So... I bit the bullet and joined the club. Got a UP4 TH, 3570K and 8GB Samsung on the credit card ¬_¬.
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Notice the cable tie holding up the 7970 lol.
Cheap fix.
Overclocked straight to 4.2 with multiplier, had some issues with the downloaded software, so just used most of the stuff off the CD and it stopped my system staying on shutting down screen for eternity. Took 3 fresh installs for me to work it out.
Current overclock:
42 multi, 1.116V in windows.
Extreme VCore Loadline Calibration, all others on normal, voltages on normal etc.
XMS3 ram (samsung on the way) at 1866MHz 8-10-10-24 1T 1.65V
Temps:
67 C hottest core in IBT, mostly at 50C don't know why it spikes that high.
59C hottest core in Prime95, my core #2 is always the hottest.
In EasyTune6 system at 30c on load PCH at 32.
I tried 4.5 GHz, but temps went straight to 86C on 1 core and coming from a Q6600 I am not used to those kind of temps. Doesn't seem worth 20C of heat for 300Mhz clock.
Something strange, the Vcore never differs from 1.116V, is that due to the extreme load line calibration? I didn't expect it to be that good? Worries me really, my old P35C-DS3R had horrible vdroop, went from 1.4V in BIOS, to 1.34V windows to 1.28V under load!
Any tweaks for lower temps? Will run the samsung at 1.5v hopefully, can I lower the VTT or PLL voltages at all? Intel GPU is disabled but not sure it helped at all, also the LucidMVP seemed to work slightly but not all the time.
This board is so good! Very happy with it. Also the PCB feels like steel and the D-14 doesn't stress it at all, probably thanks to those retention brackets on the back for the mosfet cooling.