Adding Voltage
As we want this guide to apply to as many people as possible, we’ve been very liberal with voltages to ensure you’ll reach the specified clock speed. It is not advised to run your CPU at the below voltages in the long term! After getting your chip to 4.7GHz, reduce the voltage down to find the lowest stable voltage your particular i7-3770K can run at.
- Leave Extreme OV ‘Disabled’ – you will not need more than is provided. This setting is for extreme overclocking (6+GHz) only, and remember excessively over-volting your processor can damage it.
- Set CPU Voltage to Manual Mode
- Set the CPU Manual Voltage to 1.35V. This really should be the maximum you require to reach 4.7 GHz
- Enter the DIGI+ power Control screen by selecting DIGI+ power Control
- Set load-line Calibration to Extreme
- Set CPU Voltage Frequency to Manual and set the CPU fixed Frequency to 500. This will help with overclock stability.
- Set CPU Current Capability to 140%. This will allow your CPU to pull more power than its listed TDP, a requirement for higher overclocks.
- Hit F10 to save the changes you’ve made and restart the PC
- Fire up Core Temp, CPU-Z and Prime 95. The CPU should clock up to 4.7GHz, but you’ll likely find that your CPU temperatures will be in the range of 90°C+. That’s OK for now, the important thing at this point is that you know the chip can reach 4.7GHz without a blue-screen or hard lock crash. Keep an eye on the CPU-Z voltage when the CPU is loaded too: does it jump above 1.35V?
If the system proves unstable, consider returning to the BIOS and disabling the C-states in the CPU power management configuration menu. This will ensure the CPU remains at its turbo-boosted frequencies without clocking down. This means higher power use and temps, but also it can prove more stable.
- With this knowledge, you can now return to the BIOS and reduce the voltages to more manageable levels.
- Start by reducing the voltage in small 0.1V steps. You can also drop the load line calibration setting if you wish, if you have spotted the CPU-Z voltage jumping too high above 1.35V when the CPU is loaded.
- Between each voltage adjustment, restart the system and run CPU-Z, CoreTemp and Prime 95 to determine if the overclock remains stable. Your results will vary, but our chip here, which is by no means a pre-binned chip, was able to run at 4.7GHz stable using a core voltage of 1.27V and Ultra Load Line Calibration.
Did you find this guide helpful, or are you still having trouble getting your system stable? Let us know how you got on in the forums.









