Summarized background (you may skip this paragraph): I had a Core i5 2500k which suddenly failed a few months ago, after 3 years of overclocked service. To make sure it was the processor, I sent the machine to a technician who managed to bend the Asus P8P67 Deluxe mobo's socket pins and deny responsibility afterwards. Another technician confirmed it was the processor, so I ordered a Intel DZ68BC mobo and a Core i7 3770k. I found out too late that this mobo's BIOS has been glitched since version 028 and won't overclock, and Intel never fixed it (and never will, since they are no longer making mobos). Since Ivy Bridge requires BIOS 035 or newer for compatibility, I can't rollback to version 028. So I requested from Intel a refund on the mobo, which will be granted once I send the mobo over to them. Thus, I ordered a used ASUS P8P67-m PRO as its replacement, which arrived 2 days ago.
The seller claimed the board was in "perfect" state, but I noticed a couple of its socket pins looked slightly bent, as per this picture I took: http://prntscr.com/8uu436 . Since it's now super hard to find a cheap overclockable mobo for socket 1155 in Brazil, I decided to give it a go nevertheless and mount the processor. In my limited testing so far (less than 2 days), the computer works absolutely fine at stock speed, with no errors in Prime95 and no BSODs. That is, at stock.
As soon as I try to overclock it to even so little as 4.0 GHz (the maximum stock speed with all cores at 100% is 3.7 GHz), I get errors in Prime95 or BSODs. Here are my BlueScreenViewer entries: http://prntscr.com/8uu5hw . Aside from the first error which is "increase vcore", all the others had error code 0x124, which according to an overclocking guide, means:
"0x124 = increase/decrease vcore or QPI/VTT... have to test to see which one it is"
I tried several Vcore offsets (this particular mobo only allow offsets, not fixed Vcore) from 0.100 to 0.350 and still I always get error 0x0124, so I figured I could try increasing the QPI/VTT, also called System Agent. Problem is, I can't find that option in the BIOS. Here are photos of my BIOS screens: http://prntscr.com/8utj15 and http://prntscr.com/8utibe and http://prntscr.com/8uu875 . Does anyone see any option to set the QPI/VTT/System Agent voltage?
The configs seen in the pictures above were the ones I set after following overclocking guides. After those configs failed, I reset the mobo to the optimized defaults, set the turbo multiplier to 40 and Vcore offset to +0.100. BCLK is always at 100.0. But still, error in Prime95!
As I'm writing this post, I'm running Prime95 again to make sure it's stable at stock. It ran for 6 hours the first time and has been running for another 6 hours without issues. I also gamed for an hour or so without issues, so it definitely seems stable, which means the slightly bent couple of pins in the socket don't seem to be a problem.
So now I'm unsure if the fault is with the processor, the mobo, or the more unlikely possibility that I missed some critical configuration in BIOS necessary to keep even this tiny OC stable. If it's the mobo, I can initiate a dispute with the seller and he'll be forced to give me the money back. But only if I initiate it within the next 2 weeks.
I know this is a long post with a lot of info. Thank you very much for your patience in reading this far!
P.S: I run Folding@Home all the time, so by helping me get this OC, you'll also be helping science!
Additional info that may help troubleshoot it:
- I set the multiplier to 43 and Vcore offset to +0.350, then ran Prime95's hottest test. One of the cores reached 105 degrees celsius even with my Hyper 212X cooler! I'm amazed the processor didn't turn off on its own. The cooler is well-mounted, because I get only 60-65 degrees at full load at stock 3.7 GHz speeds, depending on room temp.
I then turned Vcore down to 0.300 which helped a bit with the temps, but I got a BSOD regardless.
- Despite the +0.350 offset, CoreTemp only reported a VID of 1.170v or so during the above test. I would have expected values close to 1.400v...
Normally, at stock multiplier and voltage, it stays at a VID of 0.9-1.1v: http://prntscr.com/8uud3a
- Also notice from the picture above how the BCLK is at 100.33, not 100.0 like I set it in BIOS. It sometimes changes to other values as well, like 100.01. My technician friend tells me this is normal, but I thought I'd point it out regardless.
- The case fans are loud when browsing BIOS and when the computer is booting up. When Windows starts loading, they get even louder! Therefore, they seem to increase along with processor load. They only stop when I load SpeedFan software within Windows, which overtakes control of the fans and I can set the speed I want. Could this indicate a faulty mobo?
Specs:
Core i7 3770k
GTX 970 G1 Gaming
3x 4 GB 1333 RAM
Corsair Builder's Series CX 500W PSU
Asus P8P67-M PRO motherboard (latest BIOS)
Samsung 850 Evo SSD
Hyper 212X heatsink
The seller claimed the board was in "perfect" state, but I noticed a couple of its socket pins looked slightly bent, as per this picture I took: http://prntscr.com/8uu436 . Since it's now super hard to find a cheap overclockable mobo for socket 1155 in Brazil, I decided to give it a go nevertheless and mount the processor. In my limited testing so far (less than 2 days), the computer works absolutely fine at stock speed, with no errors in Prime95 and no BSODs. That is, at stock.
As soon as I try to overclock it to even so little as 4.0 GHz (the maximum stock speed with all cores at 100% is 3.7 GHz), I get errors in Prime95 or BSODs. Here are my BlueScreenViewer entries: http://prntscr.com/8uu5hw . Aside from the first error which is "increase vcore", all the others had error code 0x124, which according to an overclocking guide, means:
"0x124 = increase/decrease vcore or QPI/VTT... have to test to see which one it is"
I tried several Vcore offsets (this particular mobo only allow offsets, not fixed Vcore) from 0.100 to 0.350 and still I always get error 0x0124, so I figured I could try increasing the QPI/VTT, also called System Agent. Problem is, I can't find that option in the BIOS. Here are photos of my BIOS screens: http://prntscr.com/8utj15 and http://prntscr.com/8utibe and http://prntscr.com/8uu875 . Does anyone see any option to set the QPI/VTT/System Agent voltage?
The configs seen in the pictures above were the ones I set after following overclocking guides. After those configs failed, I reset the mobo to the optimized defaults, set the turbo multiplier to 40 and Vcore offset to +0.100. BCLK is always at 100.0. But still, error in Prime95!
As I'm writing this post, I'm running Prime95 again to make sure it's stable at stock. It ran for 6 hours the first time and has been running for another 6 hours without issues. I also gamed for an hour or so without issues, so it definitely seems stable, which means the slightly bent couple of pins in the socket don't seem to be a problem.
So now I'm unsure if the fault is with the processor, the mobo, or the more unlikely possibility that I missed some critical configuration in BIOS necessary to keep even this tiny OC stable. If it's the mobo, I can initiate a dispute with the seller and he'll be forced to give me the money back. But only if I initiate it within the next 2 weeks.
I know this is a long post with a lot of info. Thank you very much for your patience in reading this far!
P.S: I run Folding@Home all the time, so by helping me get this OC, you'll also be helping science!
Additional info that may help troubleshoot it:
- I set the multiplier to 43 and Vcore offset to +0.350, then ran Prime95's hottest test. One of the cores reached 105 degrees celsius even with my Hyper 212X cooler! I'm amazed the processor didn't turn off on its own. The cooler is well-mounted, because I get only 60-65 degrees at full load at stock 3.7 GHz speeds, depending on room temp.
I then turned Vcore down to 0.300 which helped a bit with the temps, but I got a BSOD regardless.
- Despite the +0.350 offset, CoreTemp only reported a VID of 1.170v or so during the above test. I would have expected values close to 1.400v...
Normally, at stock multiplier and voltage, it stays at a VID of 0.9-1.1v: http://prntscr.com/8uud3a
- Also notice from the picture above how the BCLK is at 100.33, not 100.0 like I set it in BIOS. It sometimes changes to other values as well, like 100.01. My technician friend tells me this is normal, but I thought I'd point it out regardless.
- The case fans are loud when browsing BIOS and when the computer is booting up. When Windows starts loading, they get even louder! Therefore, they seem to increase along with processor load. They only stop when I load SpeedFan software within Windows, which overtakes control of the fans and I can set the speed I want. Could this indicate a faulty mobo?
Specs:
Core i7 3770k
GTX 970 G1 Gaming
3x 4 GB 1333 RAM
Corsair Builder's Series CX 500W PSU
Asus P8P67-M PRO motherboard (latest BIOS)
Samsung 850 Evo SSD
Hyper 212X heatsink
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