Noob overclocker needs some help!

[Shamshir]

Hello everyone. This is my first post on this forum

I built my first gaming PC seven months ago. Had been playing most games with no less than 40 FPS using my intel i5 3570K @ 3.4Ghz. Recently, I decided to push my i5 a little further. So I went to the BIOS and increased the CPU ratio to 4200. As a noob, I didn't manually tweak the voltages. So I booted into Windows and ran Prime95 for 3 hours using small FFTs. Surprisingly, it did not crash. I was getting around 63-70 celsius under 100% load (using CoreTemp, RealTemp and Asus AI Suite II). CPU-Z shows my core voltage as 1.248 V. That is a significant increase from the stock voltage of 1.058 V.

Do I need to tweak the CPU voltage manually instead of setting it to auto?
Is Prime95 enough to test system stability? What kind of torture test should I run on that application? How long should I run the test?
What do you guys think of the CPU temps I'm getting?
Is 1.248 V a safe CPU voltage?


My PC specs:

Windows 7 64 bit
Intel Core i5 3570K @ 4.2Ghz
Coolermaster Hyper 212+
Asus Sabertooth z77
8GB Kingston HyperX Blu @ 1333Mhz
2 EVGA GTX 680 SC 2GB in SLI
Thermaltake TR2 RX 1000W 80+ Bronze
Coolermaster HAF X

 

[styx123]

try 1.3 to 1.34 volts and try heavy load and 3d mark vantage

 

[Vectronic]

Well, you didn't crash... so either:

1. Stay @ 4.2GHz and drop the voltage (probably by as much as 0.100v maybe more), which will drop your temps by about 5C.

2. Lock the voltage at 1.250, and start increasing the multiplier, you'll probably get 4.4GHz maybe 4.5GHz at 1.25v... around 85-90C

1.25v is safe... the safe voltage pretty much depends on your temperatures, you'll hit TJMax before you hit max voltage.

P95 Blend, for 12 to 18 hours is the general rule... but usually a quick temperature test using SmallFTT or LinX for 5 to 10 minutes is one part of the test... then just do the most stressful things you use your PC for, a heavy game, rendering, watch a hi-res online video, etc. You can also run P95 in the background, while doing those things which will increase the likelihood of finding errors/crashes.

 

[Shamshir]

Thanks for the thorough reply.

I noticed that the Vcore was changing from 1.199v to 1.223v while I was running Prime95 Blend for 16 hours. But after I had stopped the torture test it went back to 1.250v-1.248v. Since my system is stable, I guess I'll just leave the voltage at the current settings.

 

[Vectronic]

That's vDroop, and it's normal...it's more or less like a motor... if there is no load being applied, the motor spins fast, if you apply a load, it bogs down a bit.

You can use Load-Line Calibration to correct that, but like you said, if you're stable, and the temps are ok, may as well stay there.