How to overclock an Intel i7 3820

I have been looking for stable overclocking settings for my new build rig using Intel core i7 3820 processor. Finally MSI helped to get the right settings to work around it. I don’t know what settings it had used actually but the processor is managed to get overclocking more than 4.0GHz at stable condition and there is no temperature related issues or BSODs at all. My PC configuration is High end and I think that due to this only my system is running stable even after overclocking. Actually the computer runs on MSI motherboard which has pre-included OC genie button. It is a best option for those who have never been to overclocking things. The OC genie button gave me 4.0GHz. So I tried to do more but manually maxing out the multiplier and Vcore cause the BSOD on the system during every stress test. Currently it is at 4.3ghz and 1.30 vcore but the system is not stable. What I am missing here.

The fact is Core i7-3820 has a Limited Unlocked Core. It is defined in the spec as given by the manufacturer. The processor is not as same as the other Intel’s 'K' and 'X' series processors which has unlocked multiplier. If you are maxing out the multiplier, you can reach up to 43x and due to this processor can go above almost 4.3GHz.

The selection would be of different frequency like 125MHz, 166MHz or 250MHz. sometime you will not able to get this feature with stock BIOS installed. If your motherboard comes with latest BIOS, you may find this Base clock settings feature otherwise try to flash with the latest BIOS. In my case it working fine and I have set to 125MHz but dropped the multiplier a but in order to get overclock up to 4.5GHz. To test it better, you can run any benchmark utility and you will surely notice a performance increment.

I am also looking for a stable overclocking of core i7 3820 processor and for that I have gone through several guides about Sandy Bridge overclocking and it is sure that I should not use the stock cooler. So first thing is I have replaced the stock CPU cooler with the Cooler Master one. Lastly I have successfully overclocked the processor to 4.5GHZ. The memory modules were running at 1888 MHZ and I didn’t change anything there manually.

I simply set the multiplier to 37x and BCLK to 125 and due to this only the memory currently run at 1700mhz. Next thing is I had disabled the Turbo and Hyperthreading which were actually not needed in my case. Due to this the games running faster than what I thought before. Now the vcore was at standard. Finally I have capable to get the stability at BCLK 130, vcore at 1.30V and Multiplier to 37x, Now memory module also started running near to 1880mhz. This setting has passed the stress test and benchmark test successfully and no there was not much temperature Hike.

Intel Core i7-3820 processor is a quad-core processor and the highest successfully overclocking record of this processor is 5.666 GHz. Since it is a LGA2011 compatible processor, basically it has a semi unlocked core (or BCLK multiplier). Semi unlocked means; you can unlock it only a few heights but more than the stock settings. So it is also a good processor for overclocking but with the use of compatible motherboard, RAM and Cpu cooler, Also BIOS. The requirement of this overclocking record was 131.74 MHz BClk, 43x multiplier and 1.6V Vcore. Make sure to disable the Turbo and HyperThreading.

I have also read several articles related to Core i7-3820 overclocking and everywhere I have found that the processor need some extreme voltage setting if it needs overclocking near to 4.5GHZ or above than that. Also the Base the clock frequency need to set properly according to the multiplier hike. If you want to build an overclockable system, I think that you can choose the Core i7-3820 because it can deliver stable overclocking up to 4.5ghz. Don’t think that the latest IVY Bridge can do more. They are also limited in terms of overclocking conditions.

The Core i7-3820 can easily get to high frequencies but the method of overclocking is really different here as compared to other Intel core processor of the same family. The first reason is the processor is neither an X- nor a K-series processor. That means there is no K or S letter at the end of processor name. The second reason is it has limited unlocked core. When all cores active, the processor can reach up to 4.3 GHz and with only 2 cores active, you can get it right to 4.4 GHz. At both time, the base frequency is set as 100 MHz but you can manually set this base clock to 125 MHz or more.

Remember that it is not good to run the processor at 4.5 GHz but the highest clock achieve is 4.625 GHz. One problem is in my case it still didn’t able to complete the full benchmark test even after trying different Vcore voltage. But I think that with High end platform you can achieve something above the normal without losing stability.

You don’t get any problem while overclocking a six core SNB-E processor because there you just need to adjust multiplier to maximum but in case of i7-3820, the multiplier only capable to max out at 43X. So there ought be a limitation and I have found the stable limitation is 4.3GHz. But By finding some optimum settings for voltages and bit of fine tuning it is possible for you to go up to 5.0 GHz overclock. The process is very simple and easy without a small drop of stability condition of the system. Via bclk modifications (which can be manually set to 125MHz, 166MHz and 250MHz), you can get impressive speed without any issues. 1.48 Vcore is good at this condition.