OC Virgin need help: i5 2500k on Asus P8P78-Deluxe

This is my first build and I want to OC my CPU...

My computer has:
CPU: i5 2500k @ 3.3GHz (stock)
MB: Asus P8P67-Deluxe
GPU: EVGA Superclocked 580GTX
RAM: GSKILL Ripjaw 2x4GB (DDR3 1600) F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM
PSU: Corsair 650TXV2 650W
SSD: Intel 510 Series 120 GB
HDD: WD 2TB Green Caviar

I've been reading up on threads and went with these settings for 4.5 GHz:

Ai Overclock Tuner - Manual
BCLK/PEG Frequency - 100
Turbo Ratio: By All Cores:45
Internal PLL Overvoltage - Enabled
Memory Frequency - DDR3 1600
EPU Power Saving Mode - Disabled

CPU Ratio - Auto
Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology - Enabled
Turbo Mode - Enabled

Load-Line Calibration - Extreme
VRM - Auto
Phase Control - Extreme
Duty Control - Extreme
CPU Current Capability - 100%

CPU Voltage - Manual Mode
CPU Manual Voltage - 1.35v
DRAM Voltage - 1.5v
CPU Spread Spectrum - Disabled

Intel Adaptive Thermal Monitor - Disabled
Active Processor Cores - All
Limit CPUID Maximum - Disabled
Execute Disable Bit - Enabled
Intel Virtualization Technology - Disabled
Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology - Enabled
Turbo Mode - Enabled
CPU C1E - Disabled
CPU C3 Report - Disabled
CPU C6 Report - Disabled

I was able to stress test it... and everything seemed fine. Turned it off, then cold booted and I get an error saying "Overclock has failed". Now I'm back to stock speed and I want to clock it to at least 4.0-4.5 but I'm not sure what caused the coldboot problem. Can someone help, please?

Can someone help me get my OC up and running?

Disabling Speedstep and turbo is typical when OCing, you have those enabled.

Other than that, I would either try a 44 multi or increase the vcore a bit (depends on your temps and what you are comfortable with. Everything else looks fine, I think.

Also, sometimes I get that error on valid stable overclocks, and I just ignore it, go to bios and reapply my OC settings, then boot back up like normal.

WELCOME TO THE FORUMS!

Thanks! I'll definitely put in those changes and hopefully not see that error message anymore.

How'd things turn out? Any more problems?

crisscutfries said:

Ai Overclock Tuner - Manual
BCLK/PEG Frequency - 100
Turbo Ratio: By All Cores:45
Internal PLL Overvoltage - Enabled
Memory Frequency - DDR3 1600
EPU Power Saving Mode - Disabled

Click to expand...

I have the same board as you so I can help advice you pretty well.
Good on the multiplier, memory speed, and bclk speed.
Disable "Internal PLL Overvoltage". It is only needed to get above the 50x multiplier. Enabling it, for some reason, doesn't allow Windows to wake from sleep.

crisscutfries said:

CPU Ratio - Auto
Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology - Enabled
Turbo Mode - Enabled

Click to expand...

All good here. I see a lot of people disabling Turbo. But, I sure don't.

crisscutfries said:

Load-Line Calibration - Extreme
VRM - Auto
Phase Control - Extreme
Duty Control - Extreme
CPU Current Capability - 100%

Click to expand...

You don't need to use "Extreme" for LLC. It can overcompensate with that much LLC.
You can change the VRM frequency. It can help things a lot. I use "350"
Phase control and Duty control are both excellent. I like using Phase control at extreme so all my phases are being used; I also like using Extreme duty control so it spreads the current out evenly across all phases, instead of on temperature.

crisscutfries said:

CPU Voltage - Manual Mode
CPU Manual Voltage - 1.35v
DRAM Voltage - 1.5v
CPU Spread Spectrum - Disabled

Click to expand...

Good here as well. 1.35v for 4.5GHz is a great starting point.

crisscutfries said:

Intel Adaptive Thermal Monitor - Disabled
Active Processor Cores - All
Limit CPUID Maximum - Disabled
Execute Disable Bit - Enabled
Intel Virtualization Technology - Disabled
Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology - Enabled
Turbo Mode - Enabled
CPU C1E - Disabled
CPU C3 Report - Disabled
CPU C6 Report - Disabled

Click to expand...

Disable Speedstep when overclocking, you can re-enable it later if desired.
All the C-States are off so you are good there.

crisscutfries said:

I was able to stress test it... and everything seemed fine. Turned it off, then cold booted and I get an error saying "Overclock has failed". Now I'm back to stock speed and I want to clock it to at least 4.0-4.5 but I'm not sure what caused the coldboot problem. Can someone help, please?

Can someone help me get my OC up and running?

Click to expand...

You probably went thru a boot cycle where the board cycled on and off a few times, tricking (or it actually failed, who knows) into thinking an overclocked setting caused the issue. My gut says if you were able to boot into Windows and stress test, your overclock wasn't a failure. It was probably just a boot cycle.

Post back with any other questions.

Nice Benny!

Yep. Figured I'd give the guy indepth details as I know these boards extremely well (I mean I've gone thru 3 of them ).

Hopefully that was some help to the OP.

bennoculus said:

I have the same board as you so I can help advice you pretty well.
Good on the multiplier, memory speed, and bclk speed.
Disable "Internal PLL Overvoltage". It is only needed to get above the 50x multiplier. Enabling it, for some reason, doesn't allow Windows to wake from sleep.

Click to expand...

I second this but wanted to add that I cannot boot to windows at 4.6 without it; decided it wasn't worth not having hibernate

bennoculus said:

You don't need to use "Extreme" for LLC. It can overcompensate with that much LLC.
You can change the VRM frequency. It can help things a lot. I use "350"
Phase control and Duty control are both excellent. I like using Phase control at extreme so all my phases are being used; I also like using Extreme duty control so it spreads the current out evenly across all phases, instead of on temperature.

Click to expand...

Ditto to both but I'd like to add that you do not want to use LLC at all. Anandtech did a long write up about how dangerous LLC is with voltage spiking and based on their description it appears to be spot on for why people are blowing their chips out at around 1.4v. They demonstrated on a C2D that setting voltage at around 1.25 had spikes as high as 1.37v coming from idle to load which if you extrapolate it to sandy bridge 1.4v would hit over 1.52 which is enough to kill the chip. Personally I'd say don't use it at all. I went from using high and ultra high on my initial overclock attempts to auto/regular as my stability improved drastically at all overclocks despite the vdroop

Also try using voltage offset. Start at the minimum which I believe is .005 and work your way up. I am using .015 and that gets me roughly 1.28v for my 4.5ghz OC

bennoculus said:

Good here as well. 1.35v for 4.5GHz is a great starting point.

Click to expand...

Thats where I'm at

bennoculus said:

Disable Speedstep when overclocking, you can re-enable it later if desired.
All the C-States are off so you are good there.

Click to expand...

Not necessary unless you're on dice (points to your sig)

bennoculus said:

You probably went thru a boot cycle where the board cycled on and off a few times, tricking (or it actually failed, who knows) into thinking an overclocked setting caused the issue. My gut says if you were able to boot into Windows and stress test, your overclock wasn't a failure. It was probably just a boot cycle.

Click to expand...

False boots are caused by PLL over-voltage and not manually setting the bus speed to 100 as confirmed by Asus over on hardforums

Sentential said:

I second this but wanted to add that I cannot boot to windows at 4.6 without it; decided it wasn't worth not having hibernate

Click to expand...

Generally, it's needed to get above the 50 multi. But, every single chip is different.

Sentential said:

Ditto to both but I'd like to add that you do not want to use LLC at all. Anandtech did a long write up about how dangerous LLC is with voltage spiking and based on their description it appears to be spot on for why people are blowing their chips out at around 1.4v. They demonstrated on a C2D that setting voltage at around 1.25 had spikes as high as 1.37v coming from idle to load which if you extrapolate it to sandy bridge 1.4v would hit over 1.52 which is enough to kill the chip. Personally I'd say don't use it at all. I went from using high and ultra high on my initial overclock attempts to auto/regular as my stability improved drastically at all overclocks despite the vdroop

Click to expand...

Did not know this. Makes sense and all, but I see and hear a ton of people using LLC with Sandy Bridge and many don't have issues. I even use it myself and have seen no problems. I guess when you're pumping a lot of volts and then add LLC ontop of it, it could lead to some serious issues.

Sentential said:

Also try using voltage offset. Start at the minimum which I believe is .005 and work your way up. I am using .015 and that gets me roughly 1.28v for my 4.5ghz OC

Click to expand...

Offset = Dynamic. But yes, Offset is a GREAT way of setting vcore.

Sentential said:

Not necessary unless you're on dice (points to your sig)

Click to expand...

A ton of people turn off C-States and EIST when finding a basic overclock. Then turn them back on once they've found a nice, stable overclock.

bennoculus said:

Did not know this. Makes sense and all, but I see and hear a ton of people using LLC with Sandy Bridge and many don't have issues. I even use it myself and have seen no problems. I guess when you're pumping a lot of volts and then add LLC ontop of it, it could lead to some serious issues.

Click to expand...

Ya here's the article:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2404/6