First Overclock - Need Advice

[p4ck3tl055]

So I've been running my new rig for about two weeks - without really tweaking anything. Everything has been working fine. But now I want to overclock the thing and see what I can get out of it.

My signature says it all, hardware wise.

This afternoon (around 6:00pm) I set the machine to run at 4.5 GHz, following this guide. Doing so I have set the machine to run at 4.5 GHZ in offset mode and it appears stable.

"Stable" to me means that it hasn't blue-screened, I've not had CPU temps hit 80° C and I've not seen the VCore hit 1.5V yet. I ran the guide's "Prime Test" for 5 minutes and the temps hit 70 and the VCore hit 1.2209 (from Coretemp).

I'm wondering two things:

1). Since I can't seem to control Prime 95 so that it will run for an exact amount of time and it doesn't keep track of things like OCCT, can I substitute OCCT's Linkpack test for the "Prime Test"?

2). If No. 1 is true, then how long would the test need to be run to deem the overclock stable?

Once I do this and get the overclock steady at 4.5 GHz, I may try for 4.6 GHz. I know that's asking a lot on air, but I can try, right?

 

[p4ck3tl055]

Tonight, I pressed on with my overclocking tests. I'm now using the following settings:

Offset Method
All Cores 4.5GHz (45 x 100MHz)
Additional Turbo Voltage: +0.004V
Offset Voltage: +0.010V
CPU Load-Line Calibration: Level 3

I've also set all of the fans that are controlled by the motherboard to use their most aggressive speed curves (Level 9). This makes the system noisy, but I'm trying to protect the CPU while running the stress tests.

After reading this board a bit, I discovered LinX and HCI Memtest, as recommended by IDontCare, and I've been using Linx to stress test my overclock tonight. So far I've run 3 iterations - mainly because I'm about to go to bed and do not want to leave this unattended - and the configuration has passed.

My observations: VCore is peaking at 1.208v. Temps are up, peaking at 89°C.

My goal for tomorrow: at least 5 runs of LinX and some documentation.

Anyone else think 89° is a bit too high?

 

[BrightCandle]

Its quite high. Run realtemp and it will tell you how far you are away from thermal throttling, I suspect you aren't far away at all.

 

[guskline]

So I've been running my new rig for about two weeks - without really tweaking anything. Everything has been working fine. But now I want to overclock the thing and see what I can get out of it.

My signature says it all, hardware wise.

This afternoon (around 6:00pm) I set the machine to run at 4.5 GHz, following this guide. Doing so I have set the machine to run at 4.5 GHZ in offset mode and it appears stable.

"Stable" to me means that it hasn't blue-screened, I've not had CPU temps hit 80° C and I've not seen the VCore hit 1.5V yet. I ran the guide's "Prime Test" for 5 minutes and the temps hit 70 and the VCore hit 1.2209 (from Coretemp).

I'm wondering two things:

1). Since I can't seem to control Prime 95 so that it will run for an exact amount of time and it doesn't keep track of things like OCCT, can I substitute OCCT's Linkpack test for the "Prime Test"?

2). If No. 1 is true, then how long would the test need to be run to deem the overclock stable?

Once I do this and get the overclock steady at 4.5 GHz, I may try for 4.6 GHz. I know that's asking a lot on air, but I can try, right?

What cpu cooler are you using?

 

[p4ck3tl055]

What cpu cooler are you using?

I'm using a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo - single fan configuration with the stock fan.

 

[p4ck3tl055]

Its quite high.

I suspected as much...

Run realtemp and it will tell you how far you are away from thermal throttling

I'll do that during tonight's testing.

 

[p4ck3tl055]

Quote:
Originally Posted by BrightCandle
Run realtemp and it will tell you how far you are away from thermal throttling
I'll do that during tonight's testing.

I was able to get RealTemp installed this morning and I ran it very quickly before I left for work.

It reported TjMAX Temp for my CPU as 105°C - which means at 89°, I have 16° of head room.

One thing that puzzles me...it seems for such low voltages that my peak temp is very high. Other than the temp, it appears as though everything is in order - low Vcore (1.2V), no WHEA complaints, no BSODs and, until I started using LinX, I never saw anything above 80°C in the temps.

 

[guskline]

I've found on the CM Hyper 212+ or 212 Evo adding a second fan drops the temps a few degrees. I just bought a 3770k and have it cooled with a ThermalTake Water 2.0 Pro. I settled on 44 x 100. I could run 45 x 100 but temps started to climb. I would keep your chip at 44 x 100 and be happy. You will always read of a few posters who have their chips at 4.9 or 5.0 and claim perfect stability. I'm not so sure how they define perfect stability. For air cooling 44 x100 is very good on a 3570k.

You have a FAST and Excellent gaming system. Keep in mind that at your stable setting of 44 x100 you are 1 Ghz faster than stock. In my book that's a FAST oc.

 

[p4ck3tl055]

You have a FAST and Excellent gaming system. Keep in mind that at your stable setting of 44 x100 you are 1 Ghz faster than stock. In my book that's a FAST oc.

One thing's for certain: I've been extremely happy getting this level of performance for $600. Even at 3.4GHz, this machine is very nice. I think I will drop back down to 4.4GHz and call it good. At least until I can get better cooling on the situation.

I really didn't like all the fan noise at 4.5GHz anyway.

I've already started saving again. I'll add Liquid Cooling and an SSD to the mix for its next upgrade.

Thanks for all the help folks!

 

[Redoitall]

One thing's for certain: I've been extremely happy getting this level of performance for $600. Even at 3.4GHz, this machine is very nice. I think I will drop back down to 4.4GHz and call it good. At least until I can get better cooling on the situation.

I really didn't like all the fan noise at 4.5GHz anyway.

I've already started saving again. I'll add Liquid Cooling and an SSD to the mix for its next upgrade.

Thanks for all the help folks!

One thing's for certain: I've been extremely happy getting this level of performance for $600. Even at 3.4GHz, this machine is very nice. I think I will drop back down to 4.4GHz and call it good. At least until I can get better cooling on the situation.

I really didn't like all the fan noise at 4.5GHz anyway.

I've already started saving again. I'll add Liquid Cooling and an SSD to the mix for its next upgrade.

Thanks for all the help folks!

Hello, the cooler that you have is not bad at all. Your problem is that your are overclocking IVY bridge. you would have to probably go down to 4.1 GHZ unless you delidd the chip and use Liquid Metal Pro on die to IHS. There is a great post by IDONCARE about 3770k delidding. There are also several videos online that would give you tons of info on how to cool down your chip therefore dropping temps from 10 to 35 celsius. If you decide to do it please do not hesitate to ask for help. This forum has been great to me as far as delidding my chip as there is so much to learn from. Please look at my post as well on 3770k delidded update. The temp difference is unreal from before and after.

 

[Redoitall]

PS//Do not forget to check your event viewer under windows to check for WHEA errors as they give you a very good indication for stability on your system