Help getting 3770K Past 4.6GHz, also need advice/opinions on current results and cooling setup.

Aelemar

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Mar 26, 2012
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10,510
Hey guys, I recently got myself a Gigabyte G1 Sniper 3 motherboard paired with an I7 3770K cooled with a Hyper 212 EVO. It was used, but the previous owner never overclocked it. "Too chicken to do it" he said. I thought it was a good deal for about $390 bucks. I sold my old motherboard and CPU (2700k) for $400. First, my system specs:

Note: I asked the guy what thermal paste he had used with the Hyper 212 EVO he had in it, and he said he ran out of Arctic Silver 5, so he used "some thermaltake stuff he had laying around". Needless to say, as soon as I was home I took the cooler off, cleaned everything up and applied some Arctic Silver 5 using the pea method.

Motherboard: Gigabyte G1 Sniper 3 Revision 1.0
CPU: Intel Core I7 3770K Ivy Bridge
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO (I plan to upgrade this as soon as I am able)
Memory: GSkill Sniper Series DDR3 14900 1866MHz
GPU: AMD Radeon R9 290X
Sound: Creative Sound Blaster ZxR
PSU: Rosewill Lightning 1300Watts
HDD: 80GB Intel SSD (Operating System) / 2TB Western Digital (Storage, Games)
Case: Cooler Master Storm Trooper

Cooling setup:

2X Front Fans (Intake) one fan blows through Hard Drive bay.
1X Bottom Fan (Intake)
2x Side Fan (Intake)
2x Top Fan (Exhaust)
1x Rear Fan (Exhaust)

Using 120mm SilentX Fans.

Bios Settings: (from memory, I am at work, lol) Any settings not listed here have been left at their default values.

Load line calibration: Extreme
Vcore (Fixed): 1.275v (1.272v under full load)
BCLK: 100 (Default)
Multiplier: 46
XMP Profile: 9-10-9-28 1866MHz 1.50v (My memory's default settings)
C1 State: Enabled
C3/C6 State: Enabled
Intel EIST: Enabled

Note: I tested initially with C-States disabled, changed to enabled after testing successfully for three hours.

I have not touched any other settings at all, they have been left at their default Auto setting:

Testing:

Prime95 Small FFTs (Maximum heat) - 6 hours run.
For this test, I left my ram at the motherboard's default of 1600MHz (the G1 Sniper 3 doesn't officially support 1866Mhz Ram)
Idle Temperature (before testing) 28-32C
Maximum temperature: 78-83C
No errors or warnings.

Prime95 Blend - 6 hours run
For this test, I activated XMP profile and set my Ram to the manufacturer's default settings (1866Mhz, 1.5v, 9-10-9-28)
Idle Temperature (before testing): 28-32C
Maximum temperature: 76-79C
No errors or warnings.

Now, when I try to move the multiplier to 47, as soon as I boot into windows I get a BSOD. I raised the voltage as high as 1.31v, and no more BSOD upon bootup, however, Prime95 continually crashes within less than 5 minutes of running. In one occasion, Prime95 caused a BSOD.

My questions are as follows:

Any advice on my case airflow setup?
Is my voltage for 4.6GHz too high? Is it optimal? Is it excellent?
Are my temperatures acceptable? I know that my cooler isn't the best there is, I plan to upgrade it as soon as possible. Following a guide for Gigabyte motherboard and Ivy bridge on this forum, I read that 3770k TJMax is 105C, but to keep the CPU below 85-90 degrees. So far, I've achieved just that with the Hyper.
I would like to drop my CPU vcore if possible, which settings in the motherboard can I adjust to achieve just that? (VTT, PLL, etc)
I assume that the BSODs and Prime95 crashes are very likely due to low Vcore. But what do you guys recommend? Is there any setting I can adjust that might allow me to overclock higher?

My temps during normal use stay below 50C, and during heavy gaming (Battlefield 4) it stays below 65C.

I overclocked my old system plenty, and had my 2700k running at 4.8GHz for two years with 0 issues, but apparently Ivy Bridge is a whole different thing when it comes to OCing these chips.

Thank you very much for your input!!!
 
Solution
i7 3770K's seem to have a good spot about 4.5-4.6G needing 1.25V. Once you go over that you can spike to needing over 1.4V pretty quick for stability and the temps skyrocket. I would say if you got it to 4.6G without issue, leave it there. You shouldn't have temps over 75C if you want it to run for a long period of time.
i7 3770K's seem to have a good spot about 4.5-4.6G needing 1.25V. Once you go over that you can spike to needing over 1.4V pretty quick for stability and the temps skyrocket. I would say if you got it to 4.6G without issue, leave it there. You shouldn't have temps over 75C if you want it to run for a long period of time.
 
Solution

Aelemar

Honorable
Mar 26, 2012
10
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10,510


Thank you very much, my temps during normal/light use never goes above 50C, and during heavy gaming (such as BF4) it never goes past 65C.

Whenever my budget allows, I plan to get a Noctua NH-D14 cooler, and then later on a custom watercooling loop. But that's way down the line.

I am content with 4.6GHz, but since I am learning how to OC Ivy Bridge, I'd like to see just how far I can push it, even though I play to leave it at 4.6GHz once I do find out what the max is.

Would you recommend changing anything else other than Vcore to stabilize the OC?

Thanks!


 
You would have to read some of the overclocking guides here. There are tons of settings you could possibly change to make it more stable but it really depends on your specific system. Each setup is 100% unique on what you have to do to get it to the highest stable overclock.