GA-Z68X-UD3P-B3 + 2500k = 5.0 GHz so far

[Dark Mantis]

Apart from the Thermal Monitor I would disable all those anytime I am overclocking.

[Rolo42]

I know in the past it was required but with SB it seems optional still, irrespective of overclocking.

[twaddle69]

As I have the same mobo and CPU could I ask your opinions on my current dilemma. 

I have the  GA-Z68X-UD3P-B3, I5-2500k, 8 gb Corsair Vengeance RAM @ 1600 Mhz, and a Radeon 6870 GPU in a Fractal Designs R3, with a Thermalright HR-02 Macho cooler.

To date I've run a sedate overclock of 4.5 Ghz with Vcore @ 1.3 to 1.35V, and temps of around 50 to 60 C, or current settings of a Vcore of 1.435V, loadline @ 8, Easytune stating Voltage of 1.488v, with core temps on Prime 95 blend maxed @ 89C after four hours.

Common sense says 4.5 Ghz, but the Overclocker in me wants 5.0 Ghz on air.

Any suggestions on how to get the voltages & temps down?

Thanks

[absic]

Hi there,

not sure if I'm the best person to offer advice on this subject as I am still learning myself. Also remember that although we have the same basic components, each PC is different and what works for me might not work for you.

That said, from my research, you might do better if you set the LLC to 6 rather than 8 as this will give better control over the voltage and should keep things here a little more even. Then try lowering the VCore gradually, testing each time, until the system falls over, then you will know the minimum VCore that you can run with your current configuration. Lowering the VCore voltage should help lower the temps a bit more.

So far I haven't been able to get above 4.8GHz with my CPU but I do think 5.0GHz is achievable and I just need to spend more time tweaking and testing to get there.

Do you have a fan on your CPU cooler? If not add one and if you do, you could always add a second as a pull fan.

I use the Noctua NH-D14 with two fans and my PC Chassis is the NZXT Tempest Evo which gives a lot of air through the case which also helps keeps things cool.

Also, as a matter of interest, which BIOS version are you running? I have tried several different BIOSes for this board and have found that this can have a major affect on how much of an overclock is possible.

[twaddle69]

Thanks for the helpful comments.

To be honest I copied your settings as a baseline for 4.8 Ghz which worked out pretty stable including the use of the F8d firmware.

From there I increased the multiplier to 50, it would load windows OK, but BSOD within minutes on Prime95. 

I therefore upped the Vcore to 1.435V in stages at which point it stabilised in conjunction with the Load Line at 8.  I've since backed the Load Line down to 7 which dropped the max core temps to 81C,   I then went back into BIOS to reduce the loadline to 6 at which point I got a nasty shock when I saw the actual Vcore reading in the BIOS was over 1.52V.  I immediately reverted to my 4.5 Ghz settings of basically Auto everything in the advanced Voltage section of BIOS for now.

My concern is that the Easytune and Core Temp show drastically different temperature readings by 10-12C, and most of the Voltage readings I can access in windows display Vline not VCore. Can you recommend any accurate application to monitor actual Vcore from within windows as I really want to keep this at or below 1.45v if possible

PS The cooler has a 140mm PWM fan on at present, and whilst it can take a further fan for push-pull this will be a very tight fit in the case.

[absic]

Usually I use HW Monitor: http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html when checking voltages and temps along with CPU-Z: http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html as these tend to be the most accurate. Download the free versions as they will give you everything you need.

I also tend to monitor the system using TouchBios so that I can compare the readings I am getting. The reason for this is, that any issues I come across will only be acknowledged officially by Gigabyte if you use their software not 3rd party versions. So it's useful to have this information handy if you want to raise a support ticket with GTS.

On another subject, have you encountered any of the reported reboot issues with your system?
Also, what RAM are you using?

[twaddle69]

I'll give those three a try, in particular TouchBios - I've never bothered with it before  as I'm not comfortable with altering BIOS settings from within windows, but as a hardware monitoring tool I can see a use for it.

With regards to the reboot issue, I have a little too much knowledge of this -  this PC is on it's third motherboard since the 31/01/2012.  Initially it was built using a GA-Z68AP-D3 which went into a terminal boot loop after 6 days - unable to get to the BIOS splashscreen, and I was unable to invoke the backup bios autorecovery  using the power supply on-off switch,  after this was RMA'd the replacement GA-Z68AP-D3 arrived pre-boot looped for me, I never even saw the BIOS screen on that one, so another RMA with a refund request this time.

I opted for the GA-68X-UD3P-B3, as for what I paid for it from DABS it seemed better built than the GA-Z68AP-D3 for the same price (less features I know) .  With this one I've had one failed boot, but clearing the CMOS resolved that and this was down to OC tinkering.  As I was forewarned by now the BIOS was flashed to F8d when the PC was first booted, and I then copied F8d to the backup BIOS for good measure before touching anything else.

I'm using 8 Gb of Corsair Low Profile Vengeance, CL9, 1600Mhz, @ 1.5V (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) 

[twaddle69]

Sadly what I'm unable to show via a screen shot is:-

Max CPU Temp Via Easy Tune 6 of 70C
Core Temp 1.0  #0 72C, #1 80C, #2 82C, #3 76C
CPUID Hardware Monitor #0 69C, #1 76C, #2 78C, #3 73C - Package 83C

VCore Proper BIOS 1.51V
VCore Touch BIOS 1.48-1.49V
VCore Hardware Monitor a laughable 1.06V
Voltage (nicely ambiguos) Easy Tune 6 1.476V

But it seems to be stable, I'm not happy with the proper BIOS Vcore showing 1.51V, especially from a set VCore of 1.435V - is this a result of the Load Line being set at 7, or my leaving the CPU PLL and Dynamic VCore on auto settings?

Yours thoroughly confused
 

 

[absic]

OK a little update

I have now managed to hit 5.0 GHz! I have updated to the latest F8 BIOS and had to raise the CPU VCore to 1.48V in BIOS.

The only issue now is in the way different software is reporting things. HWMonitor shows the CPU reaching a maximum of 77C whilst TouchBios shows the CPU as reaching 67C before settling back to 64C. There is around 10C difference between these two programs and the way they are reporting things with temperature. In fact, I have noticed that the TMPIN2 figure in HWMonitor matches exactly the CPU Temp as reported by TouchBios. So, which one is reporting correctly? I don't know but I have asked Gigabyte their views on this and I will post back when I get an answer. Hopefully it is TouchBios that is reporting accurately as this will mean I have even more room, when it comes to the CPU temperature to play with.

The ambient temperature for this test was 22C and this time around I have added a couple of BIOS screen shots as these might help.

In answer to Rolo42's question about my having disabled certain states the answer is no, I didn't have to disable them but I feel that doing so gives me more control and removes some of the possible areas where things might cause issues. For the 5.0 GHz test I did disable the CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E) , C3/C6 State Support & CPU EIST Function. This time around I heeded DM's advice and left the CPU Thermal Monitor on AUTO.












So what now, well I guess onwards and upwards would be the logical step. I have the Intel security blanket in place which removes a lot of my concerns about killing this CPU and I would be interested to see if I can get a 2.0+ GHz overclock from the processor, on air!

[twaddle69]

Excellent results, I notice you refer to the latest F8 BIOS - is this still F8d as it would appear the F8 BIOS' are no longer available from the Gigiabyte website.  The most recent currently available is F7.

If you are still on the F8d, it would appear you got a better processor than me, no matter what I try I need 1.51V of Vcore in BIOS in order to keep things stable. 

Best of luck with the 2.0 Ghz overclock.

[absic]

No, it is the F8 BIOS. There is a problem with the downloads on Gigabyte site which should be sorted tomorrow, according to EX58

If you do update to this BIOS remember to copy it to the back-up chip to prevent any issues.

Not sure if I will actually be able to get above 5.0GHz with my chip as I briefly attempted 5.1GHz and had a BSOD which indicated the CPU needed more voltage. I think the Max recommend by Intel is 1.52V and I am getting pretty close to that mark already at 1.48V.

[Aussie Allan]

     Stella to get to 5 on Air Absic ....... might have to look at something a little thicker then Air to get to your goal .... 

  Have you worked out what Watts (heat) your coping with and compared it to the max rating of the said cooler ...... could be your up to the limiting factor of the cooler

  Aussie Allan

[absic]

Now, now Allan, do you really want me to get involved with advanced mathematics over this?  According to the reported temps I am below the Max for the CPU and I don't believe, with the current figures that the CPU temperature is the issue here.  
I know that you and DM would love me to switch to water cooling and I have been looking into this option more seriously recently. It could well be that, when I have the cash I will go down this path.

Another and cheaper option would be to try adding a 3rd fan to the Noctua to see if that lowers CPU Temps further or to try taking the board out of the PC Case, but that smacks of serious overclocking and I wouldn't count myself as a member of that club just yet.  

The only problem I am seeing is with a couple of 0x0124 BSOD's which would usually indicate CPU Voltage. It could be the LLC which I have set at 6 and it may be that I need to switch this to 7 or 8 to get things stable as I go above 5.0GHz.

Of course, I am still new to Intel chips and I could be missing something basic or am not tweaking another voltage setting that is required so any hints or help from other members would be appreciated.

[Aussie Allan]

  Absic

  LLC to 7 is the next bus stop .... But to go back one step .... I looked everywhere and no one has a Max TDP rating for this or any fan combo setup for this C-Hooler .... you gotta be up near the max of this design with no modding.

  Aussie Allan

[absic]

Well, a little further playing around has got me up to 5.2GHz!





I had to set LLC to level 7 and set the CPU VCore in BIOS to 1.485V. However this showed up in TouchBIOS and HWMonitor at an initial starting value of 1.58V dropping back to 1.52V under load. And, once again depending on which temperature reading for the CPU is correct it reached either 86C (HWMonitor) or 75C (TouchBIOS).

I then spent sometime trying to get to 5.3GHz but so far without success. I am concerned by the high voltage on the CPU as this is now technically above the specified limit for the processor, which if my research is correct is 1.52V. Although I do have the protection of Intel's insurance I don't really want to kill the CPU if I can avoid it.

I did try dropping the speed of the RAM back to 1333MHz and also experimented with LLC levels 8 & 9 but couldn't get past the post screen without the system resetting so I may have reached the limits to which I can go with my current hardware and set-up.

That said a 1.9GHz overclock is not to be sniffed at and I am in awe of how well the CPU, motherboard, cooler and other hardware have stood up to my tweaking attempts.