Problems overclocking 2600k

Ok, so to start Ive NEVER had as much trouble overclocking as Ive had with this cpu. Im not so sure its the CPU as I believe it may be the board.

So I first started to try and shoot for 4.5ghz. Set vCore to 1.35v, QPI to 1.18v, and my ram to 1.64v. Wouldnt boot up at all. Not only that, I had to clear cmos to get it to boot. It would just continuously loop in restart. Not sure why and this is why I think it could possibly be the board.

Dropped down to 4ghz @ 1.3v and it wouldnt boot. Ok wtf. Come to find out, I CANNOT use 1.3v (and this took me over an hour to figure out), 1.4v and a few other voltage options or the board WILL NOT POST. I can have the clock set to 4ghz, stock, 4.5ghz, whatever and if the voltage is set to certain numbers, it will NOT post.

So finally Im running 1.368v in windows. Start Prime95 off @ 4.8ghz at that voltage. I run for about 20 minutes then I get a lockup. Ok no problem right? Now I cant get anywhere. Having issues doing anything with overclocking now. System wants to restart 3 times everytime I restart if ANYTHING is overclocked in the slightest.

Gotta say, Ive overclocked a few CPUs dating back to the old Athlon 1ghz TBird and Ive NEVER had problems like this. I read that SB might not like higher voltage so Ive tried a wide range of voltages high and low to get things to work and I get lockups. I set my RAM to 1333mhz at default c9 timings just to rule out the possibility that it didnt like the 18.6 divider.

Also, this happened on both the F2 and F6A bios (figured a bios update might fix the problems). Im honestly about to return this and grab an Asus board. I dont really care for Giga boards, this UD3 is just mediocre but its been alright so I figured Id try another.

**Guess I should also add that nothing is the same ever. Sometimes the computer will start right up, sometimes itll restart loop and I have to clear CMOS, sometimes itll say it failed an overclock (what I figured it should do anyways, like previous platforms), and itll also restart 2-3 times then boot normally. No rhyme or reason. I really cant figure it out.

****Ok, been testing some stuff. Read on HF that people were having issues w/ failing a stress test and settings becoming unstable for a period of time. Im finding this to be true as well. I ran about an hour of P95 @ 4.5ghz 1.368v (which that voltage previously ran 4.8ghz for about 15 minutes P95). The same voltage failed P95 IMMEDIATELY prior to the 4.5ghz test. I just bumped it back to 4.6ghz and its running P95 just fine. Not really sure what to make of all of this.

This guide over at EO is related to the GA-P67A-UD7, but the settings may also apply to the GA-P67A-UD3...

http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showthread.php?p=3836489

Alright cool, thanks for the link will read through it to see if I missed something.

Also, CPUz isnt reading the voltage. Its reading 1.15v. Tried the newest Beta2 1.56 as well as official 1.56. Currently using EasyTune to read the voltage I see everyone else's is reading voltage though?

** OK read through that. Good read although there really isnt anything I didnt try. Really I followed that to a tee on initially attempting to OC. I also cannot get my bclock higher than 100. The BIOS allows me to set it higher, and itll boot, but it wont actually work. Stuck at 100 bclock Good news is im at 1 hour 10 minutes @ 4.6 @ 1.368v. Its like I edited above, once the system crashes it doesnt want to be stable and you need to work your way back up it seems.

Ive been workign on this for about 6 hours straight without alot of progress Usually by now Ive already found some pretty stable settings and Im just fine tuning, trying to get a bit more out of it. I havent even found a base yet!!!

You may want to check the bios settings after a failed overclock just to make sure they are still what you expect them to be. Its possible they are changing on you after a failed overclock and thus adding to the confusion.

One of the reviews I read of a gigabyte board made it sound like your needing to clear cmos issue was a common occurance for them also (sorry don't remember which review), so that doesn't sound out of the ordinary.