2500k on P67 Extreme 4 OC... 4.4 @ 1.28-1.3 OCCT stable, now what?

[Spike]

So I've been goofing off with this new build and here is what I'm looking at so far. I just finished a 1 hour OCCT pass running it at 44x with a vcore of 1.28 in the bios (1.28 - 1.3 in windows according to CPU-Z and the Asrock utility). Like Anand in his review article I had to enable speed step and change the long draw power max to 110w (up from 95w) and I changed the short draw to 120w. This allowed me to pass the tests without the cpu downclocking to 39-41x.

Now I'm not sure what else to do to make sure the whole setup is stable. When I was just goofing off BF:BC2 crashed (after 2+ hours of playing) while I was only at 40x but with a vcore of 1.32 so maybe the vcore was too high? I'm worried I'm OCCT stable but not game stable but, apart from playing the game for hours, I don't know a good way to prove that.

Also, when I left everything in auto the board would increase the vcore to as high as 1.38 with just a 40x OC (same thing Anand said) which was too high for my tastes. However, the one thing I liked was at auto it would drop the vcore to .9something when the cpu downclocked. Now it's locked at 1.28 when downclocked and 1.3 when full load which has me worried.

For reference I'm using a corsair A70 running at 1600rpm (using the included resistor wires) I idle 32-33c and hit 62-64c under load. These temps seem acceptable for me but I'm unfamiler with the thermal max of these chips. I always hated my E8400 to get that high...

Thanks for any help and sorry for the rambling post. Too many hours...

EDIT - Just finshed 35 runs with the intel burn test. Took 660 seconds (fastest run was 14.653, whatever that means) and my temps got up to 67c, so slightly higher than with OCCT. I think I'm going to run some prime overnight and see what happens.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

LinX
Memtest HCI

Check your wattage draw from the wall or just ignore your electric bill.

 

[Zap]

For whole system stability, you need the CPU, RAM and GPU stable. Then, you need a stable PSU that can power them all at peak, all at the same time.

Regarding voltages, I think it may just be an ASRock thing. The Asus P6P67 I picked up only goes to 1.32V at 4.5GHz on auto, and when idling drops to under 1v.

 

[Bryf50]

If you use Offset to set the cpu voltage it will correctly lower it when your idle.

 

[Spike]

If you use Offset to set the cpu voltage it will correctly lower it when your idle.

How does the offset work? Is it offset from stock or offset from oc voltage?

 

[Bryf50]

How does the offset work? Is it offset from stock or offset from oc voltage?

Ive been trying to figure that out myself. With my offset at -.01 my voltage is 1.267 at load.

 

[Spike]

Ive been trying to figure that out myself. With my offset at -.01 my voltage is 1.267 at load.

Have you changed any other voltage or power draw settings?

I just finished 8 hours of prime, no warnings or errors. Guess it's onto the next test...

BTW, is it an issue to leave the cpu at 1.28v all the time, even when downclocked? Will that hurt it in the long run?

 

[Spike]

Just finished LinX using the default settings for 20 runs, no errors. I'll give it a longer go later once I do some ram testing.

 

[Dadofamunky]

So I've been goofing off with this new build and here is what I'm looking at so far. I just finished a 1 hour OCCT pass running it at 44x with a vcore of 1.28 in the bios (1.28 - 1.3 in windows according to CPU-Z and the Asrock utility). Like Anand in his review article I had to enable speed step and change the long draw power max to 110w (up from 95w) and I changed the short draw to 120w. This allowed me to pass the tests without the cpu downclocking to 39-41x.

Now I'm not sure what else to do to make sure the whole setup is stable. When I was just goofing off BF:BC2 crashed (after 2+ hours of playing) while I was only at 40x but with a vcore of 1.32 so maybe the vcore was too high? I'm worried I'm OCCT stable but not game stable but, apart from playing the game for hours, I don't know a good way to prove that.

Also, when I left everything in auto the board would increase the vcore to as high as 1.38 with just a 40x OC (same thing Anand said) which was too high for my tastes. However, the one thing I liked was at auto it would drop the vcore to .9something when the cpu downclocked. Now it's locked at 1.28 when downclocked and 1.3 when full load which has me worried.

For reference I'm using a corsair A70 running at 1600rpm (using the included resistor wires) I idle 32-33c and hit 62-64c under load. These temps seem acceptable for me but I'm unfamiler with the thermal max of these chips. I always hated my E8400 to get that high...

Thanks for any help and sorry for the rambling post. Too many hours...

EDIT - Just finshed 35 runs with the intel burn test. Took 660 seconds (fastest run was 14.653, whatever that means) and my temps got up to 67c, so slightly higher than with OCCT. I think I'm going to run some prime overnight and see what happens.

Sounds like you're doing really well. 35 runs of IBT is a very good sign. You're passing every test including LinX. Based on what I'm seeing around here, 20-30 runs of LinX are plenty to establish that your system is running solid. The temps are right in the ballpark too from everything else I've been hearing. I'd save your current block of settings (I presume the board has a BIOS/UEFI feature for that, I'll be finding out for myself quite soon) and then start tinkering around the edges - lower the CPU voltage a notch, raise the multi one notch, stuff like that.

1.28V should be just dandy.

 

[Bryf50]

Have you changed any other voltage or power draw settings?

I just finished 8 hours of prime, no warnings or errors. Guess it's onto the next test...

BTW, is it an issue to leave the cpu at 1.28v all the time, even when downclocked? Will that hurt it in the long run?

The only thing i changed was the voltage offset and the multiplier. I left speedstep and all the c states stock. Set up this way the cpu rarely runs at the full 4.6ghz and load voltage.

If you play with the offset you should be able to get the same load voltage and it will lower it when your idle.

 

[Spike]

I let memtest HCI run for about an hour (3 instances) and all checked out. I'm running out of tests to run...

 

[SHAQ]

Did you stop at 4.4? I'm curious if you could go much higher.

 

[Spike]

Did you stop at 4.4? I'm curious if you could go much higher.

So far yeah, I stopped. I tried playing with the voltage offset to try and get my vcore to drop when the cpu downclocks but that resulted in bsods so I said screw it and stuck with a static 1.28v.

With the OCCT load temps as high as 67 and gaming temps as high as 59 I decided to stop. I will most likely give it a try again come summer when my office is as warm as it will get. That will then show me my true max temp as it can get as hot as 88f in here. I'm also planning on getting a better case if/when I can afford one. That will give me better airflow due to the case itself and a much cleaner build. I hope with increased airflow I can push to 4.6 and keep my load temps constant but we will see.