I just thought I would post this in case it helps anyone else out. My system is a Core i7 3770 Non-K, max locked turbo gives me 4.1GHz. I was greedy and increased the base clock from 100MHz to 108MHz to get me a bit more. (108 x 41) This config was stable for a few months, but recently I have been getting some strange crash-to-desktop with error msvcrt.dll or, just an unknown error, unknown module etc. Seemed very random and I ruled out software or other such items during testing. I am a senior engineer for an IT company so pretty much know enough to troubleshoot software. I had actually forgotten about my overclock until I had to go into the BIOS for other reasons and saw the 108MHz base clock, and Eureka!! I lowered it 1MHz, managed to take off and during climb, CTD. Lowered it another 2 MHz, and managed to complete a 4 hours flight in the 777. While I don't know for sure if this has solved it, it certainly seems that way, as before I could not even get out of the gate without a CTD.

 

If anyone needs help with something similar, let me know.

The next system you build, you know to get a "K" processor...

 

A

Considering I got my non-K CPU FREE from Intel, I am not complaining!

Nice work. I've a 3770K-CPU (bought by myself  :lol: ) and have it at 100x45 summed up to 4,5GHz. I've never ever thought about clocking up the bus speed at all because from my old times with amd cpu's I've burned a soundcard within some weeks as it affected also pci components.

 

One tip: switch off hyper threading in bios and start fsx... I get a gain of about 5-10 fps!

Considering I got my non-K CPU FREE from Intel, I am not complaining!

So put it on e-bay and if you are lucky, you will have half the price of a K.

Nice work. I've a 3770K-CPU (bought by myself  :lol: ) and have it at 100x45 summed up to 4,5GHz. I've never ever thought about clocking up the bus speed at all because from my old times with amd cpu's I've burned a soundcard within some weeks as it affected also pci components.

 

One tip: switch off hyper threading in bios and start fsx... I get a gain of about 5-10 fps!

I always run with HT turned off. Changing the base clock can be risky, I don't advise doing it unless you know the risks. Also on Windows 8, it can interfere with the real time clock of the system.

Interesting - I have a 2770K OC'ed to 4.7GHZ with no issues. I think at the end of the day it's about the stability of the overclock (i.e. keeping that distance to TJ Max as high as possible uniformly across all cores). I do have a Corsair 110i with 4 Noctua NF-F12 PWMs in a push pull config. My Antec 1200 is well ventilated and I keep compressed air handy to keep dust from clogging the airflow.

 

Prime95 is your ally and no foe

Interesting - I have a 2770K OC'ed to 4.7GHZ with no issues. I think at the end of the day it's about the stability of the overclock (i.e. keeping that distance to TJ Max as high as possible uniformly across all cores). I do have a Corsair 110i with 4 Noctua NF-F12 PWMs in a push pull config. My Antec 1200 is well ventilated and I keep compressed air handy to keep dust from clogging the airflow.

 

Prime95 is your ally and no foe

It is not the Ghz that matters, it how you got there. You would have kept your base clock at 100MHz and used a multiplier of 47 to get 4.7GHz.

 

I have a non-K CPU and so after using the maximum Turbo bin of 41, to get any higher than 4.1GHz had to change the base clock. This is not recommended and can lead to instability as I found out. Mind you I am only assuming here based on your config.

You also have a sandy bridge which was good for overclocking. Ivy and haswell's are hotter. There is a process called delitting, but I am a bit scared to do so.

 

Best for overclocking is just changing multiplicator.

77west - It IS all about the GHz (be it tweaking the CPU multiplier or bus/core ratio or both). However, the crux of the my post is to point out the importance of testing the stability of your OC with Prime95.

...If your OC can withstand the "Blend" torture test for 24hrs, there isn't a thing FSX+PMDG 777+OPUSFSX+UT2+anything else thrown at it that your PC can't handle.

 

The Ultimate test is real world applications!

 

Especially FSX.

I have been testet stable before with OCCT and Prime95 and still had CTD in FSX untill I relaxed my memory overclock a bit!

i have upgraded to better RAM in the mean time and have had no problem anymore.

 

Untill.....since a few days....:-(

 

I spend the last two days solving a CTD problem over ManhattanX with the PMDG777.

VAS is high ofcourse (3.8Gb) but not the cause for the CTDs.

Tried everything I allways recommend to everyone (no overclock, new .cfg, etc etc)

 

In the end it seems to have been a fault in the saved flight I used to test.

What a waste of time!

77west - It IS all about the GHz (be it tweaking the CPU multiplier or bus/core ratio or both). However, the crux of the my post is to point out the importance of testing the stability of your OC with Prime95.

Actually it is about how you got there. Using the MULTIPLIER to overclock does not change the BASE clock. Changing base clock leads to other instability due to interfering with RAM, PCIE and a few other busses. It is a well known fact that modern Intel CPU's are quite sensitive about touching the base clock. As for testing with Prime95, you can run it all day if you like but some of the CPU core parity checks that fail (what happened to me) wont affect Prime as much as they do something like FSX. My overclock had been fine for months, since at least Sept when 777 released, and only now did it start going weird.

 

So to summarise: Using multiplier, no problems UP TO A POINT, when you need to change voltages and such;

or using base clock, which leads to weird instabilities past a certain point. Try it if you don't believe me.