Noob questions OC i5 2500k

[steve wilson]

Hi,
I've just finished overclocking my PC. All I really use it for is gaming. Mostly Counter strike GO and Starcraft 2. Occasionally play other games like BF4, Bioshock, etc.

Specs
i5 2500k @ 4.5Ghz 1.39v
Asus P8Z68-V
1600mhz Ram
Akaska Venom Cooler
max temp after 30 mins of prime95 was 73 degrees.

I have a few noobie questions

1) is my voltage OK? I'm planning on keeping the PC for another 2 years (waiting for skylake probably) and I don't want it to burn out.

2) should I bother OC the RAM or get faster RAM?

3) is 73 degrees max OK? During gaming it has got to 65 degrees max.

Thanks for any help

 

[tweakboy]

Yoyur fine, just keep a look on the temps.

70's is excellent for a full load. gl

 

[nwo]

1) 1.39 seems kinda high, but I've heard Sandys can go up to 1.40v as long as you can keep it cool
2) No, not worth it, there won't be any noticeable performance difference, especially not in gaming.
3) Yes, it's OK, 73 is a little high, but OK. Just make sure you keep a close eye on it because upper 70s and lower 80s is not somewhere I feel comfortable keeping my CPU if I want it to last.

 

[Charlie98]

My 2500K is a pretty hot chip, too. I OC'ed it up to 4.3GHz where it became very hot (+90C in LinX) and very unstable. The key to reducing the heat is reducing the voltage... I'm at 4.1GHz now, have been for well over 1 year, with the voltage reduced to 1.21v (if memory serves.) Maybe try throttling that voltage back a hair and see if you can keep stable, I think it would pay dividends as far as long-term reliability.

I wouldn't waste my time trying to OC the RAM... it's fine where it's at, NWO is correct.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Hi,
I've just finished overclocking my PC. All I really use it for is gaming. Mostly Counter strike GO and Starcraft 2. Occasionally play other games like BF4, Bioshock, etc.

Specs
i5 2500k @ 4.5Ghz 1.39v
Asus P8Z68-V
1600mhz Ram
Akaska Venom Cooler
max temp after 30 mins of prime95 was 73 degrees.

I have a few noobie questions

1) is my voltage OK? I'm planning on keeping the PC for another 2 years (waiting for skylake probably) and I don't want it to burn out.

2) should I bother OC the RAM or get faster RAM?

3) is 73 degrees max OK? During gaming it has got to 65 degrees max.

Thanks for any help

I think your voltage is just too high. It may be that different CPU-chips vary, but on these SB cores, I could compare notes with a lot of people and seldom found any significant variation. Some can correct me if I'm wrong, but it's a matter of probability and I think you could get better clocks with lower voltage.

The cooler. That cooler -- direct-touch, Akasa fan -- should do the job handily. So temperatures shouldn't be a problem.

Unless you feel unlucky to have my comments, I can tell you I have the P8Z68-V-Pro board -- which should be similar in features and BIOS to yours.

Now -- about the voltage. Initially, you can use the "fixed" VCORE method of OC'ing. If that's what you did, maybe I misunderstood you: if the 1.39V appears in monitoring while the system is idle, it's still too high, but not as bad as it would be if that were your Prime95 load voltage. In fact, the droop with LinX is less than with Prime.

For 4.5 Ghz, I'm thinking you should be able to find a stable OC setting so that the monitor records between 1.29 and 1.32V under load.

Try "offset" overclocking. Change the Offset sign to "+", set the offset initially to 0.010V or two steps above 0. Then go to "CPU Power Management" and look for "Extra voltage for Turbo" setting. Use that voltage to find your stable over-clock. If you need to, try setting LLC to 25% -- for starters. You should not need to use LLC beyond "High" which is 50%.

You should be able to do this while still leaving EIST enabled, and even C1E. But that's your choice . . . You shouldn't need to use "PLL Overvoltage" Enabled for 4.5 Ghz.

Don't even worry about the OC'ing RAM until you've found a sweet-spot for the CPU. Make sure all the RAM settings are stock -- speed, the four basic timings -- leave the rest on auto. And use the stock voltage setting for the RAM. You might bump up VCCIO to 1.01 or 1.1V, but likely don't need to.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I'll add some caveats.

If you bought the mobo and processor "used," all bets are off, but you can try.

I don't think you said what sort of RAM you had, other than "DDR3-1600." I'm assuming two sticks for a total of 8GB. You should really test that RAM with the board at all stock settings -- maybe 200% coverage initially with HCI-Memtest after making the bootable CD of that program. IF you have 16GB -- either 4x4GB or 2X8GB -- it's going to take longer.

Also -- make sure the bCLK in the "AI Tweaker" menu is set and fixed to 100 Mhz.

AFTERTHOUGHT: YOu can send me a PM for any fine tuning tips or questions. Let me know how it turns out.