Intel 3930K Clock Throttling

[McGecko]

Hey guys, been trying to overclock an Intel 3930K on an ASRock Extreme4 mobo. Right now I have ASRock's overclocking tool set at 4.4GHz with voltage at an offset of +.080v. I'm currently doing stability testing with prime95 while monitoring with ASRock's tuning utility. However, I am experiencing an issue where the clock speed will drop from 4.4GHz to the standard 3.2Ghz (voltage drops to the standard too) for a few seconds before returning to 4.4 and then repeating the process. I don't think temperature is the issue, as I'm only at 73C when the problem occurs. I've tried raising the current tolerances by 100w, but that hasn't helped. If anyone knows what the issue is here, I'd greatly appreciate the help. Thanks.

 

[McGecko]

Still need help with this.

 

[McGecko]

Seems the VRM Protection is causing the problem.

 

[4745454b]

It's a temp problem. Your not supposed to get to 73c with that chip.

 

[McGecko]

It's a temp problem. Your not supposed to get to 73c with that chip.

I've got a Noctua NH-D14 SE2011, which gets good temps in most of the reviews I've read. Any idea why my temps are so high? I'm gonna reapply my thermal paste (Arctic Silver 5) and see if that helps. Also, is there any good way to cool the VRM? Seems like that's what's overheating and throttling the clock speed.

 

[4745454b]

Common sink problems are you used to much/little TIM, or its not on tight enough.

How do you know its a VRM problem?

 

[undercovernerd6]

your southbridge is overheating vrm keeps temps down to keep the board from frying

 

[McGecko]

Common sink problems are you used to much/little TIM, or its not on tight enough.

How do you know its a VRM problem?

I turned VRM protection off for a few prime95 runs (I know it's bad for the mobo) and I didn't have the problem at all.

 

[McGecko]

your southbridge is overheating vrm keeps temps down to keep the board from frying

The SB is at 30-40C the whole time. It also has a fan on to keep it cool if it does heat up, but that's set to activate at 50C.

 

[4745454b]

Considering the beefy sinks on the VRMs for that board, I doubt that's the problem. I'd worry more about cooling the CPU better.

Undercover, the VRMs have nothing to do with keeping temps down.

 

[McGecko]

Considering the beefy sinks on the VRMs for that board, I doubt that's the problem. I'd worry more about cooling the CPU better.

Undercover, the VRMs have nothing to do with keeping temps down.

I turned off all the thermal throttling measures for the CPU, and still had clock throttling at 70C or so. Because the problem disappeared entirely when the VRM protection was disabled, I'm convinced that this is due to VRM overheating. My hand isn't a very good measure to go by, but when I touched the VRM heatsink, it was burning hot.

 

[4745454b]

If you feel its such a problem, then strap some fans to those sinks. That should help cool them off.

 

[McGecko]

Just ran prime95 for 5mins while waving a big sheet of cardboard at the VRM. No clock throttling, even though the CPU got to 80C.

 

[McGecko]

Thanks guys, gonna get a 70mm fan to blow down on the VRM heatsink.

 

[McGecko]

Best answer selected by McGecko.

 

[drfreak640]

whats your cpu cooler ? if your getting temps like that...i have an h100 going to be put my hafx cooling my 3930k on a asrock extreme7 with 24gig's ram going to have it pointing down to cool the vrm etc... 140mm is gonna exhaust...and the rest of my fans are upgraded red led fans

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey