'll move up to 4.5 and see how that goes :)

Btw, didn't say it - but thanks a lot for your help throughout the thread!
 
Last edited:
Finding it quite hard to get stable.
I went for XMP with 1.28v on vcore -> failed within 1hr

So I've gone back to my OC profile that went strong for 9hrs, and gone to 1.5v on RAM and 1.26v on vcore.

No idea what I really should be looking out for.
The 9hr bench was every so slightly off with the "fatal error" on prime, unlike before when it was 200b away.
 
HaloUK said:
Very good thread this. This time next week I will also have Z77 Sabertooth and i7 3770K and I intend O/C to around 4.4GHz to 4.6GHz. I'm sure i'm going to need this thread! ;)

I have ordered some of that Sammy green memory and intend O/C'ing that to 2133MHz (1600 standard). By the sounds of things I need to get the CPU sorted FIRST! ;)
Click to expand...

hehe :)
I shall report all progress here - be it fail or pass.
I will push for 4.5 after i can run 4.4 stable.

Current progress is:
Same settings as I had with the 7hr solid OC - however with 1.3v on vcore and a slight notch in PLL to 1.8125, where as stock is 1.819.

Atm, 6hrs30mins stable. No problems.
9hr is the current "standard" to hit - if I hit 12 - I'll be happy enough to call it 100% stable.
24hrs wouldn't be bad, but OTT

So far, Temps are higher - I'm hitting around 75-80c (but remember this is 100% load, and constantly on Prime95)
It really is interesting to see Ivy Bridge in this fashion - it gets a VERY hot with even the slightest +0.1v of vcore
 
mattup said:
Can I make a suggestion?

CPUPLL is not always best high. Try 1.6.

I run the Maximus V Extreme m/b which is similar to yours.

This is what I use For 4.5Ghz and 2600Mhz ram.

My temps are 73-79 when under prime Blend.


Cpu 1.285V
DDR 1.655v
VCCSA 1.2V
VCCIO 1.2V
CPU PLL 1.625v (I needed to nudge this up for 2600Mhz ram)
PCH 1.05v

Rgds

Matt
Click to expand...

Matt of course - I love suggestions.
I'm just trying to run it stable - and need any sort of advice.

What about the other settings?
And as for my RAM - as it is default 1.5v, should I leave it at 1.5?
 
This is indeed very helpful bro!

And thanks for the comment :)!

So that means my voltage is too high on the vcore?
I've done if I'm not mistaken:
1.25, 1.28, 1.3, auto, offset 0.9, offset 0.6

Haven't tried 1.275 though.

Just kind of lost as to what I should be tweaking now
I mean we aren't talking 1hr fails, we are talking 6hr, 7hr & 9hr fails of prime
Currently at 8hrs no fails - My system/p95 seems to run stronger on a higher vcore voltages, problem is the temps - yours are excellent at full load and only hitting 70 - on average.

Mine are at around 75-80, little more, but still 10c shouldn't be underestimated.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom