Would appreciate some CPU, MOBO upgrade advice

[SephKing]

Hey,

I have an i7 860 and Asus P7P55d pro motherboard but every time I've tried to overclock, the system just becomes completely unstable and repeatedly crashes. I've spent god knows how many hours trying to get it stable but even small overclocks at 3.6ghz seems to just kill it.

I've decided to just throw in the towel and buy a better MOBO and CPU and would like to get some advice on what to buy. Ideally I want to overclock it to about 4.5ghz (I have a very good heatsink) and need the MOBO to support SLI. My price range is in the 3-400 region.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks


Edit was thinking about...

ASRock Z77 Fatal1ty Professional-M Intel Z77

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...atid=5&subcat=

With
Intel Core i7-3820 3.60GHz

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=CP-391-IN

[Grizzly]

I hate to break it to you, but getting a new processor is not going to gaurentee you any overclocking ability. The problem lies in the manafecturing process - the qualitiy of the produced chips is rather random, and subject to standard deviation. The processors are given names after they are produced, so that a>99.95% (or something like that) of the processors indeed run stable at the frequency they are shipped in.
Basically your processor just happens to be near -3sigma on the standard deviation scale - where more to the right means stable at higher frequencies, whilst somewhere to the left of 3sigma is the frequency those processors are shipped with. Buying a new processor gives you the risk of getting the same outliers. Some processors don't even run stable at the frequencies they are shipped in, requiring you to downclock them to make them work properly (this happened to us once).

I'd highly recommend you stick with your current i7, as the older gen i7s are still very very capable today, especially when running at stock frequencies.

If you absolutely positively want to upgrade:
Forget about the i7 series and get the i5-3570K instead - it overclocks just as well and outputs the same performance in games as the top end i7s - sink the extra money in a better mobo and GPU instead. Even though most games now take advantage of quad cores, they do not take advantage of hexacores just yet.

EDIT: I have edited this post 6 times since I have written it first, apologies for the inconvenience.

[SephKing]

Thanks a lot man. Appreciate it.

I've honestly spent over a year trying to get ANY overclock stable but still get constant crashes so an upgrade seems to be my only option. I'd happily pay for someone to overclock it for me and get it stable but there's nowhere around here that will do that for you (Southampton).

Another option would be to get an pre-overclocked bundle from someone like overclockers or scan like this...

[Grizzly]

I'd happily pay for someone to overclock it for me and get it stable but there's nowhere around here that will do that for you (Southampton).

I don't think paying a guy is going to help, you are just unlucky with that particular chip of yours, sorry mate :).

Pre-OC'ed does not sound all that bad, as long as you don't have to pay extra for it - and it looks like you don't, so that is actually awesome. I am afraid I can not give you any advice on that front, as I do not buy such things myself (I usually go without OC'ing untill I need the extra performance) - and I am afraid that the people who frequent these forums helping others also prefer OC'ing by themselves. Mabye you can find a few people on tomshardware.co.uk who have experience with this. It is a very intriguing offer though.

[SephKing]

Fair enough, thanks again for the help.

Think I'll just get the parts separately and hope for the best. Really resent paying for a heatsink and ram when I don't need them and the motherboard in that bundle isn't that great. Spoke to overclockers who said I should pick up an Asus P8Z77-V so I'll try and do that after work.

Cheers man.

[Sakkura]

Just make sure not to get a Core i7-3820, -3930K, 3960X, or -3970X. They require a motherboard with a different socket.

[SephKing]

Just make sure not to get a Core i7-3820, -3930K, 3960X, or -3970X. They require a motherboard with a different socket.

Thanks man, will do. Just tried to lower the overclock and still got BSOD after 2 minutes. Does anyone know what this means?

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.768.3
Locale ID: 2057

Additional information about the problem:
BCCode: 124
BCP1: 0000000000000000
BCP2: FFFFFA80081008F8
BCP3: 0000000000000000
BCP4: 0000000000000000
OS Version: 6_1_7601
Service Pack: 1_0
Product: 768_1

[Grizzly]

I googled it (you pretty much have to with these BSOD codes :P) and BCode 124 is indeed a problem with the CPU (so atleast the problem isn't anywhere else). more help here.

[mashakos]

Core i7 3930k and rampage iv formula/extreme

Incredibly overclockable combo. Was up and running in two days, 4.5ghz overclock. You won't be disappointed.

The LGA 2011 socket means you won't be able to upgrade (well, except for Xeons, but they are not overclockable unfortunately) but the performance of the 3930k/3960x is higher than any cpu on the Z77 chipsets so you'd be good for a few years.

[Sakkura]

The LGA 2011 socket means you won't be able to upgrade

Has Ivy Bridge-E been definitively cancelled? I've only heard rumors about delays and such.

[mashakos]

Has Ivy Bridge-E been definitively cancelled? I've only heard rumors about delays and such.

hasn't been cancelled afaik, but things look uncertain. Seeing as Intel has no competition in the enthusiast cpu space, they can very easily release Ivy Bridge-E on a completely new chipset knowing full well that they can screw their consumers over and still get business (amd "enthusiast" cpus are a joke, so there is no choice unfortunately).

[SephKing]

I googled it (you pretty much have to with these BSOD codes :P) and BCode 124 is indeed a problem with the CPU (so atleast the problem isn't anywhere else). more help here.

Cheers bud. That's a shame but at least I know OC'ing it is definitely a lost cause.

@Mashakos - Thanks but, like I said, my budget is £300 to £400. That CPU alone is £460. and the Rampage extreme MOBO is £350.

[mashakos]

Cheers bud. That's a shame but at least I know OC'ing it is definitely a lost cause.

@Mashakos - Thanks but, like I said, my budget is £300 to £400. That CPU alone is £460. and the Rampage extreme MOBO is £350.

is that seriously the lowest price you can get it for in the uk?? I bought my 3930k at launch - as in, March last year - locally and it cost ~$650. Got a Rampage IV Formula to go with the cpu (from the US), $450 including shipping.

If that's your lot, then you will have to settle for Z77. I would recommend getting a motherboard designed for overclocking from EVGA or Asus. Had friends who only bought Gigabyte and they never had a smooth experience when trying to reach high overclocks. This was back in the X58 days so maybe things have changed, but in any case Asus and EVGA have always consistently delivered. As long as you buy from the ROG or CLASSIFIED product lines, you will have a great overclocking experience.

[Grizzly]

That's a shame but at least I know OC'ing it is definitely a lost cause.

No! Wait! That thread lists a lot of possibilities on how to fix the problem!

[SephKing]

No! Wait! That thread lists a lot of possibilities on how to fix the problem!

Ah ok, my bad! Misread what you said. Thanks for the help, I'll have a read.

Thanks for the help Mashakos. Just drunkenly picked up the tab for my whole family for our Mothers Day dinner so this is going to have to wait until next month now :-)

Will definitely have a look into your recommendations though. Appreciate it.