Overclocking an Intel I7-3820 quad core locked processor unstable at 4.3GHz

xGh0stSn1p3r · Apr 28, 2014

Hey Guys! I have an I7-3820 quad core, locked processor and I am trying to overclock it as it is bottlenecking my MSI GTX 780 TwinFrozr graphics card. In Battlefield 4, I get low frames dropping to under 40 quite frequently and I know this card should be performing at more than 100 frames on ultra, or on any other settings. I have a Asus Sabertooth X79 motherboard. The last time I tried to overclock, I went to 4.3GHz, rebooted the pc but it came up with an error in the boot, "Overclocking unsuccessful, press F1 to enter setup". At the time I was overclocking, I was running a 600 watt PSU, but have upgraded to a 875 watt Thermaltake psu now. I understand that locked processors cannot be overclocked, but have seen lots of people successfully overclock this processor. Here are my full PC specs:
os: windows 8.1 pro 64-bit
mb: sabertooth x79 (lga2011)
cpu: intel i7-3820 @ 3.6ghz
gpu: msi gtx 780 twinfrozr 3gb oc edition
hdd: 931gb wdc, 596gb wdc, 298gb seagate
ram: 8gb ddr3 (4x2gb)
psu: thermaltake 875 watt
Anyone who can help me overclock successfuly so I can get some better frames, or a steadier frame rate? Thanks!

i7Baby · Apr 28, 2014

It won't be bottlenecking your gpu. Check - %usage cpu (Task Manager) and % usage GPU (Afterburner). If cpu is at 100% while GPU lower then you're right.
I had a 3820 and it overclocked easy peasy. You should get 4.3. See http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/18fjx4/guide_so_youre_trying_to_overclock_the_i73820_i/

Maybe its another problem. Are you overclocking the 780 too? - voltage and clocks?

What model Thermaltake power supply is it?

xGh0stSn1p3r · Apr 28, 2014

i7Baby :

It's a 875 Watt Thermaltake Toughpower XT Modular Power Supply
I only overclock my graphics card with the MSI Gaming App tool which allows easy overclocking.
I only get around 20-30% usage of my cpu, when it's at 100%, I get 5 frames on bf4.
I know it's defs overclocking because this card should defs be getting 100+ frames. Also the card gets around 70-100% usage

WhiteSnake91 · Apr 28, 2014

something has to be wrong, I don't even get dips THAT bad with my i5 even when it was on stock clocks. Now at 4.2ghz it's pretty much constant 60fps with small dips, but always around 60 with my hd7950. And I have windows 7 which is supposed to give worse fps than Windows 8

I've seen alot of varying stuff on bf4. I've seen a haswell i3 with a regular gtx 660 do better in 64player conquest than I was getting on my stock clocks. I had to overclock to keep up. Although they were on Windows 8.1

i7Baby · Apr 28, 2014

xGh0stSn1p3r :

i7Baby :

It's a 875 Watt Thermaltake Toughpower XT Modular Power Supply
I only overclock my graphics card with the MSI Gaming App tool which allows easy overclocking.
I only get around 20-30% usage of my cpu, when it's at 100%, I get 5 frames on bf4.
I know it's defs overclocking because this card should defs be getting 100+ frames. Also the card gets around 70-100% usage

OK so its not your cpu bottlnecking

Tell me what settings you are using to overclock the graphics card

Zombie615 · Apr 28, 2014

You stated in your first paragraph that the processor is locked an than continued on to say you were trying to overclock it.... I'm confused.

i7Baby · Apr 28, 2014

The psu should be OK. Its made by ChannelWell and its 80plus certified Silver.

But just in case - can you download and use HWInfo and get the min and max readings for the 12v, 5v and 3.3v rails?

xGh0stSn1p3r · May 1, 2014

i7Baby :

I am using the MSI Gaming App to overclock the card since it's a MSI card, changing it to OC mode will put it around 1110MHz and on Battlefield 4, I really see no frame difference at all, I get around 60 frames on ultra and it drops to under 40 a lot. I have seen other people with GTX 670's who get more than 70 frames on Ultra on BF4 and I know this card should definitely be getting more than 100 stable frames on BF4. It must be something with one of my pc parts bottlenecking the gpu, either the ram, hdd, or cpu.
My RAM is 8gb ram running at 1334MHz, which is normal speed for ram, I have a 1TB 7200RPM Hard Drive. Here are my full pc specs:
cpu: intel i7-3820 3.60ghz
ram: 8gb ddr3 1334mhz
mb: asus sabertooth x79
os: windows 8.1 pro 64-bit
gpu: msi gts 780 twinfozr 3gb oc
I still think it's the processor bottlenecking the card because i've had a lot of friends tell me that it would be thr processor, and they're pretty good at overclocking and things. One of my friends has 2x gtx 770's and he get more than 130 frames on bf4 ultra.

i7Baby · May 1, 2014

No i7 cpu would be bottle necking the 780. Especially an LGA2011 one. But if you're convinced, then just buy a new one. Say a 4930k.

If it was me, I'd be trying to find out what's going on. You've said your cpu is running at 30% usage when your card is at 100%. So that proves that the cpu is not bottle necking your pc.

So I'm asking to look at voltages from your power supply. And also to get a screenshot of your settings in Afterburner.

WhiteSnake91 · May 1, 2014

yeah an i7 wouldn't bottleneck a 780, not even an i5 would

bicycle_repair_man · May 1, 2014

Like everyone else has said, the processor isn't bottle-necking the GPU, so ignore that.

A non-k Intel processor can only be "overclocked" to its Turbo Boost speed, which you do by increasing the CPU multiplier (if the motherboard allows it). Otherwise, you need to revert to the FSB method of overclocking, where you increase the base clock (BCLK).

Bear in mind that a BCLK overclock will also overclock other components, such as the RAM and PCI slots, which is why it isn't a recommended practice; it can lead to BSODs and crashes. You can make minor gains, but this is usually in the region of 200Mhz.

One thing that's apparent is that you haven't mentioned if you have an aftermarket CPU cooler. The stock Intel one will work at the Turbo Boost speed, but as the CPU will run at this speed constantly, rather than when it needs to, I'd advise you to buy a different cooler.

In summary, your processor can Turbo Boost to 3.8Ghz, so with a BCLK overclock on top of that, you're looking at a likely maximum clock speed of 4Ghz.

WhiteSnake91 · May 1, 2014

I have a feeling it's probably the power supply, or faulty ram can cause all kinds of funky stuff to happen. Possibly the motherboard but I doubt it.

xGh0stSn1p3r · May 2, 2014

bicycle_repair_man :

Like everyone else has said, the processor isn't bottle-necking the GPU, so ignore that.

A non-k Intel processor can only be "overclocked" to its Turbo Boost speed, which you do by increasing the CPU multiplier (if the motherboard allows it). Otherwise, you need to revert to the FSB method of overclocking, where you increase the base clock (BCLK).

Bear in mind that a BCLK overclock will also overclock other components, such as the RAM and PCI slots, which is why it isn't a recommended practice; it can lead to BSODs and crashes. You can make minor gains, but this is usually in the region of 200Mhz.

One thing that's apparent is that you haven't mentioned if you have an aftermarket CPU cooler. The stock Intel one will work at the Turbo Boost speed, but as the CPU will run at this speed constantly, rather than when it needs to, I'd advise you to buy a different cooler.

In summary, your processor can Turbo Boost to 3.8Ghz, so with a BCLK overclock on top of that, you're looking at a likely maximum clock speed of 4Ghz.

I have a Corsair H80i water cooler in my pc with two fans on either side of it.

xGh0stSn1p3r · May 2, 2014

WhiteSnake91 :

It wouldn't be the powersupply because it's a new powersupply, it's a Thermaltake Toughpower XT 875 watt psu. Previously when I had a 600 watt psu, I experienced a lot of crashing cause the gpu drawing too much power but there wasn't enough power, when I upgraded that all stopped. I also have 8gb ram, 4x2gb sticks and a Sabertooth X79 motherboard. CPU stays at around 30-36 degrees at idle, and doesn't really go past 60 when playing BF4, doesn't go past 55 much either, stays pretty cool. Graphics card tends to stay at around 23 degrees at idle. For my ram, speccy says exactly this if anyone wants to know 8.00GB DDR3 @ 668MHz (9-9-9-24). I also have a 60hz monitor if anyone wants to know, would this be causing low frames?

WhiteSnake91 · May 3, 2014

I think battlefield 4 is just finicky. Yesterday I saw a guy streaming on twitch with a 4.6ghz i7 and a single gtx 780 and he had 110+ fps on ultra at all times even in a big conquest map while streaming. Meanwhile my pc has to turn off msaa to stay around 60fps more consistently but I have everything else on ultra. I commonly have dips down into the 40s for fps, and when I tried recording with MSI afterburner on Flood Zone conquest, during a small multi person gun fight over the central base/flag, I could visibly tell it was getting choppy and even stuttering even though the fps said 48. Maybe streaming/recording really needs the 8 threads of the i7. I'm not sure I want to plop down 300+ bucks for a 3770k though.

xGh0stSn1p3r · May 3, 2014

WhiteSnake91 :

Nah, it wouldn't be Battlefield 4. Something is definitely bottlenecking becasue no matter what video settings i'm using, low, high, medium, ultra, I will continue to get the same frames, low will get the same frames as ultra. With a gtx 780, you'd probably expect about 110 frames on ultra, and around 170-200 frames on low, but it doesn't happen.

delellod123 · May 30, 2014

I have a sabertooth and a 3820. This processor is only "semi locked" you can adjust BLK and/or multiplier. That said, If you adjust the multiplier, this motherboard has an issue. You will need to change V-CORE to OFFSET + mode, then set that to AUTO. Otherwise, the Overclock won't work. If you Overclock with the BLK, the board is less finicky. This is just my experience.

delellod123 · May 30, 2014

In reference to your frame rates, have you tried downloading and CLEAN Installing a new Nvidia driver? Your hardware is beyond spec, so this must be a software issue.

i7Baby · May 30, 2014

Zombie615 :

The 3820 overclocks - like a demon

See - http://archive.benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=874&Itemid=63&limitstart=14

i7Baby · May 30, 2014

My bet is you've got power supply problems.

Can you download and run HWInfo - Sensors and post the results - 3 screenshots on TinyPic or similar

Overclocking an Intel I7-3820 quad core locked processor unstable at 4.3GHz

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