4770K Overclocking Issues

[SoundChaos]

I Just got a new 4770k. I was fully aware beforehand that overclocking isn't as clean and easy as a sandy bridge or even ivy bridge CPU, but myn seems to be worse than I've seen on any thread.

 

With the stock heatsink, my temps at stock were getting to about 37-39 idle with 85-87 load. Verified it was seated properly multiple times, and finally switched to Arctic Freezer Pro, with 35 idle 83 load, then finally to Corsair H80i with 29 idle 69 load. Ambient temps only about 20c, high up in idaho..

 

Now I have been trying to overclock, but no matter what I try, at just 4.2ghz, it will be completely unstable at anything under 1.295 vcore. Everyone else seems to get "unlucky" ones that take 1.20v at 4.3ghz. What am I missing? I've tried not messing with the ring ratio / voltage, and also putting ring ratio to a variety of voltages and clocks, but no change in stability. I cant go a hair above 4.2ghz either without being unstable, and even with the h80i, my temps at this voltage are hitting 83c at load.

 

MSI Z87A-GD65 motherboard, 16b DDR3 1666mhz 1.5v ram kept at stock voltage and clocks.

 

[ccokeman]

What is you batch number and what voltage are you adjusting? If just the vcore try setting the ring voltage to the same as the vcore and running the memory at 1333Mhz to start even though it is rated higher. With Haswell you can have a chip that does 5Ghz but cannot run memory any higher than 1600Mhz.so the best way to check your max clock speeds is to keep the memory speed low and then raise it only after finding your max CPU speed then adjusting up to find the best combination of the two.    

 

The variance in silicone on this architecture is pretty wide with most chips falling into the 4.3 -4.4Ghz range. My ES is a 4.7Ghz chip that can boot at 4.8 but takes 1.35v to get stable at 4.7Ghz. The downside to running this speed and vcore is the heat load under the IHS is ridiculous with mid 90's C during prime 95 27.9 running a full on water loop. You can expect that 1.275v max is doable with a very good 240mm self contained liquid cooling solution and less than that for an exceptional air cooler. The thermal load goes up incredibly after you reach a point. Hope you didnt get a dud. 

[Braegnok]

Any core voltage over 1.2V accompanied by heavy work loads puts the Haswell into High Performance water cooling territory.

 

If your 4770K is requiring 1.295V vCore just to hit 4.2GHz then your chip is not one of the lucky 30% That can clock up to 4.5GHz with out a high performance water cooling system. 

 

From what I've seen running a Corsair H80i  most Haswell chips you will only get 1.250V  vCore before your temps will get out of control under heavy work loads.

Edited June 20, 2013 by Braegnok

[ccokeman]

The retail chips are proving to have clock speeds lower and voltage requirements higher than the MP chips sent out for review. The variance in chips is huge even between similar batch numbers. At this point I'm afraid to break the seal on the retail chip I have until the Costa Rica chips come out. 

[Braegnok]

 Several batches of the retail version Haswell chips have been impossible to overclock beyond 4.2GHz because of the high voltages and unsafe temperatures involved.

 

  Malay batch numbers L307B239 XXA1577 and XXA1529 are "good" batch numbers they will do 4.5GHz/1866MHz @ 1.136V vCore under water  mid-70c with HT enabled,.. running Intel LINPACK Benchmark, and AIDA 64 Stress Test.,..Hopefully your retail chip got a lucky batch number.

Edited June 19, 2013 by Braegnok

[Braegnok]

SChaos,

Try these steps to see what your Haswell chip is capable of, and if it's a dud or good batch chip. My boards are Asus so MSI may have diff BIOS terms.

 

1. Enter the BIOS, set to Optimized Defaults.

2. Set the Ai overclock Tuner to "Manual"

3. Set CPU Core Ratio to "Sync All Cores"

4. Set 1-Core Ratio Limit to "46"

5. Set CPU Core Voltage to "Manual Mode"

6. Set the Core Voltage to "1.20"

7. F10, Save Settings and Reboot

 

If your system Posts, Loads up the OS, and is stable under stress, Your lucky and purchased a "good" CPU. if not start working your way down multipliers and see where you finally get stable. I use Ai Suite III software from the Desktop. The latest version of Core Temp works to monitor per core temperatures, after you are done finding your CPU core overclock then , you can start on scaling the memory clocks and timings from default settings.  Good Luck. 

Edited June 16, 2013 by Braegnok