Need some help!! Oc'ing and general advice!

Ok so let me start by saying this Pc was built about 6-8 months ago and is used for gaming only. I was on somewhat of a budget and after much research this seemed to be the best build available to me in my price. So we will start with the build and then problems and solutions.

Cpu-i5 3570k (stock cooler, but 212 should be here anyday)
Motherboard-z77 extreme 4 asrock
Psu-Corsair cx500
Ram-8 gb Corsair Vengeance
Gpu-Sapphire HD7870

Now on to the problems im having. This is a (I would say) fairly decent mid range gaming pc that should be able to handle anything I throw up. Now I don't mean maxing and cranking all settings, but I should be able to play what I want with this. The main games I play right now are FFxiv ARR, CSGO, LOL, and Wildstar so we will focus on these when talking about performance. Everygame I listed I have on the lowest settings available to avoid choppy gameplay and some still run like crap, with the exception on league. That is on med settings all around and I can have 60 fps pretty consistent but do experience dips in fps. I shouldn't have to settle for all low settings to enjoy these games. Wildstar is CRANKED all the way down haha were talking low low low and I pull around 25 frames with lots of action.

Now I want to get the best performance out of my build and im new to overclocking so I would need some people who are willing to help me through the process. I know my way around the bios and can be talked through it so any help would be great (if oc'ing will solve the issues). This is where my other questions come in. Could something be wrong, maybe something not right? maybe a setting that's throwing the whole system off? Im tired of having this pc and everytime something comes out I have to wonder if playing it will be possible(IE: Titanfall-Spent 60 bucks and played for 15 mins but couldn't deal with the stutters and all around choppiness therefor uninstalled).

I know this is a lot and its not well written or maybe not even explained the best but any help would be greatly appreciated. This is no joke If someone can legitimately get me up and running like I should I will gladly give them my Origin account with Titanfall and Deadspace both on it.

Thanks in advance!

I have the same mobo/cpu; and my personal opinion is to FORCE the overclock by manually setting the cpu ratio and voltage.

YOU WANT TO LOOKUP the IvyBridge overclocking guide and reed through it, 5x.

i simply went in to the cpu settings screen, set all core to 38, scrolled down to the cpu volt and LLC, set cpu volt to 1.10, LLC to 1, go to the next screen, CPU settings, disable all power saving features; last screen save and exit; boot to windows and run a stress test (prime95 or similar) for 10min or so (if it crashes, go back and up the cpu volts a little.

GET apps cpuz and hwmonitor, in your next reply post full view of hwmonitor with volts and temps (after you ran the stress test) and cpuz (running twice) one window open to the cpu tab and the other memory)

GAME for a while and see if you still have the choppyness. you might also have to set your ran manually.

lucky i type fast.

are you on an ssd or an hdd?

Im currently on a hdd.

Thanks for the advice so far, but just out of curiosity, that OC your recommending isn't doing much, correct? Doesnt this processor boost itself up to 3.8-3.9 right out of the box when under load? Keep em coming fellas!

correct, it will OC to 3.8 or 4 ghz with little to no effort. i suggest this for heat, and as it's simple. even 4.2 would be fine (if you have a good chip that doesn't require a lot of voltage.) light OC = low volts = low heat = less settings to mess with = a performance bump = mayb a little overall more power used (in the long run for sure)

what i found, is the software or whatever controls the load vs OC (when not set manually) hickups when games go from less cpu to more cpu on the fly. when you FORCE the overclock all the time, you don't have to wait for the cpu (whatever) to decide what ghz to run at.

a 3.8ghz of 4ghz forced OC will still keep the power bill relatively low, you'll be using a little more power then with all the c-states enabled, but it was worth it to me. the mobo even allows you to save different configurations. so create two setups, you could setup a 4.2ghz OC while you game, and something closer to the default settings for when you're just putzing around the internet.

you have lots of options. The offset feature isn't bad too, i just like either fully OC'd or not.

Try the 4.3GHz settings from this thread...

ASRock Z77 Extreme4 & 3570K OC Settings With BIOS Screenshots
http://www.overclock.net/t/1333612/asrock-z77-extreme4-3570k-oc-settings-with-bios-screenshots

offset is too many settings, pain in the butt. I still found it wasn't as responsive or caused issues somewhere else. the mix of all the settings over complicates a process which is otherwise very simple.

anyone have rough numbers on force OC versus offset/turbo as far as power consumption in the long run? what are we talking about, $20 more a year in electric to run a light OC all the time?

dtrunk said:

offset is too many settings, pain in the butt. I still found it wasn't as responsive or caused issues somewhere else. the mix of all the settings over complicates a process which is otherwise very simple.

anyone have rough numbers on force OC versus offset/turbo as far as power consumption in the long run? what are we talking about, $20 more a year in electric to run a light OC all the time?

Click to expand...

OK thanks so much so far. I'm going to attempt a 4.2 oc today. Now before I start what settings should disable before the oc(power saving you said) ? Also do re-enable after I'm stable? Thanks and waiting for your response!

http://cdn.overclock.net/5/5b/5b27d2f0_ocCPUconfig.jpeg

the four things that mentions C states; c1e, c3, c6, c state. I'd guess you'll need 1.15v on the cpu for 4.2ghz.

leave them disabled permanently?

anyone of the other intel guys wanna pitch in here...?

i personally have them all disabled, permanently. you could do some more research to actually see what each does. they're all power saving features.

Once you have a stable overclock, then if you want you can re enable the power saving features.