can't overclock even a little

[chimera15]

I have a system I put together, a sabertooth x79 and an e5-1607 xeon, g.skill 1600mhz ripjaws. My temps are in the 30's-40's at auto configurations.

I have a little experience overclocking x58 systems, but this is my first x79.

The multiplier is locked obviously on this processor, can't even access a turbo mode, or even underclock it like I can with my x58 systems, and the problem is that I can't even raise the blck even a little, like to 105 or 110 without overclocking failure. I tried to raise the voltage a little, but it seems to cause immediate failure as well. I think I'm just not used to the new uefi and am overlooking something.

Also the auto feature for the ram isn't recognizing it even close to 1600mhz, and when I set it at that at the base 3ghz it also seems to occasionally fail out, and cpuz is only recognizing the memory at 800mhz, in auto at 533, and other benchmarking software sees the memory at 1000mhz.

I'm really missing something here I think. I can't seem to do anything with this system relative to my x58's which is really disappointing. My x58 systems way outperform this system right now, which seems crazy. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[sm625]

What have you been reading that makes you think a BCLK of more than 4% is a reasonable target?

 

[jimpz]

Xeon's are not designed to be OC'd, they were designed for servers & there strengths are stability, hyper threading & using ECC memory - all related to working in servers.

 

[chimera15]

well I have my xeon x5650 on 2 of my x58's rated at 2.6 overclocked to 3.5ghz for months.., and that's actually a modest oc for that xeon, Most people take those up to 4ghz, so that's not completely true is it? It's not simply that they're "xeons".

Maybe something to do with instructions and chip/board compatibility has more to do with it since I know this chip isn't listed in the compatibility listings for the sabertooth, maybe something along the lines in that its only working cause its using compatible instructions with other xeons that are close to it? That might seem like a more plausible explanation at least.


I can't even like raise the blck from 100 to 105 without it failing on this sabertooth. My asrocks I've got the blck pumping at 160..and 1.2v with the 5650's, so just straight out it seems like I should be able do *something* with this x79. I guess the chip may be the problem though. I had a xeon 2.13 before that I had a similar problem with my x58 boards, just couldn't do anything without it failing...seems strange.

The x5650's also have the turbo boost feature with their multiplier, and allow you to underclock. That's something that's completely determined by the processor, not the mobo, so that's why there's like no option for it on my sabertooth? The processor is just fixed at a multiple of 30 and that's it I guess huh?

I guess I can be thankful it's still allowing speedstepping, which seems odd in itself, why allow you to throttle the performance with speedstep, but not do it manually?

 

[imported_Thorburn]

BCLK overclocking on X79 isn't really the option it was on X58.

I run an E5-2687W and even setting a 101MHz BCLK on my ASUS P9X79 Pro gives an "Overclocking Failed" error on boot and resets to default. May be a way around it (I don't really overclock these days), but even then you're only going to see a few % on the BCLK before its rendered unbootable anyway.

 

[chimera15]

Wow, so you have to get a chip that's unlocked to overclock on x79 then? I can't believe that, that's crazy. I guess most chips for the x79 are unlocked though is the deal, but these xeons since they are server chips are locked is what's up?

 

[chimera15]

Ok, so yeah wow I'm reading that it's not a thing to do with sandy bridge right... so there's strap right...what is that, the bit I've read about it it says it's set automatically or something.... can I raise that instead? lol

 

[imported_Thorburn]

Wow, so you have to get a chip that's unlocked to overclock on x79 then?

Of the i7's the only LGA2011 X79 chip that was locked was the i7-3820 - the Ivy-Bridge-E quad-core was unlocked.

But yes, I believe the Xeons are all fully locked.

 

[chimera15]

How can bclk overclocking not be a thing anymore...lol wth it's always been a thing, like forever...is it just cause they've moved so much crap inside the processor finally that it risks damaging those parts too so no more?? I don't get that at all....wth