i7-7700K Gigabye Z270
i7-7700K Gigabye Z270
Hello, I recently overclocked my i7-7700K on a Z270 Gigabyte MOBO and have run into a slight issue. I followed the steps on from this article that was put written by Gigabyte for manually OC my CPU.
https://view.joomag.com/gigabyte-z270-ov...1483933769
I am very unfamiliar with Gigabyte's BIOS of OCing, my previous build was with ASUS which seemed more straight forward. My BIOS are also up to date, I flashed them as I got this running.
I feel like I have a stable 4.8 Ghz @ 1.32v with Prime95, but I haven't got the chance to stress test it for an extended time so far. At lower voltage it would not blue screen me but Prime95 would stop running the test on some cores and still run on others which is weird for me cause on my i5-4***K (I can't remember the numbers) it would blue screen me hard if it was at a stable voltage. My LLC is at Turbo.
Anywho my issue is that at idle with it OC'd it would randomly ramp up the frequency to 4.8Ghz and utilize a larger percentage of my CPU from 30%-100% for several seconds out of no where. Sometimes while still at idle with nothing running it would randomly ramp the frequency up to max with no CPU usage at all, well 1-3%. My only indication that something was up is that my fan would spool up loud enough for me to hear it and that's when I started to monitor it. I am under balanced power settings so the minimum CPU power setting is 5% and the max 100%. I eventually set my setting back to stock or whatever was closest to it that I could remember and now there is still some pretty high fluctuations with the frequency at idle (800-2700ghz) but not it's max (4400). The only time I notice there is no fluctuations with the frequency at idle (800ghz) is when I set the power plan to power saver, but the advance settings still seem similar to the settings on the balance power plan, which is odd. I have a 650 watt PSU and I am running Windows 7 64bit.
So my questions are:
1). Whats the deal with the frequency fluctuations and CPU usage at idle? It definitely seems more stable at stock settings, did I select or turn off some of the settings I shouldn't have to cause my CPU to ramp up to it's max randomly and often while at idle when I OC'd it?
2). Could this be an issue with my OS and the drivers I installed for it? Windows' states that it does not support 7th gen CPUs, I did install the drivers for Windows 7 from gigabyte's website for my MOBO. I have found some pretty conflicting information online about whether its a big deal or not, this from site included. Seems like the most problematic thing is that it will no longer update.
3)......I know I have more questions, but I can't remember them off the top of my head. I need to do some more testing with the overclock settings, but just haven't had the time. OH Yeah, whats with the "uncore" settings? I never touched that in my other MOBO's BIOS and I did set them to what they suggested which was at 4.5ghz if at 4.8ghz, while the stock settings are set to the same frequency (4.2ghz @ 4.2ghz). They suggested 400 mhz less that the set frequency but the picture was in the only 300 mhz less.
Thanks for reading.
When the power plan is set to Balanced, the CPU adjusts its speed from 800 MHz to 4.5 GHz based on how much work is being done. You’ll notice quick changes in clock speeds—like 800 MHz, 2 GHz, 4.5 GHz, and even 1.2 GHz—within a few seconds as you interact with the system. This behavior is completely normal. Running demanding apps such as Battelefield 1 will keep the CPU closer to 4.5 GHz for a longer time. After completing all Windows updates, especially when no browser is open, the CPU usage in Task Manager typically stays around 1% for most of the time on my system.
What kind of tasks are you planning for your rig? I haven’t mentioned the GPU yet.
Kabylake CPUs aren’t meant to run smoothly on Windows 7, though a cheat patch reportedly exists to help.
When the power plan is set to Balanced, the CPU adjusts its speed from 800 MHz to 4.5 GHz based on workload, so even with minimal activity like using Chrome and moving the mouse, you’ll notice quick changes in clock speeds—800 MHz, 2 GHz, 4.5 GHz, and 1.2 GHz within seconds. This behavior is normal. Launching a demanding app such as Battelefield 1 keeps it closer to 4.5 GHz for a longer duration. After completing all Windows updates, with no browser open, the CPU usage in Task Manager remains around 1% for most of the time on my 7700K...
What is your system meant for? I haven’t mentioned the GPU yet.
Kabylake CPUs aren’t designed to run smoothly on Windows 7, though a supposed cheat patch might help temporarily. There’s no guarantee it will work. Regardless, fixing power plan or clock speed problems on an unsupported OS will be challenging.
Do you require higher than the standard speeds? (Are Gigabyte boards equipped with an MCE option in the BIOS to let all cores reach 4.5 GHz if cooling is sufficient?)