New i7-3770k - Oddly low temps, poor performance, and unstable at stock settings?

[user_1]

I have a new i7-3770k which appears to be acting up. I'm prepared to RMA it, but I figured that I'd ask around a bit more before I resort to that. After noticing that it was producing very low temps and seemingly low performance in IntelBurnTest, I did some more testing and concluded that not only is the chip underperforming, it's unstable at stock settings. So far, nothing I've done has helped to change that. I'd appreciate some input on what potential alternative culprits could be. Advice is greatly appreciated! Full system specs:

• Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H
• CPU: i7-3770k
• PSU: Antec Basiq 550w (model BP550 PLUS)
• GPU: Gigabyte Windforce 7950
• HDD: Crucial M4 (128GB)
• RAM: TeamElite something something, 2x4GB

I've tried changing the following settings (and reverting back, and trying alternatives of the same settings, etc.):

• Vcore Voltage Response > Fast
• Vcore Loadline Calibration > Various settings
• CPU Clock Ratio > Various, down to 35
• Hyper-Threading > Disabled
• CPU Enhanced Halt(C1E) > Disabled
• C3/C6 State Support > Disabled
• CPU EIST Function > Disabled
• Turbo > Disabled
• Turbo ratios, turned them down a bit and back up
• Power draw during turbo > 120W from 77W
• RAM Voltage > 1.5v, 1.6v
• Tried running in offset mode with various settings, various fixed vcore from 1 to 1.28, etc.

After bumping RAM voltage up a bit, the system seems "more stable", but still isn't stable, and that could be a complete fluke. I tried cycling individual sticks of RAM and the problem persists. I've also updated my BIOS, installed SP1 to get complete performance out of IBT and other benchmark software, made sure my Windows power profiles were in check (not that I expected that to be the issue, but I wanted to cover my bases), etc. Adding more confusion to the mix, my 7950 scores about 1900 in Furmark, which is something like 40% less than expected. From what I've read, other people have a similar problem, and it's a result of some of the newer cards having integrated chips which specifically combat use of Furmark, which has supposedly been identified as a GPU killer. (All of this just hearsay from Google searching.) But, if that info is wrong, I'm assuming that this could indicate a PSU issue or something else. The GPU seems (?) to perform well in the game ArmA 2, although I don't know what sort of performance to expect from it at full tilt (coming from a 4670). Further, without the GPU installed, the system remains unstable.

I do have an old 1155 motherboard and CPU, so I could try various combinations of those as a last resort, but the old board is an H61 which will require a CPU swap-in before I can even update the BIOS to support the 3770k.

A few pictures:
Completely stock settings, and before SP1: http://i.imgur.com/UFgk2.jpg
PassMark performance: http://i.imgur.com/5WJEk.png
Giving it extra voltage (everything else stock/default): http://i.imgur.com/WLeYe.jpg

Could the problem be with the board, the PSU, or anything else?

Edit: When I ran PassMark in the attached picture, I believe I was at 4.3 GHz or so, so the original results might have been even worse...

[wazza300]

what gpu drivers are you using? the final or the beta ones? you want to keep all the power states and hyperthreading enabled also,set cpu voltage response to fast and pwm phase control to extreme

also look in taskmanager that you running on 4 cores or four cores/eight threads=8 cores in total

[user_1]

what gpu drivers are you using? the final or the beta ones? you want to keep all the power states and hyperthreading enabled also,set cpu voltage response to fast and pwm phase control to extreme

also look in taskmanager that you running on 4 cores or four cores/eight threads=8 cores in total

I've tried both with and without the GPU / GPU drivers (system is unstable either way), and I forgot to mention it but I did change PWM phase control to Turbo and voltage response to fast before posting. No luck. Task manager confirms 4 cores / 8 threads. Thanks

[wazza300]

does your memory support x.m.p? try setting profile 1 ect if it does,could be memory related

[user_1]

does your memory support x.m.p? try setting profile 1 ect if it does,could be memory related

For what it's worth, I've tried two separate brands of RAM (3 different sticks in total) and the system remained unstable. I'm not sure if it supports xmp, to be honest with you, but I'll try that in just a moment and report my results. I'd be happy if it were only a memory issue.

[wazza300]

For what it's worth, I've tried two separate brands of RAM (3 different sticks in total) and the system remained unstable. I'm not sure if it supports xmp, to be honest with you, but I'll try that in just a moment and report my results. I'd be happy if it were only a memory issue.

do me a favour and plug in a usb stick press f12 for each bios page/setting and post to here www.tinypic.com,then copy and paste the forum url here,and ill see if they look ok or not,btw have you tested with another psu??

[user_1]

do me a favour and plug in a usb stick press f12 for each bios page/setting and post to here www.tinypic.com,then copy and paste the forum url here,and ill see if they look ok or not,btw have you tested with another psu??

Just checked and the UD3H doesn't support XMP apparently. I haven't tried another PSU, since I only have one, but my previous system was stable with this PSU. Here are my BIOS settings on "optimized defaults": Photo Album - Imgur

[wazza300]

settings look fine to me,only things i would manually set for a stock or overclocked system is bclk set to 100,dram voltage set to 1.55v and could set cpu voltage response to fast and pwm phase to extreme,all boards will support xmp its your memory that doesnt support it,some do and some dont,my memory doesnt

tried f19e beta bios?

http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/upload/...-UD3H_F19e.zip

if its still giving you trouble id certainly test with another psu if you can,they can be picky when it comes to power supplies,another thing to do is repeatedly press alt and f10 at splash screen to flash the back up bios chip with the main bios version so that both bios chips are running the same bios,that helps with bootups and stability

ohh i forgot to add your memory is only running at default 1333mhz,im guessing its 1600mhz? if so you need to look in spd sytem memory multiplier and select 1600mhz or whatever speeds your memory is rated at,

[user_1]

settings look fine to me,only things i would manually set for a stock or overclocked system is bclk set to 100,dram voltage set to 1.55v and could set cpu voltage response to fast and pwm phase to extreme,all boards will support xmp its your memory that doesnt support it,some do and some dont,my memory doesnt

tried f19e beta bios?

http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/upload/...-UD3H_F19e.zip

if its still giving you trouble id certainly test with another psu if you can,they can be picky when it comes to power supplies,another thing to do is repeatedly press alt and f10 at splash screen to flash the back up bios chip with the main bios version so that both bios chips are running the same bios,that helps with bootups and stability

I've tried most of this, except for swapping the PSU, the beta BIOS, and flashing the backup BIOS. I don't think I can get a hold of a second PSU, but I do have a second motherboard (H61) that I can try the 3770k in. Given that nothing else has worked, I think that that's probably my best bet--testing the old CPU in the z77, and the new CPU in the h61. If both are stable after the swap, I don't know what the hell the problem is, but if the 3770k is unstable in the h61 or the old CPU is unstable in the z77, then I'll know what's wrong... hopefully. I really appreciate the help mate, is there anything else I should try before I do this motherboard swapping business? I hear Intel's RMA process is rather painless, so I'm looking forward to a smooth transaction if I have to resort to that. I suppose I could buy a second PSU, first, just to make sure I'm not some jerk getting a free CPU exchange because of my own lack of testing, but I also don't want to basically side-grade if I don't have to.

Edit: After thinking about it, I suppose I could order a 750W PSU, give that a whirl, and also try swapping CPUs/mainboards around a bit. If both systems are stable after the swap, or if there is any change in stability after the new PSU, and the same sort of problems occur after getting a replacement CPU from Intel, I can cross-reference all of that and figure out what the issue is. Assuming all three of my sticks of RAM aren't bad, and my PSU functioning properly, AND the CPU isn't bad, I'll have covered everything.

Another edit: While I'm at it, would you mind, if you have the time, checking what sort of results your 3770k gets in IBT (in terms of GFlops) and letting me know? So I can have some sort of reference point for performance. No big deal if it's too much trouble. It seems like everyone else is getting well over 100+ GFlops at stock clocks, based on Google results, which indicates to me that my chip is somehow lame.

300 edits later: How does this PSU look? $70 after MIR, 850w, I've heard that it's a solid brand, and it has decent reviews. I've only ever owned the one PSU that I have now, so I'm not really sure what to look for.

[wazza300]

psu looks ok but is a little overkill imo,you want between a 650w-750w,the seasonic and xfx (made by seasonic) are a good choice,i have no issues with mine,its also rare for a cpu to be faulty its more likely the psu and or another component or bios setting

in ibt i got 106 gflops but that was at 4.5ghz,you will see alot higher with hyperthreading disabled its just the way ibt calculates gflops,i always have it enabled as it improves speeds in other programs ect

Gigabyte z77x up4 th & z77x up5 th Overclock/Settings Guide