First PC, how do I overclock 4790k Devil's Canyon?

[PIC Master Race]

I have an As Rock mobo that has its own CPU OC section in the bios. I think it lets you manually change the CPU speed from 4,000hz to whatever you want. I was just scared to put it higher because I didn't know how high, and if I would also have to change other things to keep it in balance. Is that all I have to change, or other things also?

What I want in terms of OC to start is just a very safe, conservative overclock, definitely not something to push the limits or risk the CPU in any way, especially since I'm worried I touched the naughty place with my fingers where the cooling paste goes, and then left it there for a month before finishing building the PC. At least the CPU cooler, Hyper Evo 212's, fan is spinning, but I also thought I read something about copper direct cooling or something which I have no idea how to do.

But if anyone could tell me a good conservative overclock, and what all I need to change (I also did change the ram from 1333 the default in the bios to 1600 since I got 1600 ram), that would be very helpful!

 

[Burpo]

You didn't specify which ASRock board you have, but usually, just enabling XMP memory profile will get you a mild overclock, easy & safe.

 

[PIC Master Race]

You didn't specify which ASRock board you have, but usually, just enabling XMP memory profile will get you a mild overclock, easy & safe.

Sorry that's my fault. It is the AS Rock z97 Fatal1ty Professional. Not that I know anything about this, but if the rebate is still available on newegg, I found after extensive research that it seemed to be the best fit, for the money with the rebate, if you want one that allows multiple SLI and has every other possibility built into it.

As for XMP memory, not sure I saw that, but I can do that. It also had options for enhancing all sorts of things, or whatever the word is, just tons of options I had no idea what any of them were. I didn't want to mess anything up.

On a side note, I had no idea there was a month expiration on lots of newegg rebates on items I bought. I lost $200 not sending the rebates in on time. Do you know if newegg is "cool" and would give me credit or certificates or resend me some of the rebates if I went to customer service about it?

By the way this is actually my ram: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231589

It says 2400. I only set it to 1600. Should I put it 2400?

Also, does it matter if I didn't put the two ram sticks into subsequent slots? It said on the bios that I had one in "A1" slot, then "A2" was empty, then I had the other in the "B1"s lot, if I remember. So they weren't next to each other. Does that matter?

Oh, and I remember something about having ram above 1.5 voltage being bad? These have 1.65 voltage. Is that okay with a 4790k, z97 mobo, and 980 ti? I definitely have a powerful enough PSU, it's 1050 I think, but let me know if that ram is okay or if I need to keep it lower to keep the voltage safe.

And do I need to go back in the bios to change the ram setting to 2400, if that's what I should put it at, or can I do it from windows 7 now that it's installed?

Oh and you mentioned ram is easy overclock, but what about the cpu itself? Is that not worth it or can I do that safely too? Because I have a 1440p, 144hz monitor that I want to play games on max settings with, so I'll probably need every ounce of CPU and GPU power I can get. I have the MSI 980TI 6G specifically which tested above the Titan in some benchmarks, but I don't know if even the Titan could do ultra at 1440/144?

 

[poohbear]

4790k doesn't have much over clocking headroom. It's already 4ghz stock & 4.4ghz turbo. Asrock (all other mobo companies) will give u an option to let the 4790k run @ 4.4ghz 24/7 and without much voltage increase. Choose that option in the bios & ure good to go.

 

[cbn]

On a side note, I had no idea there was a month expiration on lots of newegg rebates on items I bought. I lost $200 not sending the rebates in on time. Do you know if newegg is "cool" and would give me credit or certificates or resend me some of the rebates if I went to customer service about it?

Some rebates actually need to be sent in even quicker than 30 days, so keep your eyes peeled for that as well.

Better yet, make a little list of the items you are buying and how soon the rebate needs to be sent out. That is what I do.

 

[Burpo]

Make sure you have the latest bios for your board. You can get it here, or Flash from within Bios over the internet.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Fatal1ty Z97 Professional/?cat=Download&os=BIOS

Here's a "Walk thru" of the bios of your board.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyQ5LvNgUEE

Here's an overclock guide for a similar board & while I don't agree with some of this guys practices, it is a place to start and will help familiarize you with some settings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cOBaW_9U3A

As I said, just loading the XMP profile is safe & the easiest way to overclock.
Good luck!

 

[Insomniator]

Unless you are specifically interested in overclocking as a hobby, there is no need to OC a 4790k... for any reason really. Not right now at least.

 

[Flapdrol1337]

Hey, you might get 7% extra performance

 

[PIC Master Race]

4790k doesn't have much over clocking headroom. It's already 4ghz stock & 4.4ghz turbo. Asrock (all other mobo companies) will give u an option to let the 4790k run @ 4.4ghz 24/7 and without much voltage increase. Choose that option in the bios & ure good to go.

Will this just be called turbo or what setting should I look for under what section? OC section probably?

And yeah I already messed up all the rebates. Do you think they will give me any credit or help me out in any way like that or do I have no chance of saving that money now?

And yeah it said I didn't have flash when it wanted to test my internet connection speed. Do I need flash (for games) or can I not bother with it?

Also I think my computer is still using the AS Rock mobo's built in graphics. How do I activate the 980 ti? I hope I plugged it in right. It has a light on, I clicked the card into the long wide connector on the left side, and then put one screw in the only hole I saw on the far left side to secure it. Because I cant figure out anywhere to screw it on the right side, the right side sags down slightly, Im not sure if that's normal. Anyway I plugged into the two 8pin cables into the right side of the graphics card and sent them to the PSU. Is that it? Or do you also need to run another cord from the GPU to the mobo even though the GPU is already stuck to the MOBO kind of like the ram sticks are over the thin horizontal PCEI thing?

As for XMP, it gave me xmp profile 1 and xmp profile 2 to choose from. It said above that menu that both were 2400 hz and everything looked the same, so I chose 1... But, in addition to xmp, right below it lets you set "DRAM" ... speed ... or something. And it lets you choose auto or do it manually. Do I also need to set this to 2400, or just leave it on auto?

 

[PIC Master Race]

Oh and I seem to recall reading something about letting your CPU or GPU, I forget which, run for a few hours clean, doing nothing, to warm up the computer and get it going to get best performance out of it. I mean, I didnt do anything intensive on the computer, but I didnt do that either. And the first day it's been on, I've had it on 12 hours straight to download Fallout 4... is that okay?

 

[Flapdrol1337]

Oh and I seem to recall reading something about letting your CPU or GPU, I forget which, run for a few hours clean, doing nothing, to warm up the computer and get it going to get best performance out of it. I mean, I didnt do anything intensive on the computer, but I didnt do that either. And the first day it's been on, I've had it on 12 hours straight to download Fallout 4... is that okay?

Some thermal paste has a break in period, but since you're not overclocking I wouldn't worry about such things.

 

[PIC Master Race]

Some thermal paste has a break in period, but since you're not overclocking I wouldn't worry about such things.

Well, I would like to set it from 4,000hz to 4,400hz if that can be done very easily without any strain on the system. But should I wait a few days before I do that?

 

[LTC8K6]

Well, I would like to set it from 4,000hz to 4,400hz if that can be done very easily without any strain on the system. But should I wait a few days before I do that?

Just set the max multiplier to 44 and set your ram speed.

I believe that's all I did with mine.