(Excited OC Newb) Maximus VI Formula + i5-4670k questions

[jqpdev]

Greetings and well wishes to all on happy Friday.

I got my Maximus VI Formula and i5-4670k installed into the chassis and I have a series of questions. A parts list for the build can be found here:
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/jqpdev/saved/3eqt
(I have 2x SATA DVD Burners not listed in the parts)

Based on the parts list will I have trouble reaching a 4.6Ghz over clock?

The 1203 UEFI/BIOS revision is loaded onto the board. The Seidon 120m is setup in a push/pull config. The Seidon supplied fan on the inside closes to the CPU (push), while the rear exhaust chassis supplied fan is on the other side of the radiator (pull). The fans and water cooler are connect to the motherboard in the following configuration:
[ Fan] --> [ Mobo fan header ]
- water pump --> CPU_FAN
- Seidon Fan --> CPU_OPT
- chassis rear exhaust fan --> OPT_FAN 3
- top chassis fan --> CHA_FAN 2
- front chassis fan --> CHA_FAN 1
- side door chassis fan --> CHA_FAN 3 (not connected yet)

All of the above fans are set to run at TURBO mode in the UEFI. However, that seems to have no noticeable effect on fan speed. The water pump is suppose to be run at full fan speed for proper water flow as far as I can tell. Once I had Ai Suite 3 installed I click the "full speed" button within Fan Xpert. The Fan Xpert setting cranked up the speed of the fans with a very noticeable bump in noise level as compared to the whisper quiet previous mode. Its alive!

Did I not properly set the fans in the UEFI?

With the board/CPU/RAM set to stock speed (I believe I set it correctly) in UEFI, I attempted to engage the 4 way optimization in Ai Suite 3 at 4.6Ghz. However, the board failed to post. There is no PC speaker on the board (I find this strange) so it just stayed on with no display signal after the first reboot. My only means of recovery was to push the clear CMOS button, but this wiped my fan settings, my Asmedia SATA hot swap setting on E-1, and boot up device priority settings.

Is there an alternative method of recovery that doesn't wipe all of my UEFI settings? I don't have XMP enabled and the UEFI says that my RAM is running at 1333 MHz, but its suppose to be 1600mhz. Do I need to enable XMP to get the system to recognize the RAM at 1600 speed and thus get the system to post with the 4.6Ghz overclock?

While installing the OS I had FAST Boot enabled. However, I wanted to go into the UEFI after one of my reboots. Tapping DEL, F2, and F1 had no effect. Again I had to push the clear CMOS button to enter UEFI and disable FAST BOOT. Am I doing something wrong when FAST BOOT is enabled, like tapping the wrong key to enter the UEFI? Since I have the chassis doors off is there a motherboard button I should use besides the clear CMOS button?

When I had FAST Boot enabled I also had the RoG boot up Logo disabled as I am use to seeing BIOS settings dumped onto the display during POST. However, the AMI UEFI/BIOS info was not displayed. Is this the correct behavior when fast boot is enabled? Where can I find a more in depth explanation of the UEFI settings beyond what the USER GUIDE provides? I'm thinking that there may be additional behavior of Fast Boot other than accelerated boot speed.

Thanks in advance.

[muellerdillon]

First lets start with what OS you are using, if it is Windows 8.1 then you're going to want to turn off fast boot inside the OS

Right click start button in bottom left hand corner>power options>choose what the power button does>change settings that are currently un-available>and uncheck the fast start up box

With an ssd this is a form of hardware acceleration that is totally unnecessary, and this could solve multiple issues as it plagues most people using ssds, and also doesn't fully shutdown the PC even when you "shutdown" but instead puts it in "Hybrid Shutdown." i will not explain that here but it is all over Google.

Also Haswell runs warmer than past iterations, so first i would use auto settings or slowly tweak and get a feel for your chip as they all behave and perform differently, I would not advice just jumping straight to 4.6Ghz until you know the cooler is up to the challenge, so start @ 4.2ghz and tweak, tune, test, and rinse and repeat till you find the sweet spot. My i5 4670k can run 4.6ghz stable @ 1.3v which is better than most, so just hope you got a good chip!!!! reply if yo have more questions, and as far as turbo settings on the fans go its just an auto profile that is a little more aggressive, you really wont hear it very much, no worries there.

[jqpdev]

I'm running Win7 64bit. I don't have an SSD yet.

So I loaded the UEFI pressed F5 > F10 > Enter. At the Win7 boot menu I shut down and waited 15 seconds. Next, I pressed and held the clear CMOS button for 5 seconds, released the button, waited 5 seconds, booted and entered the UEFI. I then set the following parameters:
Ai Overclock Tuner = Manual
CPU Core Ratio = Sync All Cores
DRAM Speed = DDR3-1600
DRAM Voltage = 1.5 (as per G.Skill)
Core Ratio Limit = 42 (multiplier)
CPU voltage = 1.25

The PC completes the POST, I start Win7 64bit and make it to the desktop. I fired up Diablo 3 and I can play. However, the mouse randomly freezes, but the game did the same thing at default speed. I suspect the mouse freezing has something to do with my Belkin PS/2 KVM switch and the PS/2 to USB adapter (yep I needs new KVM).

Next, I tested the following multipliers/voltage settings in the listed order (results included):
43x multiplier with VCore @ 1.20 = BSOD.
43x multiplier with VCore @ 1.25 = BSOD.
44x multiplier with VCore @ 1.20 = BSOD.
44x multiplier with VCore @ 1.25 = BSOD.
45x multiplier with VCore @ 1.20 = BSOD.
45x multiplier with VCore @ 1.25 = windows symbol pulses a bit and then reboots.
46x multiplier with VCore @ 1.20 = distorted graphics with a red band across the top of the screen after the windows symbol pulses a bit.
46x multiplier with VCore @ 1.25 = BSOD.
46x multiplier with VCore @ 1.2625 = random reboot after windows symbol pulsing
46x multiplier with VCore @ 1.265625 = after windows symbol pulsing, red horizontal bands across the screen for .5 secs then random reboot
46x multiplier with VCore @ 1.271875 = Blue SOD.
46x multiplier with VCore @ 1.275 = Blue SOD.
46x multiplier with VCore @ 1.281250 = more BSOD.
46x multiplier with VCore @ 1.290625 = BSOD.
46x multiplier with VCore @ 1.3 = BSOD.
46x multiplier with VCore @ 1.3 XMP setting on Ai Overclock Tuner = BSoD.

I haven't tried going beyond 1.3 volts yet. After each failed OC attempt, I loaded into the UEFI and checked the temps. The highest after failed OC temp. was 32C.

After testing I was left with nagging hunch that there is a formula at work here that I don't quite understand and the parameters probably have an influential relationship. Influential relationship in the sense of the value of A dictates or limits the range of values for B, C, D, etc. From what I've been reading it seems that overclocking has been a trial and error game of chance, but a more methodical approach probably exists. If the correct default parameters given my mobo (and on-board components), CPU, RAM, cooling, and video card produces a stable operating environment then... the next stable overclocked operating environment is just another set of correct parameters. So from my hunch, if I had a better understanding of the formula and the relationship between the parameters I would be able to achieve a stable operating environment pretty quickly. So are there any guides or other reference material that would explain "the formula" (gotta love air quotes) and the relationships between the parameters?

[muellerdillon]

Try doing 4.2 @ 1.25 and tell me what it does, even the worst of worst chips can do that.

I've been looking for guides for awhile, I could help more, but have never played with a Sandy Bridge.

[jqpdev]

I can achieve a stable 4.2Ghz overclock see below...

Ai Overclock Tuner = Manual
CPU Core Ratio = Sync All Cores
DRAM Speed = DDR3-1600
DRAM Voltage = 1.5 (as per G.Skill)
Core Ratio Limit = 42 (multiplier)
CPU voltage = 1.25

The PC completes the POST, I start Win7 64bit and make it to the desktop. I fired up Diablo 3 and I can play.

The CPU is Haswell socket 1150 based not Sandy Bridge.

[muellerdillon]

yea sorry about that, i got you mixed up with another post sorry, and it looks like your chip might not be the best overclocker, i can get 4.4ghz @ 1.2v on my i5 4670k, this may just be something you have to live with.

[HiVizMan]

Speakers on a motherboard has been a thing of the past for quite a while now. 🙂 I miss it too.

As to guides for this platform. You can read any of the Ivy guides (Maximus V) as they clock to the same method. The bios is nearly exactly the same with two or three additions that you really do not need to worry to much about.

Basicaly there are four settings you need to change.

XMP profile.
Multi
LLC in DIgi+
Vcore

That is about it.