I will probably make a giant post, but I will make a simple one for now so people don't have these issues anymore.
First and foremost, in the bios LLC is disabled when using offset. If you boot into windows, open up touch bios you can use LLC and offsets badda bing badda boom.
Secondly, when using XMP profiles with this board you MUST set the ram to "standard". There is standard, turbo, extreme. If you are using turbo/extreme it will be stupid as hell, set your command rate to 1t instead of 2t like it should be, and cause BSOD's and REALLY random crashes, and laggy play back of extremely high resolution videos lol.
Next little tip I have with this board is a "break in" period. I could not get 4.5ghz stable for the life of me, took me all the way up to 1.39 - 1.4vcore load to get it stable, now after a few days of tweaking and the hardware set in I am at 1.33 - 1.34 load vcore
.
For anyone curious, temps with my hyper 212+ with all my fans on low, cpu fan speed set to disabled for 100% fan speed, I am getting 52C 100% load temps, max with linx I am seeing 60c. This is with a very good thermal paste job and a "perfect" seating. It took me a few tries but I finally got it lol.
Lets see what else I can touch base on...Oh yes, CPU PLL voltage is a known trick to LOWER, this board really enjoys anywhere from 1.7 to 1.75, NOT the stock 1.8.
Just for the hell of it since I wanna make this a book apparently, I will post my settings for a stable 4.5ghz on this chip currently.
All turbo mutli's at 45 obviously, using offset voltage +0.025 gives 1.34 load vcore 0.020 is also stable for 3hrs of linx, haven't tested more then that, 0.015 bsod'd after 4hrs of linx lol. QPI/VTT voltage deserves a small bump and has helped me LOWER my vcore and increase my ram overclock. 1.15 to 1.9 is what I recommend, most say to stay under 1.2 so keep that in mind. CPU PLL at 1.75, dram voltages at 1.52 *slight bump over stock 1.5*. Memory settings are default xmp profile set to standard for a 2t command rate. Leave Internal CPU PLL Overvoltage, Turbo power limit, Core Current limit, C1E, C3/C6, Cpu thermal monitor, Cpu EIST and bi-directional prochot all on AUTO. The reason for this is that at idle you will save A LOT of power/electricity/cash. No reason you need to be at 4.5 while typing an email or web browsing or watching a 1080p video. Simply leave them on auto and when you need the speed it will be there, you will NOT have any delays alt tabbing to games to movies etc. Speed instantly goes up and so does vcore. It's GREAT to have a low vcore on the cpu at idle, this allows you to have lower temps and to avoid degradation of the chip. The less voltage it sees for regular use the better and longer the chip will survive.
Next topic of discussion is the lucid virtu technology this board has. First and foremost if you are going to install the intel drivers for onboard video and the lucid drivers. The ONLY way you can install the lucid drivers is to go into the bios/touch bios, go to boot disk and where it says INIT DISPLAY FIRST set that to onboard. You then have to have the hdmi cable hooked up from the board to a tv/monitor so you can see **** obviously. Once the drivers are installed / lucid drivers are installed you can run a monitor on dvi with your dedicated gpu and a TV with the integrated sandybridge gpu at the same time through hdmi.
It's pretty nice being able to watch a full 1080p movie and talk to friends, browse the web, convert a movie from 720p to 1080p and make this post lol. It's a good idea to use 480MB+2MB for GTT for the IGD Frame Buffer Size, this gives a little more headroom for larger file formats and or any gaming that might be done with the IGPU.
Last but not least to help keep this tidy with the system if you are not using things such as usb 3.0, Gsata3 controllers, and other things set them to disabled.
All in all though this is a great board, especially for the money and or the discounts you can get with the board + corsair vengeance xmp ram at newegg. I have NO complaints about this board OTHER then the restart cycle / loops that it can get stuck in when the o/c setting is to high or just because the board feels like it occasionally lol. A quick cmos clears this well known issue with the gigabyte boards, at least for the time being.
First and foremost, in the bios LLC is disabled when using offset. If you boot into windows, open up touch bios you can use LLC and offsets badda bing badda boom.
Secondly, when using XMP profiles with this board you MUST set the ram to "standard". There is standard, turbo, extreme. If you are using turbo/extreme it will be stupid as hell, set your command rate to 1t instead of 2t like it should be, and cause BSOD's and REALLY random crashes, and laggy play back of extremely high resolution videos lol.
Next little tip I have with this board is a "break in" period. I could not get 4.5ghz stable for the life of me, took me all the way up to 1.39 - 1.4vcore load to get it stable, now after a few days of tweaking and the hardware set in I am at 1.33 - 1.34 load vcore
.For anyone curious, temps with my hyper 212+ with all my fans on low, cpu fan speed set to disabled for 100% fan speed, I am getting 52C 100% load temps, max with linx I am seeing 60c. This is with a very good thermal paste job and a "perfect" seating. It took me a few tries but I finally got it lol.
Lets see what else I can touch base on...Oh yes, CPU PLL voltage is a known trick to LOWER, this board really enjoys anywhere from 1.7 to 1.75, NOT the stock 1.8.
Just for the hell of it since I wanna make this a book apparently, I will post my settings for a stable 4.5ghz on this chip currently.
All turbo mutli's at 45 obviously, using offset voltage +0.025 gives 1.34 load vcore 0.020 is also stable for 3hrs of linx, haven't tested more then that, 0.015 bsod'd after 4hrs of linx lol. QPI/VTT voltage deserves a small bump and has helped me LOWER my vcore and increase my ram overclock. 1.15 to 1.9 is what I recommend, most say to stay under 1.2 so keep that in mind. CPU PLL at 1.75, dram voltages at 1.52 *slight bump over stock 1.5*. Memory settings are default xmp profile set to standard for a 2t command rate. Leave Internal CPU PLL Overvoltage, Turbo power limit, Core Current limit, C1E, C3/C6, Cpu thermal monitor, Cpu EIST and bi-directional prochot all on AUTO. The reason for this is that at idle you will save A LOT of power/electricity/cash. No reason you need to be at 4.5 while typing an email or web browsing or watching a 1080p video. Simply leave them on auto and when you need the speed it will be there, you will NOT have any delays alt tabbing to games to movies etc. Speed instantly goes up and so does vcore. It's GREAT to have a low vcore on the cpu at idle, this allows you to have lower temps and to avoid degradation of the chip. The less voltage it sees for regular use the better and longer the chip will survive.
Next topic of discussion is the lucid virtu technology this board has. First and foremost if you are going to install the intel drivers for onboard video and the lucid drivers. The ONLY way you can install the lucid drivers is to go into the bios/touch bios, go to boot disk and where it says INIT DISPLAY FIRST set that to onboard. You then have to have the hdmi cable hooked up from the board to a tv/monitor so you can see **** obviously. Once the drivers are installed / lucid drivers are installed you can run a monitor on dvi with your dedicated gpu and a TV with the integrated sandybridge gpu at the same time through hdmi.
It's pretty nice being able to watch a full 1080p movie and talk to friends, browse the web, convert a movie from 720p to 1080p and make this post lol. It's a good idea to use 480MB+2MB for GTT for the IGD Frame Buffer Size, this gives a little more headroom for larger file formats and or any gaming that might be done with the IGPU.
Last but not least to help keep this tidy with the system if you are not using things such as usb 3.0, Gsata3 controllers, and other things set them to disabled.
All in all though this is a great board, especially for the money and or the discounts you can get with the board + corsair vengeance xmp ram at newegg. I have NO complaints about this board OTHER then the restart cycle / loops that it can get stuck in when the o/c setting is to high or just because the board feels like it occasionally lol. A quick cmos clears this well known issue with the gigabyte boards, at least for the time being.
