3770 non K overclocked up to 4.36GHZ during benchmark testing – a guide for basic overclocking concepts.
3770 non K overclocked up to 4.36GHZ during benchmark testing – a guide for basic overclocking concepts.
I assembled my machine back in 2014, and the components I put in were top quality at the time. The only drawback was choosing a 3770 processor instead of a 3770k for the CPU. Still, it performed well then and remains solid today. The biggest change I made was swapping out my old 660OC for an EVGA 1080ti ftw3 graphics card to fix gameplay issues. It wasn’t until after installing the new card that I realized my CPU and RAM were limiting performance. The bottleneck was so severe it barely affected how the system handled games. I knew the 1080ti was powerful, but needed more speed to keep up. I didn’t want a full overhaul since the original setup was still solid for everyday tasks. So I explored overclocking. After many attempts and occasional crashes, I found optimal settings. Now my machine handles demanding games smoothly, runs AAA titles at 1440p around 140fps, and stays stable—even beating a Ryzen 5 benchmark score of 84.4%. The biggest win was the reliability and performance boost. Below, I’ll detail all the hardware and configurations.
System Specifications:
- Intel Core i7 3770
- Gigabyte Z77x-D3H
- 16 GB Corsair Vengeance Pro 4 Channel at 1600MHZ
- EVGA 1080ti ftw3 graphics card
- 700W cooler master PSU
- Cooler Master Dual Fan with heat pipe
- CPU cooler from Cooler Master CM Storm Case
- Two 250GB SSDs and one 3TB HDD
Important tips:
- Overclock only via BIOS, not software like Intel XTU.
- XTU is fine for "K" CPUs but offers minimal gain for non-K models.
- Changing multiplier in XTU can cause crashes.
- Use a Z-series motherboard, proper CPU cooler, and keep the system clean.
- Restart and boot into BIOS via Delete or F2 (motherboard-dependent).
- Enable XMP profile in BIOS to unlock full RAM speed.
- Navigate to overclocking settings: adjust CPU core ratio/multiplier up to 41.
- Set clock ratio to 2.1072 for better stability.
- Disable power-saving modes and set high performance settings.
- Follow these steps, and you’ll see real improvements.
Feel free to ask if you need more details!
Cinebench offers many reports for average performance across multiple CPUs. UserBenchmark provides questionable results, making it hard to separate personal bias from real data. Scores were adjusted heavily to favor Intel, sometimes letting an i3 surpass an 18-core HEDT i9 due to strong emphasis on quad-core stats. Great job capturing solid clock speeds using a BCLK OC! Newer chips tend to be more challenging than the X58 era, as PCIe behavior shifts with BCLK changes—typically causing instability unless you tweak the ratio for better PCIe performance.