Overclocking i7 3930k

[L33]

Morning ocukers.
Looking for a little help overclocking my new CPU. Been about 3 years since I last overclocked my old i7 920 so I'm a bit rusty
I've had a look around but there is varying info/opinions on what voltages should/shouldn't be used and whether other voltages like CPU PLL etc need to be upped too.
I read on a certain review site that 4.2Ghz at 1.35v with no other adjustments was a good starting point as it was almost guaranteed, but mine froze up running intel burn test after ~30 seconds.

Spec is as follows:
i7 3930k retail
MSi X79A-GD65 8D
6Gb OCZ 1600Mhz (being replaced this week)
Akasa Venom voodoo cooler (being replaced this week)
2x Radeon 6990's
XFi fatality titanium
OCZ ZX Series 1250w
Silverstone FT02-W

Thanks for any help/settings

 

[iB CoMpL3XiTy]

Using other peoples settings could drive you nuts, Just do it the old fashion way


1) Boot into BIOS, set back to defaults, Up CPU Multi by 1, Manually set default Vcore
2)Boot into Windows, run Prime95/IBT for 10 minutes (Monitor Temps/Voltage)
3)If stable go back into BIOS, up CPU multi by 1 again, If unstable increase Vcore by 0.0010V Boot into Windows and retest.

Just repeat these steps, its a fairly easy way to get maximum overclock with the lowest Vcore to sustain stability.

Intel state a Absolute maximum Vcore of 1.4V, so unless you have exotic cooling I'd suggest to stay under this voltage.

I'm @ 4.6Ghz at 1.368V, Increasing CPU PLL made noi difference for me in terms of stability or being able to lower Vcore. Though every chip and CPU/Mobo/Ram combo will react differently so give it a go.

1.35V is quite a lot for 4.2Ghz, did you make sure you set your memory timings/voltage correctly?

EDIT: Just something you may want to do, sometimes if you have an unstable overclock and get a BSOD your PC will restart before you are able to note the Bluescreen code, the code will tell you why it was unstable which is obviously very helpful for troubleshooting. To stop the PC from restarting when you get a bluescreen go to Start > Computer > System Properties > Advanced System Settings > Startup and Recovery Settings > untick "Automatically Restart".

 

[L33]

Thanks for the help, appreciate it
I've got a little further, at first I was getting nowhere and eventually discovered that even at stock IBT would cause a freeze after a few minutes. Turns out the bios I was using has a problem that forces ram to use 1T command rate even if 2T is manually selected, which of course causes the ram to crap out at recommended timings.
Fixed that by using the latest beta bios and am now slowly upping the multi & vcore. Currently stable at 4.2Ghz @ 1.3v, will keep going..........

 

[N00bbuilder79]

Good luck, its a slow process.

 

[iB CoMpL3XiTy]

Thanks for the help, appreciate it
I've got a little further, at first I was getting nowhere and eventually discovered that even at stock IBT would cause a freeze after a few minutes. Turns out the bios I was using has a problem that forces ram to use 1T command rate even if 2T is manually selected, which of course causes the ram to crap out at recommended timings.
Fixed that by using the latest beta bios and am now slowly upping the multi & vcore. Currently stable at 4.2Ghz @ 1.3v, will keep going..........

Lol, thats nothing, my mobo's stock BIOS doesnt monitor the power regs correctly, there's been reports of VRM's blowing on the F3 BIOS

Fist thing I did was flash to the latest BIOS.

Good luck with your overclock