What does ES mean - i7-3770K

Engineering Sample !!!

Either CoreTemp is reading it wrong....or u've got ur hands on a rare pre-finished chip !!
Where did u get it from?

rare pre-finished chip? Does that mean it's bad... lol, not even ready for public use?

Look at this http://www.overclock.net/t/1253970/ivy-bridge-engineeri... Basically it's saying that Core Temp is reading it wrong.

Check the stepping with CPU-Z. If it's Stepping 9, it's not an ES.

Hi,

Yes my CPU-Z says Stepping 9 and Revision E1, i do not have an engineering sample.

By the way are my temperatures normal?

The temps look right to me, yes.

Thanks for the reply.

I do have a few more questions and something of concern.

1. Does anyone know what the safe over-clocking voltage for i7-3770K is? (people seem to be saying mixed things like 1.2 is bad, or 1.3 is okay etc).

2. When i set my frequency from 44 to 46, my computer only boots up to the "windows is starting" (black screen + glowing logo screen) and hangs there for infinite or something.

Then when i reset it to go into BIOS, my BIOS will literally FREEZE randomly from 2-4 seconds (which requires me to restart about 10-30 times to get lucky enough (to give me enough time) to "Load Optimized Defaults" or whatever to fix it before it freezes. Anyone know what this means? My BIOS is at F7 (Gigabyte Z77X UD3H).

3. Any advice regarding over-clocking settings to use (Loadline Calibration, Vcore current protection etc?).

4. Should i be increasing CPU/Pcie base clock from 100 to something higher?

Anyone familiar with the new features to help me out?

Cheers.

1,2 & 3. Read this article http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ivy-bridge-overcloc...

4. NO!!! leave it at 100. INcreasing it will lead to all sorts of stability issues. You have a K edition chip for heaven's sake, just bump up the multiplier to OC!!!  

Thank you for the reply Shawn.

I've read the article, however i coudln't find anythnig that answers what i was asking in 1,2,3 (safe voltage for 24/7, BIOS problem, LLC). Could you please elaborate where you're trying to guide me to? Thanks.

Cheers.

I was reading some specs and threads on different forums and stumbled on this post. I realize that it is an old post and am not sure whether you have arrived at the information that you are seeking. If not, the 'safe' voltage would be not to exceed 1.350 V even though Intel's specs may call for a higher voltage limit.

I am planning to pick my i7 3770K from MicroCenter and I do not plan to exceed 1.250V (conservative) during overclocking on air.

Good luck!