HOW TO: Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD4 Overclock i7 2600k (DVID)

[perkabrod]

DISCLAIMER
If you're unlucky your chip may die, chips varies. Do TINY adjustments so that you can get to know where your chip causes bluescreen/crashes. Getting bluescreens won't kill your chip, I got probably 10-15 of them before I considered I had a stable clock. When I was at 4.6 GHz, coming from 3.4 and upping one step at a time, 34x, 35x, 36x etc, I felt what the hell, let's skip 47,48,49 and try 50x multiplier right away. What happened was I couldn't even boot to BIOS, meaning I couldn't do ****, fans powered up then after 1 second power shut off, then that looped forever. I had to take a screwdriver to the "reset CMOS" pins on the motherboard. And then the BIOS is back to factory default. So then I upgraded bios back to version F4 and started ALL over. So, take one tiny step at a time. Temperature will kill your CPU and temperature rises very quickly when you apply more voltage. Also, on the voltage, there's a lot of debate about safe voltages for this chip. I wouldn't recommend ANYTHING above 1.32V, and that is with DVID which means that whenever your computer is idle, voltage will be under 1.0 Volts. That's why DVID is a lot better than the LLC multi-step load line on this board. With DVID you can have a safe low idle voltage and pretty good control of how high your load voltage should be. Don't blame me if something goes wrong.

Here we go:

Overclocking on GA-Z68XP-UD4

Since this board is listed in the tonymac customac list I though I'd let you know where I went to find information about overclocking. This is a semi wild overclock, pretty much every 2600k CPU should be able to get it stable.

Most important thing is that it is a overclock achieved using DVID and not LLC (Multi level loadline calibratation). On Gigabyte Z68, if you use a fixed/user set CPU Vcore, the VCore will NEVER go down when the computer is idle. In the long run, it's not too good for your CPU. Using DVID the CPU will idle at around 1.0V and go up to 1.32V (1.284V in cpu-z) at full load.

You could probably get both 4.4GHz and 4.5GHz to run stable if you have a good chip or raise the voltage slightly by tuning the DVID.. But I don't want the computer to run a high voltage so I left at 4.3GHz.

At 4.3GHz with my Noctua D14 cooler, max temp seen is 70C, mostly around 62C at full load.

Note that this overclock is considered SAFE. I have run the computer at 4.8GHz but that needs the voltage to be in "un-safe" levels. My computer runs 24/7 so I really want to use safe settings. That's why I settled on 4.3GHz, and after all, 4.3GHz versus the stock 3.4GHz is a really noticeable difference!

Windows versus OSX:
If you want a overclock that works in OSX you HAVE to overclock the Intel Turbo Boost. If you overclock the CPU Clock ratio only Windows will take advantage of your overclock. (more info in the next message in this thread.)

Here we go, update pics for my final BIOS settings using Intel Turbo Boost overclock.
NOTE: You cannot run this with a stock i7 cooler. Consider a Noctua D14, have your local computer store install it for you, that's what I did.

Gigabyte Z68XP-UD4 with BIOS F4

(Not visible here) scroll to the bottom of this screen and make sure that:
Bi-Directional PROCHOT = Auto

CPU chips performance may vary. If you have Windows, try to run prime95 blend test for a few hours and make sure you don't get a bluescreen. If you get a bluescreen within 10 seconds, you have to lower from 43x to probably 41x. If you get a bluescreen within 1 hour, 42x will probably be fine. If you can run the test overnight without bluescreen. Try 44x and see if you can run that stable as well

RAM:
16GB (4x4 GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600MHz 1.65V (Running 1066MHz at 1.50V)
These sticks are labeled 1.65V which is a little too high. I run them at 1066MHz instead of 1600MHz, that way I got them to work at 1.50V. If you too have RAM that want to run 1.65V, use my method of underclocking them to 1066MHz. If you however have 1600MHz RAM rated for 1.5V. Just follow my guide EXCEPT set the System Memory Multiplier to 16.00 (1600MHz). You MAY gain stability if you underclock your RAM sticks. And seriously, a normal guy won't notice the difference between 1600MHz and 1066MHz. Have you ever heard someone changing RAM from one 4GB stick to a 4GB stick of another brand and go "Wow, my computer is soooo fast now"

If you need further assistance, try this thread:
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/show ... ?p=7052694

Good luck!

UPDATE

There's some info below in this thread about overclock will work in both OSX and Windows. There's two ways you can overclock to 43x.

This one only works in Windows for me:

and this one works in both Windows and OSX. Notice how the CPU Clock Ratio is at stock speed but Intel(R) Turbo Boost Tech. is Enabled and the 43 multiplier is set for each core. Whatever works for you, the settings below I can guarantee will work in OSX.

 

[perkabrod]

Re: Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD4 Overclock i7 2600k (DVID clocking)

EDIT: If you overclock the CPU Clock Ratio and have Intel Turbo Boost disabled, your overclock will only work in Windows. To have the overclock work in both Windows and OSX you have to overclock the Intel Turbo Boost instead of the CPU Clock Ratio.

So, leave the CPU Clock Ratio at your processor stock speed (34x for i7 2600k) and enable Intel Turbo Boost and put the same value clock value for all the cores on the Intel Turbo Boost, in my case 43x.

It is exactly the same thing as clocking CPU Clock Ratio, but this will work on both Windows and OSX. The reason your BIOS have a Intel Turbo Boost option is because you can clock individual cores as well. For example, if you want to fine tune your overclock you can try to put the Core-1 one notch higher than the other. For example:

1-core - 44x
2-core - 43x
3-core - 43x
4-core - 43x
The above will make your CPU work at 4.4GHz in single threaded apps and 4,3GHz on multi-threaded apps.

If you're lucky your CPU may work without bluescreens/kernel panic with that setting on the same voltage. However, 100MHz is so little you won't notice it, so my advise is to follow my guide at the top of this page. I've tried all kinds of individual core clocks and my conclusion was that I had to raise the voltage to get it to work with 44,43,43,43, not worth it IMHO.

 

[perkabrod]

Reference:

Note that from 44x and up the computer ran what may be a dangerous voltage for a 24/7 computer! This was when using LLC instead of DVID. LLC will run a constant voltage on your CPU, even when it is idle. Using DVID your CPU will have a low voltage of around 1.0V under idle, and go up under load.

This is ONLY for reference, if you want to overclock your computer. Really, use DVID instead of LLC (Multi Load-Line Calibration).

See post at the top to get a better view of how to SAFELY overclock your i7 2600k

 

[mmaenpaa]

Re: Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD4 Overclock i7 2600k (DVID clocking)

EDIT: If you overclock the CPU Clock Ratio and have Intel Turbo Boost disabled, your overclock will only work in Windows. To have the overclock work in both Windows and OSX you have to overclock the Intel Turbo Boost instead of the CPU Clock Ratio.

Makes no difference if you use clock ratio or turbo states, overclock works same way on both Windows and OS X.

 

[perkabrod]

Not entirely true. For example:
This doesn't work in OSX but works in Windows.

However if you use Clock Ratio 43x and still have Intel Turbo Boost enabled but with the defaults like:

1-core - 38
2-core - 37
3-core - 36
4-core - 35

It works on both. But I find it easier to just clock the Turbo, easier to get an overview of what's happening. Don't like the feeling of the motherboard doing stuff I don't have control over

Do you run a Multi Load Line overclock or are you using CPU Vcore "Normal" and define voltage with the DVID parameter?

My Vcore in BIOS is 1.32V and 1.284V in CPU-Z. I think I might try lowering the DVID slightly so that I get around 1.35V in BIOS (should still be pretty safe for a 24/7 computer). I've found the readings in BIOS to always be higher than in any monitoring software. I believe that at 1.35V in BIOS I could probably pump up the clock to 4.5GHz.

 

[mmaenpaa]

I use the offset voltage with Normal vcore setting. What makes you think that ratio setting doesn't work, on Geekbench and Cinebench I get same results with both styles.

 

[perkabrod]

I originally posted BIOS screens in this board with 43x clock ratio but with Intel Turbo Boost disabled. I hadn't tried it in OSX and it turn out that it was not recognized.

Might be the BIOS version too I don't know. If you have some time one day, try disabling Intel Turbo Boost and see if it works for you.

 

[mmaenpaa]

I originally posted BIOS screens in this board with 43x clock ratio but with Intel Turbo Boost disabled. I hadn't tried it in OSX and it turn out that it was not recognized.

Might be the BIOS version too I don't know. If you have some time one day, try disabling Intel Turbo Boost and see if it works for you.

I still don't understand what you mean by not recognized. Using settings like this :

DSCN0124.jpg

I get same 16000+ score on Geekbench which tells me that overclock is working fine.I have never used a bios version older than F5 on my board, I'm now testing with F6f, don't know if that has something to do with it.

 

[perkabrod]

Okay, might be something with the bios versions.
Because this got me 6.70 in cinebench:

and this got me 8.40:

However I see at the bottom you have many settings on Auto while I have all Enabled except PROCHOT which I have at Auto.

Can it be that I had CPU ESIST - Enabled and at the same time Turbo Boost Disabled. Maybe they work together in some way?

I'll try putting all C-states to disabled, as well as EIST some day and see if that makes me run stable at higher clocks without modifying the voltages

 

[mmaenpaa]

However I see at the bottom you have many settings on Auto while I have all Enabled except PROCHOT which I have at Auto.

Can it be that I had CPU ESIST - Enabled and at the same time Turbo Boost Disabled. Maybe they work together in some way?

I'll try putting all C-states to disabled, as well as EIST some day and see if that makes me run stable at higher clocks without modifying the voltages

I have tried running with them Enabled also, makes no difference. C1E can be disabled, that seems to make no difference to power consumption but disabling Eist or C3/C6 states will make your system use more power and make cpu run warmer. You may have had EIST disabled together with Turbo states, that might cause some problems. At least on my older Asus X58 system turbo is not even available if EIST is disabled.