Intel Ivy Bridge Overclocking Guide

Advanced CPU Settings:

4

If you have a 3770k, you’ll be able to disable Hyper Threading here. Leave it on. You bought the i7 for this reason.

You’ll also be able to disable some cores, don’t do this either.

There are some Intel settings too; Hardware Prefetcher, Adjacent Line Cache prefetcher, No-Execute Memory, Intel Visualization. Leave them alone.

Thermal Throttling: This will shut off your CPU if it gets too hot. Don’t turn it off, or you can exceed the TJ Max and risk chip damage. Enabled.

The next thing you may need to change in this section are the C-States. C-States are the main functions of the CPU and should generally be left alone, however depending on how you’re overclocking you’ll need to set the following:

OFFSET VOLTAGE MODE:
C1E: Enabled.
C3: Disabled.
C6: Disbaled.
C State Package: Disabled

FIXED VOLTAGE MODE:
C1E: Enabled.
C3: Enabled.
C6: Enabled.
C State Package: Auto

5

Overclocking!
This is where the fun begins!

First, set your VCC offset to +0.005v if you’re using offset, or set the VCC voltage to 0.005v higher than stock if you’re using fixed.

Now, increase your multiplier. Take it up 1 or 2 steps from stock. So up to 36 on a 3570k, or up to 37 on a 3770k. Reboot. Do you boot? Cool! Run Prime95’s Blend Test for 10 minutes. Do you get a BSOD, or a Fatal Error in Prime95?

Go back to your BIOS.

If you did get a BSOD or error, follow the steps according to the BSOD information below, and then try again.

If you booted and tested with no problems, increase your multiplier by 1.

Save your settings and attempt to boot again.

Remember you can use LLC Level settings to help with stability, too. You’re aiming to have the same voltage under load as the voltage you’ve set in the BIOS. If your VCore is dropped below what you’ve set when under load, increase your LLC compensation level.

Continue these two steps until you are at the clock speed you want, within the required voltage settings, and aren’t going over 90C.

Next is REAL stability testing. Run Prime95’s Blend Test for 8 Hours. If you remain error free, congratulations! If you’re going to be Folding@Home or other high-load applications, run Prime95 for a full 24 hours.. and just so you know, playing video games is not “high load.”

If you’d like to further test your overclock, run IntelBurnTest. WATCH YOUR TEMPS RUNNING THIS PROGRAM.

BSOD CODES

Some common important ones for reference:
0x124 = add/remove vcore or VTT voltage (usually Vcore, once it was QPI/VTT)
0x101 = add more vcore
0x50 = RAM timings/Frequency add DDR3 voltage or add VTT
0x1E = add more vcore
0x3B = add more vcore
0xD1 = add VTT voltage
0x9C = VTT most likely, but increasing vcore has helped in some instances
0X109 = add DDR3 voltage
0x0A = add VTT voltage
0x1A = Memory management error. It usually means a bad stick of Ram. Test with Memtest or whatever you prefer. Try raising your RAM voltage. Can also mean more juice for the south bridge ICH volts
0x19: memory voltage

CREDIT FOR HUNTING THESE BSOD CODES GOES TO OVERCLOCKER23578 on OVERCLOCK.NET. I TAKE NO CREDIT FOR THIS BSOD RESOURCE!
Thanks overclocker23578!

Thanks for reading!

If you’d like any help or clarification, head over to our forums! We’d love to hear from you.

Disclaimer: This guide is meant as an information resource and not an instruction set for overclocking a CPU. Overclocking in many cases voids the warranty on your product. If any damage arises from you following this resource, ThinkComputers.org cannot be held accountable. We did not change your settings, you did.