i5 2500k gene-z mobo overclocking (a50 heatsink)

[Svartalfar]

I'm using an a50 for cooling, is this sufficent to overclock to about 4.7 with? I don't plan on ever going any higher, but would like to reach 4.7 without having any worries... I notice that the republic of gamers/Asus plate located on the bottom right of the motherboard seems to get very hot, is this normal? is the plate itself there to absorb heat? my a50 is already blocking one of my ram slots (dont need it anyway) and quite possibly one of my video card slots(only need one anyway) i'm assuming that since it's crowding some of my slots that the cooling will be sufficent?
I don't know much about overclocking at all, voltages, or anything of that matter, I just bought this computer and would love to learn how to do it properly and what i need to change in order to hit 4.7 comfortably without screwing anything up. I hear the ROG/maximus boards are the best for overclocking as well as the i5 2500k and i7 2600k, any advice or help would be more than appreciated, if pictures of my setup are needed i will gladly post them.

I'm using a Corsair 600T Graphite case
Corsair 950W PSU
Asus Maximus Gene-z Motherboard
G.Skill ripjaws 4GB
i5 2500k processor
a50 Heatsink
(No video card yet, saving for gtx 590)

Any advice, or specific details on what exactly to change and how to overclock would be more than appreciated, just spent 1200$ on a new system and wanna see what this baby has in store for me.

 

[Svartalfar]

When I load prime and im at 100% load my multiplier is 37, maxed at 3.7 GHZ, 1.192V for core voltage and my core temperatures are around 45-48C. Just need to know what to change, where to change it, and how far I can go.

 

[Blitz KriegeR]

You should be able to take the Vcore up to 1.3 or 1.35 safely with no worries. That should get you into the 4.2-4.6 range depending on your chip. Just watch the temps and test stability. Turbo gets kind of tricky to tune at this level of OC though.

 

[Zap]

I don't know much about overclocking at all, voltages, or anything of that matter, I just bought this computer and would love to learn how to do it properly and what i need to change in order to hit 4.7 comfortably without screwing anything up.

Let me give you your first lesson.

1) There are no guarantees in overclocking.

Got that? This means your setup may hit 4.7GHz without breaking a sweat, or it may struggle to even reach 4.5GHz. It may overclock nicely on default voltage, or you may have to push huge voltage through to get anywhere. If you go into overclocking with preconceptions on what clock speeds you will attain, unless you choose conservative numbers you WILL eventually be disappointed.

Here are some other lessons.

2) People who report super high overclocks on forums are bragging because they are above the curve. For everyone like this, there are dozens more who don't bother posting in forums because they get "average" overclocks.

3) Sometimes people bragging about super high overclocks are not so concerned with the longevity of their hardware, nor about the stability.

4) Sometimes people luck out with their stuff, or are able to choose the best. I've personally done that. For instance many years ago I was able to choose the best overclocking Celeron 366 for myself out of probably 50 CPUs. Most recently, I was able to choose the best Core i7 975X for myself out of a tray of 10. Thus, I can be bragging about my super duper overclocks, but you very likely will NOT attain them. Oh yeah, I also used to have a GTX 285 that was the absolute BEST overclocker out of... many thousands. I am not kidding. Had a team that did basic screening to get the best few dozen cards out of the bunch, then I personally screened them for the ONE absolute best (considering all three aspects of core/shader/memory clocks).

As for your setup, aim for 4.4GHz first, because that's much more attainable at reasonable voltages than 4.7GHz. Your first step should be to raise the Turbo multiplier in the UEFI to 44x for all cores and see if it works. Leave all other settings alone (on default or AUTO) for now.

 

[grkM3]

most sandys will do 4.6 with ease.

 

[Svartalfar]

Very useful information and thank you very much zap for taking your time out to educate me. Oddly enough it is already running at 3.7 and I haven't done anything to it.. I go into the EZ Mode and put it on optimal and it even pushes it to 3.85 ghz, i have an extra fan mid-case to keep everything cool and my temperatures are lower than most people with my setup due to my case/proper positioning of fans... I hear with my setup people overclock to 4.7 comfortably but I will take your advice and I do agree with everything your saying man. I want this to last, and I want it to be as strong as it can without damaging anything. My room is already hot to begin with, buying an air conditioner soon :S

Now, when I change the multiplier, is that the ONLY setting that i'd be changing? will I need to increase voltage first?

Also what are the maximum temperatures that your cores, and your cpu should be at while idling, and also while overclocking? I get so many different responses I don't know who to trust anymore, and people here seem to know what they are doing.

once again, thank you guys for your support and even though it is just a thank you from a message, it means more to me IRL that you guys take ur time out to help me. im thankful for what i have, and for you guys.

 

[Zap]

Now, when I change the multiplier, is that the ONLY setting that i'd be changing? will I need to increase voltage first?

The voltage defaults to auto, and it will raise itself as you increase multiplier.

As an aside, last night I installed a Corsair A50 for the first time.
PRO: Very easy install. Bolt through bracket was about the easiest I've seen.
CON: No PWM fan. The fan is a 3-pin that runs at 2000RPM. Most motherboards are unable to control a 3-pin. It comes with an inline resistor that drops it to 1600RPM, still pretty noisy. The last pic in the installation manual shows a 4-pin PWM fan plugged in to the motherboard header. 😵

EDITED to fix quote tags.

 

[Svartalfar]

Is that bad that it only goes to 2000RPM?? and I should not increase it even if i have the capability to? ill be straight with you and say that i have extra fans in my case helping airflow trumendously, i took my video card at 64C running the other day and bumped it down to 49C with a full load for over an hour, it idles at about 27C, my temps seem to be dropping and my computer is almost cold as ice. cooling isn't my issue anymore I don't believe. but if 2000RPM is low/average and its not normal to not be able to increase it, then maybe i should look for a new one..

 

[Zap]

Haha, no, IMO 2000RPM is too high for me. I like my computers to be lower noise. The great thing with Sandy Bridge CPUs is that they don't get all that hot.

Your overclock will not be limited by heat, but by how much voltage you are willing to put through the poor CPU. Nobody knows for sure how much voltage it can actually handle in the long term. Short term, probably all of them will hit 4.7GHz+ with enough voltage. So then, why can't everyone just pump up the voltage and go for the clocks? Well, plenty of examples from the past of CPUs dying prematurely. I think this was first an issue back in the Pentium 4 days. Look up Sudden Northwood Death Syndrome for the early examples. Back then these new Pentium 4 CPUs seemingly were all huge overclockers and everyone was gleefully pumping big voltage through them. After 6-12 months, CPUs started to die.

 

[blackened23]

1) Read this: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1578110 Pretty good guide for BIOS settings / overclocking on asus motherboards

2) Understand the risks of overclocking, don't be careless. Just because it works today doesn't mean it won't die in 6 months.

3) Don't get reckless with your vcore

4) 350$ motherboard with a 20$ cooler ? 😱

5) #1 is for a different motherboard, but your bios settings will be similar.

6) if you see a youtube video with a 5.2ghz overclock @ 1.5vcore stay far away