AlexisLefebvre.com - Mot-clé - hardware2023-07-06T21:46:34+02:00Alexis Lefebvreurn:md5:27efdec687e5c5adcae3e56885c52e81DotclearUpgrade from Intel Core i5 2500K to 3770K on Gigabyte Z78MA-D2H-B3urn:md5:572b79585b603528387b0d70ec3324762021-04-17T22:29:00+02:002022-08-31T14:32:13+02:00Alexis Lefebvrehardwaretutoriel<p>I wanted to upgrade my computer without having to change the CPU, the motherboard and the RAM (prices are currently high because of shortages). So I looked what CPU I could use with my 10-years-old motherboard in order to replace the <a href="https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/52210/intel-core-i5-2500k-processor-6m-cache-up-to-3-70-ghz.html" hreflang="en" title="Intel® Core™ i5-2500K Processor (6M Cache, up to 3.70 GHz) Product Specifications">2500K</a>.</p>
<p>And the answer was the <a href="https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/65523/intel-core-i7-3770k-processor-8m-cache-up-to-3-90-ghz.html" hreflang="en" title="Intel® Core™ i7-3770K Processor (8M Cache, up to 3.90 GHz) Product Specifications">3770K</a> that is similar to the 2500K but double the number of threads from to 4 to 8 (<a href="https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/compare.html?productIds=52210,65523" hreflang="en" title="Intel® Product Specification Comparison">see Intel's comparison</a>).</p>
<p>I found a 3770K at a decent price on eBay. But changing from the 2500K CPU to the 3770K was not an easy task. Here is how I did it.</p> <h3>Switch to 3770K</h3>
<p>The 3770K was released after the motherboard, and use the Ivy Bridge architecture instead of the Sandy Bridge architecture of the 2500K. The BIOS required a new version F10 to allow the motherboard to recognize that <em>new</em> CPU.</p>
<p>Thanks Gigabyte for still providing <a href="https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3-rev-10/support#support-dl-bios" hreflang="en" title="GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 (rev. 1.0) Support ">drivers and BIOS</a> for the 10-years-old Z68MA-D2H-B3 rev 1.0!</p>
<p>It was easy to upgrade the BIOS by putting the F10 file on a USB stick then using the tool provided with the BIOS (QFlash) to load the file and update the BIOS.</p>
<p>The 3770K was detected and worked perfectly.</p>
<p>Then I tried to overclock it but the BIOS didn't allow to choose values over 3.9 GHz. Things started to be more complicated.</p>
<h3>Overclock the 3770K</h3>
<p>Gigabyte provide the U1C (UEFI BIOS) but a warning written in red says that it's a "Beta BIOS" and that "When updating from legacy to UEFI, use only the utility attached to your BIOS file". This sounded a little bit scary.</p>
<p>But some people have been able to use that beta UEFI <a href="https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/guide-ga-z68ma-d2h-b3-uefi-bios-all-working-dsdt-not-required.62950/#post413702" hreflang="en" title="GUIDE: GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 UEFI BIOS - ALL WORKING, DSDT not required! | tonymacx86.com">without issue</a> and I saw that it would allow the overclocking.</p>
<p>So I followed <a href="https://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php?topic=2441.msg89013#msg89013" hreflang="en" title="How Do I Update My BIOS?">this guide</a> to install FreeDOS and update from BIOS to UEFI.</p>
<p>Once I booted on the USB stick, I had to type <code>FLASHEFI.EXE Z8MAD2H3.U1C</code>, press enter and wait.</p>
<p>It failed the first time then worked the second time!</p>
<p>I was finally able to boot on the UEFI "BIOS", push the 3.9 GHz limit and overclock the 3770K to 4.4 GHz.</p>
<h3>Results</h3>
<p>I had crashes at 4.5 GHz but it worked perfectly since I lowered the overclocking to 4.4 GHz.</p>
<p>The improvements are noticeable in the Multi-Core Score of Geekbench:</p>
<ul>
<li>Intel Core i5-2500K @ 4.50 GHz = 3200</li>
<li>Intel Core i7-3770K @ 4.40 GHz = 3900</li>
</ul>
<p>This matched with the <a href="https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-3770K-vs-Intel-Core-i5-2500K/1317vs619" hreflang="en" title="UserBenchmark: Intel Core i5-2500K vs i7-3770K">expected results</a>.</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>The Single-Core Score (about 1000) is slightly better because of improvements on the CPU architecture, but the lower frequency reduces this.</p>