2500K at 4.0Ghz with Asrock Extreme3 Gen3

Yayap7 said:

I will be finally be able to bring my Gigabyte Z68 UD3H mobo, the i5 2500K, and the Crucial 8GB 1333 back and get them replaced with probably the same components today.
Hopefully the computer will work normally this time..

Is there a good 4.0GHz OC guide for Intel Sandy Bridge i5(i3-i7) CPU's? I would like to try OC next time, but not quite 4.5GHz yet..

Click to expand...

That is from Theocnoob's guide on OCing Sandybridge CPUs.

I don't have an aftermarket cooler yet (will probably grab the 212+ or 212 EVO), but I couldn't resist the urge to get a headstart and since my current "cooling" is limiting me to around 4.0Ghz, I figured I would post what I had experienced in that range.

My temps were going into the 80's at 4.5, so I pulled things back a bit.

I am now at 4.0, working my way down through the voltages.

One thing I found helpful were posts detailing the BIOS settings of other users, so here are mine...

BIOS settings with Asrock Extreme3 Gen3 are:

Under "OC Tweaker"
Advanced Turbo 50 - Disabled
Load Optimized CPU OC - Disabled

CPU Ratio Settings - Manual
Max Ratio - 40
Internal PLL Overvoltage - Disabled
Intel Speedstep Tech - Enabled
Turbo Boost Power Limit - Manual
Short Duration Power Limit (W) - 200
Long Duration Power Limit (W) - 200
Long Duration Maintained (Sec.) - 1
Additional Turbo Voltage - Auto
Core Current Limit - 300

BCLK - 100.0 Mhz
Spread Spectrum - Disabled

Power Saving Mode - Disabled
CPU Core Voltage - Fixed Mode
Fixed Voltage - 1.260V
CPU Load-Line Calibration - Level 2
DRAM Voltage - 1.672
PCH Voltage - 1.059
CPU PLL - 1.832
VTT - 1.047
VCCSA - 0.925

Under "Advanced\CPU Config"
Active Processor Cores - All
Hardware Prefetcher - Enabled
Adjacent Cache Line Prefetch - Enabled

Enhanced Halt State(C1E) - Enabled
CPU C3 State Support - Enabled
CPU C6 State Support - Enabled
Package C State Support - Auto
CPU Thermal Throttling - Disabled

Intel Virtualization Technology - Disabled
No-Exec Memory Protection - Disabled

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Though my CPU voltage is set at 1.26V, the average during my Prime runs is about 1.18V. Does anyone know what BIOS setting controls this fluctuation? Or is it something that just happens?

Temps in P95 are in the 70's and never go into the 80's. I would assume these could be much lower had I taken off the stock TIM and reapplied my own, but I figured I was replaced the cooler soon anyway.

I'll keep trying lower voltages and post results.

If anyone has anything to add, feel free. These BIOS settings are all new to me, so if I have something disabled/enabled which you feel could be changed for the better, let me and other know.

Just tried 1.25V (all other settings unchanged).

Stable so far and temps are high 60's, low 70's with maximum of 76.

Reported voltages are still well under what I am setting it to.
HWMON and CPUID showing 1.15V average?


UPDATE:

1.24V = temps in high 60's, 1.14V average reported in HWMON during P95.

1.22V = BSOD during P95. Bumping back to 1.24V and testing longer, but it appears that this voltage is what I need for 4.0Ghz.

Anyone have any ideas for changes to settings?

I too just bought the AsRock Z68 Extreme 3 Gen 3 Yesterday as i had a H67 chipset motherboard with the i5-2500k lol i know sucks right? lol my temp @ 4.5 also reached the high 80s so i backed off @ 4.0 it gets hottest temps around 70c... so i am too limited with stock cooler but im going water cooling $60 Crosshair water cooling does the job my friend bought and he has his i5-2500k @ 5.0 max temps of 60c UNDER INTEL BURNTEST & 55c under prime95... so it does a good j0b but im wondering about water cooling... :S i know how to install/setup but where is the best place to buy coolant has newegg.com dont carry alot of them thier, all out of stock :S, and can i use regular water? or whats the best way?

Get a new HSF... I basically left everything but the power limit and multi at default and was able to hit 4.9 ghz no problem. I haven't messed with it too much after that. One issue I did have is that the system would pass P95 and other stability tests, but would randomly crash while idling overnight. I gave the voltage a slight bump and it stabilized things. I forget what it's called (cool and quiet?), but the mobo was dropping the voltage too much at low load.

I plan on getting an aftermarket cooler soon. I will probably grab the one you have, Cyrix. Our systems are actually very similar. Any chance you could copy and paste my post of my BIOS settings and edit it with your current settings? I'll be eager to go as high as possible once I get my cooler.

ninjacore said:

I plan on getting an aftermarket cooler soon. I will probably grab the one you have, Cyrix. Our systems are actually very similar. Any chance you could copy and paste my post of my BIOS settings and edit it with your current settings? I'll be eager to go as high as possible once I get my cooler.

Click to expand...

I'll see what I can do. I haven't restarted in a while though, lol.

ninjacore said:

Just tried 1.25V (all other settings unchanged).

Stable so far and temps are high 60's, low 70's with maximum of 76.

Reported voltages are still well under what I am setting it to.
HWMON and CPUID showing 1.15V average?


UPDATE:

1.24V = temps in high 60's, 1.14V average reported in HWMON during P95.

1.22V = BSOD during P95. Bumping back to 1.24V and testing longer, but it appears that this voltage is what I need for 4.0Ghz.

Anyone have any ideas for changes to settings?

Click to expand...

How long do you usually run Prime95 at any given time to know you were stable(or just a voltage test)?

About 30-45 minutes as I move the voltage down. After it failed at 1.22V, I bumped back up to 1.24V. Ran P95 for a couple hours. Seems to be solid. If I weren't going to increase my OC after I get a new cooler and this were my final state, I would test for at least 3-4 hours in Prime and maybe to the Intel Burn test. Seeing as how 4.0Ghz is only temporary for me, I'm happy with a couple hours Prime stable.

Take your time with those BIOS settings Cyrix, but if you could do that, I would really appreciate it.

Hey guys new guy here to OC. I just purchased this new motherboard as well, and I am so glad I am finding some fairly new discussion about it. I can't wait for it to come in the mail and start building my new pc. I'll be sure to go through some of these threads and find out about the quirks and tips about this mobo. Just wanted to chime in and say hi and that i might pm you guys for more info later on.

-cheers and happy new years.

sw0

Have fun with it. Asrock makes it pretty easy and I'm happy with it so far.

ninjacore said:

I plan on getting an aftermarket cooler soon. I will probably grab the one you have, Cyrix. Our systems are actually very similar. Any chance you could copy and paste my post of my BIOS settings and edit it with your current settings? I'll be eager to go as high as possible once I get my cooler.

Click to expand...

Copy and paste settings don't work past a very low level (hence auto OCs typically only go to 4.4 or 4.5.)

You can't copy and paste for anything past 4.6, typically speaking. There are too many things to fine tune and the CPU will require vastly differing voltages depending on whether it was from the center of the wafer, monday morning or thursday afternoon after coffee break, etc. No two CPUs are exactly the same when you exceed stock settings. If you want 4.8 or 4.9 you have to tweak it there yourself. Obviously there are things you need to set which are a given that you can get help with but past that finding your chip's desired voltage, load line calibration requirements, etc, will be an exploratory thing. 4.5 is an easy target hence the guide. The chip doesn't fight you much at all to get there. My advice is not to exceed 4Ghz until you get a Hyper 212+ (or better) cpu cooler.

It will definitely be after I get the 212 and I know it is a process. I've just found that it is helpful for me to see the successful settings of others so that I can compare with what I'm doing.