Overclock I7 4790K, need some help, please

[kirbyrj]

I would position the fans so they blow all the air to the rear of the case and the rear exhaust fan. 90c is a little high. It could be a problem with the mount. When you are running at stock speeds what is the max temps you are seeing in occt?

 

[sioux]

Ok, i will unmount -mount again the cooler
I repeat the question : I did apply thermal compound on the CPU and on the cooler heat sink also.
Was that wrong ?? Should I apply only on the CPU ?
Thank you

 

[Ketchup]

Looks like it's a "feature" in the latest version. I don't remember the version I have doing this, but I just installed the most recent version and see the same thing. If you go to the options menu (the icon under the OFF button) you can raise the max to what it should be for this chip, 100 (for all 4 cores plus the CPU field above).

As a side note, I have all 4 cores set to 4 GHz max and am very satisfied with the performance.

 

[kirbyrj]

Ok, i will unmount -mount again the cooler
I repeat the question : I did apply thermal compound on the CPU and on the cooler heat sink also.
Was that wrong ?? Should I apply only on the CPU ?
Thank you

Yes, only put a small amount on CPU and then mount cooler. It will spread out on its own.

 

[sioux]

Okay, back again with good news
I unmounted - re-mounted the cooler, run the test for 1 hour with Turbo, no errors, the average temp was 74-76
Is that high ??

 

[sioux]

I OC to 4,5 ghz, tested for about 20 minutes, no errors ( i know, i should be testing more than 20 minutes)
Here is a screen shot
If I'd like to go to 4,6 GHz, what do I have to modify? I only changed the clock ratio to 45, and the CPU voltage to 1.3
Thank you

https://postimg.org/image/vdkbn4ad1/

 

[kirbyrj]

I OC to 4,5 ghz, tested for about 20 minutes, no errors ( i know, i should be testing more than 20 minutes)
Here is a screen shot
If I'd like to go to 4,6 GHz, what do I have to modify? I only changed the clock ratio to 45, and the CPU voltage to 1.3
Thank you

https://postimg.org/image/vdkbn4ad1/

Wherever you changed the setting to 45, change it to 46 and see if it passes. 76c isn't too high when you're stress testing.

 

[Ketchup]

Great numbers!

 

[jkauff]

I OC to 4,5 ghz, tested for about 20 minutes, no errors ( i know, i should be testing more than 20 minutes)
Here is a screen shot
If I'd like to go to 4,6 GHz, what do I have to modify? I only changed the clock ratio to 45, and the CPU voltage to 1.3
Thank you

https://postimg.org/image/vdkbn4ad1/

Glad everything is working as it should! Depending on your particular chip (some 4970K's overclock better than others), you may have to up the voltage to get to 4.6. Does your BIOS support adaptive voltage? You could give that a try, too. If you have to go higher than 1.35, I wouldn't bother. The performance gain won't be worth all the extra juice you'll be paying for.

 

[sioux]

Another quick test with OCCT ( 20 minutes only ) with 4.6 GHz and 1.310 vcore

https://postimg.org/image/m7lbljwj9/

@jkauff, what do you mean with " If you have to go higher than 1.35, I wouldn't bother. The performance gain won't be worth all the extra juice you'll be paying for " ???
So, it wouldn't be worth to go higher than 4,6 GHz ??
I do play some combat flight sims, some of them are pretty " CPU hungry "
Thank you

LE : i can't get it stable @4,7 GHz, but i'll keep trying

 

[coercitiv]

@jkauff, what do you mean with " If you have to go higher than 1.35, I wouldn't bother. The performance gain won't be worth all the extra juice you'll be paying for " ???
So, it wouldn't be worth to go higher than 4,6 GHz ??

Increasing voltage leads to exponential increase in power consumption, hence it's worth to increase voltage only by small margins in order to increase frequency. Once you go high enough in frequency (4.5-4.7Ghz) you will encounter a point at which the chip will require a big jump in voltage in order to stay stable. That big jump in voltage may not be worth it, since it would lead to high power usage and likely high temps as well.

Also, whatever games you're playing, a jump of 100Mhz is not going to influence your framerate. You already made the "big" 10% jump from 4.2 to 4.6Ghz.

Here's an example of an overclockign table from the Anandtech review of 4790K. Notice how going from 4.6Ghz to 4.7 required a big jump in voltage, accompanied by high power consumption and very high temps.

Now, your chip might be better than that, but if you cannot get it stable at 1.35V as advised, it's probably a good idea to settle with 4.6Ghz and call it a day after making sure it's stable.

 

[sioux]

Okay, I'll keep it @4,6GHz
But why did you say " you already made a big jump from 4,2 to 4,6 ghz"??
I7 4790k Turbo is 4,4 GHz, so i only increased 200 MHz

 

[Campy]

But why did you say " you already made a big jump from 4,2 to 4,6 ghz"??
I7 4790k Turbo is 4,4 GHz, so i only increased 200 MHz

Because 4.4 is the turbo for only one core at a time. 4-core turbo for 4790k is 4.2. You're currently at 4.6 on all cores so you went up 400MHz.

 

[sioux]

Okay, i understand. Thank you
Now i can't get it stable anymore @ 4,6 GHz. I did reset the BIOS and made exatcly the same settings as before, when i OC to 4,6 GHz ( 1.310 vcore ) and was stable

 

[sioux]

Is something wrong maybe with OCCT ??
I tried so many combinations, i can't get it stable @ 4,6 GHz, anymore.

 

[coercitiv]

Is something wrong maybe with OCCT ??
I tried so many combinations, i can't get it stable @ 4,6 GHz, anymore.

This would be the perfect time to either start reading those overclocking guides or fall back to 4.5Ghz and enjoy your system.

Alternatively you can try to gradually increase the CPU Loadline Calibration setting in the Advanced Power Settings tab, it may just be enough to keep the system stable. However, I strongly suggest you start reading what these settings do, it will help you get better results while also avoiding unnecessary risks.

 

[Ketchup]

A stress test with OCCT will put every core and thread of your CPU under max load all at the same time. Virtually no program you actually use would do this (games, apps, etc). That is why it is such a good test. If it is stable with this test, it is going to be stable with anything you use it for.

The 4790k is not a great overclocker. On the flip side, the performance out of the box is oustanding.

 

[sioux]

I leave it @4,5 GHz, thank you very much
By the way, how would you compare the I7 4790K vs I7 7700 K ( stock / Turbo, no OC ) ?