Cannot overclock i7 3970X

[JJohn561]

I have an Asus Rampage IV motherboard, 32GB RAM, and an i7 3970X processor. It was the same products I had on my previous computer. However, now I am unable to overclock the processor. Even Intel's own software, Intel Extreme Tuning Utility, will not allow me to overclock the processor. Something is set wrong somewhere. How do I fix this? I received an e-mail from someone else who is having the same problem. I always buy the fastest Intel overclockable processor for our corporate computers, but that is toast if I cannot fix this. We will just get the $300 processors and forget about overclocking.

[Silvia_L_Intel1]

Hello JEJ, thanks for informing us about this behavior. We have seen this before, and it could be related to a BIOS support on your motherboard.

I recommend you to check with Asus if there is a BIOS update you may need to install on the motherboard.

If they confirm there isn't any, you more than welcome to contact our warranty department so they can help you replacing the processor.

http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/contactsupport http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/contactsupport

[JJohn561]

I have the latest motherboard BIOS, but our business team is not capable of replacing processors. Since it appears, as you say, and as I have received a message from another user, it has happened a number of times, we will simply convert to using the lower priced processors that don't overclock. I've already sent out a memo to the purchasing department not to get the extreme processor anymore. We'll save a ton of money and no hassle. We are not gamers, so overclocking is not a critical part of our day to day use. We just thought it would be nice to have things running 10 or 15% faster.

[Silvia_L_Intel1]

JEJ, I would like to inform you that even though Intel makes unlocked and Extreme Series processors that are robust enough to handle customizations, Intel doesn't recommend overclocking any of their internal components such as memory, video or CPU. I'm afraid that it would be under your own risk since there is no warranty support for that practice.

However, it's weird that this chip cannot be overclocked

[JJohn561]

We have overclocked this particular processor in our other computers over the past two years with great success. But all of a sudden, with our new computers, this problem has arisen, and it is happening to other people as well. Therefore, we decline purchasing the top end Intel processor for any further computers in our corporation. We as a customer are not getting what we paid for. I suggest that other readers consider carefully what is apparently happening to the reliability of this processor doing what it is supposed to be able to do, when making a decision to spend a thousand dollars for it, and once it is glued in, it may not perform as advertised.