ASRock z68 Pro3 Gen3 2500k OC - What I've learned

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david_

2[H]4U
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So there is limited info on the AsRock boards so I figured I'd post this up for any people who are looking for more info. I'm using Hyper 212+.
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Some BIOS suggestions/settings/what I've learned:
Spread Spectrum = Disable - your bus speed will vary from 100.0 when this is enabled, giving you weird clocks.

Short/long duration limit = 200/200 seems to be the consensus. I have not noticed increase stability by increasing these past 200.

C1 stepping = Enable if you like your CPU to throttle down when not in use. I also noticed decreased max voltages for the same offset when enabled (good thing).
C3/C6 = Disable, caused instability

Internal PLL overvolt = Enable for increased stability. PLL voltage is still set to auto and I haven't seen it budge from 1.794 (anything above 1.9 is bad).
*when enabled, causes freezing when returning from 'sleep mode'. So I use the ASRock extreme tuner utility power profile in windows (no sleep).
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I was able to boot as high as 5.1 w/ these settings, but @ 1.5v so I shut down quickly. I couldn't get 4.8 stable under 1.4v so...

I'm currently running Prime95 with a 47 multiplier and +150 on my CPU voltage offset (hangs around/little below 1.4v). Max temps are 65, 71, 73, 68. That's good for me; so I'm hoping it passes the 12 hr mark. Will update.

 
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It's definitely a nice board, well reviewed by the community too. I booted my i5-2500k on it on water at 5.2 @ 1.425v and the made it all then way through 3D Mark Vantage...lol. I never tried to push it further, was nervous.
 
david_ said:
So there is limited info on the AsRock boards so I figured I'd post this up for any people who are looking for more info. I'm using Hyper 212+.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some BIOS suggestions/settings/what I've learned:
Spread Spectrum = Disable - your bus speed will vary from 100.0 when this is enabled, giving you weird clocks.

Short/long duration limit = 200/200 seems to be the consensus. I have not noticed increase stability by increasing these past 200.

C1 stepping = Enable if you like your CPU to throttle down when not in use. I also noticed decreased max voltages for the same offset when enabled (good thing).
C3/C6 = Disable, caused instability

Internal PLL overvolt = Enable for increased stability. PLL voltage is still set to auto and I haven't seen it budge from 1.794 (anything above 1.9 is bad).
*when enabled, causes freezing when returning from 'sleep mode'. So I use the ASRock extreme tuner utility power profile in windows (no sleep).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was able to boot as high as 5.1 w/ these settings, but @ 1.5v so I shut down quickly. I couldn't get 4.8 stable under 1.4v so...

I'm currently running Prime95 with a 47 multiplier and +150 on my CPU voltage offset (hangs around/little below 1.4v). Max temps are 65, 71, 73, 68. That's good for me; so I'm hoping it passes the 12 hr mark. Will update.

Click to expand...

I noticed much of the same while overclocking my 2600k. I can boot and even make it though Burn Test @5.0Ghz w/1.46v on mine, but the temps are 82-84C and thats just too much voltage for a 24/7 OC imo.

My bios settings are:
Advanced Turbo 50 [disabled]
Load Optimized CPU settings [disabled]
CPU Ratio Manual [48x]
Internal PLL voltage [enable]
speedstep [enabled]
turbo boos power limit [Manual] [255/255]
Additional Turbo Boost Power Limit [Auto]
Core Current Limit [200]
BCLK [100.00]
Spread Spectrum [disabled]
Power Saving Mode [disabled]
CPU Core Voltage [Offset]
CPU Core Offset [+.070v]
CPU Load Line Calibration Level 3 [Manual]
PCH Voltage 1.059 [Auto]
CPU PLL Voltage 1.791 [Manual]
VTT Voltage 1.051 [Auto]
VCCSA 0.925 [Auto]

Active Processor Cores [All]
Hardware Prefetcher [Enabled]
Adjacent Cache Line Prefetcher [Enabled]
CE1 [Enabled] {I had these all disabled while trying to o/c, then enabled when stable}
CPU C3 [Enabled]
CPU C6 [Enabled]
C State Support [Auto]
CPU throttling [Enabled]
Virtualizagion [Auto]
No Execute Memory [Disabled]
 
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So after about 2.5 hours of Prime95 at 47x, one worker quit, basically leaving my 3rd core idle. I'm not willing to increase my voltage yet to stabilize 47x.

So I restarted at 46x at the same voltage and it passed 9 hours. On to LinX and Intel Burn Test.

update: LinX pushed my vcore up to 1.440. IBT pushed it to 1.408 and got my temps past 80c so I'm going down in voltage and starting again.

update 2: 4.6 with +100 offset passed 50 IBT and LinX so I'm starting Prime95. I'll let it run today. If it passes I'm done (4.6ghz @ 1.35v never reaching 80C).

updated 3: it didn't pass. lost a worker in prime. so now i'm at 4.5 +100 offset running prime. temps are fine. volts around 1.35.
 
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I think it's odd I'm hitting voltage limitations before temperature limitations on air. I guess these SB's run pretty cool.
 
I think part of the issue here is the power phases on these boards are fairly weak, so you're not getting very stable power to the chip, causing instability at higher "perceived" / set voltage than should be required. Just a theory. My ASRock Z68 Professional died on me and I RMA'd, I may swap it back out when I get it back. Got a Gigabyte Z68XP-UD4 to tide me over, haven't tried to OC with it yet, don't like the layout as well as the ASRock and it won't support PCIe 3.0 in the future, but otherwise it seems a better board. More stable, and from what I'm reading it OCs similarly.
 
If you're experiencing voltage instability, make sure you set the Load Line Calibration to a lower number. I believe that is a technology that allows the CPU to use less power when it is not in use. Load Line Level 1 is the most consistent and what I used when I was overclocking for benchmarks
 
Thanks for the input guys.

I've run Prime95 for 9 hours at 4.5 ghz @ ~1.35v. My max temps are 61, 66, 70, and 64.

I'll keep it here.
 
Hmm.... Anyone know exactly what settings the advanced turbo uses? I have been able to get a stable overclock with it at 4.8ghz but i can't seem to do it manually.. appreciate the help. :)
 
Have you checked your voltage running @ 4.8 auto? I tried it and it was over 1.5 in stress test... not good.
 
running IBT it showed it around 1.45 but even when i tried to manually do this myself and trying the suggested settings up above, i can never get it to boot.. so im just flustered on how the advanced turbo sets the settings.. messed around it for a good day but at the end i just gave up and manually did it at 4.5.. not complaining but it would be nice to know my true max :D
 
Pitbully said:
I noticed much of the same while overclocking my 2600k. I can boot and even make it though Burn Test @5.0Ghz w/1.46v on mine, but the temps are 82-84C and thats just too much voltage for a 24/7 OC imo.

My bios settings are:
Advanced Turbo 50 [disabled]
Load Optimized CPU settings [disabled]
CPU Ratio Manual [48x]
Internal PLL voltage [enable]
speedstep [enabled]
turbo boos power limit [Manual] [255/255]
Additional Turbo Boost Power Limit [Auto]
Core Current Limit [200]
BCLK [100.00]
Spread Spectrum [disabled]
Power Saving Mode [disabled]
CPU Core Voltage [Offset]
CPU Core Offset [+.070v]
CPU Load Line Calibration Level 3 [Manual]
PCH Voltage 1.059 [Auto]
CPU PLL Voltage 1.791 [Manual]
VTT Voltage 1.051 [Auto]
VCCSA 0.925 [Auto]

Active Processor Cores [All]
Hardware Prefetcher [Enabled]
Adjacent Cache Line Prefetcher [Enabled]
CE1 [Enabled] {I had these all disabled while trying to o/c, then enabled when stable}
CPU C3 [Enabled]
CPU C6 [Enabled]
C State Support [Auto]
CPU throttling [Enabled]
Virtualizagion [Auto]
No Execute Memory [Disabled]
Click to expand...

Home this solves my OC issue. Thanks:D
 
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