# The Official Sandy Bridge-E Overclocking thread



## qubit (Oct 26, 2011)

Post all your Sandy Bridge-E overclocking hints and tips, questions, problems, adventures and discussion here!

As SB-E hasn't been released yet, here's a couple of TPU news articles to look at in the meantime:

How To Overclock a Locked New Sandy Bridge E Processor - By Intel

Intel Sandy Bridge-E Can Reach Close to 5 GHz on Air-Cooling


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## mediasorcerer (Oct 26, 2011)

good idea!im new at it so got nothing to offer but heaps to read/learn from such tips.


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## cadaveca (Oct 26, 2011)

New Memory?


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## MetalRacer (Oct 26, 2011)

cadaveca said:


> New Memory?
> 
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/111024/003.jpg
> ...



Those look good, can you share the specs please?


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## cadaveca (Oct 26, 2011)

9-10-11-28 2133 MHz @ 1.65v is on the stickers.

XMP on 1155 sets 9-10-9-27 @ 1866MHz, 1.5v. Works just fine with all 4 sticks and default CPU voltages(1.05v on IMC). My kit may not reflect retail specs and such. Not sure if anyone else has these yet.

I'll have 2011 numbers as time permits. Not sure on when the platform launches, maybe January, I dunno, but we did get a lot of board annoucements today, so perhaps sooner? I am not sure... I'll do a proper review in the coming months when I get the rest of the parts...jsut be aware that G.Skill has a specialized line for SKT2011, as you can see.


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## qubit (Oct 26, 2011)

@cadaveca

So are you saying that you actually have an SB-E system in for testing? If so, I'm soooo jealous!  _qubit wears his best green-with-envy face_

Can you give us any model numbers or anything?


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## cadaveca (Oct 26, 2011)

No, I do not have CPUs or boards...yet. Some boards will be no problem to get(obviously), but like with SKT1155, I do expect to not have a CPU until after launch, and I'll have to buy my own like I did with 1155, and still have to do with AM3+. I had 1155 boards at least a month before that launch, and hope to get a CPU direct from Intel, but that's just a hope at this point. I'll need an unlocked chip, and that's not going to come very cheaply is I have to buy my own. 


However, I do expect to have board reviews either at launch, or shortly after. I am working towards making that a possibility, including updating my benchmarks; the ram is but one small part.

I mean, after all, it's just ram, and the only thing really special about it is the binning of 4 stock together, and SPD/XMP profile for X79, as there are only so many memory IC's available on the market today. There's nothing really "fancy" under the hood, that i can tell so far.


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## MetalRacer (Nov 5, 2011)

This was posted by HWBot on Facebook, Sandy Bridge-E is looking like a beast!


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## erocker (Nov 5, 2011)

Anyone have an idea of what the prices of the CPU's/Motherboards will be with SB-E?


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## cadaveca (Nov 5, 2011)

Sure do. Would rather wait and see what retailers do though. FX-8150 ain't no $245.


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## the54thvoid (Nov 5, 2011)

MetalRacer said:


> This was posted by HWBot on Facebook, Sandy Bridge-E is looking like a beast!
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/111105/sbe3d11.png



Is it relevant that the date on the 3DMark score is 2005?  Not trolling, curious as to why the date would be so wrong, seeing as other indicators such as forceware drivers indicate date proximity.


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## cadaveca (Nov 5, 2011)

Newly cleared BIOS, time not set?


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## the54thvoid (Nov 5, 2011)

I figured it's not a big issue.

Would a cleared bios reset to the board's manufacture date?  In which case it needs to be a socket 2011 board which surely wouldn't be from 2005 (it'd be a UEFI bios surely as well.)

Meh, I'll wait for concrete reviews.  I've set money aside for IB but I'm being swayed toward SB-E again....  It's been a while since I've been so eager on a tech review.


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## cadaveca (Nov 5, 2011)

It depends. Some reset to the earliest available, while others reset to the date the BIOS was made.

I cannot comment to performance...I do not have a CPU yet.


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## Jstn7477 (Nov 5, 2011)

the54thvoid said:


> I figured it's not a big issue.
> 
> Would a cleared bios reset to the board's manufacture date?  In which case it needs to be a socket 2011 board which surely wouldn't be from 2005 (it'd be a UEFI bios surely as well.)
> 
> Meh, I'll wait for concrete reviews.  I've set money aside for IB but I'm being swayed toward SB-E again....  It's been a while since I've been so eager on a tech review.



My Crosshair III Formula from 2009 defaults to 2002 when the BIOS is cleared.


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## qubit (Nov 5, 2011)

erocker said:


> Anyone have an idea of what the prices of the CPU's/Motherboards will be with SB-E?



I don't either and the suspense is killing me. 

I googled for SB-E overclocking, but there's no prerelease goodies out there just yet. 

EDIT

Tell a lie, here's some prices:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4626/info-on-sandy-bridgee-pricing


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Nov 5, 2011)

2500 MHz, 4 sticks, and cas 7? Impressive. I could finally let my sector 5s stretch their legs... it's just too bad it doesn't do squat outside of benchmarks.


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## radrok (Nov 5, 2011)

Subbed, I'm looking forward to upgrading to SB-E as I skipped 1155 for obvious reasons 
My old Rampage 2 Extreme is still rocking but it's time for the Rampage 4 to take the throne in my case!


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## MetalRacer (Nov 12, 2011)

I7-3930K available for preorder at BLT for $609.52.

http://www.shopblt.com/cgi-bin/shop...ELU011_BLB9806P.shtml&order_id=!ORDERID#Specs


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## radrok (Nov 12, 2011)

MetalRacer said:


> I7-3930K available for preorder at BLT for $609.52.
> 
> http://www.shopblt.com/cgi-bin/shop...ELU011_BLB9806P.shtml&order_id=!ORDERID#Specs



Price seems reasonable compared to what was being asked for on the Chinese market


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## KieX (Nov 12, 2011)

Checked with a local computer hardware store. They said they would have this stuff in stock next week! 

But they didn't want to confirm price ranges


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## mstenholm (Nov 12, 2011)

KieX said:


> Checked with a local computer hardware store. They said they would have this stuff in stock next week!
> 
> But they didn't want to confirm price ranges



Keep us posted. Some of us live far away from the high-tech highway


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## MetalRacer (Nov 13, 2011)

Microcenter prices are looking a little high.


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## johnnyfiive (Nov 14, 2011)

At least they have them already, that's awesome.


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Nov 19, 2011)

Nobody take the plunge yet?


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## mediasorcerer (Nov 19, 2011)

Heres some prices in aus, not cheap.


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## Grnfinger (Nov 20, 2011)

I had the cash set aside, finally didnt have to sell old hardware to buy new.
Wheel bearing and hub assembly went on the car the otehr day...956.73 in repairs. No new toys for me anytime soon. 


Canuck Prices


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## MetalRacer (Nov 20, 2011)

LAN_deRf_HA said:


> Nobody take the plunge yet?



My R4E, 3930k and G.Skill's should all be here Tuesday.


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## cadaveca (Nov 20, 2011)

MetalRacer said:


> My R4E, 3930k and G.Skill's should all be here Tuesday.






I got ram and boards, just waiting on a chip, which I should have fairly soon. No R4E though, everyone seems to be enjoying that board.


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## qubit (Nov 20, 2011)

cadaveca said:


> I got ram and boards, just waiting on a chip, which I should have fairly soon. No R4E though, everyone seems to be enjoying that board.



Your review I'm looking forward to.


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## EarthDog (Nov 21, 2011)

cadaveca said:


> I got ram and boards, just waiting on a chip, which I should have fairly soon. No R4E though, everyone seems to be enjoying that board.


Its a monster... 

The UD7 is no slouch either.


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## cadaveca (Nov 21, 2011)

UD5 is on the way to me. Got P9X79 Deluxe, and ECS X79R-AX. Should get something from MSI and Biostar as well, at some point. Should be fun.


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## MetalRacer (Nov 21, 2011)

cadaveca said:


> UD5 is on the way to me. Got P9X79 Deluxe, and ECS X79R-AX. Should get something from MSI and Biostar as well, at some point. Should be fun.



Looking forward to the reviews.


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## cadaveca (Nov 21, 2011)

MetalRacer said:


> Looking forward to the reviews.



I'm eager to get started. Having a few boards will make figuring out the clocking fairly easy. Too bad the chips are so expensive, or I'd be binning for a good one, but over $600 each is just too much for me.


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## 15th Warlock (Nov 26, 2011)

I think I'll be the first one to post results 

I received my 3930K on release date, but had to wait a week after that to get my Asus Rampage IV Extreme, you can read the details in this thread:

Project: Arctic Azure Mk V - i7 3930K + Asus Rampage IV Extreme + 3-Way GTX 580 SLI -

As far as OCing goes, my current rig is 100% stable at 4.5Ghz using 1.31V for Vcore, temps are very manageable maxing at around 60 degrees, I find this remarkable as this results are very similar to my previous SB build (2600K at 4.5Ghz @ 1.28V).

Now, going north of 4.8Ghz is another story, forcing me to up the voltage to 1.48V, and temps can reach 80~83 degrees, the processor becomes a completely different beast a 5Ghz, requiring 1.52V and hitting close to 90 degrees when running IBT, these results were found at around 70 degrees Fahrenheit ambient temp, I'm pretty sure trying at lower ambient temperatures is going to produce much better results.

The board has a plethora of OCing options, beyond what my MIVE board offered, and I'm still playing with them, trying to achieve the lowest voltage possible, if you guys have any advice, or can post your own personal experience, please do so


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## Chicken Patty (Nov 26, 2011)

Seems to clocks similar to the 2600K's, slightly better, at least yours.


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## MetalRacer (Nov 26, 2011)

15th Warlock said:


> I think I'll be the first one to post results
> 
> I received my 3930K on release date, but had to wait a week after that to get my Asus Rampage IV Extreme, you can read the details in this thread:
> 
> ...



Nice setup Warlok!

I'm also running the R4E and 3930k, unfortunately this mobo has been buggy but seems to be coming around. You might try raising your BCLK and dropping the multi down to obtain a lower vcore setting.
I’m running water cooling atm but will be going cold soon.


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## 15th Warlock (Nov 26, 2011)

Chicken Patty said:


> Seems to clocks similar to the 2600K's, slightly better, at least yours.



Up to 4.5Ghz yes, but my 2600K can reach 5.2Ghz on 1.425V, I don't know, this processor will boot to Windows at 5Ghz at 1.46V, but it's not stable to run IBT unless I raise the voltage... 




MetalRacer said:


> Nice setup Warlok!
> 
> I'm also running the R4E and 3930k, unfortunately this mobo has been buggy but seems to be coming around. You might try raising your BCLK and dropping the multi down to obtain a lower vcore setting.
> I’m running water cooling atm but will be going cold soon.
> ...



Nice temps and voltage!  I'll try playing with the BCLK to get lower temps, thanks for the advice


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## Feizy (Nov 27, 2011)

I have my 3930K at 4.9Ghz @ 1.42v (1.436v when on load).  16GB of RAM @ 1824MHz 11-11-11-30 1t.  My settings are below.  I cannot for the life of me get my ram to run at 2133Mhz (1t or 2t).  Anyone have any ideas?


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## 15th Warlock (Nov 27, 2011)

Well, try as I might, I'm not able to run at 5Ghz at any voltage lower than 1.49V, temps are more manageable, but I don't like such high voltage. Right now I've settled for 1.29V at 4.5Ghz for everyday use, and the system is pretty stable, it's just that anything north of 4.8Ghz requires lots of current in my system, I'm not complaining though, running 24/7 at the same clock than my 2600K, at just a tad higher voltage, with the added benefit of 2 extra cores and 4 more threads 

MetalRacer, I tried using BCLK and CPU strap at 125Mhzand 40x multi, and it didn't make any difference, I upped my VTT to 1.2V and made the system a bit more stable, did you change any other settings in your rig?

Feizy, have you tried enabling the XMP profile for your RAM (if it has one)? All I did in my system was enable XMP from the BIOS and my RAM runs at 1866Mhz at 9-10-9-27 timings and 1.5V...

Another thing I noticed yesterday, when playing Skyrim, I couldn't enable Nvidia surround, I thought it was because of the OC key, I removed it, to no avail, turns out Surround is not compatible with any X79 board at the moment, Nvidia is supposed to release a new driver next week to fix this, ow come they didn't notice such a big issue during testing?


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## Feizy (Nov 27, 2011)

I have my RAM settings manually set to what the XMP profile would be.  It runs fine at 1866 but not 2133MHZ.  Maybe I need to up some voltage somewhere.  We'll see...


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## MetalRacer (Dec 3, 2011)

Here is a nice guide written by Shamino for R4E overclocking.

http://www.mediafire.com/?mu5rldjxxapt9w1


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## cadaveca (Dec 3, 2011)

Memory clocking, My CPU doesn't seem as good as the "K" chips in this thread :


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## LiveOrDie (Dec 4, 2011)

My room temp is 34c its sucks so i've started testing some OC settings ill post them up soon, The Asus AI Suite II is giving me a warning when i play games the PCH temp gets up around 62c is this the main chip on the board located under the motherboards chipset fan?


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## EarthDog (Dec 4, 2011)

cadaveca said:


> Memory clocking, My CPU doesn't seem as good as the "K" chips in this thread :
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/111203/1200.jpg


You need to run Maxmemm multi or or Sissoft to get accurate memory bandwidth results in quad channel . AIDA64 seems to be single threaded and show little/no differnce between dual/quad as your results show.

@ 15th Warlock - Nvidia has released a beta driver to fix that issue.


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## cadaveca (Dec 4, 2011)

EarthDog said:


> You need to run Maxmemm multi or or Sissoft to get accurate memory bandwidth results in quad channel



I'm aware. Nobody said the bandwidth was low. These guys are running 4.8 GHz, and 4.9 GHz...Im barely getting 4.5 GHz.


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## radrok (Dec 4, 2011)

What about some BCLK adjusting? Should be possible on SB-E
I am a bit jelly guys, I have this Rampage 4 on the desk and my CPU has yet to arrive -.-


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## cadaveca (Dec 4, 2011)

Yeah, BCLK adjustment works great, allows maximum memory tweaking. I've been up to 140 MHz so far. Working on Bclk right this moment, actually.

Unfortunately, I see little in the way of performance gains...it just simply gives more options for how the ram and CPU speed "mesh" it seems.


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## radrok (Dec 4, 2011)

So it is just more voltage and lucky chip if you want that 5ghz (as it has always been with binning)


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## cadaveca (Dec 4, 2011)

To be honest, because I have an ES chip, I'm clueless. With 1155, I went through about 30 chips total that I bought for systems I sold people. Checked for maximum multi and 4.5 GHz voltage in every one. These chips cost so much that I doubt I'll have the same opportunity.


Because there are only two chips, and they have different amounts of cache, yeah, the same probably applies as to overclock ability as SKT1155, but time will tell. If things go well, I'll have another chip in the new year.


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## radrok (Dec 4, 2011)

I agree with what you said on another post that the chips are too expensive to try binning for a good one... with the same amount of money required to purchase a 3960X I could have double chance with two 3930K, in fact I picked a 3930K so I'm going to see if it is going to be a good overclocker and if not I could always buy a second one.
Anyway I'm eager to see your reviews


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## LiveOrDie (Dec 4, 2011)

Are you guys using speed step i watched this video funny how they say that a H100 can hold a oc of 4.8-4.9Ghz .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx2z07sFM2I&feature=related


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## cadaveca (Dec 4, 2011)

Yeah, ASUS has been very helpful in showing how to overclock your system using their boards for some time now. JJ has quite a few helpful videos up.


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## LiveOrDie (Dec 5, 2011)

Well im sitting on 4.5Ghz with 1.31 VCore but my temps look to high for my likings.


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## cadaveca (Dec 5, 2011)

I'm at 4.6 @ 1.40v now. Your temps look like mine, but i dunno what you are using for cooling.


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## LiveOrDie (Dec 5, 2011)

cadaveca said:


> I'm at 4.6 @ 1.40v now. Your temps look like mine, but i dunno what you are using for cooling.



Im using a H100 with MX-4 i have 2 fans pushing air in from the top of the case because this case is to small inside to install 2 extra fans.


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## cadaveca (Dec 5, 2011)

I'm using a Noctua NH-C14:






Of course, I'm saying your temps are similar to my 1.3v temps. When @ 1.4v, I'm just shy of thermal throttle @ 90c.


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## MetalRacer (Dec 5, 2011)

Live OR Die said:


> Well im sitting on 4.5Ghz with 1.31 VCore but my temps look to high for my likings.
> http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/1323/49416777.jpg



Try raising you BCLK to 125 and lowering your multi to 36, your temps should come down.


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## LiveOrDie (Dec 5, 2011)

MetalRacer said:


> Try raising you BCLK to 125 and lowering your multi to 36, your temps should come down.



Thanks ill try that i was just following what asus said so i just left the BCLK.


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## Feizy (Dec 5, 2011)

You could always turn of HT, that lowered my temps a good amount.


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## LiveOrDie (Dec 7, 2011)

Any one else PCH temp high like this?


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## cadaveca (Dec 10, 2011)

When overclocked, yes I do get close to those temps. Board doesn't matter. But all my boards have a heatpipe coming form VRM cooler to SB cooler, except one.


Just finished my preliminary testing over the past week. 3 boards, 3 days each. Now I get to work on the written protion of the reviews, as well as now I know which board to use for memory testing.

There's alot to play with, options-wise, with these CPUs. The heatload is killer though. I realyl need to get a decent watercooling kit...I assume you other guys with higher clocks are running watercooling?


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## LiveOrDie (Dec 11, 2011)

cadaveca said:


> When overclocked, yes I do get close to those temps. Board doesn't matter. But all my boards have a heatpipe coming form VRM cooler to SB cooler, except one.
> 
> 
> Just finished my preliminary testing over the past week. 3 boards, 3 days each. Now I get to work on the written protion of the reviews, as well as now I know which board to use for memory testing.
> ...



Yer my temp are high as well im trying to get a OC which runs cooler im testing on 4.2Ghz running LinX my temps still hit around 80-85c which is to high, i really need a push and pull settup on my H100 but there no room for it, ill be buying some better fans next week.


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## Bundy (Dec 11, 2011)

cadaveca said:


> When overclocked, yes I do get close to those temps. Board doesn't matter. But all my boards have a heatpipe coming form VRM cooler to SB cooler, except one.
> 
> 
> Just finished my preliminary testing over the past week. 3 boards, 3 days each. Now I get to work on the written protion of the reviews, as well as now I know which board to use for memory testing.
> ...



When do you think your reviews will be published? As you had posted in another thread, you are reviewing boards that are what I am considering. Been kinda holding off due to price and indecision. 

Can you give a pre-hint? i.e do those extra PWM in the UD5 VRM help? pls, all the online sellers in AU shut down for Christmas and I was hoping I could buy before the break.


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## cadaveca (Dec 11, 2011)

ASUS has the best BIOS so far. Gigabyte's BIOS is good, but needs a bit of work for memory clocking. Of course, that's air testing...may be very different under water.


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## LiveOrDie (Dec 11, 2011)

I just reset my CPU with the pea method seems to have lower my temps a fare bit will retest some of my overclocks settings.


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## Bundy (Dec 11, 2011)

cadaveca said:


> ASUS has the best BIOS so far. Gigabyte's BIOS is good, but needs a bit of work for memory clocking. Of course, that's air testing...may be very different under water.



I had a feeling you might say that. Here, the ASUS boards are $100 more than GB. I'll have to dig deeper if I can afford this extra $ before years end.


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## cadaveca (Dec 11, 2011)

Bundy said:


> I had a feeling you might say that. Here, the ASUS boards are $100 more than GB. I'll have to dig deeper if I can afford this extra $ before years end.



There's nothing wrong with any of the boards I have, really, but they all seem to have very differnt focuses. I haven't actually looked at the numbers yet(I never do until I'm nearly done with the review), but for ease of overclocking only, ASUS does make it easier.

Part of the issues with the Gigabyte board is loadline calibration, and cooling. Cooling of the VRM is critical when overclocking these chips, and the ASUS cooler is just simply physically larger, providing a bit more headroom, it seems.

Over the next couple of weeks I'll be writing the reviews up, and hopefully they'll be going live as I complete them. I still have yet to receive MSI and Biostar boards, and I do hope to get other ASUS and gigabyte boards over the upcoming months, so at the moment, my perspective is quite limited. Perhaps on of these other products will stand out over the others...time will tell.


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## Bundy (Dec 12, 2011)

Now I have heard the C2 will be available late January, I think I'll wait. There will be a better chance of mature bios then.


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## LiveOrDie (Dec 12, 2011)

Bundy said:


> Now I have heard the C2 will be available late January, I think I'll wait. There will be a better chance of mature bios then.



Apart for a feature which only businesses would use being fixed there no difference from C1 to C2, The time frame is so small between stepping you mite want to wait for D0 stepping if you want to see some improvement.


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## EarthDog (Dec 13, 2011)

let me first say, Cad's reviews are top notch, so I understand the wait. That said, there are PLENTY of other quality reviews around for you to look at for the boards you want. I suggest googling instead of anxiously waiting...

I also suggest not waiting for specific steppings of the CPU. On another unrelated note, for most people, especially at this site, the bios' that are available today for most boards work juuuuuuuuuust fine.

I also have to agree that the Asus RIVE bios is the most mature. The UD7 with F4d isnt far behind though. I just reviewed the UD7. I had 4.949Ghz HARD wall with custom water (PA120.2 and MCR320). Under a terrible SS, I broke that and hit 5.2Ghz. This chip has more in the tank, just needs to be colder.


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## cadaveca (Dec 13, 2011)

Yeah, the heat of these chips is killer to overclocking. At least it gives reason to use water and such.

First review I am working on right this second...hope to get it done between today and tomorrow. My reviews tend to have 6000+ words including code, and 200+ images that need to be editted, plus taking those pics, testing, and all that jazz. Takes some time.

After that, I got to get a memory review done, hopefully by Saturday, Sunday is my day, then the following week another two board reviews. I gotta go out of town, so I gotta get these done before I leave.

When it comes to clocking, memory support is key. It's not such a big deal for me, knowing how to adjust secondary timings, and not all BIOSes support XMP v1.3 correctly yet, either. Anyway, yeah, 6000 words is alot, better get back at it.

And yeha, there are lots of other reviewers. Not many do the component-level type of review I do though, but there ARE others.


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## radrok (Dec 13, 2011)

cadaveca said:


> And yeha, there are lots of other reviewers. Not many do the component-level type of review I do though, but there ARE others.



Also most reviews are just a copy-pasta of the pages with scores modified and different images.
We need deep analysis, that's what makes a good review different from a simple review


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## cadaveca (Dec 13, 2011)

Meh. It's understandable that reviewers do what they  do, trust me. I literally put 40 or so hours into every review. Not everyone has the time to do that, either due to having other responsibilities, or having many reviews to do, and deadlines. I've got deadlines too, but very few other responsibilities that take up my time.

I got my CPU like 10 days ago, already got all three boards tested, and the written part of the memory review done, nearly all my pictures for all four reviews editted, too. I needed to test all three boards so I could pick the best for the memory review, but i'm still stuck doing the stuff in the order they showed up at my door. I just want to get them done, but then we're talking 20k words I gotta write.


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## EarthDog (Dec 13, 2011)

The memory portion seems to be CPU dependent with these chips. Raja has posted a way to bin these things as well by memory clockspeed of all things...seems they are somehow related. 

There is another way to bin these chips as well. So far its proven on a RIVE, but I am praying that the method works on UD7/other boards...basically go 2c/2t raise voltage to 1.55-1.6v and adjust your PWM stuff. Start at 51x multi. It should go to windows. reboot, raise multi. Eventually you will start hanging at the windows spalsh screen (for w7 its those colored balls), if you hit reset and the board boots, that multi is good. If you cannot reset and have to POR (Power Off/On Reset) that multi is bad. If that method is good on teh UD7, I have 2 56x chips. Here is to hoping.

As far as reviews. I dont have that much time. And to be quite frank, our readers dont give a hoot about which chips are controlling what. Its high level features and overclocking performance that drives our group, so thats what we focus on. Only do our release reviews touch on architecture of the chipsets/chips and those details.


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## Chicken Patty (Dec 13, 2011)

Keep the info coming.  I don't have on myself but I sure am learning.  Good info ED.


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## cadaveca (Dec 13, 2011)

EarthDog said:


> As far as reviews. I dont have that much time. And to be quite frank, our readers dont give a hoot about which chips are controlling what. Its high level features and overclocking performance that drives our group, so thats what we focus on. Only do our release reviews touch on architecture of the chipsets/chips and those details.



There used to be a time when you needed to know what was on the board in order to be able to overclock. The most notorious example I can think of is the Intel XBX1...changes in VRM design and different PLLs used in revisions meant certain boards were better for extreme clocking than others. But today's products take alot of the mystery out of it, so that isn't so much of a concern any more. X79 adds options in buckets that can be confusing.

I haven't been reading raja's guides yet..he does put out some good ones. I don't think I'll get another chip, and I'm hoping that I won't have the time for doing anything extreme with X79 yet. Once IvyBridge launches and I get a chip I can blow up some older 1155 stuff though. Not like 1155 is all that fun, anyway. Set multi, volts, go.


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## dj-electric (Dec 18, 2011)

As for now i have tested several X79 mobos and i can say only one thing

God bless you Asrock!


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## cadaveca (Dec 18, 2011)

Bugger. No AsRock love for me yet.

Got more info on that then?


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## t_ski (Dec 19, 2011)

bump to find this later


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## dj-electric (Dec 19, 2011)

cadaveca said:


> Bugger. No AsRock love for me yet.
> 
> Got more info on that then?



Sure, during testing for... uhh... some website i cannot really mention
i have tested serveral X79 motherboards and i found the asrock extreme4 to be the best overclocker by a fair amount over boards like the UD5 and the GD65
squizing 4.7Ghz with the stock watercooling kit was an easy mission
I do not have any expirience with asus motherboards but i can only imagine they are as good as the asrock if not better
UD5 - i couldnot get 4.4Ghz whatsoever
GD65 - 4.6 was possible, 4.7 was kinda hard
intel DX79 - meh, shity bios. 4.5Ghz was reachable


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## LiveOrDie (Dec 19, 2011)

Dj-ElectriC said:


> Sure, during testing for... uhh... some website i cannot really mention
> i have tested serveral X79 motherboards and i found the asrock extreme4 to be the best overclocker by a fair amount over boards like the UD5 and the GD65
> squizing 4.7Ghz with the stock watercooling kit was an easy mission
> I do not have any expirience with asus motherboards but i can only imagine they are as good as the asrock if not better
> ...



I've got my cpu up to 4.8Ghz on my R4E but temps are to high underload because i only have the 2 fan pushing air though my H100 so i just run 4.25Ghz which is fine for what i use it for.


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## dj-electric (Dec 19, 2011)

Well dont compere the Asrock extreme4 to a mobo that costs thrice as much 
If the maximum clock u can squeeze is 100mhz of a differance, then F me ill buy the asrock any day.

ASRock X79 Extreme4 LGA 2011 Intel X79 SATA 6Gb/s ...
NotBad.jpg


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## cadaveca (Dec 19, 2011)

We'll have to have a chat some time. My "foray" into SB-E has been very similar, it seems, but no AsRock products here.


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## dj-electric (Dec 19, 2011)

I only have expirience with the EXTREME4, not with EXTREME9 (aka "Overclock king") motherboard, but sure. If only erocker's ts server would be up and running...


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## cadaveca (Dec 19, 2011)

erocker canned that some time ago. There's a BF3 TS.

And yeah, I realize it's not the topdog AsRock board, so it's odd, to me. I mean, the best I can tell, it's VRM cooling that's key, but your info says maybe it's soemthing else.

I have run into similar with 2 boards only hitting 4.4 GHz, the third does 4.6 GHz.


Of course, I'm aircooling though...are you using water? Might explain things.

THe only other thing is the two slow boards have a heatpipe joining the SB and the VRM cooler...the fast board does not.

For your UD5, if you haven't tried, use 1000kHz VRM. If you did, and we are at the same limits, I'd say perhaps a BIOS update is needed there. I'll be working on the review later this week, but that's kinda my conclusion on that situation.


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## dj-electric (Dec 19, 2011)

hmm u say 1000kHz for the VRMs. thing is that i achived these results only by a quick settings of the Vcore, no fine-tuning of things like VRM frequency and PLL voltages. 
The cooling i use is Asetek's 3960X water-cooling kit (similar to antec's 620 Khuler)
i wont lie, the VRMs of the mobo went high-temp and i wanted to eliminate any limitation by heat so i have placed a fan over it (testbench). I also tried bulldozer's watercooling (Asetek's 920)
U gotta see the glowing FX logo on a X79 mobo, quite funny.


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## cadaveca (Dec 19, 2011)

LuL, yeah I got my FX cooler on my G1.Sniper2. Made the FX logo green to match.  I never thought to put it on my 2011..how'd you mount it?

And yeah, UD5, it really needed the VRM frequency change. Nothing else...Mind you loadline on that board is pretty screwy too, so if you keep that in mind, it makes dealing with the board easier.


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## dj-electric (Dec 19, 2011)

i just used 2011's mounting ring for the block, nothing else.
Ill try the UD5's VRM frequency change, im really crossing my fingers this will work
it will make the UD5 the best cantidate for making it into being the testbench's mobo for
other product reviews (like some very interesting graphics cards trollface.jpg)


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## cadaveca (Dec 19, 2011)

Ah, you mentioning you have teh 3960X cooler didn't clue me in. I have no such ring yet...will have to get one.

We'll have to chat at some point...but for right now, I gots to run my son to school. Until then!


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## the54thvoid (Dec 19, 2011)

Tried the extreme overclocking tool from AI suite II (yeah, i know it's cheating).






Might re-seat my block as one core (0) was at 72 degress but the rest where between 55 and 65 degrees.  Haven't ran this using any stress test but from what i hear the Asus utility is rock solid.

Scored this http://3dmark.com/3dm11/2379719


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## cadaveca (Dec 19, 2011)

For my CPU, the ASUS utility sets votlage too high, and then temperature gets in the way. I so need a better cooler.


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## dj-electric (Dec 19, 2011)

1.42~V is a line im not crossing. As i said, i was able to achive 4700Mhz using around 1.372V on the asrock


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## EarthDog (Dec 19, 2011)

Thats incredible voltage for those clocks with all cores/threads.

As far as the limits you guys are seeing. It is cooling limited. I hit a HARD wall with a UD7 at 4.494Ghz with custom water loop (PA120.2 + MCR320). Temps didnt break 70C, which is fine, but I couldnt break that number on the UD7 until I went 'sort of' cold. I put it under a woefully undepowered SS and got to 5.2Ghz.

As far as the Asrock, I have the Extreme4-M and getting the Extreme4. That VRM heatsink gets HOT even on stock speeds so that thing needs some direct cooling to push high clocks.


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## dj-electric (Dec 19, 2011)

Even a super-low RPM fan will make those heatsinks cool, no need to go fancy on those fans


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## EarthDog (Dec 19, 2011)

True. But still, why should I have to do this at STOCK speeds? I mean that thing is HOT to the touch.. (mounted properly and getting great contact).


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## dj-electric (Dec 19, 2011)

Well, I didn't ran into this problem at all, on stock speeds they were warm yes, but not hot to the touch (ambient around 22C)


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## EarthDog (Dec 19, 2011)

Did you have IES enabled on the board by chance? If that is enabled, and the VRM use 'throttles' with load, they are cooler. However I leave it disabled so its using all 6 phases regardless.


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## cadaveca (Dec 19, 2011)

Bleh to you guys and your AsRock boards. 

I wanna play with that UD7, too. I really like the new BIOS from Gigabyte, but I suspect the tiny VRM cooler on the UD5 affected my clocks. Looks-wise, having that DFi-like feel is pure win, for me.


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## dj-electric (Dec 19, 2011)

I also have the MSI X79A-GD65 8D, falls kinda between them. good mobo IMO


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## cadaveca (Dec 19, 2011)

I'm hoping MSI will be sending me a board soon. I really liked the Z68-GD65.


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## dj-electric (Dec 19, 2011)

They have yet to release their X79 heavy weapon afaik, the GD80. now that - is what i expect to see
Im also waiting for the X79 UD9 from GB and some EVGA goodness


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## EarthDog (Dec 19, 2011)

Wouldnt the Big Bang be their heavy weapon? And that is being seeded to reviewers in limited numbers from what I was told.


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## EarthDog (Dec 19, 2011)

cadaveca said:


> Bleh to you guys and your AsRock boards.
> 
> I wanna play with that UD7, too. I really like the new BIOS from Gigabyte, but I suspect the tiny VRM cooler on the UD5 affected my clocks. Looks-wise, having that DFi-like feel is pure win, for me.


Im hoping the F4 bios solves some bclk issues (which people at hwbot says it does).

UD7 review is posted at OCF. Extreme4-M about to go up, Evga FTW in the hole, and Extreme4 behind it...


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## cadaveca (Dec 19, 2011)

You're getting far more boards than I am.  Expect me to hit you up in the coming weeks for info, we'll see what we can come up with.

Sad thing si thta i hate to see this 3960X not get used. Too much power consumption for me, for daily use, so it's reviews, or it collects dust, like my 1100T and FX-4100. Kinda sad I think of those three CPUs in the same light.


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## dj-electric (Dec 19, 2011)

No doubt the 2500K is cream-de-la-P/W,$/P,OC
IMO anyway...


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## EarthDog (Dec 19, 2011)

We can trade your X for my K... I PROMISE you it will get used like it is supposed to. 

Hit me up, my PM box is always open... and you have my email I think (if not hit me up, Its attached to my phone so I will get it quick like, just in case)


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## radrok (Dec 19, 2011)

For gaming you are completely right, can't think of a better chip than the 2500K actually... part of the fault is the lack of multi threading on games :|


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## dj-electric (Dec 19, 2011)

EarthDog said:


> We can trade your X for my K... I PROMISE you it will get used like it is supposed to.
> 
> Hit me up, my PM box is always open... and you have my email I think (if not hit me up, Its attached to my phone so I will get it quick like, just in case)



Im enjoying both worlds, an LGA2011 system ready for IVB-E and an LGA1155 ready for IVB

Viva la OC


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## cadaveca (Dec 19, 2011)

Dj-ElectriC said:


> Im enjoying both worlds, an LGA2011 system ready for IVB-E and an LGA1155 ready for IVB



Me too. I think Earthdog has it covered too, unless he's sold off his boards or given them away.



> Viva la OC




Ha, how lnog did it take you to figure out 2011 clocking? not much skill needed, fortunately. OC is dead, IMHO, but I wish it wasn't.


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## dj-electric (Dec 19, 2011)

took me about 5 seconds and ill describe
1st second - ooh what's this? 3D bios? (my ass 3D but thats another topic) well well
2nd second - huh... kinda familiar
3rd second - dejavu?
...
5th second - alright lets boot up and see if its stable at 4200Mhz


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## EarthDog (Dec 19, 2011)

cadaveca said:


> Me too. I think Earthdog has it covered too, unless he's sold off his boards or given them away.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Still have a Sniper2 and 2600k for a daily driver (IB ready of course).

As for me.. this was easy as well. The first link in this thread regarding need a spread sheet is horse crap. Just use the damn multi or do the the math... 



Dj-ElectriC said:


> took me about 5 seconds and ill describe
> 1st second - ooh what's this? 3D bios? (my ass 3D but thats another topic) well well
> 2nd second - huh... kinda familiar
> 3rd second - dejavu?
> ...


+1. Except I started out at 4.5ghz.


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## t_ski (Dec 19, 2011)

I bought some new M4 x 35mm socket cap screws, unmounted the block and checked the spread on the Noctua paste.  Did not look like I had enough on it, as there was about 1/4" to 3/8" on each edge of the IHS that did not get paste.  Cleaned up the CPU, applied a more liberal amount of some Artic Cooling MX-4 compound I picked up at MicroCenter yesterday, then bolted the waterblock down with the new screws.  I also decided to add a spare 120mm fan to blow air across the block, ram and VRM heatsinks.  Temps dropped as much as 10C, so I fired up Asus AutoTune:







Not too bad for a quick shot at it.  Idle temps are now in the mid to uppper 30's C.


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## t_ski (Dec 19, 2011)

Just ran a quick IBT test (5 passes).  CPU cores 0 & 1 were 72/73C degrees (respectively), while core 5 was only 59C.  Is my pressure not even?  Which corner of the CPU are cores 0 & 1 on?


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## LiveOrDie (Dec 20, 2011)

t_ski said:


> Just ran a quick IBT test (5 passes).  CPU cores 0 & 1 were 72/73C degrees (respectively), while core 5 was only 59C.  Is my pressure not even?  Which corner of the CPU are cores 0 & 1 on?



 Nope its normal for a core to be lower than the others look here i posted this awhile ago i have the same thing going on. 
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=156595


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## the54thvoid (Dec 23, 2011)

t_ski said:


> Just ran a quick IBT test (5 passes).  CPU cores 0 & 1 were 72/73C degrees (respectively), while core 5 was only 59C.  Is my pressure not even?  Which corner of the CPU are cores 0 & 1 on?





Live OR Die said:


> Nope its normal for a core to be lower than the others look here i posted this awhile ago i have the same thing going on.
> http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=156595



I am so happy i read that.  I decided to reseat my cpu block for aesthetics following some advice from '(FIH) The Don' and it was bugging me that my 'core 0' temp was about 5-10 degrees higher than the others.

I initially used the rice grain central blob method for thermal paste (silver based compound) and found a small corner of the HS not covered.

I reseated with the credit card method using a plastic spreader and got a perfectly thin even layer on the full HS.  CPU block is also now reoriented 90 degrees.  Plugged all back in and ran IBT for 10 passes.





Still the same.  Plus the annoying offset Asus use means the core temp is far lower than what 'Core Temp' (and Real Temp) measured.

Is there a better way to adapt the fans in BIOS (such as lower duty fan max temp to 60 from 70)?


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## LiveOrDie (Dec 23, 2011)

Your temps are better than mine the54thvoid better cpu cooler, i reset my CPU as well because i though it was odd 1 temp was lower, i reset using the pea method the 2nd time around and got better temps than the credit card method, Use FanXpet in AI Suite II to set up your fan speeds thats what im using.


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## the54thvoid (Dec 23, 2011)

Yeah I'm ising FanXpert in AI Suite and i've had no probs withit.  It's just a concern that it's reporting lower temps.  I figure if i set the BIOS Max Duty temp at 60 degrees for max fan speed of 80% that'll give me 10 degrees of safety room.

Though as you can see, running at 4.2GHZ with my settings only has one core in the 60's so I'm not sweating it.

Cheers mate.


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## cadaveca (Dec 23, 2011)

Interesting info guys, keep it coming.


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## Hayder_Master (Dec 23, 2011)

Anyone try 2nd wave of cpu's, first release was C1? And now it's C2, so anyone try C2 CPU's ?


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## t_ski (Dec 23, 2011)

I thought first would be C0, then D0, but I could be wrong.

Not me.  I just got my chip a few weeks back, and I do not have any need for the virtualization support.  I am by no means one to overclock something to the brink.  I know my chip is good for at least 4.8GHz, and that's good enough for me (at the moment at least).


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## LiveOrDie (Dec 23, 2011)

Hayder_Master said:


> Anyone try 2nd wave of cpu's, first release was C1? And now it's C2, so anyone try C2 CPU's ?



C1 was release and C2 in January?


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## radrok (Dec 23, 2011)

Will be probably released close to SB-EP Xeons release, should be the same stepping.


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## KieX (Dec 26, 2011)

First run. 4.5GHz with Turbo enabled. Used similar settings for Digi+ as the Asus video linked on this thread.

So H100 at the lowest setting is hitting mid 70's and mid setting is just under 70C. Do I just start lowering VCore till i find lowest stable? If you got any numbers/advice I'm happy to try them. This chip clearly uses more volts than the regular SB i'm used to


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## LiveOrDie (Dec 26, 2011)

4.5Ghz you normally need a Vcore in between 1.34-1.38v depending on the quality of your CPU.


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## KieX (Dec 26, 2011)

Thanks Live OR Die 

Doing little by little, managed to run 1.65 1.365 stable, so will keep dropping in .05's till i find the lowest. Good to have a target range though, so thanks you've cut me some time


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## LiveOrDie (Dec 26, 2011)

KieX said:


> Thanks Live OR Die
> 
> Doing little by little, managed to run 1.65 stable, so will keep dropping in .05's till i find the lowest. Good to have a target range though, so thanks you've cut me some time



No worry's  for my chip i think i needed 1.38v on my vcore but my temps on load got into the low 80s because of my room temps in summer.


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## EarthDog (Dec 26, 2011)

1.65v? Was that a typo?


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## KieX (Dec 26, 2011)

EarthDog said:


> 1.65v? Was that a typo?



Lol yep, forgot the 3, should be 1.365v. 

Got it down to 1.345 with medium LLC last night. Pretty sweet at the moment, it crunches around 65C so it's the same temp as the 2600K's I have in the same room (albeit a lot louder )

280W system draw from the wall according to the killawatt, which isn't too bad. Will probably be quite different when I add a 560Ti


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## the54thvoid (Dec 26, 2011)

Tried 44 multi with some power tweaks (llc, cpu phase and over current through BIOS. Set vcore at 1.35.

Ran IBT 10x with Very High stress level.  Quite happy.  Still finding my way around an Asus BIOS after having a biostar one before.


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## t_ski (Dec 26, 2011)

Here's some randome stuff I gleened from the XS thread for Asus X79 boards:



> don't want to bash the party here, but looking at intel's datasheet i found the following figures for max voltage specs and
> absolute max ratings (red):
> VCC 1.35V 1.4V
> VCCPLL 1.881V 2.0V
> ...


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## radrok (Dec 26, 2011)

Wow, is the IMC so strong to have a maximum specs voltage of 1.85v? That's a lot.


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## t_ski (Dec 26, 2011)

You can take it with a grain of salt, as I have not verified those specs against Intel datasheets.


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## cadaveca (Dec 26, 2011)

LARGE grain of salt. For memory clocking for benchmarks, and under sub-zero only, no long-term, or no under high load, IMHO.

Only certain IC's(hypers, PSC @ high-speed) really need that much. Most users with 4GB DIMMs will see ZERO benefit from going that high.

I'm working on memory clocking right now, have been for a few days.


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## LiveOrDie (Dec 26, 2011)

KieX said:


> Lol yep, forgot the 3, should be 1.365v.
> 
> Got it down to 1.345 with medium LLC last night. Pretty sweet at the moment, it crunches around 65C so it's the same temp as the 2600K's I have in the same room (albeit a lot louder )
> 
> 280W system draw from the wall according to the killawatt, which isn't too bad. Will probably be quite different when I add a 560Ti



What type of cooling are your running i hate this H100 any think over 4.25 on 1.3vcore and my temps on load go over 80C which i wont to keep under .


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## KieX (Dec 27, 2011)

Live OR Die said:


> What type of cooling are your running i hate this H100 any think over 4.25 on 1.3vcore and my temps on load go over 80C which i wont to keep under .



H100 with stock fans and the middle setting for speed. But you can scratch my 1.345v.. didn't last the night  Back to 1.36v with High LLC for 4.5 

Temps are something that's confusing me a little. Intel Burn Test and Prime95 SmallFFT both load around 70C max. Yet when I'm running WCG it's about 73-74C 

But yeah, H100 is quite limited with headroom. Asus' JJ may have said the H100 is good for 4.8.. but err.. doesn't look like it to me

EDIT: Maybe i need to start downclocking for a less severe 24/7 clock/temp but kinda sucks.


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## LiveOrDie (Dec 27, 2011)

KieX said:


> H100 with stock fans and the middle setting for speed. But you can scratch my 1.345v.. didn't last the night  Back to 1.36v with High LLC for 4.5
> 
> Temps are something that's confusing me a little. Intel Burn Test and Prime95 SmallFFT both load around 70C max. Yet when I'm running WCG it's about 73-74C
> 
> ...



Yer i cant see how this H100 can hit 4.8Ghz he must of been sitting below a aircon, But like he said for normal use you will never put the load on your cpu like Prime95 would maybe if your encoding but not for gaming its 35c in my room at the moment and my idle temps are :shadedshu


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## radrok (Dec 27, 2011)

Custom loop with 3x120/4x120 should cut it for 5 ghz @ accettable temps, a single 480 hardware labs can tame a 980x at 4,7 ghz 1,5vcore. Now that I'm running an H100 because it is less of an hassle, it can't break 4,5.
Was keeping my wc loop for the newcomer but they seem they don't wanna get in stock here -.- might aswell wait for Ivy-E since there is not so much difference with the 980x.
Also remember tha the stress you put up with Prime or linX is way too high and you'll never reach those temps with other tasks.
My 980x has 15-20 degrees of difference between linX and 12 threads  with Firefly or Vue or Vray (Vray is the most intensive though). 
You shouldn't have many problems Live or Die, with gaming it is hard to find a game that uses more than 4 threads.


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## johnnyfiive (Mar 19, 2012)

I'll be chiming in this thread soon, still waiting for the goodies to arrive. I'm a bit out of the loop, been really busy lately!
Any tips for 3930k C2 steppings? Whats the max 'safe' voltage so far, 1.4-1.42v? How about max 'safe' temps, 75-80c?


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## cadaveca (Mar 19, 2012)

johnnyfiive said:


> I'll be chiming in this thread soon, still waiting for the goodies to arrive. I'm a bit out of the loop, been really busy lately!
> Any tips for 3930k C2 steppings? Whats the max 'safe' voltage so far, 1.4-1.42v? How about max 'safe' temps, 75-80c?



1.4 V seems the safe limit for CPU volts. Unless using high-end water, you'll find out why quickly.


1.25 V
1.2 V for VTT, contrary to previous info on C1 chips.


80c-85c is OK for moderate clocking, but I recommend trying to keep well under 80c, @ 75c or so under LinX/IBT.


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## t_ski (Mar 19, 2012)

cadaveca said:


> 1.4 V seems the safe limit for CPU volts. Unless using high-end water, *you'll find out why quickly*.



Same reason why Intel decided not to include stock coolers with these...


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## cadaveca (Mar 19, 2012)

t_ski said:


> Same reason why Intel decided not to include stock coolers with these...



EXACTLY. 


I had to get an H100, and as Keir mentioned earlier in the thread, even that cannot handle much, although my chip has degraded a fair bit.


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## johnnyfiive (Mar 19, 2012)

I'll be using a NH-D14 with some replacement 100+cfm fans soon. We'll see how it goes! Thanks for the info cadaveca.


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## johnnyfiive (Mar 22, 2012)

Tonight I will finally have time to get started on my 3930k. I, can't, wait!


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## cadaveca (Mar 24, 2012)

johnnyfiive said:


> Tonight I will finally have time to get started on my 3930k. I, can't, wait!



WTH, where's the screenshots?


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## johnnyfiive (Mar 24, 2012)

I'm just now getting around to the overclocking, pics to come soon!


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## johnnyfiive (Mar 24, 2012)

Man, 3930K's get hot once you start ramping up the clock speed.
I'll keep going until I hit 80c. NH-D14 SE2011 is no match for the hexcores at 4.6+ 






IBT, with Win 7 SP1. Toasty toasty.
Ambient temp was 24.1C


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## MetalRacer (Mar 24, 2012)

She's a hotty on air for sure, but you got it looking good.


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## cadaveca (Mar 24, 2012)

johnnyfiive said:


> Man, 3930K's get hot once you start ramping up the clock speed.
> I'll keep going until I hit 80c. NH-D14 SE2011 is no match for the hexcores at 4.6+
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/120324/4.7-ibt-cinebench.jpg
> ...



Yeah, that what I was refering to earlier, but it becomes so quickly obvious I figured you'd easily see for yourself.

Those are decent clocks, at decent voltage; Try to not overheat it too much, and limit your IBT runs. Just over 225W seems about the max these CPUs like on high-end air/AIW-Water, and going by HWMonitor, you're pretty close to that.

You might wanna give the 125 MHz BLCK divider a try, see if ya can't get 4750 with 2000/2333 MHz ram, seems to be a nice sweetspot in performance many are hitting under 1.4 V.


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## johnnyfiive (Mar 25, 2012)

lies.


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## johnnyfiive (Mar 26, 2012)

So I'm stable at 4.75, 125x38, 1.36v BIOS, 1.34v under load, LLC Level 2. This also required a slight bump in VTT and PLL voltage (I can't recall the exact voltages). Passed multiple runs of IBT, a little BF3, and plenty of futuremark bench runs.

Unfortunately, this ASRock Extreme6 has been giving me trouble since the first power up.
 - First, no display. So I reseated the GPU, still no display. Unplugged PSU, let it sit, cleared CMOS just for giggles, then display worked?
 - Random reboots at stock, and oc'ed. Then it would reboot before posting, then after posting, then the issue would just go away...
 - Ran IBT, Linx, and P95 at 100% stock settings, rebooted during all three within a matter of 30min to an hour.
 - Replaced PSU thinking that was the issue, nope, same problems occured.
 - Finally, the motherboard failed to show any onboard lighting and then no video would display. No beeps, no nothing. Just the fans powering on. 

No way my CPU is dead, I barely put any volts through it, max it got was 1.36v in the BIOS. 
So the Extreme6 is being RMAed along with the NZXT/Seasonic 750W PSU. I have a Thermaltake 850W that I'm replacing the PSU with, and an ASrock X79 Fatal1ty Pro replacing the Extreme6. I wanted a board with more than 12 power phases, so I went with the Fatal1ty board. I hate that his name and face is all over the box, but I love the expansion port layout and 16+2 power phases. Maybe this board will get me to 5GHz under 1.4v? We'll see.


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## johnnyfiive (Mar 26, 2012)

4.75GHz Futuremark bench results. 7970 was at 1125 Core / 1425 Memory.

3DMark 06 - 35186
http://3dmark.com/3dm06/16555930

3DMark Vantage - P40232
http://3dmark.com/3dmv/3982517

3DMark 11 - P9370
http://3dmark.com/3dm11/3034916


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## johnnyfiive (Apr 4, 2012)

Sticking with this for a while.







Now... time to see what the 1600 kit can do, 1866 time.


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