Need some help with my i5 2500k overclock

[stylez777]

Hey all I am in need of some help. (sorry don't have screen shots of anything since I am at work right now)

This is my first intel chip in a long while (last 3 chips I had were amd) and while overclocking these chips should be relativley easy I am having some issues.

I have read the intro guides to overclocking these and I also have experience overclocking my past 3 AMD chips.

I have an ASrock z68 extreme4 gen3 motherbaord with the newest bios 1.20 and the i5 2500k with the Cooler Master 212+ EVO. I first looked up what I could for guides of what others have done with this board and I tried to mimick their settings and I woudl run into issues of Windows 7 not loading, boot loops, BSOD running Prime95 or worker 1 stopping because it expected .5 and got .4 so I scrathced everything and started from scratch and tried for 4.5ghz first seeing as most people report they could achieve this. Now I left everything on auto (except I put in manual multiplier of 45 and the max current setting to 300) just to see in cpuz and real temp what voltage it would pull and the VID.

On this board auto LLC reverts to level 5 so when I got into windows I checked Cpuz and Realtemp. Under load Cpuz reported 1.35v - 1.36v and Realtemp reported VID as 1.3661-1.3771. Even set at this on auto worker 1 would eventualy stop with the expected .5 got .4 error. Temps shot up to around 85-87c under load when they were idle at about 30c. I tried numerous times to set a fixed voltage at 1.35-1.38 with an LLC of level 1 for least drop off still worker 1 would stop same error. I've tried PLL fixed at 1.75 PLL overclock on and off Turbo on, off and auto everythign I coudl think of to get 4.5 stable and I cannot.

I know many others reported they coudl get 4.5ghz stable with this board at much lower voltages even some below 1.3v. I cannot figure out why I cannot. I evne tried to drop down to 4.4 or 4.3ghz and voltages still over 1.35v and same prime95 error on worker 1. I thought maybe it was the memory I tested it came back fine. did a small FFT test in prime95 same error on worker 1.

(so sorry for thsi long post) So I am now trying to figure out what I can do! Did I just get a bumb chip? or is it the motherbaord maybe that is not helping me here or am I just missing something? Anyone have any ideas on what I can do or how I should proceed? any help would be very welcomed. Also if there is info I didn't provide please ask and I will supply it. Thank you so much!

 

[philipma1957]

I have the same cooler and same cpu but an intel board.

I suggest a lower oc like 4 or 4.1 just to see if it is stable at the lower level.

My setting is 41 x comes to about 1.26 volts. on full load.

a stable oc at 4.1 or 4.0 should be a piece of cake.

I max at 67 or 68 c with prime 95

 

[vollman1]

Remember also that not all chips are created equal and your OC will really depend on how good a chip you have.

Sometimes it has nothing to do with settings or hardware, except that the chip doesn't OC well.

I have one i5 that can barely do 4.5GHz at 1.36v and another that pushes 4.9GHz at the same voltage on a lower end mobo.

But do try what philipma1957 suggests and downclock a bit.

Also, try googling your mobo model and 'overclock' to get a good guide on OCing your board, if you haven't already.

 

[stylez777]

Thank you for the replies.

When I get home I am goign to toy around with it a bit. I kind of figured that I just got a chip that isn't a great OCer. I am going to see if I can get a stable 4-4.1ghz with decent voltage.

 

[Jman13]

You just may need more voltage for that OC. My chip runs beautifully at 4.2GHz and 1.23V...but to go to 4.5, I need about 1.36V, but the chip is a little hotter than I'd like (my cooler isn't really designed for that level of heat), so I'm content for the moment at 4.2. I could probably do 4.3 if I wanted, but 4.4 also requires in the 1.34-1.35V range.

So your chip might need 1.38V at 4.5, but might be good at 1.25V at 4.3...you just never know.

 

[stylez777]

Just out of curiosity. If I am pushing 1.38-1.4v to get a stable Prime95 @ 4.5ghz and temps under load are hitting 90c+ Should I assume I might have messed up the heatsink install? I have the 212+ evo and it did move around quite a bit when i was trying to get that X bracket in and screwed down. (I used Shin etsu G751 and used a pea dot in the center of the chip.)

 

[mkmitch]

Just out of curiosity. If I am pushing 1.38-1.4v to get a stable Prime95 @ 4.5ghz and temps under load are hitting 90c+ Should I assume I might have messed up the heatsink install? I have the 212+ evo and it did move around quite a bit when i was trying to get that X bracket in and screwed down. (I used Shin etsu G751 and used a pea dot in the center of the chip.)

Not sure that is causing higher temps as mine did the same thing when I installed it, won't hurt to pull it and take a peek at it.

 

[Jman13]

That's quite hot for a 212. My tX3 (basically a mini 212) only hits upper 70s on P95 at 4.5, 1.36V, though hits 88C on IBT there (which is why I don't run at that speed).

The pea dot application doesn't work very well on direct contact heat pipe coolers...you need to fill the gaps in the cooler, then do two small lines between heat pipes.

 

[ShreddedWheat]

My i5 2500k is at 4.3ghz at 1.36v with 212 p/p heatsink. When I try to run Prime95 it hits around 75C and eventually crashes. At idle temps around 20 to 26C. I stopped running prime it was pissing me off. I have been running at the above setting now for about 4-5 months and have not had the computer lock up on me even once. That is enough to let me know my system is stable for everyday computing and gaming.

 

[MadScientist]

These are some old posts of mine that may be helpful. I think my bios is similar or identical to yours.

My first post in this thread:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2194092&highlight=

How to ballpark your offset voltage:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2194577&highlight=

Those temps for a 212+ EVO are a bit high. I had a 212+ and at 1.34vcore running IBT with max ram I hit 75C.

As suggested, try re-applying your TIM.

Each SB CPU has a wall where no matter how much extra vcore or tweaks you give it it will not be stable. My 2500K's wall is 4.6Ghz.

 

[LagunaX]

Read post 5 in this thread, it has bios settings for the P67 Asrock that might be helpful for you:
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=153224

 

[stylez777]

That's quite hot for a 212. My tX3 (basically a mini 212) only hits upper 70s on P95 at 4.5, 1.36V, though hits 88C on IBT there (which is why I don't run at that speed).

The pea dot application doesn't work very well on direct contact heat pipe coolers...you need to fill the gaps in the cooler, then do two small lines between heat pipes.

The 212+ Evo is totaly flat on the bottom unlike the regular 212+ that has the grroves. That why i did the pea dot meathod there wasn't any gaps to fill

My i5 2500k is at 4.3ghz at 1.36v with 212 p/p heatsink. When I try to run Prime95 it hits around 75C and eventually crashes. At idle temps around 20 to 26C. I stopped running prime it was pissing me off. I have been running at the above setting now for about 4-5 months and have not had the computer lock up on me even once. That is enough to let me know my system is stable for everyday computing and gaming.

My last system I couldn't get prime95 to run at all but IBT and another progrma I used passed with flying colors, kept the system and ran it for 2 years like that no issue. Guess sometimes best stability test is to do what you normally do and see what happens! lol

These are some old posts of mine that may be helpful. I think my bios is similar or identical to yours.

My first post in this thread:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2194092&highlight=

How to ballpark your offset voltage:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2194577&highlight=

Those temps for a 212+ EVO are a bit high. I had a 212+ and at 1.34vcore running IBT with max ram I hit 75C.

As suggested, try re-applying your TIM.

Each SB CPU has a wall where no matter how much extra vcore or tweaks you give it it will not be stable. My 2500K's wall is 4.6Ghz.

I will def check out those links they should be very helpful. I am goign to take off the heatsink and see how it looks and re-apply the TIM. I'd be happy at 4.4 or 4.3 stable.

 

[Jman13]

The 212+ Evo is totaly flat on the bottom unlike the regular 212+ that has the grroves. That why i did the pea dot meathod there wasn't any gaps to fill

Ahh...makes sense.

 

[stylez777]

UPDATE:

Ok so last night I went home and re-applied the TIM. When I took off the heatsink it looked like the first application spread nicely but it looked a bit thick even though i did only use a pea size the first time. So Second application i did the line meathod and put a thin line over center. The mounting of the heatsink went alot better this time hardly no movement from placing it, screwed it down and gave it a little twist left then right and fired up the PC.

I started messing around in the bios again and I was able to get 4.5ghz @ 1.4v and not have prime95 not return that expected .5 got .4 error on worker1 but my temps again where pushing 90c. Kept trying multiple settings just couldn't get 4.5ghz Prime95 stable or IBT below 1.4v.

However...I was able to achieve 4.3ghz @ 1.276v passed IBT 10 passes on maximum and was stable in prime95 for 10+ hours so far. Max temp hit underload was 64c. I can live with that, even though part of me wished I could get 4.6-4.8 like others have with decent temps. I'm not about to go watercooled or get crazy. 4.3ghz will get the job done for me.

I also was able to dial in my vcore using offset mode so now I pull 1.01 @ 1600mghz and 1.276v @ 4.3ghz. I put the machine through what I use it for (I was burning a movie, while having a browser open with 9 tabs, unraring a file and having a game loaded all at the same time) and my temps hit 51c max. Not too bad as that is pretty extreme for me to do all that at 1 time.

Thanks for all the help I appreciate everyone's input. I'm sure i'll be back again with more questions