OC i5 noob question

[solarissf]

Hi Guys,

Been trying to follow guides outthere for overclocking and I wanted to stay on the safe side.

Asus P67Pro - i5 - 8gb - 560tix2 sli - 950watt corsair

First I set multiplier to 40, which makes 4.0 (which I am fine with)
set cpu voltage to 1.2v
set dram settings to match my chip

ran Prime95 for an hour and no issues.

Played game league of legends and bluescreened in 5 minutes.

So I kept multipier at 40
and increased to 1.225 cpu voltage.

my question is I don't know what voltage is considered safe? I would like OC while staying on the cautious side.

Is 1.225 high enough?
If I get another bluescreen whats the next step I should take and what should I not go near?

thanks for all the help and input in advance!!

 

[Markfw]

1.38 is the max I think. Temps should be below 70c at full load.

 

[solarissf]

what is considered full load?... is running prime95 a good example of full load?

 

[Markfw]

what is considered full load?... is running prime95 a good example of full load?

Yes, but for hours...(for testing)

 

[Concillian]

Prime95 stress testing is an overnight affair. 1 hour is not enough.
Linpack / OCCT is more stressful.

If you want to be pretty conservative, test at 5% higher than you plan to run.

If you can get Linpack / OCCT / Intel Burn Test (these all use the same basic method of stressing the CPU) to run without error for even a short run like 2 hours at 4.2GHz, then keep the same voltage and drop to 4.0... you'll be rock solid stable. You potentially leave some on the table or use a little higher voltage, but that's what "staying on the safe side" means. It gives you additional margin for the occasional super hot day after 6 months of dust has built up in your system, reducing cooling efficiency.

Prime95, I have had cases of no errors for 24 hours, then certain games would still cause crashes. Linpack works better for me.

My days of running at the speed I test at are over. Too many times you're on the edge, and a stable system is better than and extra couple hundred MHz. I much prefer a little bit of margin, but getting the most out of what a CPU has to offer.

 

[Avalon]

I'd definitely test Prime95 at least for 8 hours, and as Concillian said, Linkpack/OCCT will get the job done better. I usually don't go over 15% stock voltage, while trying to keep temps below 60C, but I'm also a bit more conservative than some.

Also may want to run memtest on your system. Your CPU may be stable, but your memory not be. Some of the Prime95 tests don't stress memory very hard.

 

[ensign_lee]

1.272V is what the CPU uses under a full load at stock settings. If you only have it at 1.2, that's prob your problem.