OC Virgin - Looking for 24/7 OC for Gaming

[sabrown6702]

Hello all! Long time listener forst time caller

Anyways, I just built this system and want to do a decent OC that will stay nice and stable while gaming. I tried to use the default Gaming OC settings as well as the X.M.P. profile for my ram but I do not seem to get anywhere. While playing SWTOR it will crash until I reset the bios back to normal. Here is my build. Any recomendations would be so greatfull.

Intel Core I7 3820
Rampage IV Formula
Corsair H80
Seasonic 1000w Platinum
2x XFX 7950 Black Editions in Crossfire
G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 Model F3-12800CL10Q-32GBZL

[Anicra]

I guess you could run Prime 95 (use In-place large FFTs or blend on torture test) , Occt (AVX enabled) or LinX to test the stability over night. However, I would probably run a Memtest86+ just to check the ram first. Unless, the XMP coding is really off (see the note below coding might be off). Also, does it crash at default memory settings?

and a side thought - you might want to check into...
G skill says you have manually set it on Asus Ramage 4 extreme maybe its the same for formula
GSkill
The Settings

(For the Rampage 4 Extreme again might work for Formula)
Step.1
Set the Ai Overclock Tuner = [X.M.P]
Step.2
Enter DRAM Timing Control
Step.3
Set the Rampage Tweak = [Mode 1]
Step.4
Set the CPU VCCSA Voltage = [Manual Mode]
And adjust the CPU VCCSA Manual Voltage = [1.250]

So I would check the VCCSA Voltage,
Also I saw that XMP was 10-10-10-30-2N however on the mode 1 it looks like it is 11-11-11-31-2N (However I cannot be sure since I think they used a generic template cause the memory speed on the first frame is 2400Mhz (Yours is 1600Mhz), though frame 2 to 4 might be correct)
/
Also check your settings against the specs
CAS Latency 10-10-10-30-2N or might be (11-11-11-31-2n (noted above))
Speed DDR3-1600 (PC3 12800)
Test Voltage Dram 1.5 Volts

[HiVizMan]

The gaming profile is 4.7GHz and that is quite hectic for most cooling systems in my view.

I would suggest 4.4 or 4.6 is a far more suitable overclock for your system.

May I suggest you take the time to read a couple of the very good guides that are sticky on the Rampage sub-forum. There you will be able find all the info on what the different BIOS settings do, and once you have that on-board it will be a simple task to find tune your motherboard and CPU to the optimal overclock for your system.

[Anicra]

Well it can depend if you have an icy or a mini solar body CPU. Sometimes you are lucky , get a CPU OC running at 1.32V while most cannot come near it at 1.38V. Other times you have one that you might as well stop paying for heating since the heat coming off it is insane.

[Claviger]

My suggestion for perfect moderate cool and stable OC, its 100% stable passed 71 hours P95 blend test while running Kombustor to heat the water some more since I use a Custom loop with the cards also in loop.

Under Extreme Tweaker Set the following:

AI Overclock Tuner: Manual
CPU Level Up: Disabled
CPU Clock Gen Filter: Enabled
Memory Frequency: 1600 (For your RAM)
Xtreme Tweaking: Disabled
EPU Power Saving Mode: Disabled
Extreme OV: Disabled
BCLK Skew: Auto
PCIE Skew: Auto
CPU VCORE Voltage: Offset with +.34 (You want a loaded voltage of 1.33 when in windows running Prime95. More on this later.)
VTT CPU Voltage: 1.1
2nd VTTCPU Voltage: Auto
CPU VCCSA Voltage: Offset with Auto at first, then adjust based on what Auto sets it at to 1.1 e.g. if auto makes it .9 do +.2 for a total of 1.1.
DRAM Voltage AB:1.55
DRAM Voltage CD:1.55
CPU PLL Voltage: 1.7 (YES 1.7, in my testing VTT/VCCSA/PLL ALL have exactly 0 net effect on stability and function at these voltages. You might have a CPU like mine that will do VTT: .85, VCCSA: .8, PLL: 1.65 but really it makes little difference on temps)
VTTDDR voltages: Auto
CPU Spread Spectrum: Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum: Disabled

Under the DIGI+ Power Control Section:
CPU Load-Line Calibration: Medium
CPU Current Capability: 120%
CPU Voltage Frequency: Auto
VRM Over Temperature Protection: Enabled
CPU Power Duty Control: T.Probe
Vcore MOS Volt Control: Auto
CPU Power Phase Control: Optimized
CPU Spread Spectrum: Disabled
CPU Vcore Boot Up Voltage: 1.4

VCCSA Load Line Calibration: Medium
VCCSA Current Capability: 110%
VCCSA Fixed Frequency: 300

Everything else on AUTO in the DIGI+ Section

That will get you into a working power setup, which for my chip, which is a bit of a dog, requiring 1.446 volts at 4.8ghz and 1.576 at 5ghz, is 100% stable. Now to the only part you should have to take some time and tweak around with. Go ahead and set the other BIOS options under Boot and Advanced to what you need for your devices to work aka enable raid, set the boot drive, disable splash screen etc. Before we start this part, save everything so far as a OC profile so you can quickly go back to it.

My technique when wanting to keep everything funtional on the i7 3820, since it is Multiplier limited to 43 is to set the BCLK Strap to 100 so you can keep the C states working.

Go to the Advanced section, and enter "CPU Configuration", disable Intel Adaptive Thermal Monitor, and if your not going to virtualize disable "Intel Virtualization Technology". Enter the sub menu "CPU Power Management Configuration and set the multiplier to 43, enable ALL options there except Turbo Mode which should be disabled.

REBOOT

Happy 4.3, with next to 0 effort, this is pretty much guaranteed to work unless you fiddled with something you should not have, or you have bad hardware. The CPU Voltage we set, 1.33 total remember, is not for 4.3 though, its for more. Save this as a working OC Profile.

So now if you want to maintain all the C states go back and adjust your BCLK to 105. Reboot. If it Posts, set it to 106, if it posts set it to 107. Continue uping it 1mhz at a time till it wont post. Then reset your BIOS, load your last save, and reset the BCLK to the value that would not POST -1, so if 108 wont post set it to 107, classic FSB overclocking.

107 is where my BCLK is limited, I can't go high, perhaps you can but 43x107 = 4.6ghz good enough for damn near any task, a great 24/7, and still cool and has power saving. Load windows, stability test away. If your getting error in Prime95, add .05 volts using TurboEVO until you can run it stable indefinitely. Time to run Prime95 is your choice, but generally I have found that if I can pass 30 minutes, I can pass it running a whole weekend on my 3820. If for some reason it wont stabilize and you have hit 1.4vcore, reboot and drop your BCLK by 1 notch, not 1mhz, 1 notch and restart stability testing. If you still have issues, test memory using Memtest86+. If you STILL have issues and RAM checks good, reset VTT/VCCSA/PLL to auto. If you STILL have issues, PM me

Also use this time to verify your absolute max temperatures, realize that no game will every push them this high, and that you can run the 3820 all the way up to 99c before it will throttle (ask me how I know).

Personally I find 4.6 via this technique the sweet spot for the 3820 (golden chips being the exception of course). The VRM circuitry stays nice and cool, and the chip is very happy here speed/temp/voltage wise.
Cinebench 11.5 score: 9.03, it will NOT bottleneck anything at 4.6 in gaming. For comparison, I never exceed 59c on any core at this setup, and the VRM never passes 40c, but again its a custom loop and the VRMs are under water so your H80 should have slightly higher temps but well within acceptable.

EDIT: I forgot to add, if its stable in windows at 4.6 runing prime95 at 1.33 when you first try it, see if you can drop it to 1.3 flat, it will save you a bit of heat (2c or so).

[Claviger]

Forgot to add, if you want more, for whatever reason, try vcore at 1.415 and 4.8ghz but going with 125 BCLK Strap, BCLK at 126.315 x 38. You will loose all power saving ability except IEST (speed step) so it'll still clock down when idle but voltage will stay at 1.415 (really ide temp difference is only 3c so....)

[Claviger]

Please follow up if you tried my settings and how they worked for you.

[sabrown6702]

Thanks Claviger. I followed your steps to a T but git nowhere. When I saved the bios changes and exited, it would reboot to a black screen and go no further. I would have to press and hold the power button to power off and then power back on. I would then get the OC failed screen press F1 to get to bios. Would go in try again and same thing. Ran mem test and all is good with the ram, all is good with CPU and cooling so I am at a loss. I also tried to use the BIOS NOrmal OC and it did the same thing. Anything you can think of to help me out here would be greatly appreciated.

[Menthol]

If you haven't ventured into overclocking before follow HiVizMan's suggestions, start with minor adjustments, don't go for the gold right of the bat it will lead to frustration and you won't be able to figure out which settings are causing failure. Read the overclocking guides for your motherboard posted here on these forums. Make changes in small increments at a time.

[Claviger]

Looks like you will have to do it the slow but steady way. Something is causing a failure at speed, and i suspect it is RAM or CPU Vcore good luck!