Z77A-GD65 + i5 2500K Overclocking - How to start?

[Zach_]

Re: Z77A-GD65 + i5 2500K Overclocking - How to start?

About the DMM, just didn't have time to do that, but I might do it now just to verify things, do read:

I've decided to do the smart thing, I don't want to cross 1.4V in the BIOS so I decided I'm gonna try 4.5GHz and lowered the voltages as follows:

Vcore - 1.4 (1.384 in CPU-Z idle, 1.368 load)
I/O - 1.07
S/A - 0.95
PLL - 1.82
DRAM - 1.514

I then tested P95 AVX 27.7 Blend test which ran successfully for a full 12 hours! Check out the screenshot:

<a href="http://www.freeimagehosting.net/re2w5"><img src="http://www.freeimagehosting.net/t/re2w5.jpg"></a>

Which really surprised me, I was sure I'm gonna get a BSOD but it passed.
Then I ran IBT for 10 loops on Maximum to finish it off and it passed as well:

<a href="http://www.freeimagehosting.net/hujz7"><img src="http://www.freeimagehosting.net/t/hujz7.jpg"></a>

I'm very pleased with this, I was able to lower the Vcore by 0.3V, lower the PLL and S/A and still get it stable on 4.5GHz
I guess 4.6 is the crisis point for my particular CPU and it needs much more voltage in order to deal with this frequency, same thing that happened to me with the Q9550, I was able to stabilize 3.8GHz on 1.4V but for 4.0GHz I had to go north to 1.45, which is too high and risky for another 200MHz...

The difference in performance between 4.5 to 4.6 will be invisible, plus I've read several reviews which proved that there is hardly a difference if any at all in gaming or benchmarks so I'm fine with 4.5GHz at 1.4 Vcore.
I think I'm gonna settle down with 4.5 GHz it's a very nice 30% overclock to an already very powerful CPU, no need to push it to 5.0 and try to fry the CPU with high voltages :)



What do you think?

[profJim]

Re: Z77A-GD65 + i5 2500K Overclocking - How to start?

Ah, looking much better
Two screen-shots?? I'm having a heart attack
Maybe your updated bios contributed to system stability with your lower voltages.

Why not push your luck a bit:
Try enabling some of the bios power saving options and see if your system is still stable at 4.5GHz.
If it works, you'll have the best of both worlds.

I think that BF3 is currently one of the most demanding games.
You should run it for 6 continuous hours or longer as part of your "final" stress test.

You should "intrude" in the http://forums.tweaktown.com/gigabyte...ners-club.html thread and ask if any of the Gigaboys over there have tested their 4.xGHz overclocks using Prime95 AVX 27.7 Blend and Large FFT tests and if their tests were successful. Feel free to mention that this was my suggestion.

For the benefit of other Z77A-GD65 owners or wannabees you should post screen-shots of all of your overclocked settings.
When using the Insert Image option, each image will be much larger. You might have to un-tick the "Retrieve remote file and reference locally" option.

Haven't you learned by now that asking for my opinion is hazardous to your mental health?

[Zach_]

Re: Z77A-GD65 + i5 2500K Overclocking - How to start?

Hey Jim,

Your opinion always helps me :)

Anyway, I've posted in that thread, let's hear what they have to say, for now I think I'm done with this OC, will run some benchmarks for performance, never been much a benchmark user so if you could give me a few good ones (Aside from 3Dmark and Unigine Heaven) I'd be happy to post.

Will post my BIOS screenshots later on.

In regards to power saving features, EIST throttles the voltage too much, I'm seeing a bigger Vdroop when it's enabled, and anyway, I don't have my PC on 27/4 so I'm not sure it's needed, plus I don't have the energy for more stress testing atm.

Peace.

[profJim]

Re: Z77A-GD65 + i5 2500K Overclocking - How to start?

You've earned your o/c, now it's time to enjoy your system.

If any of your games have a built-in benchmark feature, others would be interested in your results.
If your video card needs overclocking, relax, video cards are much easier to overclock.

In http://forums.tweaktown.com/memory/4...dy-bridge.html, I asked the question:

Assuming that the cpu is overclocked, do higher memory speeds improve real world performance when gaming, encoding or when running other intensive applications?

There weren't many responses that dealt with real world gaming or intensive applications when running with an Ivy or Sandy Bridge system.
Many owners are obsessed with running high memory speeds, but everything that I've seen indicates that 1600MHz is as good as it gets with real world programs.

When the o/c urge or itch strikes in the future, think about overclocking your memory to see if it improves the game play and/or gaming benchmarks.

I'm curious to see if they had any Prime95/AVX problems in the "Official" Z77X thread.
My final thoughts (for now) on Prime95/AVX testing:
1) Worker thread errors indicate system instability that should be addressed.
2) A Prime95 BSOD indicates a serious problem that must be addressed.

BTW, your TT & MSI forum signatures should be updated to show that you're using the 10.5 bios version.

[Zach_]

Re: Z77A-GD65 + i5 2500K Overclocking - How to start?

Updated my signature, will run some benchmarks and post my results and BIOS settings.

And also, notice that I updated my GPU in my signature, this is my new baby:



XFX Radeon 7950 Black Edition 3GB

Got a really good deal, traded my 6950 and added 150 USD, this GPU comes factory overclocked to 900MHz and reviews have proved that it can go as high as 1200 (!!!) MHz by overclocking and raising the voltage to 1.2 and still maintain reasonable temps.

Incredible :)

[profJim]

Re: Z77A-GD65 + i5 2500K Overclocking - How to start?

Incredible? Yep, but did you read the fine print?
You need a cpu overclock to 4.6GHz or higher to run your new video card at its max settings. just kidding

[Zach_]

Re: Z77A-GD65 + i5 2500K Overclocking - How to start?

HUGE Update!

I managed to get 4.5GHz stable on Vcore 1.35 by reducing PLL to 1.65! I never knew PLL could improve stability so much, but it seems as though it's helping a lot of people stable their higher overclocks!

I ran P95 27.7 AVX blend for 13 hours and it was rock solid on a much lower Vcore! Screenshot:



My idle voltage is 1.368, V under load is 1.352! YAY

I'm very happy about this, will try 4.7 soon with Vcore set to 1.38 in CPU-Z and we'll see how it goes :)