GA-Z87X-UD5H CPU, Graphics, Memory Overclock

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Sirian

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Sep 21, 2013
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Hello, it's been a while since I've built a computer from scratch. My most recent build was designed to be a hackintosh. I have both Windows 7 and Mavericks installed on a dual boot.

I was wondering if someone could give me some starting information on overclocking the CPU, memory and graphics card. The settings are a little overwhelming. Specs are below. Thank you very much!

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($299.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($74.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD5H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($198.94 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($159.78 @ Amazon)
Storage: Sandisk 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($164.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($254.99 @ Newegg)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WDN4800 802.11a/b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($39.99 @ Microcenter)
Case: Corsair 500R Black ATX Mid Tower Case ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1438.64
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-11-21 17:23 EST-0500)
 
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Sirian

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Sep 21, 2013
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Well, I might have went with an Asus board, although, that is a board recommended by the tonymacx86 website for compatibility with OS X. I think I read somewhere that Asus boards don't play well with OS X, but I think people get them to work. I was just going for the easiest one to setup and designed to work with multibeast.

I managed to overclock the system with a 20% increase but it runs a little hot at 86 C tops. It was down to 73 C or so on a 42 multiplier / 4.2Ghz, but in Windows was giving a blue screen memory dump issue using prime95. It may have done it without the overclock I'm guessing.

I have a friend coming over tomorrow to help out but I'm open to suggestions if anyone has experience with this setup.
 
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Sirian

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Sep 21, 2013
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At first it was the auto system performance increase by 20%, then I tried it manually. Seemed to be stable all except memory, but once again that could have been before the overclock, which was only the CPU. With auto voltage was 1.3 something. I thought that was high and hence the instability.

I had the voltage around 1.2 manually. Really it seemed stable and wasn't too hot. I have the version 7 bios it's the latest. Drivers for Mavericks I have no idea how to hack that, but I did let windows update all the drivers. But I might try the latest from their website. I guess I'll have to check the versions and see.

Something way off topic... I can't get download speeds higher than 500kbs on Windows but on Mavericks I'm getting 5Ms plus. I'm starting to wonder, even with all the naysayers that swear by Windows 7, if really it's an outdated OS. I wanted to go with Windows 8 but got talked out of it.

DRAM read as XMP-1600 in CPUz I believe (last column). I'm not sure what PLL is and are you talking about vCore voltage? Sorry it's been over two years since I've built a system. It was pretty impressive to see a GUI bios!
 
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Sirian

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Sep 21, 2013
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Screenshot of the automatic system overclock:

overclock1.jpg
 
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Sirian

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Sep 21, 2013
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Looks like that's what it is.

cpuz.jpg
 
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Sirian

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Sep 21, 2013
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Managed to get it stable for 10 minutes at 4.2Ghz with a 1.2v. It was consuming around 100w of power and temps were around 72-73 C.

I decided that I wanted something a little cooler, and possibly even more stable. Right now as I'm typing this message, I'm pushing 25 minutes at 4.0Ghz at a 1.1v. It doesn't seem to consume more than 102w of power (later was no more than 80 early on) and temps are no higher than 74 C (63 early on).

I don't remember being able to do anything (like open Chrome and type an email, open PS, etc.) with an AMD processor at full load!

What do you think about those results? It could probably go higher but I'm sure it would take some work.
 
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Sirian

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Sep 21, 2013
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Resat the heatsink with the proper air flow directions and reapplied thermal paste. Seems to run a bit cooler but I'm not able to stabilize anything above 4.0Ghz. Currently, I'm over an hour into Prime95 and it's not gone over 70C. Temps during tests have ranged from 51-78C. Also managed to get the CPU fan and CPU opt fan hooked up each separately so I can manage the speeds in their range of 1200+ now. Have two silent 140mm top fans to help draw more air up out of the case.

I'm really not sure I can stabilize anything above 4.0Ghz with this setup. I think with ram over 1600 it might be possible. I've tried changing the CPU ring and that didn't change anything from the actual voltage when it was on auto. Also learned that system agent doesn't really do anything with 1600 ram, so therefore I left that alone along with analog and digital voltage.

Learned a lot today and I'm happy with the results. I might later on upgrade to some higher frequency memory and see if that helps. Or who knows, as I'm not sure how expensive it is, I might just wait and upgrade completely when this one out dates. Thanks for the suggestions. I'm pretty happy with this as a "Hack Pro"!
 
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Herbert Klein

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Aug 26, 2013
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I have similar PC.Plan to support both Win 7 & Maverick Mac OSX.
Ga-Z87X-UD5H, 4770K, RamJaw [2 x 8GB] 2133 CL 9, Seidon 120m cooler.
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I have read that most with Z87x-UD?H/4770K & good cooling should reach 4.5Ghz, 30% should reach 4.6Ghz and a few[10% I recall] could reach 4.7GHz - all stable. I hope I'm able to get 4.6GHz [These values are from my memory-correct me where I'm wrong]
 
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Sirian

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Sep 21, 2013
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Thought I'd post my final results. Today I gave it another shot. I didn't even attempt 4.5GHz because I know it won't do it, so I started at 4.4GHz. Well, 4.4 wouldn't work at all. It reached over 80C in just a few seconds. 4.3 didn't quite make it either it was still quite hot. The highest I was able to get it at safe temps was 4.2 and it was pushing 85C (a little high for my taste).

So I finally got it stable at 4.1GHz with the highest temp never exceeding 78C. I decided that Prime95 wasn't what I wanted to use after getting some more feedback. It seems like the IntelBurnTest was what I needed. Took less than 90 minutes and, wow, is the maximum setting brutal. I really doubt any program or game would ever get to the levels that this test provided.

Anyhow, I ran it in standard mode at 25 passes and maximum at 10 passes. Both passed perfectly. My vCore was at 1.135v.

Here's some images of the results.

stress-test.jpg


I actually had one run at 16524 on Mavericks but couldn't duplicate it after a few more runs. On Windows 7 Geekbench was at 15856.

benchmarks.jpg


Hope this will help someone out with similar specs. It's been fun!
 
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