7700k OC'd to 4.8ghz... only hitting 4.4 under load?

[Middcore]

Hi there, long time viewer, first time poster. [/Talk radio show greeting]

 

I have an Asus Z170 Pro Gaming motherboard and recently replaced my Skylake i5 with a 7700k that I got from a local deal. I had updated the BIOS with the old chip so getting the 7700k running was no problem. Of course I wanted to see how far I could push the overclock. I'm following this guide from Asus, and since I have a 240mm liquid cooler (NZXT Kraken) I was shooting for 4.8Ghz.

 

The system seems perfectly stable, but when stress testing and benchmarking, even at 100% load on all cores, my CPU never goes above 4.4Ghz despite theoretically being overclocked to 4.8.

 

It's not a heat issue, as no core ever goes above 60 degrees C and AIDA64 shows 0 throttling.

 

As an experiment I also tried dialing it back to 4.6 and 4.5 and I got the same result: pegged to 4.4Ghz and not a hair over even at full load.

 

I've used multiple different monitoring tools to confirm it wasn't an issue with HWinfo64 misreporting the CPU clock, they all show "only" 4.4.

 

Does anybody have any idea what could be causing this and how I can surmount it?

 

Thanks. 

 

 

[Middcore]

Posted this pretty late last night so bumping (hope that's allowed)

[Wildgg]

check bios for AVX, this setting is probably on 4. which would downclock your cpu with 400mhz in avx loaded tasks

[Middcore]

1 hour ago, wildthing said:

check bios for AVX, this setting is probably on 4. which would downclock your cpu with 400mhz in avx loaded tasks

Already checked, AVX offset is on 0. 

[Metro_boomin]

14 hours ago, Middcore said:

Hi there, long time viewer, first time poster. [/Talk radio show greeting]

 

I have an Asus Z170 Pro Gaming motherboard and recently replaced my Skylake i5 with a 7700k that I got from a local deal. I had updated the BIOS with the old chip so getting the 7700k running was no problem. Of course I wanted to see how far I could push the overclock. I'm following this guide from Asus, and since I have a 240mm liquid cooler (NZXT Kraken) I was shooting for 4.8Ghz.

 

The system seems perfectly stable, but when stress testing and benchmarking, even at 100% load on all cores, my CPU never goes above 4.4Ghz despite theoretically being overclocked to 4.8.

 

It's not a heat issue, as no core ever goes above 60 degrees C and AIDA64 shows 0 throttling.

 

As an experiment I also tried dialing it back to 4.6 and 4.5 and I got the same result: pegged to 4.4Ghz and not a hair over even at full load.

 

I've used multiple different monitoring tools to confirm it wasn't an issue with HWinfo64 misreporting the CPU clock, they all show "only" 4.4.

 

Does anybody have any idea what could be causing this and how I can surmount it?

 

Thanks. 

 

 

Make sure your ram is in dual channel. I’ve seen a few people have this same issue and they just had their ram in the wrong dimm slots.

[Middcore]

1 hour ago, Metro_boomin said:

Make sure your ram is in dual channel. I’ve seen a few people have this same issue and they just had their ram in the wrong dimm slots.

 

My two 8GB sticks are in slots 2 and 4 on the motherboard which is what the manual recommends. Oddly CPU-Z shows blank info for everything in its Memory tab except the total amount of RAM, so I can't confirm its in dual channel that way, but I have no reason to believe it isn't.

 

Experimentally, I moved the RAM to slots 1 and 3 and it makes no difference. 

[Metro_boomin]

On 12/7/2018 at 1:12 PM, Middcore said:

 

My two 8GB sticks are in slots 2 and 4 on the motherboard which is what the manual recommends. Oddly CPU-Z shows blank info for everything in its Memory tab except the total amount of RAM, so I can't confirm its in dual channel that way, but I have no reason to believe it isn't.

 

Experimentally, I moved the RAM to slots 1 and 3 and it makes no difference. 

Clear CMOS and try again? Might want to make sure all cores boost is on.

 

Try a ram stress test to make sure that you’re actually using all 16gb.

sometimes all of the ram is detected but only one stick works. This seems like mainly a ram issue. You could also post the same thing in the overclocking section of the forums.

[porina]

Check if you're running into current or power limiting. hwinfo64 or Intel XTU can report those. Or just blindly relax them in bios.

[Middcore]

48 minutes ago, Metro_boomin said:

Clear CMOS and try again? Might want to make sure all cores boost is on.

Assuming you mean "Sync all cores," yes, it is. 

Quote

 

Try a ram stress test to make sure that you’re actually using all 16gb.

sometimes all of the ram is detected but only one stick works. This seems like mainly a ram issue.

You could also post the same thing in the overclocking section of the forums.

 

 

I've never done a RAM stress test, what's a good application for it? Just keep opening up Chrome tabs? 

 

I, uh, thought this WAS the overclocking section? Maybe I should have posted in Troubleshooting? Apologies if I messed up, like I said, first time poster.

 

40 minutes ago, porina said:

Check if you're running into current or power limiting. hwinfo64 or Intel XTU can report those. Or just blindly relax them in bios.

 

I've followed the steps in the Asus guide for changing the voltage. What should I be looking at in hwinfo to see if it's limiting the power?

[porina]

2 minutes ago, Middcore said:

What should I be looking at in hwinfo to see if it's limiting the power?

IA: Electrical Design Point/Other (ICCMax, PL4,SVID, DDR RAPL)

IA: Package-Level RAPL/PBM PL1

IA: Package-Level RAPL/PBM PL2, PL3

 

If you see YES next to these, First line could indicate current limiting. Other two could indicate power limiting.

[Middcore]

3 hours ago, porina said:

IA: Electrical Design Point/Other (ICCMax, PL4,SVID, DDR RAPL)

IA: Package-Level RAPL/PBM PL1

IA: Package-Level RAPL/PBM PL2, PL3

 

If you see YES next to these, First line could indicate current limiting. Other two could indicate power limiting.

 

All of these say No across the board.

[Middcore]

Just did some Prime95 torture testing, confirmed all the RAM is functional. 

[Metro_boomin]

6 hours ago, Middcore said:

Assuming you mean "Sync all cores," yes, it is. 

 

I've never done a RAM stress test, what's a good application for it? Just keep opening up Chrome tabs? 

 

I, uh, thought this WAS the overclocking section? Maybe I should have posted in Troubleshooting? Apologies if I messed up, like I said, first time poster.

 

 

I've followed the steps in the Asus guide for changing the voltage. What should I be looking at in hwinfo to see if it's limiting the power?

1. Ok

2. Prime 95

3. Lmao no I’m just straight rarded you’re in right spot, but you should also put it in troubleshooting. The more people that see this the more people can help you.

4. Idk you shouldn’t be hitting any limits if youre just doing a sync all cores boost.

[Z3R0 CHANC3]

Nothing obvious is popping out at me.  AVX seems like the most likely culprit but you said it is set to 0.  You could try to set AVX offset to 4.  Save and exit, go right back into UEFI, set it to 0, save and exit, boot and test.

 

Alternatively, save your config, then reset UEFI to optimized defaults, and then set things up again. 

 

I don't care for that guide at all.

 

I wouldn't do this:

• Set IA DC Load Line to 0.01
• Set IA AC Load Line to 0.01

I also don't use adaptive voltage.  I pick manual and pick the voltage I want.  Then I monitor voltage in Prime95, and if it's lower under load than the voltage I specified, I increase LLC.

 

I'm no master overclocker though.

[Middcore]

9 hours ago, Z3R0 CHANC3 said:

Nothing obvious is popping out at me.  AVX seems like the most likely culprit but you said it is set to 0.  You could try to set AVX offset to 4.  Save and exit, go right back into UEFI, set it to 0, save and exit, boot and test.

 

Done, same result.

[Z3R0 CHANC3]

2 hours ago, Middcore said:

 

Done, same result.

Frustrating.   What is your VCore at 4.8?  Are you using adaptive like the guide says or are you set to Manual?

[Middcore]

10 minutes ago, Z3R0 CHANC3 said:

Frustrating.   What is your VCore at 4.8?  Are you using adaptive like the guide says or are you set to Manual?

 

I have tried adaptive with 1.30 additional turbo voltage as they have in the guide, and manual with 1.30. Same result. 

[Z3R0 CHANC3]

I'm not finding much out other than some other people online reported they couldn't go above 4.4Ghz with the 7700k on a Z170 mobo.  One person just upgraded to a Z270 board after they gave up.

[mxk]

2 hours ago, Middcore said:

 

I have tried adaptive with 1.30 additional turbo voltage as they have in the guide, and manual with 1.30. Same result. 

If you got a bad chip from the silicon lottery I feel like it would be unstable and causing crashes, so I'm not quite sure whats up. I wonder if OCing to 5.2 would let you do that and that something is being mis-read and displayed to you. Don't try this though that was just an idea.

[Z3R0 CHANC3]

Hey I think there's a built in 5GHZ profile on your UEFI.  I would try to load that, let it boot into Windows (or crash), go back into UEFI and drop your multiplier and voltage to something more reasonable, boot into Windows and see what the CPU does.  If 5GHZ boots, then see if the CPU jumps over 4.4Ghz.

 

It's the last thing I can think of to try, at least not without getting my grubby paws on it.

 

9 minutes ago, mxk. said:

If you got a bad chip from the silicon lottery I feel like it would be unstable and causing crashes, so I'm not quite sure whats up. I wonder if OCing to 5.2 would let you do that and that something is being mis-read and displayed to you. Don't try this though that was just an idea.

Well it's accepting his multiplier in UEFI.  But not running at his multiplier under load.

[Middcore]

Just now, Z3R0 CHANC3 said:

Hey I think there's a built in 5GHZ profile on your UEFI.  I would try to load that, let it boot into Windows (or crash), go back into UEFI and drop your multiplier and voltage to something more reasonable, boot into Windows and see what the CPU does.  If 5GHZ boots, then see if the CPU jumps over 4.4Ghz.

 

It's the last thing I can think of to try, at least not without getting my grubby paws on it.

Where would I be looking for the built-in profiles? 

[mxk]

Just now, Z3R0 CHANC3 said:

Hey I think there's a built in 5GHZ profile on your UEFI.  I would try to load that, let it boot into Windows (or crash), go back into UEFI and drop your multiplier and voltage to something more reasonable, boot into Windows and see what the CPU does.  If 5GHZ boots, then see if the CPU jumps over 4.4Ghz.

 

It's the last thing I can think of to try, at least not without getting my grubby paws on it.

you think that'll let him get 4.6? Thats what I was thinking.

[Z3R0 CHANC3]

Ai Tweaker, Load CPU 5G OC Profile

[Z3R0 CHANC3]

5 minutes ago, mxk. said:

you think that'll let him get 4.6? Thats what I was thinking.

No, I think that will correct whatever we are missing in his UEFI settings that's interfering.

 

Looking at some of the changes I made in my OC profiles:

Ai Tweaker

  ASUS MultiCore Enhancement: Disabled

  Power-saving & Performance Mode: Performance Mode

    Internal CPU Power Management

      Intel SpeedStep: Disabled

      Turbo Mode: Enabled

 

[mxk]

Just now, Z3R0 CHANC3 said:

No, I think that will correct whatever we are missing in his UEFI settings that's interfering.

 

Looking at some of the changes I made in my OC profiles:

Ai Tweaker

  ASUS MultiCore Enhancement: Disabled

  Power-saving & Performance Mode: Performance Mode

    Internal CPU Power Management

      Intel SpeedStep: Disabled

      Turbo Mode: Enabled

 

ohhh i understand