Nightmare OC of i5 4670K

I have about given up on this chip. Any help is greatly appreciated. First, my setup:

OS- WIN 8.1 64 bit
CPU- i5 4670k Haswell
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U14S
MB: Gigabyte GA-Z87MX-DH3
RAM: Crucial BLT2KIT8G3D1608DT1TX0 (Ballistix Tactical 8-8-8-24- DDR3 1600- 2 x 8GB)
GPU EVGA GTX560 2GB
HDD Intel 520 SSD
HDD Data- 2 x WD Red 2 TB 5400 RPM
LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer
PSU- Seasonic X660 Gold

What I have tried:
1. Three step guide to overclocking Haswell found on this site:

I set RAM Voltage to 1.5v
I set CPU Voltage to 1.2v
I raise Multiplier.

I can get into windows but I get BSOD whea_uncorrectable_error at anything over 40. The closest I could come up with was 42 at 1.250v but this was not stable with Prime95.

2. Followed another guide: http://us.hardware.info/reviews/4855/5/workshop-how-to-overclock-haswell-processors-basic-settings

Settings were:

Intel Turbo Boost Technology - Disabled
Increase voltage ceiling (1) CPU VRIN Current Protection - Extreme
Increase voltage ceiling (2) CPU VRIN Protection - 500mV
Enable load-line calibration CPU VRIN Loadline Calibration - Extreme
Enable PLL overvoltage K-OC - Enabled
Set CPU voltage to 1.2V CPU Vcore - 1.2V
PWM Phase Control - eXM Perf
Disable Intel SpeedStep CPU EIST Function
Disable C1E CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E)
Disable C states C3 State Support
Disable C states CPU C6/C7 State Support

The results here were that I was unable to find a stable OC even at 42 GhZ. Voltages were 1.220- failed with whea_uncorrectable_error; 1230- failed to load; 1.240 failed with Clock_Watchdog_Timeout. I gave up at this point as 42 should not require such high voltage

3. I used EZ Tune and I got 46 with 1.542V! Not stable in Prime 95. I monkeyed around and got to 42 at 1.410 but that seems way high. Have not tested for 24 hours yet due to high voltage fears.

Can anyone suggest anything other than giving up? Maybe need a bigger PSU?

I do not like using EZ tune or Intel Extreme tuning, they put way to much voltage on the chip. I am at 4.5 with 1.26 Vcore. Turn C3 back on, it will actually help keep temps down and allow more overclock. I have Vrin at 1.80 static. Be careful with adaptive voltage when overclocking. Intel seems to over volt. My experience..
Why is turbo turned off? There is a program called Throttle Stop 6.0 which allows you to change multipliers on the fly. Check it out.

3. I used EZ Tune and I got 46 with 1.542V! Not stable in Prime 95

Click to expand...

That is crazy high voltage. ouch.

I'd imagine that your running into a temperature issue at that voltage?

If it were me I'd start all over with the guide and aim lower. Start at 40 and work up. Not all CPUs are guarenteed to OC. Set it back to defaults, pick a voltage you're comfortable with, say 1.275, start with 40x and see what happens. If you can stabilize it then see if you can go higher. Just remember that stock is 35x + turbo. After that there is no guarentee.

Turbo boost has to be on for much of a successful overclock. I've always left it enabled when overclocking every generation of Intel CPUs that had it.... You can turn all the c-states and EIST off though.

So Turbo Boost ON Manual and set all cores to same clock? Say start at 40 and go up at 1.25V. RAM is fast DDR3 1600 (8-8-8-24 Ballitix Tactical). Should I leave that at Auto or manually peg it at 1333 and 1.5V?

At 4.2GHz and 1.12-1.20 Vcore w/ turbo disabled, what are the ring frequency / ring ratio and ring voltage set to? Try a Vcore of 1.12v and ring voltage of 1.08v, w/ the ring bus multiplier at x41.

Tried

redduc900 said:

At 4.2GHz and 1.12-1.20 Vcore w/ turbo disabled, what are the ring frequency / ring ratio and ring voltage set to? Try a Vcore of 1.12v and ring voltage of 1.08v, w/ the ring bus multiplier at x41.

Click to expand...

Nothing stable between those voltages with those settings. I will test at each step and post the results.

Ok. I have a spreadsheet of data building but the best I can manage on this chip is 3.8 with 4.0 Turbo.

These are the results for a 4.0 OC at various voltages. First is VCORE, Then YES if POST and YES if WIN launched, and finally the OCCT Stress Results:
Vcore Post WIN OCCT
1.096 Failed- Locked up
1.086 "Failed
whea_uncorrectable_error"
1.076 Bad_System_Config
1.12 YES YES Failed- Clock_WatchDog_Timeout @ 1 min
1.13 YES YES "Failed
whea_uncorrectable_error"
1.1428 YES YES "Failed
whea_uncorrectable_error"
1.1528 YES YES Failed- Locked up
1.1628 YES YES Failed- Clock_WatchDog_Timeout @ 6 min
1.1728 YES YES Failed- Locked up
1.1828 YES YES Failed- Locked up @2min 41 sec
1.1928 YES YES Failed- Locked up @2min 31 sec
1.2028 YES YES Failed- Locked up @2min 31 sec
1.25 YES YES "Failed
whea_uncorrectable_error"
1.28 YES YES Failed- Locked up

What is so furstrating is that I can get a stable UNDERCLOCK for this chip as follows:

Vcore Saving Post WIN OCCT
1.096 0.032 YES YES PASS 60 min

Just out of curiosity I would try this add a bit of voltage to your ram say .05v from default. Set system agent, digital and analog to a .15v offset and see if it'll run. 16gig of 8-8-8 ram might just need a little bost in the IMC

Question

Johan45 said:

Just out of curiosity I would try this add a bit of voltage to your ram say .05v from default. Set system agent, digital and analog to a .15v offset and see if it'll run. 16gig of 8-8-8 ram might just need a little bost in the IMC

Click to expand...

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but do you mean change the voltage to RAM from stock 1.5 to 1.55? By system agent, digital and analog do you mean system agent voltage(VCCSA) and CPU IO Analog and Digital?

Yes all around.

I was having similar problems with my OC, until I re-flashed my BIOS. Something about starting with a fresh flash seemed to help. At least I always knew what the settings were when I started with a new FLASH.

I just updated BIOS. I have not had time to try the whole process from the start but at least the initial test of setting CPU to 1.2v has not shown any greater stability. I seem stuck at the settings listed above with a base of 38 and a Turbo of 40, 40, 39 and 38.

I think you need to leave the base clock alone. Go into the M.I.T. section called advanced CPU core features. Once in there set the CPU Clock ratio to 40 and then go down to the four turbo ratio options and manually set those to 40 as well. There is also a uncore option in that same area that most likely will be need set to within three of the core clock setting, so in this case try setting it to 37.

TBob;
I've had similar experiences. My 4770k, out of the box/stock pulls a vcore of 1.24v. Any overclock efforts I put it though require above 1.3v to maintain. As of this posting, I'm running @ 4.3GHz @ 1.295 vcore. RAM is running 1600 @ 1.5v. Northbridge is running at 3.9. Anything higher, and I get the same errors you do.

I'm running cooling on an H80i, which keeps the temps reasonable, but if I start pushing additional voltage though the system, it creeps up around 98C by the end of hour 1 in AIDA64 stressing. At current settings, it maxes out at around 88C.

I've utilized http://www.overclock.net/t/1401976/the-gigabyte-z87-haswell-overclocking-oc-guide and the same guide you're rocking-out, but the results are consistently the same.

Sadly, I think I just got a pull from the bottom 20% of batches -- which was dissipointing when I noticed it was a Costa Rica chip -- which seem to usually clock better.

Any of you folks running the same board (GA-Z87MX-D3H) with a 4770k have any tips for further modification without burning the bad boy out are welcome/requested. Not quite sure what to try next. I've gotten 4.4 but can't keep it stable and keep the temps in line -- as voltage starts wanting to creep up to 1.45.

Current Build:

4770k @ 4.3
16GB (4x4GB) Crucial Vengence LP 1866 @ 1600MHz (1.5v)
GA-Z87MX-D3H
Corsair CX750M Power supply
Gigabyte GTX 770 OC

Current BIOS settings (F6)
CPU Clock: 43
Vcore: 1.297 (as noted, default at stock is 1.24)
Uncore: 39
CPU VRIN override: 1.875
CPU Ring: 1.150
CPU agent/analog/ & digital +.200 (resolves a Hacintosh boot issue with these values)
CPU VRIN Loadline Calibration: extreme
PWM Phase Control: eXm Perf
XMP Profile 1: 1600 MHz @ 1.5v
- Other settings default and/or auto

Have you tried LLC increase?

cadcock2 said:

TBob;
I've had similar experiences. My 4770k, out of the box/stock pulls a vcore of 1.24v. Any overclock efforts I put it though require above 1.3v to maintain. As of this posting, I'm running @ 4.3GHz @ 1.295 vcore. RAM is running 1600 @ 1.5v. Northbridge is running at 3.9. Anything higher, and I get the same errors you do.

I'm running cooling on an H80i, which keeps the temps reasonable, but if I start pushing additional voltage though the system, it creeps up around 98C by the end of hour 1 in AIDA64 stressing. At current settings, it maxes out at around 88C.

I've utilized http://www.overclock.net/t/1401976/the-gigabyte-z87-haswell-overclocking-oc-guide and the same guide you're rocking-out, but the results are consistently the same.

Sadly, I think I just got a pull from the bottom 20% of batches -- which was dissipointing when I noticed it was a Costa Rica chip -- which seem to usually clock better.

Any of you folks running the same board (GA-Z87MX-D3H) with a 4770k have any tips for further modification without burning the bad boy out are welcome/requested. Not quite sure what to try next. I've gotten 4.4 but can't keep it stable and keep the temps in line -- as voltage starts wanting to creep up to 1.45.

Current Build:

4770k @ 4.3
16GB (4x4GB) Crucial Vengence LP 1866 @ 1600MHz (1.5v)
GA-Z87MX-D3H
Corsair CX750M Power supply
Gigabyte GTX 770 OC

Current BIOS settings (F6)
CPU Clock: 43
Vcore: 1.297 (as noted, default at stock is 1.24)
Uncore: 39
CPU VRIN override: 1.875
CPU Ring: 1.150
CPU agent/analog/ & digital +.200 (resolves a Hacintosh boot issue with these values)
CPU VRIN Loadline Calibration: extreme
PWM Phase Control: eXm Perf
XMP Profile 1: 1600 MHz @ 1.5v
- Other settings default and/or auto

Click to expand...

TBob hasn't been back to the forums for a month now...

A 4770K having a stock VID of ~1.24v for default speed seems pretty bad to me.

You are probably correct then in assuming that your chip is most like from the bottom of "bell curve" with regards to overclocking. I'm kind of surprised that Intel is binning/releasing Haswell "K" cpu with such poor overclocking potential.

How much vcore do you need to run 42x?

I was reading some reviews from Newegg about your board (I know... they're not always credible) and it might not be the best performer but I suspect that it really comes down to "bad luck" in the silicon lottery.

I have found with these 4770k/4670k Intels is that they are all over the place as far as temps. Some will run at hotter temps with lower voltage then others. This doesn't necessarily mean that it will be a bad overclocker. It just needs better cooling to get there, I personally have a "hot" 4770k. Which is 2 hours prime stable at 4.4 on a full custom loop with a 360 rad cooling the Cpu only. I have compared mine to another forum members 4770k and mine on less volts and much better cooling will run upwards of 10c hotter then his. That said on really really cold water mine 4770k has done 5250 mhz.

PolRoger said:

TBob hasn't been back to the forums for a month now...

A 4770K having a stock VID of ~1.24v for default speed seems pretty bad to me.

You are probably correct then in assuming that your chip is most like from the bottom of "bell curve" with regards to overclocking. I'm kind of surprised that Intel is binning/releasing Haswell "K" cpu with such poor overclocking potential.

How much vcore do you need to run 42x?

I was reading some reviews from Newegg about your board (I know... they're not always credible) and it might not be the best performer but I suspect that it really comes down to "bad luck" in the silicon lottery.

Click to expand...

If I lower to 42x, I can hold as low as 1.278, anything less and the old BSOD friend rears its ugly head.

I'm not a video editor and an extreme Overclocking finatic -- so I'm not crying over the spilled milk that is likely a poor overclocking piece of silicon, but I'm still pretty disheartened in the potential of my particular chip compared to price. I'm shocked that it can be such a pot-shot; although I knew it could happen going into it...