How would you OC my i5?

[wilds]

I need a lot more single-threaded performance, and I really don't care about abusing this chip.

The majority of the games I play load all the AI and other things onto 1 core and is is always around 100% cpu usage. Increasing core clocks would help, but I require extremely high voltage for stability.

i5-4690k
4.4 @ ~ 1.2v (sig)
4.5 @ ~ 1.27v
4.6 @ ~ 1.33v
4.7 @ ~ 1.39v
4.8 @ ~ Not brave lol


I have a Noctua DH-15 (overkill I know, but it sure works well with high-voltage!)
I can game at 4.7 GHz at nearly 1.4v, with core temps around the mid 50's C.

Will my chip degrade quickly if I run a constant 4.7 GHz? Have been at 4.4 GHz 99% of the time with excellent temps and no throttling even with extreme stress tests. At 4.7 Ghz with high voltage, running Prime95, LinX, etc. is pointless to ensure stability as I will throttle due to temps.

I got this i5 to mainly game and I need much more single-threaded performance; every MHz counts.

I wish I could disable core 2 (0,1,2,3) as that is the weakest core by far. It will fail stability tests while the other 3 cores are fine unless I up my voltage by a lot. If I could somehow disable that core, I bet I could reach 4.8 GHz for 3 cores at a lower voltage than I can do 4.7 GHz for 4 cores.

 

[Burpo]

You're not going to get "much more" single thread performance. That chip already has very high single thread performance. Run it @ 4.6Ghz & be happy (or get an i7-4790k)..

 

[wilds]

You're not going to get "much more" single thread performance. That chip already has very high single thread performance. Run it @ 4.6Ghz & be happy (or get an i7-4790k)..

Yeah I suppose 4.6 GHz is the highest Intel would 'recommend' me to go... Thanks for the advice. I can't seem to get nowhere near enough single-threaded performance though. Maybe I should get a G3258, some LN2, and game for short intervals.

 

[schmuckley]

That chip has about as good of single-thread performance as it gets.
Try OCing RAM

 

[DrMrLordX]

If you need a lot more single-threaded performance, you might do better on LGA2011 since the chips there have more L3 per core than your i5. Whether or not L3 is your primary issue is up to you to decide.

If you are serious about more mega-hurts, and are willing to do anything to get there . . .

1). Delid that sucker! Improved TIM my butt, CLU on the die is gonna be better than that stuff. Relid unless you're willing to haxx the mounting mechanism to account for the new mount point (major pita).

2). Lap the IHS, but just to get rid of the nickel plating.

3). Switch to CLU if you aren't using it already. Or use Indigo Xtreme, it's even better.

4). Get better fans than the stock ones. The stock ones are good, but you can get better cooling with fans that (unfortunately) will also be noiser. Go tri-fan if you can swing it, preferably with 2x38mmx120mmx120mm and 1x25mmx120mmx120mm.

5). If money is no object, skip 4 (or add to it) by getting better cooling. An h240-x or a custom loop will get your temps down even further. If you go custom water, don't bother with the relid, just stick the block straight on the die. There are more extreme options, though few of them are suitable for 24/7 clocks/volts of any stripe. Chilled water and phase come to mind. If you go phase, I do not know if CLU or IX are really the best choice, so do your homework.

Bottom line: if you are volt-limited, then you've got to apply superior cooling and hope for the best. You might buy yourself a few hundred extra mhz within a suitable range of voltages.

 

[Stuka87]

You should be able to hit a higher speed at 1.2v with a 4690K. I am at 1.2v at 4.5 and its rock solid. Do you REALLY need 1.4v at 4.7?? That seems really high for an i5. Would make sense with an i7, they need more voltage for the same clock speed.

 

[flexy]

I would keep it at 4.6 and be happy. Everything else is "1st world problem", not that you would see a difference between 4.5-4.8 anyway. I personally wouldn't go higher than 1.35 on air anyway, respective I would worry about degradation in the range of 1.4 V+/- just for 100mhz more or so. Just silly.

 

[flexy]

uhm..disabling a core for 100mhz more...REALLY?

I personally would say CAUTION! when thinking about delidding, I once almost destroyed my CPU in an attempt. Yes, it's true, delidding will make your CPU run cooler, but it won't make it require less voltage at, say, 4.8Ghz. You will likely still face you'd need 1.45V for 4.8G (IF you get it stable, that is)..so degradation etc. would still be a concern, whether delidded or not. How's the old saying going...it's voltage that kills CPUs, not temps.

>
Will my chip degrade quickly if I run a constant 4.7 GHz?
>>

I don't *think* it will degrade "quickly" but I personally would go for 4.6G rather than shoving 1.4V into the CPU just for 100mhz. Also, I think you run it very much "borderline" and should keep some headroom up open to be safe. Note that 1.4V + 0.1V (from AVX2 instructions etc.) is already 1.5V, and chips HAVE been killed at 1.5V. Don't be a fool running at 1.4 ish and do stress-testing and then wonder why your CPU blows out. (Yes sounds dramatic but it did happen to some).

 

[wilds]

Haha, I wasn't entirely serious about disabling a core... But delidding is probably the most cost effective approach I suppose. I have a cheapo Haswell Celeron I could practice on. Would delidding help lower the amount of needed voltage for stability? I'm more concerned about slowly damaging the chip if I am at a high voltage for anything that loads the CPU.

I'll try to see how low I can go on voltage for 4.6 GHz, but it isn't pretty. My i5 isn't a 'golden chip' exactly... I only do the serious stress tests below throttling point which is right about where I'm at now with my current OC.

My other option would be to buy the unlocked Pentium and delid that. These specific applications that demand as much single-threaded performance as possible are actually quite old. I'm not looking for an aggressive overclock 24/7, but these legacy games were released before quad/hex/octo cores were mainstream.

I would be really interested to see how a similarly clocked 5960x along with DDR4 perform on these older RTS games. If the extra cache does indeed help far more than a few hundred MHz, I would be surprised! Definitely not worth the money at that point for some ancient games.

I'll spend a few hours honing in 4.6 GHz tomorrow.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Delidding does come at a serious risk for damaging the CPU, but then, so does 1.4v vcore. If you absolutely must have more single-threaded performance, well, you take your chances and you live with the results.

You may or may not be able to drop voltes at any given clockspeed post delid. Lowering temps should have that effect, but nothing is guaranteed, and it may take subzero cooling before you can really observe that effect to any appreciable degree.

Before adopting the G3258, please remember that they are not binned very aggressively compared to the K quads, so you might actually experience inferior voltage characteristics at or near 4.8 ghz with one of those as compared to your i5. It's the silicon lottery.

Otherwise, you're really kind of stuck at the point where no commercially-available product can consistently be relied upon to produce better single-threaded performance than what you've got already. Cooling is about the only area left where you can experience gains. And, for legacy software, it may not get any better with Broadwell or Skylake. We have no idea what kinds of frequencies we'll see from those chips.

 

[soccerballtux]

well, I would start by increasing the frequency, and go from there

 

[soccerballtux]

1.2 to 1.27 is a big jump when the subsequent jumps are only 0.5 and 0.6

 

[Yuriman]

Delidding my i5 dropped temps more than 20c at 4.6ghz+, but I found my max overclock and required voltage didn't change. If I knew that before I did it, I probably would have left it alone so it would be easier to resell used and upgrade to a newer Intel platform.

 

[Deders]

I'd have it running at 3.6

 

[Charlie98]

Before adopting the G3258, please remember that they are not binned very aggressively compared to the K quads, so you might actually experience inferior voltage characteristics at or near 4.8 ghz with one of those as compared to your i5. It's the silicon lottery.

^^^This, based on my experience.

 

[Stuka87]

Delidding a Devil's Canyon offers much smaller gains than with other chips. You will most likely see a ~5-8C drop. Which just isn't worth it IMHO.

 

[wilds]

Delidding my i5 dropped temps more than 20c at 4.6ghz+, but I found my max overclock and required voltage didn't change. If I knew that before I did it, I probably would have left it alone so it would be easier to resell used and upgrade to a newer Intel platform.

Thanks for the info. It sounds like with temperature drop it would be easier to run stability tests. But not worth the risk.

Buying the unlocked Pentium could be a decent idea if I purchase one from one of those companies selling pre-binned OCd Intel Chips. A 5.0 GHz dual core would provide a good boost to performance.

These older games I play are excellent for multiplayer. We usually host the game on my desktop as that will provide the smoothest experience until core 0 starts to hit 100% usage; due to thousands and thousands of units...

Maybe we need to find a newer large scale RTS game with proper multi threading as we do need far more performance than a couple hundred MHz. I'll be patiently waiting for Broadwell-K to see if it is a worthy upgrade or not.

 

[Techhog]

Thanks for the info. It sounds like with temperature drop it would be easier to run stability tests. But not worth the risk.

Buying the unlocked Pentium could be a decent idea if I purchase one from one of those companies selling pre-binned OCd Intel Chips. A 5.0 GHz dual core would provide a good boost to performance.

These older games I play are excellent for multiplayer. We usually host the game on my desktop as that will provide the smoothest experience until core 0 starts to hit 100% usage; due to thousands and thousands of units...

Maybe we need to find a newer large scale RTS game with proper multi threading as we do need far more performance than a couple hundred MHz. I'll be patiently waiting for Broadwell-K to see if it is a worthy upgrade or not.

Based on rumors, Skylake-K may come before the end of the year. Since you have extreme needs, you want either Skylake-K or Broadwell-E.