3770k OC Unstable - Low voltage memory to blame?

[SniperHF]

I decided to update my 2500k (4.5ghz) to a 3770k. Specs are the same as my profile just now with more Ivy Bridge.
However the system every so often freezes and then auto-reboots after 30 seconds or so. I'm trying to hit 4.3ghz but I've had this issue at pretty much any multiplier above auto settings.

Adding more Vcore didn't seem to help, I've gone all the way from stock volts up to 1.280v where temps get too high for my liking.
I can never get the thing to error out in Prime or IBT and it always passes the Intel diag tool. But just in normal usage even at the desktop it will randomly freeze once or twice a day.

So the only thing I'm left with (aside from maybe just having a garbage OCing chip?) is the G.Skill 1.25v RAM I have. Could the combination of 4 sticks of 1.25v RAM be too tough for the memory controller?
It did pass 10 passes of Memtest86 though even at 1.25v.

I've upped it to 1.35v (DDR3L spec) for now and it has been stable for a couple days, but that could just be dumb luck.

Anyone have experience with the low voltage RAM causing issues like this? Or any other ideas?

 

[kid41212003]

Have you tried turning off Turbo Boost? Are you monitoring your clock speed during Prime and check actual clock speed?

There's a possibility that Intel Turbo Boost tries to boost your clock beyond the set multiplier of x43 to x47 making it unstable.

 

[Good Guru]

Sometimes when using more than 2 sticks of ram they will require a little bit more voltage.

Have you tried increasing the VIN or Input Voltage to the cpu?

 

[MrGenius]

Yes. I've experienced instability from having my memory voltage too low. I was rechecking all my voltage settings after switching motherboards with my 3770K. Seeing if I could get by with lowering voltages at all. It appeared that I could when I was able to get the memory to pass tests with no errors and run benchmarks with ~.02 volts less than I've been running my overclocked DDR3 with for the last few years. Everything seemed fine initially. But gradually, over the course of a few days, the stability just went to complete shit. It didn't really make a lot of sense to me what was happening and why. I actually thought it was the new motherboard being screwed. It ran totally perfect with the lowered memory voltage for a full day. Second day I had trouble booting once, and a couple BSODs. Third day the shit hit the fan. BSOD after BSOD. Totally wrecked my Windows 10 install to the point that I had to reimage from a backup. And corrupted the BIOS on the motherboard to the point that the only way I could get it to even boot was by clearing the CMOS at every start up/restart and leaving all settings at default(if I changed a single thing in the BIOS it wouldn't boot). Which I was able to fix by reflashing it.

Long story short. Total effing nightmare. All from lowering the memory voltage by ~.02V. Who knew? Most certainly not I!

 

[SniperHF]

Well I've been 2 and a half days stable with the extra RAM voltage so (knock on wood) It seems like that was it. Thanks for the replies.

Have you tried turning off Turbo Boost? Are you monitoring your clock speed during Prime and check actual clock speed?

I haven't noticed it go over 4.3, Afterburner's chart keeps track of the peak and that's as high as it as gone.
I think the way it's setup in BIOS it won't go above that. I set each core to 43 on the multiplier.

Have you tried increasing the VIN or Input Voltage to the cpu?

Not too familiar with this setting, never had to mess with it before. If my recent stability was just dumb luck that seems as good a place as any to look next.

 

[peche]

board is z77, did ya updated latest Bios?
Z77 was meant for ivy, instead sandies, but a bios update isnt bad at all, mostly when new patches were available for Z77
Regards