# Intel I7 3770K overclocked on MSI Z77-GD80 and MSI 7970 Lightning with Liquid Nitrogen



## thebanik (Aug 17, 2012)

So MSI had an Overclocking competition going on, mentioned here  because of which started testing MSI motherboards alongwith MSI graphic  cards, had a hectic few weeks where nothing seemed to be cooperating  but still got some decent results. Shivam was a great support all this  while and traveled daily to my place and even when I had lost energy  kept on pushing me. Thanks a lot Shivam and I hope you learnt quite a  bit about benching on LN2 and the issues that come up, *www.erodov.com/forums/images/smilies/tongue.gif.

Though next few weeks I would be benching again to better the 2D scores, *www.erodov.com/forums/images/smilies/biggrin.gif.  By the way just for the folks who might think I get stuff for free,  only the motherboard are samples from MSI, everything else is bought  with my own money, *www.erodov.com/forums/images/smilies/tongue.gif


*CPU : Intel IB i7 3770K* capable of running 6589 Mhz on Liquid  Nitrogen. Will be pushing it further in the coming weeks. I guess do not  have to praise the CPU much, everyone knows Ivybridge is in a league of  its own, *www.erodov.com/forums/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
*Motherboard : MSI Z77A-GD80* - Awesome board, all the issues I had  were related to the graphic card not playing nice but the board was  amazingly stable and did not create any issues. Highly recommended.  Infact we were running at - 180C constantly for the superpi and pifast  runs.
*GPU : MSI HD7970 Lightning* - Star of the show, very strong  graphic  card, though the clocks we were trying to achieve was quite  high, and the AMD drivers are really horrible I say. Was able to run it  at *1600/1790 Mhz* on LN2 at around -90C to -130C.
*PSU : CORSAIR AX1200 *- Not an expert on PSU's, all I can do is   put them on their knees to see how much further they can go. Have not   budged yet this PSU, *www.erodov.com/forums/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
*RAM : Transcend Axeram 2400Mhz* : Was running these considerably cheap ram kit at 2600Mhz on its stock timing of 10-12-10, cannot ask more from them.
*SSD  :* *2 x Corsair Force 3 120GB SSD 
**CoolerMaster Benchtable - *An inseparable part of my bench sessions, *www.erodov.com/forums/images/smilies/biggrin.gif*
CoolerMaster Quick Fire Mechanical Keyboard - *Small and a very function Mechanical Keyboard, *www.erodov.com/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif. Love it*
Razer Naga *

Now lets get on with the results.

For the lazy geeks, who would not like to scroll down, here is a summary of the session :

*
1) **3D Mark 11 : 14593** Marks, ranked #39 in the World globally
**2) Wprime : 3.765s, ranked #54 Globally *
*3) Superpi : 5.601s : CPU@6589Mhz 
4) Pifast : 11.22s : CPU@6481Mhz, 
*


1) First up *3D Mark 11 : 14593** Marks, ranked #39 *in the World globally

*cdn.erodov.net/portal/reviews/motherboard/msi-gd80/3DM11.jpg​ 

2) Next up *Wprime : 3.765s, ranked #54 Globally *

*cdn.erodov.net/portal/reviews/motherboard/msi-gd80/wprime.jpg​ 
​

3) And now we are below 6 second, *Superpi : 5.601s : CPU@6589Mhz *

*cdn.erodov.net/portal/reviews/motherboard/msi-gd80/superpi.jpg​
4) And last *Pifast : 11.22s : CPU@6481Mhz,*

*cdn.erodov.net/portal/reviews/motherboard/msi-gd80/810773.jpg​ ​

And just for tradition sake a few frosty pics.



*cdn.erodov.net/portal/reviews/motherboard/msi-gd80/img-2056.JPG

*cdn.erodov.net/portal/reviews/motherboard/msi-gd80/img-2066.JPG

*cdn.erodov.net/portal/reviews/motherboard/msi-gd80/img-2074.JPG

*cdn.erodov.net/portal/reviews/motherboard/msi-gd80/img-2077.JPG

*cdn.erodov.net/portal/reviews/motherboard/msi-gd80/img-2078.JPG
​ 
Bear with me just for a shortwhile more while I thank all the companies   who support/have supported me which makes me keep going further. 

  *www.erodov.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=31547&stc=1&d=1344318530 *www.erodov.com/forums/attachments/corsair_logo1.jpg-23009d1328969744    *www.erodov.com/forums/attachments/cm_logo.png-23011d1330738889t   

*www.erodov.com/forums/attachments/smc.jpg-23013d1328970406


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## d6bmg (Aug 18, 2012)

Good OC.

But the GPU you are using isn't  MSI HD7970 Lightning. its EVGA 8800GT.


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## thebanik (Aug 20, 2012)

d6bmg said:


> Good OC.
> 
> But the GPU you are using isn't  MSI HD7970 Lightning. its EVGA 8800GT.



the first 3 pics are when I was trying only CPU clocks , and the gpu used is 8600gt....last 2 pics R of 7970


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## d6bmg (Aug 21, 2012)

Oh, ok. 

You have got a golden chip in your hand.


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## Naxal (Aug 27, 2012)

I wonder how do you people counter the ice forming in all parts of the motherboard for such cold being around ??

Wont that causing short circuit ??


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## thebanik (Aug 30, 2012)

Naxal said:


> I wonder how do you people counter the ice forming in all parts of the motherboard for such cold being around ??
> 
> Wont that causing short circuit ??



There are different types of insulation that can be done on motherboard to avoid condensation issues. Now the insulation material being Vaseline, Art Eraser,  Neoprene. The better the insulation the more smoother bench session goes.


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## topgear (Sep 5, 2012)

one more jaw dropping work of your's - waiting for the next speed record of core i7 3770k


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## aloodum (Sep 5, 2012)

Simply awesome Mr banik ...Hats off to you 

Wow... AxeRams still having the niche touch in DDR3 Oc's..I remember those were the choice of rams for many OCERS alongwith the Abit IP-35/IX-38 in days of DDR2 and Core 2 series.

And btw,,,is that a (borrowed) hair band on that Ln2 pot in pic 6? 



d6bmg said:


> Good OC.
> 
> But the GPU you are using isn't  MSI HD7970 Lightning. its EVGA 8800GT.



Dont take it otherwise..but the Mr banik is actually an aged verteran..he has no less than 20 cards strewn around for his weekend escapades if i may say so.


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## thebanik (Sep 5, 2012)

topgear said:


> one more jaw dropping work of your's - waiting for the next speed record of core i7 3770k



Thanks a lot, , would so like to do this again but with a small kid at home, its only once in 2-3 months that I am able to go for these sessions.



aloodum said:


> Simply awesome Mr banik ...Hats off to you
> 
> Wow... AxeRams still having the niche touch in DDR3 Oc's..I remember those were the choice of rams for many OCERS alongwith the Abit IP-35/IX-38 in days of DDR2 and Core 2 series.
> 
> ...



Ah it seems we are acquainted though not able to recognise you with this ID of yours, . And nice eye, yeah borrowed it from my wife,


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## aloodum (Sep 5, 2012)

^^^ .... hehehe. Anyhow congrats..targetting 7Ghz i presume ?


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## thebanik (Sep 5, 2012)

aloodum said:


> ^^^ .... hehehe. Anyhow congrats..targetting 7Ghz i presume ?



TBH, 7Ghz would not be possible unless I test atleast 100 CPUs which I neither have time or money for. Only handful of people around the globe have been able to do that and that too only with the help of sponsorship etc. 

But my educated guess is that my CPU is capable of 6.8-6.9Ghz, so thats what I would be hoping for.


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## aloodum (Sep 5, 2012)

^^ may the force be with you 
I reckon that a figure in the late 6's would be more plausible. As it has been, the last few mhz are the real troublesome ones.
But nevertheless,  congrats once again for ur achievemnt and Shivam for his support

Ps: the axerams use which version of microns? the older ddr2's used the d9g's IIRC.


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## thebanik (Sep 5, 2012)

aloodum said:


> ^^ may the force be with you
> I reckon that a figure in the late 6's would be more plausible. As it has been, the last few mhz are the real troublesome ones.
> But nevertheless,  congrats once again for ur achievemnt and Shivam for his support
> 
> Ps: the axerams use which version of microns? the older ddr2's used the d9g's IIRC.



With Sandybridge and Ivybridge its not about skills anymore TBH. Its all about luck, and the amount of time and money you are willing to spend to find a great chip because these CPUs once you reach their limit, would not react either to cold or volts. For ivybridge you need LN2 to find that limit, with Sandybridge all you needed was something to take you between -10C, and you could have found the limit and use it even with 8 threads.

Microns days are over, though I have not checked the chips on the axeram but my educated guess would be that they are Hynix


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## topgear (Sep 6, 2012)

thebanik said:


> Thanks a lot, , would so like to do this again but with a small kid at home, its only once in 2-3 months that I am able to go for these sessions.



np mate .. we all can wait to see how far the core i7 3770k is going to reach and congrats for your achievement. 

BTW, there's no review of Transcend aXeRAM DDR3 2400 Mhz - would like to be the first one to post a review for this  ??



thebanik said:


> With Sandybridge and Ivybridge its not about skills anymore TBH. Its all about luck, and the amount of time and money you are willing to spend to find a great chip because these CPUs once you reach their limit, would not react either to cold or volts. For ivybridge you need LN2 to find that limit, with Sandybridge all you needed was something to take you between -10C, and you could have found the limit and use it even with 8 threads.
> 
> Microns days are over, though *I have not checked the chips on the axeram but my educated guess would be that they are Hynix*



that's some nice information and most probably axe ram 2400 Mhz is using HYNIX H5TQ2GB3BFR-H9C chip.


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## 101gamzer (Sep 6, 2012)

Congrats for your achievement I have some suggestion next time when you OC check tell your sponsor MSI to Give you MSI Z77 MPower Motherboard it is made for OC'ing its far better than your current motherboard which will allow you to achieve much better results, it overclocks any processor by default!!! you throws to it



See the review of it MSI Z77 MPower Review | t-break: Tech @ Its Fastest


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## desiJATT (Sep 10, 2012)

Great work! Keep us updated with your results...


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