2500-K and Z68 help

[theJesus]

System specs at left are current (although I've got an H100 in mail to replace this old Eliminator).

I just upgraded from an old socket 775 e7200 on an nvidia 780i board and I'm more than a little overwhelmed with all the new options in the UEFI.
I'm really used to just FSB, multi, vcore, and nb/fsb/mem voltages.

I tried letting the Asus Evo software do it's magic and here's some screens of the settings it gave me:





Now, it says 1.32 vcore, but when I ran OCCT Linpack, it got up to 1.58v and quit the test after the core temps went past 85c. Right now, it's idling at 30c across all cores with a BCLK of 16 and 1.1 ~ 1.2 vcore

Anyways, I'm curious what are safe voltages and temps for this chip and what do all the different options in UEFI mean? What are the important things, tips and tricks etc.? I feel like a n00b all over again

[puma99dk|]

i never use software oc myself, i do it though the bios there u can limit the voltage on ur own, bcs 1.58v i think is a little to high for a i5-2500k.

ino a friend he got a Asus board himself with a i7-2600k he uses Asus' autoturner and his cpu hits around 4ghz or a little more 110% on his Corsair H80 maybe u should try the auto turning if u don't wanna try messing to much around.

[theJesus]

Yeah, those screens I posted are after running the Evo auto-tuner thingy. I did that because I don't really understand all the options in the UEFI, although I would prefer to do it all manually.

[entropy13]

Do the overclocking in the BIOS. The voltages reaches that high because software OC'ing always errs on the side of caution: better have a bit more voltage than needed than set it to a value that won't be enough (or be just enough) for that frequency.

[theJesus]

What about the TPU and EPU switches on the board? Are those good for anything? I've got 'em turned off for now.

[N-Gen]

I made it a personal rule to not exceed 1.44v, that's with a 4.8GHz clock. A BCLK increase might result in instability so you might want to put that at 100. At 4.4GHz I run with a +0.030v offset and aim not to go above 70 degrees and I'm 10 degrees below that at max mostly.

You can refer to the general thread http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=137670 for some tips and settings that others have used.

[theJesus]

I'll go back into the UEFI in a bit and play around some more. 70c has always been my limit in the past too, so I'll try to keep under that.

Also, I did see that thread but it's like 34 pages and there's nothing in the OP

[N-Gen]

Because that's where we share our experiences :P Think of it as your overclocking support group

[eidairaman1]

just real quick- did you clear the CMOS before powerup?

[theJesus]

Alright, tried 100 BCLK x 45 for 4500mhz and 1.3v but got a BSOD with OCCT.

Gonna try 1.35v

Originally Posted by eidairaman1

just real quick- did you clear the CMOS before powerup?

Yes. And after flashing to latest BIOS

[arnoo1]

Linpack is wrong, with my rig linpack says 1.7v and my 5v rail on my psu is 6,7v
Just use cpu-z

[theJesus]

I actually decided to set it to 1.36v

So far, almost 15 minutes stable in OCCT Linpack (posting on laptop now). Max core temps 65, 70, 72, 67. Looks to be averaging 65, 70, 70, 65.

I think I'll be happy if it lasts an hour or two.

Originally Posted by arnoo1

Linpack is wrong, with my rig linpack says 1.7v and my 5v rail on my psu is 6,7v
Just use cpu-z

Voltage was and is consistent with CPU-Z, speedfan, and Evo. I know not to trust just one program

Edit: This PSU is awesome. Been 22 minutes now and it's fan hasn't started yet; it's still hardly even warm. Also, 22 minutes stable now.

Edit2: 55 minutes stable; I'm happy for now. Max core temps were 67, 72, 74, 69.

[eidairaman1]

Originally Posted by theJesus

Alright, tried 100 BCLK x 45 for 4500mhz and 1.3v but got a BSOD with OCCT.

Gonna try 1.35v

Yes. And after flashing to latest BIOS

sorry to ask, just i dont know what your knowledge level is, I always do that myself to avoid any issues upon first bootup. I would recommend giving it 1.37 just to be on safe side if possible

[20mmrain]

To overclock SB is very easy.... Like others have said.... do it all in the BIOS and also use other programs to monitor your results..... for example CPU-Z, HW Monitor, Real temp, and so on...

To explain some of the settings and voltages....

Vcore = Core voltage
DRAM = RAM voltage
Offset voltage = is to help when your computer goes into idle mode so you are not running high Vcore the entire time...
VssCA = System Agent voltage (Leave alone)
VCCIO= QPI/VTT/Uncore voltage ( You can for the most part leave this alone but for higher clocks or systems with more ram raising this can help with stability)
CPU PLL voltage = CPU PLL voltage (Nothing really changed accept for the amount needed)
PCH = PCH (Again like PLL or any of the voltage above just google them for more information but for most mild overclocks you don't need to touch it)

When overclocking SB it is different than other CPU's in the past.
Leave all of you C-States enabled (These help with your voltages when in idle)
Leave Speed Step enabled
Except do not use TPU... TPU is asus Power feature I have found instability issues with TPU enabled.
Also do not use EPU EPU is Asus auto overclocking .... do everything manually.
Leave everything else enabled or on auto for right now....
Bump up your multiplier lower first (Something like 40 to get to 4ghz)
Once you do this boot into windows and run one or two instances of Linux check in CPU-Z how much your Vcore is off by ( For example if you only need 1.22 vcore to run 4ghz but since you left it on auto you notice it is running at 1.30 you would then know how much Offset you would need)
Go back in and then set it along with all of your other settings. Except for RAM.

Once your Vcore off set is stable go back in and then set up your RAM speed and timings.

I know this is very vague.... but that is the general very general drift on how to overclock SB cpu's.

Here are some good links that will give you an idea of the other settings and how to overclock SB CPU's....
http://www.asusrog.com/forums/showth...U-Core-Voltage
http://forum.overclock3d.net/index.p...de-and-thread/

Now while I did go over some of the settings above.... remember it is 6am in the morning when I am writing this so please don't use my quick guide for a reference....use the links I posted. I just wanted to show that it was very easy to do.

Good luck.

[theJesus]

Originally Posted by eidairaman1

sorry to ask, just i dont know what your knowledge level is, I always do that myself to avoid any issues upon first bootup. I would recommend giving it 1.37 just to be on safe side if possible

I'm not new to OC'ing, just new to this platform. I did 1.36 instead of 1.35. If I have any issues later, I'll bump it up to 1.37.

Once I get my H100 and install that, I'll run OCCT again and if I get lower max temps, then I'll try pushing for higher clocks and increasing the voltage.

Also, going to uninstall all the Asus software. It hasn't done me any good and it creates a ton of processes.

[eidairaman1]

Originally Posted by theJesus

I'm not new to OC'ing, just new to this platform. I did 1.36 instead of 1.35. If I have any issues later, I'll bump it up to 1.37.

Once I get my H100 and install that, I'll run OCCT again and if I get lower max temps, then I'll try pushing for higher clocks and increasing the voltage.

Also, going to uninstall all the Asus software. It hasn't done me any good and it creates a ton of processes.

What sucks is when a OS BSODs it can affect critical processes and system drivers too. But Ya When I built my bros machine I read up on all the software and I downloaded all of it but never installed any of it, im thinking about telling my bro about 1 or 2 of the features and leave the rest uninstalled. He has an AsRock 970 Extreme 4 machine himself and it boots in under a minute and runs anything he so desires (he not a gamer but owns a 6770 which is pretty stout card for its performance range)

[theJesus]

I don't do anything critical so I won't be super upset if I get any BSODs, just up the voltage a bit whenever it happens.

So, going from whatever the m/b defaulted to originally (I think it had turbo at 4.3ghz) to my 4.5ghz OC brought me from a 7.6 to a 7.7 for CPU on the Windows Experience Index. Totally a great indicator of real-world performance Still nice to know that something recognized the improvement at least lol

I'll run real benches later.

[20mmrain]

Originally Posted by theJesus

I don't do anything critical so I won't be super upset if I get any BSODs, just up the voltage a bit whenever it happens.

So, going from whatever the m/b defaulted to originally (I think it had turbo at 4.3ghz) to my 4.5ghz OC brought me from a 7.6 to a 7.7 for CPU on the Windows Experience Index. Totally a great indicator of real-world performance Still nice to know that something recognized the improvement at least lol

I'll run real benches later.

Just remember if you still have question on what some of the settings are on Asus's Motherboard read the links I posted.... All the answers should be there.

As far as the BSOD's.... u'll get a lot of them until your stable....

Both of the links above that I posted helped me out in understanding Overclocking Sandy bridges.... I was in the same boat as you not too long ago. I went from Socket 775 OC'ing to Socket 1156 to Socket 1155.....When I got to socket 1155 I was dumbfounded on how little I knew what was actually going on with these CPU's.

There are some things listed in those threads that will help with stability and BSOD's.

[theJesus]

Thanks, I'll take a look through them later in the week probably.

Just launched Metro2033 and it runs really smooth now compared to my e7200. I'm very happy so far

[cadaveca]

TPU= Turbo Processing Unit. Auto-OC'er.

EPU= Energy PRocessing Unit. "Green Power" Setting.

I suggest taking CPU PLL Overvoltage Option, and setting it to disabled.


ASUS thinks avg CPU will need 1.375 for 4.5 GHz. Seems about right for avg chips.

Leave NOTHING on AUTO. Auto will adjust voltages according to the multi you have selected.


If you BSOD, make note of the error code if possible. That'll help direct you to what you need to chage.

[INSTG8R]

Originally Posted by cadaveca

TPU= Turbo Processing Unit. Auto-OC'er.

EPU= Energy PRocessing Unit. "Green Power" Setting.

I suggest taking CPU PLL Overvoltage Option, and setting it to disabled.


ASUS thinks avg CPU will need 1.375 for 4.5 GHz. Seems about right for avg chips.

Leave NOTHING on AUTO. Auto will adjust voltages according to the multi you have selected.


If you BSOD, make note of the error code if possible. That'll help direct you to what you need to chage.

Well said. You helped me out alot with my intial OC'ing with my i7. I actually have to run a NEGATIVE Offset on my 4.6 OC to have 1.35-6V If I left it on Auto it would be pushing it at 1.4V+ which is just silly.

Edit: Oh and will add I do run the EPU on Auto it doesn't effect my stability at all and I figure hey energy savings are energy savings...

[theJesus]

I tried fiddling around with offset mode, instead of manual voltage. At 4600mhz, auto ramps up to 1.5~1.54v, but I only need 1.36v at most for 46 based on my testing with manual voltage, so I set the offset to negative and started moving it down. -0.050 seems to get me right around 1.34~1.36v which was great, but for some reason it wouldn't lower the clocks/voltage at idle, which defeated the purpose of using offset mode.

Disabling turbo mode and just leaving speedstep enabled seemed to fix that, but now it won't boot with such a low offset. I assume that's because that makes the idle voltage too low.

I've decided I'm not going to bother with the offset voltage anymore anyways though, because my idle temps barely change between 1.05v and 1.36v with this new H100. Also, btw, load temps are more than 10c lower now too.