OC i7 3770K; Voltage question

Heyas folks. I have been trying to overclock my i7 3770K to a modest 4.5GHz with no success. The highest I have been able to acheive is 4.4GHz @ 1.30V, anything higher and CCC crashes whenever the CPU has a high load (ie Prime95). It seems I had a poor pick in the silicon lottery; My old i7 2600K could do 4.7GHz @1.20V on air and never exceeded 55'C.

At my highest stable OC, 4.4GHz @ 1.30V seems a little high. Running Prime 95 for 30 minutes nets core temps around 75'C, so temps are not too bad. I am having issues with the voltage offset not really doing anything. I can offset +0.025 or +0.010 or +0.005 and the voltage when under load will always be 1.30V (give or take 0.002V), nothing changes. Tested with HWiNFO64, CPU-Z in Windows, and HWMonitor in OS X.

If I try for 4.5GHz and use a +0.025V offset and windows will boot up fine. As soon as I start Prime95, CCC stops working, but the torture test runs ok. The voltage will increase to 1.32V and temps are around 77'C on the cores. For test purposes the GPUs are at stock speeds with ULPS enabled.

Any tips, suggestions? I am trying to play it safe and not wreck my CPU, mobo, or PSU in the process.

For myself 100Hz is not really worth the extra effort as you will not notice the overall difference! Unless your looking to do Competitions for your Overclock i would more likely to just use normal manual voltage settings!

As i find Offset too much like hard work, far better to set a voltage for the CPU Vcore and adjust your LLC Accordingly. But each to there own way of things, yeah 4.5 would be about middle of the road for that CPU.

AJ.

Perhaps upgrade the cooler? Zalman CNPS20LQ It looks to me as if you do not have enough radiator surface area to dissipate the heat fast enough.

Other than that, my 3770K loves voltage just like yours. Often running 1.315v for 4.4ghz, currently running 4.6ghz and 1.415v.

My temps never see 70c at either above settings.

Thanks for your replies. I suppose an extra 100MHz isn't going to matter much, considering at 4.4GHz it is still a 500MHz free upgrade. I have not tried setting a voltage and adjusting LLC, worth a try. As is cleaning out my radiator and reapplying the thermal grease; It's been about a year since I last did so. I am also glad to know that 1.30V isn't as high as I thought.

Rule of thumb is 1.3v to 1.45v there about, is because when benching we tend to go above that for short time periods! So yours is just fine anyway.

Try reading through this guide as it will give you some ideas and tips!

1, http://www.overclock.net/t/1291703/ivy-bridge-overclocking-guide-asus-motherboards#

Regards,

AJ.

ShrimpBrime said:

Perhaps upgrade the cooler?

Click to expand...

This +1.

Also, check this sticky out.
It has been updated with numbers for Ivy Bridge even though it was written for Sandy Bridge.

I would not upgrade the cooler your temps are doing fine the chip will last long past wanting to use it.