I am starting to feel like a charity case here... But thank you for sticking with me!

I figured out why my motherboard was maintaining a bit of power. The powered USB hub I had connected to it I think prevented the battery removal method from working correctly. I feel pretty stupid on that end but never figured it to keep power running through the motherboard.

Anyhow got it to reset by removing the battery. Currently I have the CPU set to about 4.1GHz (per bios option) I think - but in Windows it is still showing as 3.2. How can I test it?

Also I had the RAM set to something like 1648 and computer loaded fine. That was one of the options in the bios, but no 1600 (even) number was available. I am still not sure how to check the running speed on that?

Thank you again for sticking with me and helping me get the best out of this PC.

I checked the cooler and it is an H60. I installed it myself.

I had an order all set up at Microcenter with tears in my eyes (tears of excitement and frustration at the same time), but thankfully I think that may be able to wait for now. Also lucky my wife was understanding when I told her I may have to run and melt some more plastic. Clients are waiting!

I updated the BIOS. I installed CPU-Z and in there it is showing CPU at 4250 MHz. Computer has been running fine for about 20 mins now, but I have not run anything other than chrome and some minor software poking around at this.

RAM is showing as 833MHz in CPU-Z so a little confused on that. The setting in the bios was 1666MHz.

About to launch Vegas and play around a bit. Hopefully my system stays solid.

My PC is in a very cool basement, so not sure about the cooling at the moment.

EDIT: Also installed HWiNFO64. I see the CPU being reported there as 4250 as well. Temps between 33C-58C (no load yet). Still unsure how to correclt read RAM speed.

The RAM speed shows as half of what it actually is, 833x2=1666 so that is correct. Take a screen shot of CPU-Z and post it here. 33C-58C is a bit high for idling. The major load on the CPU is during rendering. Best test project is still the SCS Benchmark project. If you don't have it, make a quick project and render to SONY AVC with CPU only. If the system can stand that then you should be good to go. I know some will say use Prime95 to test your system. I just find it puts necessary stress on the system. The H60 is really a bit too small to get good OC and low temps. H80i or H100i if you can fit the big heat exchanger are better options. HWiNFO64 will also show you the PCIe link speed, let us know what it is. I think it should be 8GT/s for PCIe 3.0 instead of 5GT/s for PCIe 2.0.

I will look for the project you mentioned, thanks.

I tested the CPu 4250MHz with Vegas just playing the 4 camera ax100 track. With proxies the CPU

maxed out around 65% and I was getting max frame rates at full quality. However once I switched to

playing from the original files, the CPU maxed out and after about 2 minutes my system froze again witht he max temp of CPU at 78C. I have video of all this running I can upload to youtube, although I am just slowly rambling in it.

Next I bumped the CPU down to 4125MHz. So far I have the 4 track video playing for about 15 minutes and it maxed out my CPU for a while and the temp reached 90C. I think it may be throttling now? Task manager is showing around 85% usage.

Now I will look for the project you mentioned and go from there.

Again I have video of all of this, even as I type this out just in case.

I found a reference to that project you had in another thread, but when I try to download it it says file not found.

Look at CPU-Z. Below the Core Speed there is the Multiplier, Bus Speed and Rated FSB. Let me know those numbers. I am quite sure your Bus Speed is higher then 100, probably 103.125 or something like that. Go into the BIOS and set it to 100.

HWiNFO64 will show you if the CPU is throttling down, 90C is way to high; as I said your cooler is not sufficient. As a minimum install a second fan to make it a push-pull configuration; better upgrade to a stronger version; that is money well spent.

I removed the SCS Benchmark from my Google or Dropbox, cant remember where I uploaded it, because it was almost 2GB in size. Don't worry, 4K editing and rendering will put sufficient stress on the system.

Bus speed is showing around 125MHz with the CPU at 4125MHz. So I should reduce the bus to 100, and increase the CPU again to 4250?

SYstem at 4250MHz froze when CPU temps were only 78C. System at 4125MHz seems to run fine and max out the CPU temps for need of throttling. I also have my case wide open, perhaps I should close up all sides for better airflow.

I higher bus speed puts more stress on all components linked to it, including any add-on card you may plug in; not my favorite way of overclocking. Yes, set the bus speed to 100 and set the CPU to 4100MHz and check stability and temps.

Would that be BCLK? That is what I see in bios.

Yes, that should be it. What is it set at. There may also be a cpu multiplier value somewhere, I haven't had a ASUS board for a long time.

I set CPU back to 4250 and switched the bus to 100, however when I restarted the computer, CPU-Z and HWINFO are both telling me CPU is now at 3400MHz. I will start taking pics. How do you post them to this thread? I will also get pics or vid from my bios setup to hopefully streamline this a bit more.

[I] How do you post them to this thread?[/I]

Check out the sticky 3.

Alright, here is a video of what I had from last night. I run through the bios and also show it running for a bit in Win 8.1. I apologize for the mumbling, but it was a very long day and I was tired. Also holding camera in one hand. I hope YouTube compression doesn't destroy the clarity of the small print. Sorry about that, I should have been closer.

Currently I have the computer running at 4700MHz, but RAM at 1033. It overheats in a hurry and throttles down so i will be looking for the h100i. The system doesn't hang on me though. Whats the difference between the normal and GTX? I have a Cosmos II case so there should be plenty of room. I assume I will be pushing air out of the top of the case with the push/pull. Should my rear fan then be pulling cool air in or also help pushing hot air out? All HDDs in the case are now SSD so I should not have many heat issues with HDDs.

I read through the manual for your MB and these are the settings I would change to get to 4.1GHz.
Safe the current bios profile and then load default values; I thing pressing F5 will do that and reboot.
Go into the Bios and change the values I listed below and ensure your drive order is correct.

BCLK Frequency = 100

Turbo Ratio = By Per Core

	set all cores to the same value

	start with 41

Memory Frequency = 1600

Intel Enhanced SpeedStep technology = Enabled

Turbo Mode = Enabled

Power Limit Control = Auto

	(may need to adjust if CPU doesnt reach the set frequency)

DRAM Voltage (CHA, CHB) = check the memory modules for required voltage! You should have 1.5V modules.

DRAM Voltage (CHC, CHD) = same as above

I hope I was looking at the correct manual.

I see you posted just while I was typing. I'll look at the video but must say if you got it running at 4.7 that is extremely well. I never got higher then 4.4GHz stable for long durations.

I will see if that looks like what I can do. From my my playing around it seems I can either get over 4GHz CPU or 1600MHz RAM but not both at same time.

in RE to your post, it is 4700 "stable" but doesn't hit 4700 for long before it throttles way down due to heat. Also RAM stuck at 1033 with that setting. Actually looking at the hwinfo, I don't think it really went above 4400 for long, but max showed as 4700 as I had set in bios.

A good system is a well balanced system. I doesn't help having the CPU at 4.7 and the RAM falling behind. The socket 2011 Sandybridge CPUs want 1600MHz RAM and work best at that speed. Don't use the CPU Level Up feature of the MB, it has no fine tuning.

I have your setting set. Didn't look a the modules for 1.5v but I didn't see any way to change that in bios, or should I leave alone? I think it was showing around 1.65v in the bios. I will start Vegas stress test now. I also have P95 saved somewhere around here, I remember using that years ago.

Yeah looks like 1.5V http://www.microcenter.com/product/415429/Ballistix_Sport_XT_32GB_DDR3-1866_(PC3-14900)_CL10_Desktop_Memory_Kit_(Four_8GB_Memory_Modules)

My old modules that I think I still may have 4 good sticks were http://www.microcenter.com/product/387516/Vengeance_Series_32GB_DDR3-1600_(PC3-12800)_CL_10_Quad_Channel_Desktop_Memory_Kit_(Four_8GB_Memory_Modules)

Settings look like they worked. I have it running at max about 15 minutes now. Temps still hitting 90 and throttling down to aroun 3.3GHz after about 8 minutes. Looking to be headed in the correct direction at least as the starting is 4.1Ghz, and RAM showing as 1600. I don't see the h100i available at Microcenter though so I may have to order.

What is the cpu voltage at 4.1GHz?