Adjusting performance on i5 3570k and Sabertooth Z77
Adjusting performance on i5 3570k and Sabertooth Z77
Hello, I’d appreciate your thoughts on this. I’m attempting to push the 3570K overclock using an Asus Sabertooth Z77. I’ve updated the BIOS and chipset drivers. To reach 4.3GHz I need to raise the voltage to 1.330v, which appears as yellow text in the BIOS—this helps me confirm it’s getting high.
I’ve read a lot about overclocking and some users have managed to hit 4.3GHz or higher even on stock settings. Right now I’m at 4.2GHz with that voltage, and I can run AIDA64 for extended periods without issues, keeping temperatures under 75°C. However, when I tried to play BF1 afterward, the game crashed immediately, followed by a system failure.
Could it be that the motherboard is defective? Maybe related to the VRM? I’m limited in raising the voltage further, and pushing frequency too high risks instability and overheating.
I regret the condition of the old 3570k I had before. I used much higher voltage than it was designed for! (not implying that was a positive action.)
AIDA64 isn't the most demanding stress test, so it may not be revealing any issues.
Are there any stable core clock and voltage settings you've discovered? You might be reaching your limits.
How were your temperatures during BF1 gameplay? Was your GPU and RAM overclocked as well?
Hi thanks for your reply.
The setup was standard with a GTX 1060 and a ballistix DDR3 1600. The system became more unstable, so I lowered the core clock and voltage back to the default settings, but I still faced complete lock-ups. Temperatures stayed reasonable, and no tests were being run during these incidents.
I then tried an i3 3220 at stock speed (3.3ghz), which also locked up frequently without any testing. Later, I tested the i5 3570k and the i3 3220 on another board (ASUS P8B75-M LX), both passing Intel burn tests without freezing. I tried it on Prime and AIDA but still found it challenging.
In conclusion, the motherboard seems worn out and likely couldn’t provide the stable voltage needed for the CPU. Even at manual 1.330V, it would supply more than 1.4V, which led me to stop experimenting before the board damaged the CPU. It might be a poor choice, and my PSU could also be contributing. Still, the fact that the board couldn’t stabilize an overclock makes me think it’s better to replace it.
It’s outdated technology at its core.