OCing i5 2500k on an ASUS P8P67 Pro using EZ Mode?

[7heBoss]

I've had a build with the Intel Core i5 2500k and the Asus P8p67 Pro for 3 or so years now. I am swapping some parts out and updating my PC but keeping these 2 components. With this opportunity I've thought about changing some settings in the BIOS for the best performance.

For the time that I have had my Computer I have used the EZ Mode "Optimal" Settings which to my understanding is a safe OCing method that ASUS has included that has been tested, is safe, and is advertised to operate at 4.5ghz.

Is anyone particularly familiar with what I am talking about and can offer advise as to whether or not this is a good or bad idea? Are there pros and cons to using this method opposed to manually OCing? I appreciate any advise. thank you

Added Note: In case the information is relavent, the rest of my build consists of-
MSI GTX 970
G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3
h100i CPU cooler

 

[Charlie98]

I would be worried any OC utility would be pumping up the Vcore... unnecessarily, perhaps. The Gigabyte OC utility, for example, raised the BCLK... which you can't do with Sandy onward. It just depends on how that utility achieves it's overclock... and I don't think it's a good idea. It may take a little more effort, but manually OC'ing is better in the long run, IMHO.

 

[7heBoss]

I would be worried any OC utility would be pumping up the Vcore... unnecessarily, perhaps. The Gigabyte OC utility, for example, raised the BCLK... which you can't do with Sandy onward. It just depends on how that utility achieves it's overclock... and I don't think it's a good idea. It may take a little more effort, but manually OC'ing is better in the long run, IMHO.

Oh okay. I don't have any experience with over clocking but i have found some walkthroughs that should show me step by step what i should do with my specific components. ill read through them and see if it something i want to try

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Your chipset and board preceded mine.

When I went through the drill overclocking my 2600K in mid/late 2011, I was consulting other forum members, looking at OC guides on the web for BOTH the P67 and Z68 chipsets. I went through a disciplined process that probably took a few weeks -- first trying the BIOS auto-overclocking option, then collecting baseline data from that result and stock settings.

There was a general consensus to use "Offset mode" overclocking. I soon stumbled on another setting which was obscurely placed in an improbable sub-menu of the BIOS: "CPU Power Management." The feature was named "Extra voltage for Turbo." We were all doing "turbo" overclocking.

Some boards had this feature; others did not. It allows you to maintain a low offset voltage, while adjusting the "Extra" voltage to get your stable OC setting. I have concluded that "Offset" on boards without the "Extra" feature would be equal to "Offset" plus "Extra" on boards which have it, for the same OC in speed, voltage, LLC-setting, etc.

With each new chipset there is a learning curve, although some or many features of a last-gen chipset will be found in the new one for the same board manufacturer and product line.

I think we all agree that the "AI overclocking," Turbo-EVO etc. tend to overvolt your processor unnecessarily. If you want to "do it right," you will make your changes in the BIOS exclusively and suffer through the occasional BSOD or stress-test failure until you reach your objective.

Even so. The Sandy K processors seemed fairly uniform in their overclocking voltage requirements, although different motherboards will yield different results.

What is your target OC speed for 24/7 usage? I think you could expect something in the 4.4 to 4.6 Ghz range with a 2500K. Where do you want to go with this?