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Z77X-UP7 Performance Review and CPU/Memory Overclocking Guide.

12K views 21 replies 9 participants last post by  rsvette12 
#1 ·
The Z77X-UP7 Performance Review/Overclocking Guide

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To begin the performance review we will begin where I left off, first with overclocking results and then with the benchmarks and then the OC Guide. The Z77X-UP7 is nothing but a very smooth board when it comes to OC, for CPU OC it is amazing. Memory OC is good, I had decent luck with it with Samsung and Hynix based chips and some with PSC, however its 10 layer PCB makes it so that you need to tune the BIOS to get full performance. I have included a guide with timings and tricks to help with memory overclocking. I petitioned hard to get two new settings added to the UEFI for memory OC, read and write data slew rates, these two settings help immensely with certain types of memory and taking them higher, especially booting with samsung and PSC. There might even be more settings to be added in the future for memory OC too. For now however I have included a thoroughly review/oc guide to help those of you get every last bit out of this board.

Overclocking:
Load Line Calibration performance:
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As you can see the LLC is pretty strong, LLC Extreme's rise is very important as it helps with LN2 conditions as LLC scales with current. It is interesting to note that CPUz is pretty close, no faking voltages here.

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I tested air BCLK and I got almost 109, that is 2mhz higher than I have got on any other board(air), even the UP5 which I hold the WR.

Now max CPU OC (On air):
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Now for quick LN2 Check:
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I got it from the graphene lab, I guess you can figure out what they use the LN2 for, but take a look at the hose! They used plastic tubing that you hold in position and wait for it to freeze in place. You can spot LHE in the background, and some many other sensitive electronics, you can peek a little (this research is funded partly by Intel, but I won't name the lab).

Here is a Video on how to use OC TOuch:98981984.jpg
OC Touch is excellent for LN2 high clocking, coupled with LN2 mode you got a killer for CPU top speed validations which I know some prefer aiming for.

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6.7GHz max OC of my CPU.

Now for the UEFI:
Now instead of BIOS shots I made a HD walkthrough of the UEFI, please tell me if you like this better. I used a Diamond GC1000 to capture through HDMI.
Quick SSD and Audio Performance:
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Here is the SSD performance results from a Kingston HyperX 240GB SSD. SATA6G! Look at that sick 4K read.

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Decent performance, just like the UD5H.

The Memory:
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Corsair provided this brilliant kit, which I am going to show how to work with.
First for an overview of the kit:
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It is really the most sexy looking kit I have seen. I love the light bar, the only way it could be better if it glowed orange!
Directions for Corsair Dominator Platinum 2666 Cas10 4x4GB operation: Enable XMP. That is all you need to do, you don't need to set the multiplier or anything, but this memory with all 4 sticks will only take you enabling XMP to work at XMP ratings.

Take a look in the OC Video below on how I got the memory to speed!All 4 sticks work very well together, and that is something particular about this board and something I have seen on other Z77 GIGABYTE boards, Samsung memory OC works better in 4 DIMMs compared to 2. I think it is something with the way T-Topology is implemented on this board and other GIGABYTE ones, and it seems to only hold true for Samsung based memory.

Benchmarks:
Now the setup is this:
3770K ES
Z77X-UP7 with latest NVIDIA driver, Z77X-UP4 with previous drivers
Corsair Dominator Platinum 8GB used.
Kingston HyperX 240GB SSD
Thermaltake 1475W PSU
GIGABYTE GTX670

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CPU Overclocking Guide:
If you want an easy shot at it take a look at the video before the benchmarks.
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You don't need to change the BCLK but you can. Changing the CPU multiplier here or in the Advanced CPU Core Features will work equally. If you want you can enable XMP. For further memory OC proceed to the memory OC section.

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Always enable CPU PLL Overvoltage for overclocking. If you want the CPU frequency to drop with load (drop multiplier when idle), then you should enable EIST.

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3D power menu. PWM Phase Control set at highest performance is best for fastest speeds(allows free flow of current to the max). VCore voltage response isn't very important, but you can set to fast. LLC for air OC is best at Turbo, Extreme is best for LN2. You can see how LN2 works in the top of this article. The rest of the settings should be changed only for LN2, except perhaps max current.

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CPU VCore can be set to whatever you want, BIOS F3 and F5n have ability to take vcore above 1.85v. Now Offset VCore is useful for 24/7 OCs if you have the multiplier drop under idle, then you can also have the vcore drop if you use offset. To use offset then set vcore to normal and then set an offset. If you use offset then use a much lower level of LLC.
DRAM voltage is nice, better down in the memory OC section.

Memory Overclocking Guide and Results:
Tips for memory OC on the GIGABYTE boards.
Memory Multiplier: When you change a multiplier many background timings are set per each, and they get looser with each higher multiplier. These settings cannot be altered by you, only by the selection of the multiplier, which is why some multipliers work better for certain types of memory. If that is the issue, you can alter BCLK to help get above that mark.
BCLK: Realize that BCLK also puts strain on the system agent (which the IMC rests inside).
DDR Voltage: For Samsung I found my sticks don't like more than 1.85v, Hynix however liked higher than that. I have set 1.8v for all my profiles, if you don't like that then please lower it before applying the settings. If you are working from scratch, then please go up slowly. (Also some guys turn up CPU voltage, if they do that it can be a sign of two things, first off higher CPU voltage is part of getting around a cold bug, also it can help warm up the CPU if on air, as some CPUs actually can initialize better with memory when they are warm (usually ES). )
CPU Multiplier: Lower CPU multiplier is easier for higher CPU speed validation.
CPU PLL Overvoltage: Enabled this for sure (required in some cases for 24x+ divider to work).
VTT/IMC voltage: keep these in ratio, don't just set the VTT at 1.2v and set IMC at 1.3v, IMC is lower than VTT, by anywhere from 0.01-0.1 volts. I use 0.05v difference. Go up slowly, as my CPU hated any increase in these voltages.
XMP: XMP should be enabled; you then can change the timings available to you.
2nd Timings: Timings generally increase performance when lower and increase stability (and thus speed) when higher. However there always needs to be a special balance for things. If you set a timing lower than it can be set, then it will be adjusted to its max value automatically.
Tertiary Timings: These are kind of tricky, for Hynix you can max them all out 8s and 7s, and you can be okay, but sometimes these timings have to be set accordingly with the other secondary timings or else you will fail to boot. You can try different combinations of the 3rd timings I have listed.
If you want to know more about memory timings, go to JEDEC website and download the DDR3 specs, its free to register and the downloads are free, and you can even give input if you know better than them(lol). Memory timings are confusing sometimes, that is possibly why everyone loves the memory profiles from ASUS. These timings listed below are ones I have listed as what I have used.

Here are the memory timings I used:
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In the UEFI on newer BIOSes there is a new read/write slew settings, these can greatly help with Samsung based memory and PSC for booting higher.
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What I listed is best for the Corsair Samsung based memory I used.

First some results from Corsair Dominator 2666C10 16GB Kit:
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This memory is great for a balance of high speed and good timings. What you basically want is this which can do Cas9 at 2666 and over.

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Max OC seems to be the max of my IMC as I got the same result on more than just this kit. Still 2900mhz is pretty nice with all 4 DIMMs.

Here is the memory with tightened cas latency (9) and command rate of 1(t1)
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Very nice cas latency.

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2800mhz T1 but cas latency had to be expanded. If I used T2 32m is possible.

Next some Results from Hynix Based Memory:
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G.Skill TridentX 2666C11 16GB kit. Highly binned Hynix based, great for high frequency WR. They can tighten to cas 10 at stock speed.

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Max OC basically the same as the kit before, however it was a bit easier to get this memory up to this speed. Also with Hynix 2 sticks will OC higher than 4 on these boards.

I can tighten to cas10 at 2666 with 2 sticks:
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Can then I can run 32m at 2840 with T2 and standard timings(and 16gb):
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PSC:
Some quick PSC, the kit used is a pretty old crappy Cas9 T2 2133mhz kit from corsair, it isn't the best PSC.
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That is the max I could validate, I had to use slew rate to boot higher.

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It isn't that great of a run, but better than nothing.

Overclocking with Profiles:
Attached are profiles, there are memory OC profiles, the settings I used to get these results, as well as CPU OC profiles for overclocking to easy 4.5ghz or above. I used BIOS F5J.

http://www.mediafire.com/?la5312ksl5gb77e
Above is a bunch of memory profiles. There are 3 CPU OC profiles and 8 memory OC profiles, they were made with BIOS F5J so you should use them with F5j or F5n.

Conclusion:
This board is nice, just use BIOS F5n for extreme OC or F5J for normal OC. This board is very nice and easy to use, works very well and it seems it carries a huge fan base with users who own them.
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It is so sexy that GIGABYTE made keychains for them (not included in box, just marketing material handed out at events). If you need help overclocking please let me know, but overall a great all around board with great potential and the BIOS is pretty solid for all everyday use. Memory tweaks come with new BIOSes which they are always working on improving.
 
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#2 ·
Great guide as always Sin... if I break down and purchase it, i'll be following this per usual.

On a side note: you're on Gigabyte's facebook!

http://www.facebook.com/GIGABYTE
 
#5 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaClownie View Post

Great guide as always Sin... if I break down and purchase it, i'll be following this per usual.
On a side note: you're on Gigabyte's facebook!
http://www.facebook.com/GIGABYTE
thanks man! yea i saw it, haha i need to make a facebook.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gomi View Post

This board is rock-solid - I just had it out of the rig, as I have to start prepping the rig for Quad SLI GTX 680, and the entire construction, from PCB thickness to heatsinks, just never ceases to amaze me.
yea man you get what you pay for, for sure! Glad to hear you like it, i think it is a sik board.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NoGuru View Post

Great write up Sin
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thanks man, those memory timings i provided work very well, a lot of people complaining about OCing, just try those timings, i worked months to gather all the info i could on timings, I made my own memory profiles.
 
#10 ·
Great review.
I hope you can give me a little advice. I recently put together this board with an i7 3770K, Patriot Viper Extreme Series (PXD38G2400C11K) set to 11-11-11-30. I followed your guide as a base; however I did not notice that the LN2 switch was set to Low freq (on my board). This set the multiplier to 16 and trust me it messed me up for about an hr until I realized what the issue was. The odd thing is once I set the LN2 switch to normal and posted into the bios I was able to see the correct CPU speed CPU freq and so on. I then set the XMP profile for the mem and configured the rest of the bios (raid and so on). no overclock at this point. Then I saved the settings rebooted and I got a post code 64 and then nothing, the system would not post. If I set the LN2 switch to low freq it would post. I have swapped memory, CPU's and done everything I could think of to resolve this issue. I can get the system to post with the LN2 switch set to Normal if I hit the reset button a few times or unplug the power cord wait a few min then power back on, it will post; however that is not right. I have tried all the bios's from Gigabytes site as well. F5F, F5J and F5 give me the most consistent results. The strange thing is once I do post the system is very stable and can run Prime95 all day long. I can also do a very stable 4.8 Ghz overclock as well (once I get the system to post). Strange thing is I don't get the post 64 code at all with LN2 set to low freq. The system works very well in that configuration. Just runs under clocked. Any advice would be appreciated. I have the same memory you used in your review coming and will try that. I may have a bad motherboard. All the components currently used came out of a very stable 1366 i7 configuration, this build was just an upgrade to new cpu and chipset.

CPU=i7 3770K
Mem=PXD38G2400C11K
Cooling=custom built TEC cooling system (CPU stays at 8c)
Power Supply= 1300 ABS
VGA= 2X Hydro Copper 680's
VGA Power Supply= 650watt
 
#12 ·
i stopped using ez tune because it got stuck at 5ghz. would always load in at 5ghz after using it regardless where i set it in the bios. it really did not work to well for me so i went back to what i used to use.
 
#15 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by rtessenear View Post

Great review.
I hope you can give me a little advice. I recently put together this board with an i7 3770K, Patriot Viper Extreme Series (PXD38G2400C11K) set to 11-11-11-30. I followed your guide as a base; however I did not notice that the LN2 switch was set to Low freq (on my board). This set the multiplier to 16 and trust me it messed me up for about an hr until I realized what the issue was. The odd thing is once I set the LN2 switch to normal and posted into the bios I was able to see the correct CPU speed CPU freq and so on. I then set the XMP profile for the mem and configured the rest of the bios (raid and so on). no overclock at this point. Then I saved the settings rebooted and I got a post code 64 and then nothing, the system would not post. If I set the LN2 switch to low freq it would post. I have swapped memory, CPU's and done everything I could think of to resolve this issue. I can get the system to post with the LN2 switch set to Normal if I hit the reset button a few times or unplug the power cord wait a few min then power back on, it will post; however that is not right. I have tried all the bios's from Gigabytes site as well. F5F, F5J and F5 give me the most consistent results. The strange thing is once I do post the system is very stable and can run Prime95 all day long. I can also do a very stable 4.8 Ghz overclock as well (once I get the system to post). Strange thing is I don't get the post 64 code at all with LN2 set to low freq. The system works very well in that configuration. Just runs under clocked. Any advice would be appreciated. I have the same memory you used in your review coming and will try that. I may have a bad motherboard. All the components currently used came out of a very stable 1366 i7 configuration, this build was just an upgrade to new cpu and chipset.
CPU=i7 3770K
Mem=PXD38G2400C11K
Cooling=custom built TEC cooling system (CPU stays at 8c)
Power Supply= 1300 ABS
VGA= 2X Hydro Copper 680's
VGA Power Supply= 650watt
yea ike I told you on hwbot, flash to BIOS F3 with the switch in the non 16x position, then flash to F5, or you might have to RMA the board. The ME firmware is mixed up lol.
 
#16 ·
Update,
My issue was not bios related. I did have F3, then Flashed to F5. My problem was due to an old 1Gb thumb drive I was using to do the flash. I forgot to unplug it and it was causing the post 64 code. I now have a stable 5Ghz OC. Board works perfect. Thanks for the reply. Next time I will remember to check the back of the PC for old thumb drives.
 
#22 ·
Hi Guys:

Going crazy and really need some help please

I have:

Gigabyte Z77X - UP7 board
cpu 3770k
Corsair 2333mhz dominator platinums - 16gig 4 slots used
H100 Corsair water cooler
1100 watt evga supernova PS
Titan GPU
NZXT Phantom 820

Computer is 2 months old and I did poor mans OC but its not stable - tried 4ghz - 4.2ghz - 4.5ghz

I up the multiplier and shut down turbo and C1E, C3/C6/C7 and EIST & fan stuff

Thats it - this has worked well in the past but not on this board - I am missing something here - do you think its the voltage and I do not know how to do that - I am using latest bios version - all versions tried - same problem - freezing or pc shutting down

Also not sure about xmp1 profile I have tried that at ram speed 2333 and also shut it of which defaults to 1333

Any help would be much appreciated knowing you guys are the best - thank you

Regards, Rich

====================================================================

OOPS in the wrong forum section - where does it go please
 
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