Jumped Ship, new 3770k user

[Whiskey11]

I also Just moved from My i7 920 4ghz setup to the i7 3770k setup for FSX / Xplane10 / Prepar3D.
My 920 had no problems handling the sims, it was the software which I use for streaming the flight sims on twitch that was starting to bog it down.
I am defiantly loving the extra power! Now just to work to a good stable Overclock. =)

Yeah I hear ya! I just wish that Micro$oft wouldnt have fired off the ACES team who made it so they could be spending some time optimizing the game.

Last night I just added UTX, GEX, and REX to my game and UTX made very little impact on frames, GEX a little bit more and REX actually increased the frames a little bit, probably because it moved the weather program OFF of the main core that FSX runs on to another lesser used core. I'm very impressed with the way the game looks now!

I'm tempted to turn off Hyperthreading to see if I can push this 3770k any higher since the game doesn't use any non-physical cores anyway (yes I've tried to tweak affinity mask to force it) at least from my experience. With AffinityMask in the game set to 255 or 254 (all 8, vs 7) I get some usage of the virtual cores but there is no way to tell if that is background programs in Windows7 running or if it's FSX so I don't know. If Hyperthreading will allow that much higher jump in speed (maybe 200-300 MHz?) it may be worth doing just to see if I notice a difference.

 

[AtomicFrawg]

REX ess plus OD is super nice. I run all Orbx instead of Gex and UTx Try Prepar3D if you want a nice optimized FSX. You can get the Dev license for $10/ month, which is great for trying it out.

 

[Whiskey11]

REX ess plus OD is super nice. I run all Orbx instead of Gex and UTx Try Prepar3D if you want a nice optimized FSX. You can get the Dev license for $10/ month, which is great for trying it out.

How much better optimized is Prepar3D? I've only seen a few off hand mentionings of it but never a full on review. I'll guess I'll have to go do some research!

 

[AtomicFrawg]

How much better optimized is Prepar3D? I've only seen a few off hand mentionings of it but never a full on review. I'll guess I'll have to go do some research!

I have not crashed since going to P3D, and the frame rates jumped a few. Most addons will transfer over also. It is defiantly worth the switch.

 

[Whiskey11]

I have not crashed since going to P3D, and the frame rates jumped a few. Most addons will transfer over also. It is defiantly worth the switch.

I thankfully haven't had any crashes with FSX. I didn't prior to the hardware upgrade either. That really surprises me though.

I did try and disable Hyperthreading this morning to see if I could get a 200MHz jump and even at 1.4V it wouldn't prime at 4.9GHz. I managed to get to 4.8GHz at 1.385v and it primed for about 15 minutes before I turned it off to see if it would prime at 4.9GHz. 100MHz isn't worth losing the 4 threads that windows seems to pick up and use for background applications. 200MHz might have justified it but I'm not overly comfortable with going over 1.4V for 24/7 use. Not that my computer ever runs 24/7.

 

[Tzvia]

Thought I would share an update. I got an order of Liquid Ultra paste in to remount the IHS on the die, as my temps were not good. Even when the room was 18c Intel Burn Test set Xtreme hit 81c on water. I found that I had not removed all the black glue from the PCB and the IHS was not flush on the chip. There was a gap, as the AS5 I had used was kinda thick on one end of the die. So I cleaned off all the black glue and used the Ultra instead of AS5, and it hit 61c running IBT set Xtreme, and Prime small FFTs hit 59c. Much better, in line with what I was expecting out of delidding.

 

[Whiskey11]

Well I figured I should update. I placed an order a week ago for some CoolLabs Liquid Ultra, some more tubing and a few other things from FrozenCPU. You can only guess what I did!

Lets just say, I've never been so damn nervous in my life. Cutting into a month old 3770k is NERVE WRACKING and with some patience the de-lidding went well. PC boots up and the Liquid Ultra was easy to apply.

Right now Prime 95 is running and has been for a half hour. Temps are 61, 66, 66, 60 for MAX temperatures. Nothing else changed, no additional overclock or voltage changes!

I also hooked up the water cooling through the power delivery (largely unnecessary ) and I need to plug in the temperature sensor that I bought. Using distilled water now instead of the stuff that came with the Swiftech kit and added a silver kill coil to the loop. So far so good!

I'll update when I decide to crank up the OC!

 

[soulwatch5]

I just did what you did and swtiched to a 3770k and waiting on my asrock z77 mobo to arrive to install everything. Was going to see if I can oc to just 4.5ghz with decent temps on air with my venomous x. If not I might think of getting some liquid ultra and de-lidding the cpu. Just kind of scared to mess something up. Got to be extra careful with that liquid ultra cause its conductive and knowing me I'll probably kill my mobo is the process.

 

[Whiskey11]

I just did what you did and swtiched to a 3770k and waiting on my asrock z77 mobo to arrive to install everything. Was going to see if I can oc to just 4.5ghz with decent temps on air with my venomous x. If not I might think of getting some liquid ultra and de-lidding the cpu. Just kind of scared to mess something up. Got to be extra careful with that liquid ultra cause its conductive and knowing me I'll probably kill my mobo is the process.

That is why they recommend you apply it with the mobo horizontal. It was really stupid easy to apply. I didn't have any issues.

Well I let the computer run all night at 4.9GHz with 1.48vcore (drops between 1.472V and 1.480V) and had a core fail in an hour and a half. Rounding error. I'm not sure 1.500V is safe for 24/7 use. I'm just going to assume that this 3770k is a turd and simply requires too much voltage to ever get to 5.0GHz 24/7. Then again, this is overclocking and the max voltage according to Intel is 1.520V right? Temperatures are still really low, max temps were 70ºC/75ºC/77ºC/72ºC so I know thermally there is some room there. It sucks to run out of voltage before temperature!

 

[EarthDog]

Brave soul to run that voltage... I wouldnt go over 1.45v.

 

[Whiskey11]

Brave soul to run that voltage... I wouldnt go over 1.45v.

Worst case, if this chip degrades, I'll have an excuse to upgrade right?

That said, EarthDog is there any other way to get this stable with less voltage? It seems like a lot of risk over a mere 100 MHz (because I was already at 4.7GHz ) if I step this back. Right now the error is a rounding error, I don't assume any of the other voltages would help influence that passing would they? PLL or VTT? I would LOVE to make this stable with 1.45V...

 

[EarthDog]

Not really, no. It is what it is.

 

[Whiskey11]

Not really, no. It is what it is.

Hmm... well that sucks! For Science then! I guess we'll find out how close to that 1.52V number starts to cause noticeable degradation of the chip and at what time frame (if at all).

Shame too, because this is a Costa Rica chip so I had high hopes, although I can't find the box for the batch number, sorry.

 

[dtrunk]

what are your other voltages? my motherboard only offers about 4, but adjusting them helped me find stability at 4.6ghz and 1.26v on a 3570k. for me, PLL was at 1.89; backed that down to 1.7 and it dropped temps 2-4c. i haven't been following the whole thread, but seems like some fine tuning may be possible. i also found that forcing the OC, turning off all C-state features, allowed me to OC higher and find stability at a lower voltage. (for me, it felt like the cpu was dropping clock multiplier while gaming and slowing me down.)

 

[Whiskey11]

what are your other voltages? my motherboard only offers about 4, but adjusting them helped me find stability at 4.6ghz and 1.26v on a 3570k. for me, PLL was at 1.89; backed that down to 1.7 and it dropped temps 2-4c. i haven't been following the whole thread, but seems like some fine tuning may be possible. i also found that forcing the OC, turning off all C-state features, allowed me to OC higher and find stability at a lower voltage. (for me, it felt like the cpu was dropping clock multiplier while gaming and slowing me down.)

Right now everything else is at auto. PLL is at 1.700V (this is the auto setting, although temps aren't my problem as she's been de-lidded). All the C-States are ON since I'm using Fixed voltage modes.

I also have access to about 15 voltages (probably more hidden in the BIOS that I haven't found). If you haven't seen the ASRock Z77 Formula OC, it was designed by Nick Shih and has A LOT of overclocking options in it.

FWIW, when I started off I used the 4.5GHz Sandy Bridge tutorial at the top of the page as the basis for the overclock so if there are any special settings that need disabled, if they are in that guide then they are probably already disabled.

 

[EarthDog]

C states can be disabled with fixed voltage..its how I roll.

 

[Whiskey11]

C states can be disabled with fixed voltage..its how I roll.

I'm assuming that might help some with stability? I was under the impression that with fixed voltage C-States should be on?

I guess I can try and see if that allows this OC at lower voltage, but I wouldn't think so would it? C-States are a bit of an unknown to me, kind of like memory timings (I understand that lower memory timings is better, just not how to make them better aside from guessing and testing). The errors I'm getting are rounding errors in Prime95 blend after an hour and a half so it's not like I'm BSODing.

 

[EarthDog]

C states should be disabled when first overclocking in the off chance it causes instability. Once you have a stable overclock, you can enable again.

No, it shouldnt have any effect on voltages. These are idle states, not load.

 

[Whiskey11]

C states should be disabled when first overclocking in the off chance it causes instability. Once you have a stable overclock, you can enable again.

No, it shouldnt have any effect on voltages. These are idle states, not load.

Gotcha.

Well, we have passed the 2.5hr mark and no errors yet. I'm going to let it run (obviously ). My hope is that somewhere between 1.48V and 1.50V is the number required to run at 4.9GHz. It sounds stupid but every MHz helps in FSX. I'm just disappointed that this chip is too stubborn to go higher! Temps aren't even getting above 77ºC on any of the cores so I know it's not a temperature issue. If she is stable I'll probably stop messing with it too much and run her until she dies. If that is in 3 years or 1 year, the 3770k will be cheaper either way! Stay tuned for updates!

 

[Whiskey11]

Gotcha.

Well, we have passed the 2.5hr mark and no errors yet. I'm going to let it run (obviously ). My hope is that somewhere between 1.48V and 1.50V is the number required to run at 4.9GHz. It sounds stupid but every MHz helps in FSX. I'm just disappointed that this chip is too stubborn to go higher! Temps aren't even getting above 77ºC on any of the cores so I know it's not a temperature issue. If she is stable I'll probably stop messing with it too much and run her until she dies. If that is in 3 years or 1 year, the 3770k will be cheaper either way! Stay tuned for updates!

Alright we made it to the 6 hour mark without error at 4.9 GHZ at 1.500V. I'm not overly comfortable with that voltage so I'm stepping back. It's nice to know that somewhere between 1.480V and 1.500V is 24/7 Stable at 4.9GHz but I'm not sure it is overly worth it. I know Intel says max recommended is 1.520V for Ivy Bridge but there has to be a reason why folks are continuously stepping no further than 1.400V-1.450V range and I'm sure it's more than cautious optimism. It would really be nice if Intel came out and said "While we wont warranty it, we have had our 3770k's at 1.520V under adequate cooling and didn't see degradation at the x year mark" but I know they haven't had any Ivy Bridge that long, let alone that they would say that

I dunno, I may save a profile with that set up on there and run it when I play FSX since it is the only game I have that really benefits from that high of an OC.

EarthDog, what do you consider the max safe voltage for 24/7 use? Admittedly I don't run my computer 24/7 let alone run it maxed out, pretty much ever.