Overclocking

The Sandy Bridge architecture does not allow for much in the way of base clock overclocking. In
order to really push the limits, users need a K series CPU with an unlocked multiplier. These
CPUs will run in excess of 4.5GHz on air. Some will run up to 5+GHz on water cooling or
better.

Overclocking past 4.5-4.8 GHz+ will require adjustment of voltages and enabling the CPU PLL
Overvoltage option in the BIOS. For the overclocking testing we will be pushing as far as we can
on air cooling, though readers should keep in mind that for optimal performance and least
possible chance of component failure, we recommend the best cooling possible.

Another Note is that no matter how good the cooling solution, some CPU’s are limited.
Reference the numbers provided by ASUS below.

From 100 Samples tested the following was possible with full stability.

1. Approximately 50% of CPUs can go up to 4.4-4.5 GHz

2. Approximately 40% of CPUs can go up to 4.6-4.7 GHz

3. Approximately 10% of CPUs can go up to 4.8-5 GHz (50+ multipliers are about 2% of this
group)

Our Sample would reach a maximum speed of 4.9GHz anything past that and it would boot but
would not pass stability testing. We confirmed that this was limited by the CPU and not the
board by running it on liquid nitrogen cooling and a P67 board. This means that even though this
is a mainstream board, users will be able to overclock in excess of 4.8GHz and run without any
issues with thermals or stability.

Important note: Any level of overclocking can cause component failure. Please exercise
caution when attempting any level of overclock on system components.

Temperatures
The temperatures were recorded with Realtemp while running Wprime 1024 right before the end
of the 5th run. The results were recorded carefully. After the results were recorded, we waited for
30 minutes before taking Idle temperature measurements. The results were as follows:

Configuration Temperature (Idle/Load)

Z68X-UD3H-B3 OC (4.9GHz) 41C/72C
Z68X-UD3H-B3 36C/65C

As we found water cooling would be a much better solution to keep temperatures lower to avoid
long term issues from the higher temperatures. The Thermaltake Frio OCK cooler definitely
surprised us as it held the load and was completely stable during many runs and benchmarking at
4.9GHz the whole way.

Power Consumption

The power consumption was tested while running Wprime 1024 for a few minutes at stock
settings. The results were recorded carefully with a Kill-A-Watt power consumption measuring
tool at the wall. After the results were recorded, we waited for yet another few minutes minutes
before taking Idle power consumption measurements.

Configuration Power Consumption (Idle/Load)

Z68X-UD3H-B3 (4.9GHz) 243W/354W
Z68X-UD3H-B3 210W/331W
The power consumption is not with GPU usage. This is with CPU/system loading but nothing
graphically intensive in order to provide the most accurate results by not ramping up the GPU,
which will pull significantly more power.