i5 2500K Overclocking - Need Assistance from you fellow ATers!

[Cookie Monster]

Hi guys,

I recently pulled the trigger for upgrading my current rig to an SB one by upgrading the core components (CPU/mobo/ram) to an i5 2500k/Asus P8Z68V Pro Gen3/4x2 Corsair Vengeance memory. It will be shipped tomorrow to my office (cant wait!) so I made this thread to prepare myself and grab some advice so that I might have a less rough time in getting use to the new platform.

Now its been awhile since Ive played with a new CPU before (wheres my FSB???) and im not afraid to admit that Im a overclocking newb when it comes to anything either than circa FSB based chips.

Im thinking of overclocking the i5 to 4.4~4.5GHz using the corsair H80, and need some basic steps of what settings I should be looking at. I remember tweaking the P5Q deluxe was time consuming due to all the GTLs and what not. Not sure if its going to be the same.

Also with regards to the Asus board, whats this dual boot issue I keep hearing about? Any other none overclocking settings that needs attention?

And finally, worth installing the Asus AI suite? I always assumed this to be some bloatware with pretty/clunky (not in my eyes) GUI that does worse then your old trusted BIOs settings) or UEFI now?)

Man im behind the times..

I will keep updating this thread as I will work on the new platform starting from tomorrow.

 

[Kenmitch]

Your 2500k overclocking adventure will be short but in the end effective. Not like the old days when you had to play around with alot of settings. Most of the time it's just upping the multiplier and taking a little controll of the vcore as the MB will wanna most likely feed too much.

You can look at the following link while you wait for your stuff. It has alot of screenshots that should get you off to a good start. Most likely you'll just have to up the multiplier to 44-45 and take controll of the vcore with the offset voltage. Well other than setting up your memory and disabling the things in bios you don't wanna use such as marvell controller, etc.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1012874/the-official-asus-p8p67-p8z68-p8z68-gen3-series-owners-club

Dual boot issue? Or do you mean the double posting to set clocks more accurately? This can be disabled if so.

The Asus AI suite isn't needed and looks to be useless to me. I tried it last night just to see if it showed more voltages but it didn't. I wouldn't waste the time or space on it. Just use the standard things like cpuz, realtemp, etc for monitoring your temps and vcore, etc.

Good luck and have some fun with your adventure.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Ah thanks for that link!

So many issues with this board it seems although half of them seem to be BIOs related.

Yea, I thought so in regards to the AI suite.

Btw, what settings are you using for your overclock?

 

[Kenmitch]

I'm running at 4.6ghz currently with vcore of 1.37-1.38v at load. I'm running at 102.3 x 45 as I didn't need more vcore this way I'm using the Asus P8P67 Pro.

Only way to know if you'll have issues is to try. Maybe do on top of MB build just in case. That's what I do anyways.

 

[Puppies04]

If you are refering to the double post issue try changing the "option rom" setting to "keep current"

As for an overclock. Set manual voltage to 1.35 and multiplier to 45 (I would advise leaving FSB at 100) and see if it posts then run some stress tests keeping an eye on temps. If this doesn't work you can try adding a little more voltage but I wouldnt go over 1.4v. Oh and set LLC to high.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Question: Is it better to OC via the offset method (from the overclock.net guide) or manual?

So basically keep option rom setting to current, disable internal PLL overvoltage + updating to latest BIOs.

Do you guys also have your C3/C6 states enabled?

 

[mrjoltcola]

With a 2500K here are the voltages ranges to expect to explore:
4.4Ghz 1.29v - 1.315v
4.5Ghz 1.325v - 1.350v

If you find yourself stable at the low end of those voltages, you have a nice chip and might want to try 4.6-4.8. The better 2500Ks will go 4.8Ghz @ 1.35v, and run some nice cool temps at that. Voltage increases temperature more than frequency, so if you get nice low voltage stability, don't be afraid to try higher speeds.

The double booting issue that I'm familiar with (I have 5 different ASUS boards) are ASUS's BIOS being smart enough to retry booting if the first try fails. It will increase voltage and try again, rather than just failing. it isn't a big deal, takes 4-5 seconds more. How many times do you reboot anyway?

For what its worth, some of the newer boards (my Rampage Extreme IV for example) even have a boot voltage so you can explicitly set a voltage just for posting.

The AI suite is good, it isn't bloatware. It will give you nice warnings if your temps get out of range, which is something you want when overclocking. There are other softwares that do that too, but I haven't needed them, ASUS has their act together with their motherboard software.

Good luck, let us know how it goes!

 

[mrjoltcola]

I enable C1/C1E for processor throttling, you'll want to do that too. That'll downclock your proc to 1600Mhz while idle. But I disable C3 sleep modes, but thats just me. I need/want some of my machines on 24/7.

 

[Puppies04]

Question: Is it better to OC via the offset method (from the overclock.net guide) or manual?

So basically keep option rom setting to current, disable internal PLL overvoltage + updating to latest BIOs.

Do you guys also have your C3/C6 states enabled?

Personally I just use the manual voltage method. Internal PLL overvoltage only causes issues with windows coming out of sleep mode from what I know I turned it on and it seemed to stabilize my overclock on an earlier bios so I still have it on. My C3/C6 states are still enabled and they aren't causing any problems.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Looks like my stuff is here. Cant wait til work is finished!

@mrjoltcola: Thanks for the tip. Mind if I ask you the settings that you have used knowing that most Asus mobos have similiar BIOs options.

@Puppies04: I think i will try the offset first, and then try manual. Apparently using manual voltage causes higher variations in the vcore, so I will have to experiment with this.

 

[techdoc]

I have turned off hibernation to be on the safe side. I wouldn't hop to the dark side yet but there's a guy claiming that you can clock a cpu up to 7ghz. What's this deal, some kind of dual processor mb?

 

[Kenmitch]

Question: Is it better to OC via the offset method (from the overclock.net guide) or manual?

So basically keep option rom setting to current, disable internal PLL overvoltage + updating to latest BIOs.

Do you guys also have your C3/C6 states enabled?

I keep the c-states enabled. Offset voltage works for most and will let voltage drop at idle. Internal pll overvoltage is only needed at higher clocks.

Use something with AVX support for stress testing. Newest Intel burn test or latest prime.

Tip: Random bsod's under light loads = add a tic or two to vcore offset.

 

[Kenmitch]

The AI suite is good, it isn't bloatware. It will give you nice warnings if your temps get out of range, which is something you want when overclocking. There are other softwares that do that too, but I haven't needed them, ASUS has their act together with their motherboard software.

You can pick and choose during the install. I added all of it then looked if anything good. Deleted all of it as was no use to me.

 

[Cookie Monster]

In prime, what workloads do you use? large/small FFT or blend? And thanks for the tip. Ill probably do that then go onto intel burn test + daily usage to round of the stability test. Damn cant wait til I get home..

 

[Kenmitch]

In prime, what workloads do you use? large/small FFT or blend? And thanks for the tip. Ill probably do that then go onto intel burn test + daily usage to round of the stability test. Damn cant wait til I get home..

Start with Intel Burn Test first. It errors very quickly if unstable. Use default settings at first. If pass the 5 loops then try with Max memory. Watch the temps it hits hard! If errors up vcore 2 tics. If passes try longer runs maybe 25 if passes might be able to drop vcore a little. Try prime for long run overnight once stable on IBT. Maybe try OCCT also. If totally unstable from start test memory.

Tip: Intel Burn Test can somewhat be used to fine tune vcore. Pay attention to GFlop output as sometimes even tho stable GFlops increase with a little more vcore or sometimes a little more juice to the memory.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Wish me luck guys. Will post back with the results/progress!

 

[Cookie Monster]

Just got anything up and running again (without having to reinstall OS). So I think i will spend time overclocking tomorrow. Can already feel the difference in terms of responsiveness even without overclocking though

 

[Idontcare]

In prime, what workloads do you use? large/small FFT or blend? And thanks for the tip. Ill probably do that then go onto intel burn test + daily usage to round of the stability test. Damn cant wait til I get home..

Prime95 w/Large is a useful tool when checking your IMC and memory stability. Small is usefull for testing the CPU cores themselves but you are better off using LinX for that.

Checkout the sticky in this forum too.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Prime95 w/Large is a useful tool when checking your IMC and memory stability. Small is usefull for testing the CPU cores themselves but you are better off using LinX for that.

Checkout the sticky in this forum too.

Thanks IDC.

Im currently at 4.5GHz (target clock as it seems to be the sweet spot between performance and power consumption/heat) with the following settings:

CPU current capacity: 130%
BCLK: 100MHz
CPU Voltage: Offset mode
Offset mode sign: +
CPU offset voltage: 0.04V
VCCIO Voltage: 1.1V
Everything else at auto (with DRAM timing and voltage at fixed values)

Vcore seems to be at 1.361 according to coretemp/HWinfo64.

Now after intel burn test (with AVX - observation: this puts alot more stress than the original IBT..), I get a critical error popup after the last run completes. It says its due to missing executables software bug or unstable system? There were nothing abnormal during the test run. Have anyone encountered this before?

Im considering bumping the offset to 0.045 and seeing if the error goes away.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Well it looks like the GT240 card I had as the physx card was hindering my overclock and causing instabilities. Took that out and looks my chip is fine at 4.5GHz (~10 passes IBT with AVX and 8Hrs prime).

Question: The number of tests completed per worker on prime95 seems to be all over the place. Each core completed 670,660,650 and 557 tests. Im guessing the last one was due to the OS requiring it, but is this normal?

MY overclock is currently at 4.5GHz @ 1.344~1.368V (according to HWiNFO64). Is this safe for 24/7? I think I got a bum chip but maybe I could lower the vcore but not sure what to start fiddling with.

 

[LagunaX]

Offset mode is pretty nice.
On a P8P67 Vanilla with all power saving on and pll off (the rest on auto or optimized) I've run both a 2500k and 2600k at 4.8ghz prime stable.
Both would pass linX at 1.328v but both needed 1.344v for Prime95 x64 - Prime is my test as linX testing didn't truly give me a stable system.
Anyways the 2500k required an offset of 0.085v and the 2600k 1.05v.
At idle they drop to 0.95-1.1v on cpu-z - nicer than parking them at 1.344v all the time.
With realtemp, cpu-z, and prime95 try an offset of say 0.1v and see how high you can go while staying at less than 1.38v and/or 80 deg c.
Keep in mind CPU current capacity and everything else should be set at auto when trying this or you could seriously overvolt at 130 percent.
My cpu's are both pretty good but give it a go and good luck!

 

[LagunaX]

 

[Cookie Monster]

Ok, here are my results:

CPU current capacity: 130%
BCLK: 100MHz
CPU Voltage: Offset mode
Offset mode sign: +
CPU offset voltage: 0.025V

VRM Fixed Frequency Mode: 350
Phase control: Optimized (was extreme before)
Duty Control: Extreme
LLC: High

VCCIO Voltage: 1.1V
PCH Voltage: 1.1
Everything else at auto (with DRAM timing and voltage at fixed values)

Passed 20 runs of IBT with AVX. Max temps across the cores 75C mainly because my fans (noctua P12s) are running at 500rpm for the H80.

Lastly, 4.5GHz @ 1.344~1.368V. What do you guys think? its a good overclock?

C1E/C3/C6 all enabled (and my PC wakes up on boot, no idle BSOD so far)

 

[Cookie Monster]

@LagunaX: Im thinking that i have a bum chip since the VID was high even at stock..

 

[LagunaX]

No, that is just how the majority of the batches from the last quarter for 2500k/2600k/2700k have been. Predictably mediocre. That's why some on ebay or the forums advertise an "earlier' chip.
However, a 4.5ghz 24/7 quad is nothing to scoff at.
Try your above settings as such:

overclock tuner: XMP (but change it from 2t to 1t in the ram timings).
internal PLL overvoltage: disabled
EPU power saving mode: disabled

LLC: regular
CPU Voltage: Offset mode
Offset mode sign: +
CPU offset voltage: 0.09v

VRM Fixed Frequency Mode: enabled
Phase control: Optimized
Duty Control: t-probe


VCCIO Voltage: auto
PCH Voltage: auto
Everything else at auto (with DRAM timing and voltage at fixed values)

Figure out what offset will give you 1.37-1.38v under load.
Then try for 4.6ghz.