Yeah another odd title post from me... Everyday I come to these forums and find more and more SB users obtaining 4.8+ GHz overclocks with ease. And it's getting to me. I want more POWER! I want more SPEED! (it sucks to be human lol) Then I start looking over the guides and SB OC tips from the various sites... and I sink back into my shell of "4GHz is enough." There's a couple of things I wonder about re: why I can't get past 4GHz. RAM: Seems XMP profile1 is the only way to successfully boot into Win7 if I go with the factory specs on the ram (1866, 9-10-9-27 2T). I've manually changed the numbers to reflect those settings and it won't boot. It will boot at 1333, but not 1866. So I wonder if I'm missing something simple. C1E, C3/6 Halt states - I'm not sure what the consensus is on these bios settings. Some people say "if you've got a stable OC no need to disable them." Apparently all they do is step down the power the CPU uses when it detects idle activity. I don't know how it affects OCing. Internal CPU PLL Overvoltage - What's the story with this setting? I've seen some guys recommend running with it enabled and some auto or disabled. There's a guide here:http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php?PHPSESSID=e739c3440b4bae74c640c4461dd77230&/topic,4072.0.html .... where the user simply changes the multi to 50x, with cpu pll enabled, vcore @ 1.4v, but auto everything else and stable at 5GHz?!?!? He must be using a better GB board than I cause I noticed the LLC set to level 2. My only options are enabled or disabled. And then of course I've read many users on this very forum.... 4.8, 4.9, 5.2, 4.5 - easy peasy! No worries mate! Should i just set my ram to 1333 or auto and then try the OC? I don't think running at 1333 and cl9 would do any good for me, even with a faster CPU clock. I guess what I'm trying to do is OC again and obtain those higher values. I also see GB released an F5 bios, dated mid July 2011. Any reason to try that one out? Thanks for bearing with me!

RAM speed is largely irrelevant on modern platforms. If a lower RAM speed allows you to obtain a higher CPU speed - go for it!

And with regards to the BIOS settings, simply play with them and see if they help. I disabled C3 & C6 reports myselfInternal CPU PLL Overvoltage is supposed to be on at high clocks

Thanks for both replies. I'll get the courage to start playing again... I'm not worried about burning up my CPU, but other than having to clear the cmos jumper, I can't think of anything that could go terribly wrong lol.

If you can, I think it's better to disable CPU PLL Overvoltage as it sometimes causes instability when on. I'm running 4.8 with PLL Overvoltage disabled and I know several people on overclock.net are as well. You should post your BIOS settings so we can see where you're currently at.

Ok, good news and bad news hehe. Good news:I was finally able to manually enter RAM timings with quick mode, so I'm at 9-10-9-27 2T 1866mhz. And it booted and passed a quick IBT cycle. That was on stock CPU speeds. Then I ran the multi back to 40x, same thing, boots fine, passes that quicky stress test fine. I also disabled C3/C6 halt states for fun. Cpu pll is still enabled on these settings. Bad news: I got adventurous and enabled cpu pll overvoltage, set multi to 48x (I know lol), vcore to 1.35v, LLC is enabled, with the RAM settings above. Epic fail. Win7 logo froze, so I restarted with the restart button on my case. Upon the GB logo screen my USB keyboard never turned on. Great... so I pulled out my PS/2 ghetto Dell version, powered off. Waited a few secs, turned it on, and it did one boot loop worth, but then it finally got back to the GB logo screen where was able to press Del and access BIOS. It gave me the standard red message about OC settings failed to do voltage problems blah blah blah, and then I turned everything back to the settings in the "Good news" section. Something I found odd though. Under memory settings, there's a selection called Performance Enhance. When I set the memory to XMP this was set at Turbo. I've since changed it to standard and manually entered the timings. Here's the weird part. My CPU multiplier automatically went from 40x to 33x (default) when I changed that setting. I was under the impression the PE setting was only a function for memory - since it's found in the memory page. Here's a quick shot from my manual (NOT MY BIOS). Am I good with this at standard or should I go back to turbo?edit: And I'll post my current BIOS settings...lemme take some pics...stby! Alright, BIOS screens from MY setup...

more....

All those "Performance Enhance" type of things are better left off I guess. Make sure nothing is changing the BCLK or something like that, who knows what it's doing to enhance performance, loland start at 4.5GHz

Ryan, you should do following:Set everything to AutoSet memory to XMPSet BCLK to 100.Set PLL to disabledSet multi to 40 (make sure Vcore is on Auto)Boot up, read the VcoreBIOS, change multi to 42x. Check Windows Vcore reading and TempsMulti 44x... etc.After 46x start doing 1-stepsGo until your Vcore reads about 1.45, or whatever you are ready to "risk". I personally went up to 1.6, that was with multi 51x. I wasn't ready to "test" it further. Happy with 1.52 for 5.0. Oh and considering first pic:You should set XMP to EnabledVcore to AutoMemory Multiplier to whatever your memory is highest rated for, but XMP should actually take care of that setting when you turn it on. In the end, you will find what the needed Vcore *might* be for the given multiplier. And this is where you start your tests. You can lower it from there.First work with the fixed Vcore. You can fixate it when you saw what system gives it in Auto. Then gradually go down, see where it starts crashing. Or just leave it there, but it might be too high. Rarely too low for me.

What about the performance setting? Just leave it at standard? There is no auto. I believe though if I set XMP with RAM it will default to Turbo. And what about the vcore? Which one is accurate. I set it 1.30v. But in screenshot #7 it shows 1.34 whereas in the 1st it shows 1.296. So how will I know what it's really at? Word Not Allowed wrote to DJ that he should "be careful with auto voltages." Isn't that opposite of what you're recommending me to do lol? And finally, is it safe to say if my PC BSOD's or won't boot at 42x multi and auto settings it won't go past 40 at all?

Set your Vcore to 1.35 for example, multi to 44 or 45 (or less if necessary) and the important Vcore is the one you see in CPU-Z at full load. My personal max there is 1.375The one in screen #7 is the one you set (applied the next time you reboot)The one in screen #1 is the current Vcore reading and can give you an idea of what it will be in Windows, which is the one that matters

What about the performance setting? Just leave it at standard? There is no auto. I believe though if I set XMP with RAM it will default to Turbo. And what about the vcore? Which one is accurate. I set it 1.30v. But in screenshot #7 it shows 1.34 whereas in the 1st it shows 1.296. So how will I know what it's really at? Word Not Allowed wrote to DJ that he should "be careful with auto voltages." Isn't that opposite of what you're recommending me to do lol? And finally, is it safe to say if my PC BSOD's or won't boot at 42x multi and auto settings it won't go past 40 at all?

What will default to Turbo? I can only go from what my board does. I don't know the GB board. But mine, if I set XMP to enabled, it sets automatically everything else that concerns RAM: mutliplier, ram voltage and timings.You could however read in the CPUZ your XMP data, the timings specifically, then read on specs of the RAM what is XMP rated at, mine is for instance [email protected]. XMP here sets those things in BIOS automatically. Older BIOS, non-UEFI, might not do that, I don't really know. One should be careful, yes, that is why I wrote to you that you should do it step by step. In case of DJJose, I said careful, because a jump to 4.5 could cause high voltages. Could. In your case, you have troubles with overclock, so I just thought better this way. It's time consuming, but a certain way. And you said you are not afraid of burning your CPU.I suggest you first try LLC off, PLL Overvoltage off. Later you can lower Vcore, and up the LLC, to see if its better.If unstable, enable PLL Overvolt. Performance enhance should be IMO standard.Btw, it was here a bad idea to run XMP settings without XMP set in BIOS. Did you see this thread? It's based on GB mobo:http://www.overclock...guide-p67a.html And btw, from the site:Make sure you DISABLE all of the following advanced CPU features (to stabilize multiplier and voltage):C1E-DISABLE (With some boards like ASUS please keep C1E, EIST, and C3/C6 enabled at the moment, MSI and Intel boards you can turn these things off, but I am guessing Asrock will need it on as well)EIST-DISABLEC3, C6 States-DISABLECPU Thermal Monitor-DISABLE

Great thanks! I'll give those a try tomorrow!

Go until your Vcore reads about 1.45, or whatever you are ready to "risk". I personally went up to 1.6, that was with multi 51x. I wasn't ready to "test" it further. Happy with 1.52 for 5.0.

1.52? Really? Holy crap! I am not brave enough to venture beyond 1.45!

Somewhere hidden in Intel statements, 1.52V is listed as the absolute max SB should be subjected to, IIRC. I may not "RC". I'll try and find this number somewhere. That being said, yeah. Holy Crap.