So... I guess it's time to OC my 4670K on my Asrock board...

[Techhog]

So, first time overclocking, and I want tips. My cooler obviously isn't that great, so I want to raise voltage as little as I can, and I only want to get to 4-4.2GHz. I'm gonna assume that a lot of people feel that I shouldn't OC Haswell at all without a decently high-end cooler, and if you feel that way you're free to state and explain your opinion and I will take it into consideration.

So, anyway, where should I start?

 

[blackened23]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7zPu9255ZI

This is tailored towards asus boards, but the concepts are completely the same, the BIOS options are similar. If you want a better OC i'd suggest a water AIO. You won't be able to raise voltage much at all if your cooler sucks.

It's really great info.

 

[Sable]

keep banging the multiplier up till it stops booting.

hth

 

[Techhog]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7zPu9255ZI

This is tailored towards asus boards, but the concepts are completely the same, the BIOS options are similar. If you want a better OC i'd suggest a water AIO. You won't be able to raise voltage much at all if your cooler sucks.

It's really great info.

Thanks. I wouldn't say that my cooler sucks, but it's certainly not high end. It hovers around 60C when gaming at stock.

 

[TeknoBug]

If you're aiming for 4.2GHz, just up the multiplier to 42 and you're done, no need to touch voltage. You do want at least a Coolermaster Hyper TX3 ($15-17) which will do a better job than the stock cooler when it's under load. Oh and if you do get the Hyper TX3, take out the plastic locks and pull the ones from the stock cooler and put them on there, Coolermaster insisted on making really flimsy plastic locks.

 

[Techhog]

If you're aiming for 4.2GHz, just up the multiplier to 42 and you're done, no need to touch voltage. You do want at least a Coolermaster Hyper TX3 ($15-17) which will do a better job than the stock cooler when it's under load. Oh and if you do get the Hyper TX3, take out the plastic locks and pull the ones from the stock cooler and put them on there, Coolermaster insisted on making really flimsy plastic locks.

I have the Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO

 

[Techhog]

Should I use the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility for anything?

 

[blackened23]

Nope. Everything in the BIOS.

 

[TeknoBug]

I have the Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO

Alrighty then, that's even better.

 

[Techhog]

What should I use for stress testing? I mean, I care more about real world usage (mostly gaming), but I should maybe stress test to be safe. I don't want to pay for AIDA64 though

 

[blackened23]

Using your actual real world apps/games on your PC. With Haswell, stress temps are much higher than real world temps because adaptive voltage automatically adds .1V under certain AVX stress test workloads. But you won't see such temps in real world use. Obviously another +.1V will throw your temps into stupidity. The alternative is manual voltage which you want to use long term (you don't want 24/7 elevated voltage while the CPU is idle) or offset. Offset voltage is hard to dial in.

So with Haswell I think real world stuff is the best stuff to use. Use something demanding, aida 64 is good, but it's up to you. You can use the typical stress test programs but they won't necessarily match the real world. With adaptive VID, stress testing temps will actually not be real world because of the +.1V auto voltage adjustment. But that auto adjustment doesn't happen in the real world really. Because of this, I think the best stress testing is real world use - if there's instability, 2 hours of a crysis 3 gameplay will uncover it. Or 15 minutes actually.

JJ mentioned the adaptive VID auto adjustment in the video, it's something to keep in mind when stress testing Haswell.

Also, as others have said, I think 4.2ghz should be really easy with the 4770k even without over voltage. I think you'd be fine on temps regardless at 4.2 at stock voltage. Temps only become an issue with Adaptive VID during stress tests, and with high over voltage levels. I'd stick to near 1.2V with your cooler. With a Liquid AIO, you can go up to 1.25V or *maybe* slightly higher. But 1.25V really is preferable for the best combination of reasonable temps and not pushing your chip too hard in terms of over volting With Haswell.

 

[Techhog]

Using your actual real world apps/games on your PC. With Haswell, stress temps are much higher than real world temps because adaptive voltage automatically adds .1V under certain AVX stress test workloads. But you won't see such temps in real world use. Obviously another +.1V will throw your temps into stupidity. The alternative is manual voltage which you want to use long term (you don't want 24/7 elevated voltage while the CPU is idle) or offset. Offset voltage is hard to dial in.

So with Haswell I think real world stuff is the best stuff to use. Use something demanding, aida 64 is good, but it's up to you. You can use the typical stress test programs but they won't necessarily match the real world. With adaptive VID, stress testing temps will actually not be real world because of the +.1V auto voltage adjustment. But that auto adjustment doesn't happen in the real world really. Because of this, I think the best stress testing is real world use - if there's instability, 2 hours of a crysis 3 gameplay will uncover it. Or 15 minutes actually.

JJ mentioned the adaptive VID auto adjustment in the video, it's something to keep in mind when stress testing Haswell.

Also, as others have said, I think 4.2ghz should be really easy with the 4770k even without over voltage. I think you'd be fine on temps regardless at 4.2 at stock voltage. Temps only become an issue with Adaptive VID during stress tests, and with high over voltage levels. I'd stick to near 1.2V with your cooler. With a Liquid AIO, you can go up to 1.25V or *maybe* slightly higher. But 1.25V really is preferable for the best combination of reasonable temps and not pushing your chip too hard in terms of over volting With Haswell.

Okay. I think the most demanding game I own is Thief. I hate that game, but I guess it works lol

 

[blackened23]

Oops. I meant to say, above, that adaptive voltage is the best setting to use in your BIOS. What this does is use full voltage for 100% load, and the Haswell should idle at low voltage when not in use or doing basic desktop tasks such as browsing.

What you don't want is using manual voltage 24/7 - that will exponentially increase electromigration on your CPU which is (to simplify things) very bad. Now it usually takes a year or two or three to become symptomatic, but manual voltage 24/7 is not a good thing to do.

If you ever do upgrade your cooler and want to go for the high overclocks, one strategy that a lot of folks use is dialing in their over-voltage with manual voltage slowly and with small steps to find their best clockspeed/voltage. And once you do that, simply use adaptive voltage with the stable manual voltage you found - that will use your OV settings at load but the CPU will idle at the proper lower voltage states.

I guess this won't apply to you since you're looking at a non overvolted overclock, but if you ever do decide to shoot for the higher OC's, it's something to keep in mind. Dial it in with manual, and then switch to offset or adaptive once you find your best voltage level for overclocking.

 

[Techhog]

Oops. I meant to say, above, that adaptive voltage is the best setting to use in your BIOS. What this does is use full voltage for 100% load, and the Haswell should idle at low voltage when not in use or doing basic desktop tasks such as browsing.

What you don't want is using manual voltage 24/7 - that will exponentially increase electromigration on your CPU which is (to simplify things) very bad. Now it usually takes a year or two or three to become symptomatic, but manual voltage 24/7 is not a good thing to do.

If you ever do upgrade your cooler and want to go for the high overclocks, one strategy that a lot of folks use is dialing in their over-voltage with manual voltage slowly and with small steps to find their best clockspeed/voltage. And once you do that, simply use adaptive voltage with the stable manual voltage you found - that will use your OV settings at load but the CPU will idle at the proper lower voltage states.

I guess this won't apply to you since you're looking at a non overvolted overclock, but if you ever do decide to shoot for the higher OC's, it's something to keep in mind. Dial it in with manual, and then switch to offset or adaptive once you find your best voltage level for overclocking.

Yeah, I knew what you meant. The only thing is that I'm having issues downloading due to an internet problem. As far as installed games go, my most demanding ones are BF3 and Batman: Arkham Origins. I guess it has to be BF3?

 

[Kenmitch]

When i had a 4670k I found fixed vcore worked best for me.

I was only running 4ghz @ 1.06v's tho. Linpack11 stable. The AVX vcore bump drove me to fixed vcore.

 

[Techhog]

Well, it booted @4.2GHz with stock voltage just fine, and the Intel XTU stress test was able to start. I'm having that run for 15 minutes, and then I'll try a game and 3DMark. Temps aren't going above 73C so far, which is well below what I expected.

 

[Techhog]

The stress test ran for 15 minutes, and maxed out at 74C. One question: Do I need to overclock the cache too for best stability and performance?

 

[Techhog]

Okay, why is my voltage being read as 1.217V when I haven't touched the voltages?

 

[Kenmitch]

Okay, why is my voltage being read as 1.217V when I haven't touched the voltages?

It will change with each multiplier using the auto setting. It will also boost another .100v under AVX loads.

 

[Techhog]

It will change with each multiplier using the auto setting. It will also boost another .100v under AVX loads.

I see. Should I change the setting then?

EDIT: IT's actually acting like it's on fixed voltage. I may have made a mistake.

EDIT2: Nevermind. Windows and Avast are going nuts. :/

 

[Techhog]

Well, not my CPU fan is constantly running above 1800RPM. Really annoying when things are quiet. (Though I can't hear it at all if I'm listening to anything with my headphones)

 

[tweakboy]

Your set, low voltages are good too. gl

 

[Techhog]

Well, I just found out that LinX instantly crashes my system. I haven't had issues in any other program though. Should I leave it?

 

[dazelord]

Apparently your cpu is not fully stable. 4.2 "should" be easy but it's not guaranteed at stock voltage. My 4770k on the Asrock z87 extreme4 needs 1.26V for 42 multiplier and 1.3V for 43.

If temps are still OK I would increase vcore a bit until everything is solid. As mentioned earlier use manual for tuning it in. You can move to adaptive later.

As for your fan speed you should be able to control this in uefi.

 

[Bubbleawsome]

I honesty don't worry about AVX loads. I have a power limit set that prevents AVX loads from going full out so I get x43 multi normally and drop to x34 under AVX. I never use it and it keeps it stable and cool invade anything happens to activate AVX. Only thing I haven't used is adaptive voltage. I'm at a manual 1.200v right now.