Stabalising an OCd i7-4770K

OCInside

OCInside

OCInside

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Joined
5 Mar 2014
Posts
13
Hello Ian,

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

I'm new to overclocking and have done what I can following guides to achieve a 4.5Ghz overclock that can survive 3 back to back runs of the RealBench 2.1 Benchmark test.

I was hoping you could review my settings/information below and advise if they are ok or if there is anything you would change?

Should I take it up to 1.35v and aim for a higher overclock?

Many thanks,

OCInside.

Spec

Mobo - Asus Z87 SABERTOOTH Intel Z87
CPU - Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz
RAM - Corsair Vengeance Pro Silver 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-14900C9 1866MHz
Cooler - Corsair Hydro H100i

BIOS Settings

Ai Overclock Tuner [XMP]
CPU Core Ratio [Sync All Cores]
Max. CPU Cache Ratio [40]
Internal PLL Overvoltage [Enabled]
DRAM Frequency [DDR3-1866MHz]
CPU Core Voltage [Manual - 1.295v]
CPU Cache Voltage [Manual - 1.295v]
SVID Control [Disabled]
CPU Input Voltage [1.900v]
DRAM Voltage [1.5000v]
CPU Spread Spectrum [Disabled]
DRAM CAS# Latency [9]
DRAM RAS# to CAS' Delay [10]
DRAM RAS# PRE Time [9]
DRAM RAS# ACT Time [27]
DRAM Command Rate [2]
CPU Load-line Calibration [Level 5 (out of 8)]
CPU Voltage Frequency [Manual - 500KHz]
CPU Current Capability [130%]
CPU C States [Disabled]
Primary Display [PCIE]

Core Temp 1.0 RC6
Idle temps with H100i at full speed = 24-27C across all cores.
Benchmark with H100i at full speed = 62-74C across all coes
 
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Everything looks good there, temps are fine. 1.35v is the max reccomended on theese, just test it with your normal uses and avoid synthetic testing such as p95. Theese are cpu killers and generate way too much heat. And welcome to the forums btw.:)
 
OCInside said:
Hello Ian,

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

I'm new to overclocking and have done what I can following guides to achieve a 4.5Ghz overclock that can survive 3 back to back runs of the RealBench 2.1 Benchmark test.

I was hoping you could review my settings/information below and advise if they are ok or if there is anything you would change?

Should I take it up to 1.35v and aim for a higher overclock?

Many thanks,

OCInside.

Spec

Mobo - Asus Z87 SABERTOOTH Intel Z87
CPU - Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz
RAM - Corsair Vengeance Pro Silver 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-14900C9 1866MHz
Cooler - Corsair Hydro H100i

BIOS Settings

Ai Overclock Tuner [XMP]
CPU Core Ratio [Sync All Cores]
Max. CPU Cache Ratio [40]
Internal PLL Overvoltage [Enabled]
DRAM Frequency [DDR3-1866MHz]
CPU Core Voltage [Manual - 1.295v]
CPU Cache Voltage [Manual - 1.295v]
SVID Control [Disabled]
CPU Input Voltage [1.900v]
DRAM Voltage [1.5000v]
CPU Spread Spectrum [Disabled]
DRAM CAS# Latency [9]
DRAM RAS# to CAS' Delay [10]
DRAM RAS# PRE Time [9]
DRAM RAS# ACT Time [27]
DRAM Command Rate [2]
CPU Load-line Calibration [Level 5 (out of 8)]
CPU Voltage Frequency [Manual - 500KHz]
CPU Current Capability [130%]
CPU C States [Disabled]
Primary Display [PCIE]

Core Temp 1.0 RC6
Idle temps with H100i at full speed = 24-27C across all cores.
Benchmark with H100i at full speed = 62-74C across all coes
Click to expand...

Drop CPU cache ratio to x35 for now, worry about overclocking the cache when you've got the cores stable.

Cache voltage is way to high, ive been told unless you are LN2 cooling, do not exceed 1.2v, I have mine set to 1.15v, too much voltage can lead to instability too, its called CPU ring voltage on my board and links to the memory controller.

LLC might be worth putting straight to level 8, this will reduce any chance of vdroop.

Be careful with core voltage, the max intel recommends is 1.3v

The cache on haswell is twice as fast as any cpu up to date and therefore doesn't really require moving off stock speed which is x35 until your hitting around 4.7ghz on the cores, then it starts to bottleneck and needs speeding up a little.

you are trying to overclock 3 things at once at the moment, your cores, your cache and your ram, work on getting your cores stable first, set everything else to stock, RAM looks ok as your have XMP enabled for that, but bring your uncore/cache ratio back down to stock which is x35 you will then eliminate this from causing instability and know for sure if its your cores.

Also if you have the option for it in the bios, disable the CPU's on-board GFX if your using your own graphics card of course, this will give the CPU less work to do and also considerably reduce your temps.
 
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Thanks for the welcome and the quick replies.

I shall have a dabble just now following your suggestions and report back.

LLC was at 5 because I heard if set to 100% it can over compensate by quite a bit.

Is it worth setting the following on my BIOS based on 8pack's post on another thread?

SA 1.15 or + 0.15 offset
IOD 1.15 or + 0.2 offset
IOA 1.15 or + 0.2 offset
 
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Im not too sure regarding LLC 8 on the ASUS boards as im using a Gigabyte board, but ive always just set LLC to max to reduce any chance of vdroop.

with regards to those last 3 settings, you shouldn't need to mess with them at this stage, they are very much linked to the memory controller on the CPU if I remember correctly, and they are really just for stabilizing high memory overclocks, however I believe auto works well for those and the board handles them very well, I would only start playing with those when using 2400mhz and up with a high CPU overclock, your CPU memory controller should be able to handle 1866 just fine, the Haswell memory controllers are supposed to be the best intel have achieved to date and every review ive read regarding them has praised them, mine handles 2133mhz and pretty much the same timings as you with a 4.6ghz overclock on the cores.
 
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I just picked this up from a guide I used regarding the 3 settings you stated above, they are only needed when overclocking memory

Memory Voltage Profile to Remove IMC from the equation for memory OC:
System Agent: +0.15v to +0.3V
CPU IO Analog: +0.15 to +0.3v
CPU IO Digital: +0.15 to +0.3v
Start at the lower offset and work your way up, but realize these voltages will also add a little to the temperature of your OC.
Remember that cooling is the most important thing for high clocks on Haswell. If you can cool the sucker then you can clock it high, there is almost no limit until you hit -130 to -140C, then Haswell shows a cold bug and that is something we will discuss in the next section.
 
Thanks for the extra information.

I've left them on auto and dropped the cache ratio to 35 and the cache voltage to 1.15v for now.

I would also like to keep the Vcore at or below 1.3v if possible and so far it seems to be running well at 4.5Ghz / 1.295 volts.

There isn't a specific option to disable on board gfx on my Mobo but you can disable multi monitor support from the CPU and also force it to use PCIE which I believe is as good as it gets with these mobos.
 
Great, those settings sound fine, if its stays stable and your happy with those settings and speed, you can either start working on reducing the vcore to get the temps down or you can then start working on bringing up the uncore a couple steps at a time.

To be honest, inserting a graphics card in any board should auto disable the on-board graphics.

I ran 12 hours of prime 95, 12 hours of AIDA64, 12 hours of Memtest and 50 passes of intel burn in test to test for stability, I would say im rock solid stable, all runs were done overnight when I wasn't going to need to use my computer, but if your going to do that you do need to monitor temps for a couple of hours before you go to bed.
 
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Sounds good. I'll go with bringing down the Vcore as much as possible to help the temps anyway I can.

I take it when it comes to increasing the cache ratio I should just go as high as 1.2v of cache voltage will let me?

Thanks again for the quick replies :)
 
my cache is 600mhz slower than my cores, its set at x40 where my cores are set at x46, however whilst I was getting my cores stable, it was also set to x35, ive never had to move the voltage off 1.15v, my CPU voltage is 1.285v, under prime its hitting nearly 90oC on one of the cores, so I cant put anymore voltage through it and it wont do 4.7ghz at this voltage, obviously though I understand every CPU is different and may require a little more v on the uncore ratio.

I do intend on pushing my CPU and cache a little further, but im waiting for some things to come so I can delid this little toaster and get the temps right down, im bored lol, never had such an easy CPU to overclock, I pretty much had my overclock set up within a couple of hours of getting the board and CPU, it was just a couple of days of testing after that to get it stable, now im bored and don't know what to do with myself.
 
Mine will boot in to Windows @4.6/1.295v but as soon as you start a H.264 encoding benchmark it locks up.

I'm not going to go past 1.3v for the sake of 100Mhz :)
 
THe way I was taught to overclock haswell was keep cache ratio at x35, but straight away knock the voltage upto 1.15v.

Set XMP for your RAM, which should set the correct speed, voltage and Timings, but also input the main set of timings manually and the command rate.

Move the core voltage straight to 1.200v and the multiplier to x44 / x45 and then test, increase the core voltage if required if its not stable, if you reach stability at a low core voltage, then increase your overclock and test again, adjusting core voltage as you go to get stable, but don't exceed 1.3v

once your happy with your overclock, then start working on uncore, this is not so difficult to overclock and you will find out quite quickly what the CPU's uncore limit is.
 
Just dropped Vcore from 1.295 to 1.290 and going to test stability again. Once I find the limit I'll start playing with cache/uncore.

How can I tell what is responsible for the lockups?

RAM is set to XMP and Uncore is currently at 35/1.15v.

Is Vin ok at 1.9v?
 
Yes, Vin is perfect where it is, Vin is basically what your board and PSU supplies to the CPU socket for all of the individual CPU voltages, mine is also set to 1.9v. Again if I remember right, Intel recommends 0.600 volts greater than your CPU core voltage.

with regards to the lock-up's you will find out whats causing those as you go along, especially now with everything set to stocks apart from your cores, like I said before, even too much voltage can cause problems.

which RAM are you using ? my ram is rated between 1.50v and 1.65v, it says that on the sticker on the actual sticks, but when I set XMP, it auto set my RAM voltage to 1.55v, it took 1.63v to get my RAM stable, but that's fine as its still within the limits.

the lock-up's could have even been caused by your uncore, you will find that out when you start to raise your uncore ratio.
(lets say later down the line you set uncore to x42 and it locks up, you know either you need to back it off a little or add a touch more voltage to it, if your cores are stable, you know its not those causing the problems)

Again, 1 thing at a time, that's how you'll find out whats causing the problems, I know it can be long winded and boring, but you'll get there and the results are worth it.
 
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Sorry I missed that before, is this the stuff: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-370-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1387

It does say in the title that your RAM is also rated upto 1.65v, but I would check this out on the sticker on the RAM itself first as it could be a typo, I set mine to 1.65v and worked backwards with the RAM, reduced the voltage until I hit instability, my RAM is at 1.63 so as you can see I didn't have to work back very far to find the required volts for that.

IF you tested at 4.6ghz whilst the uncore was at x35, then I would say it was the cores causing the problem, your RAM speed/settings should be locked into XMP speeds/settings and your uncore is locked at stock, it might just be that your CPU wont do 4.6ghz.
 
Jamin280672 said:
Sorry I missed that before, is this the stuff: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-370-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1387

It does say in the title that your RAM is also rated upto 1.65v, but I would check this out on the sticker on the RAM itself first as it could be a typo, I set mine to 1.65v and worked backwards with the RAM, reduced the voltage until I hit instability, my RAM is at 1.63 so as you can see I didn't have to work back very far to find the required volts for that.

IF you tested at 4.6ghz whilst the uncore was at x35, then I would say it was the cores causing the problem, your RAM speed/settings should be locked into XMP speeds/settings and your uncore is locked at stock, it might just be that your CPU wont do 4.6ghz.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's the ram I've got.

Is there any need to increase the RAM voltage above what XMP set it to?

Yeah there seems to be a big Vcore jump required for a stable 4.6 so I'm just concentrating on getting the Vcore for 4.5 as low as possible. Down to 1.285 just now.
 
no there shouldn't really be any need to raise RAM voltage at the moment, you may need to a bit when you start to raise the Uncore ratio, but 4.5ghz is a good overclock, once you get everything where you want it and nice and stable then later down the line you may want to play about and try and get to 4.6ghz.
 
Sounds like a plan.

When upping the uncore, should I leave the Min to "Auto" and just play with the "Max"?

Or leave the min at "35" and up the Max?
 
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