6700k overclocking tips needed

Soldato
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I have a 6700k, asrock z170 gaming k6 motherboard and 16gb of corsair 3000mhz ddr4 being delivered today. I was wondering how different this setup will be to overclock compared to my old 2500k? Anyone got any tips?
 
Soldato
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Set multi to 46 (may be to later 47) . Cpu voltage to 1.31v. Ram default at first. See how you go then lower cpu volts till it mashes. Then when you find that sweet voltage spot and all is stable enable ram xmp profile and see. Hopefully all will be good. Messing with anything else is just optional. Attention. Make sure you have a flipping good cpu cooler though.
 
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A quick starting point that I followed for my rig:

Enable XMP mode within the BIOS to make full use of your RAM's rated speeds (not detrimental to begin with - some people do this after achieving the stable overclock but always do another test when XMP enabled).
Set the CPU core clock to 4.5Ghz / 45 / 4500Mhz depending how it's displayed in the ASRock BIOS
Set the CPU vcore to 1.300V
Leave everything else set to Auto.

Let the machine reboot and do some stress testing, I used Asus RealBench but it depends what you fancy. Some people recommend doing a full on stress test for a good 8 hours to overnight but personally I feel that if it's stable for 4 hours and beyond, and also stable while gaming then you're good to go.

If you're stable at 4.5Ghz with a vcore of 1.300V then go back into the BIOS and lower the vcore to 1.250V before then doing more testing, if it BSOD which if it does - usually within the first 10 minutes then go back into the BIOS and raise the vcore again to say 1.260V. If need be keep raising the vcore by 0.010V until you're stable. Stick to the lowest vcore as much as possible not just for stability, but to keep the CPU temp down too (ideally below the 75c mark for 24/7 use).

Another key thing to point out is that you may notice while stress testing that if you use CPU-Z to monitor the voltage - you may spot that the vcore voltage itself can fluctuate slightly which is normal, and a way to tighten up the vcore itself is to delve into the LLC settings within the BIOS. I didn't feel the need to do this as when I achieved 4.5Ghz at 1.250V, the vcore itself only fluctuated between 1.248V-1.250V according to CPU-Z.

I started off at 4.5Ghz as they say a good majority of 6600/6700K's are easily capable of this clock. I'm stable with my 6600K at 4.5Ghz / 1.250V but in order to get 4.6Ghz stable it needs 1.300V, I could push further (Skylake's are safe up to 1.400V) but I think in order to get 4.7Ghz and beyond it will need much more voltage, plus much more heated will be created and personally I think 4.5Ghz is more than fast enough for me.

Keep us informed on how you get on.

Liam.
 
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Soldato
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Thanks for the tips guys :)

Cooling should be fine as i have a massive noctua nh-d14.

I'm reading about adaptive mode? Is this the same as the voltage offset? I know on my 2500k i have the voltage set to wind down as the clocks drop when not under load.
 
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Thanks for the tips guys :)

Cooling should be fine as i have a massive noctua nh-d14.

I'm reading about adaptive mode? Is this the same as the voltage offset? I know on my 2500k i have the voltage set to wind down as the clocks drop when not under load.

Adaptive mode is a feature that lowers the vcore when idle, though for now I wouldn't worry about it until you've got a stable overclock - even I still need to read up on it in order to set it properly. The CPU core clock itself will still downclock during idle regardless as this is now controlled by Skylake's auto features and the balanced mode power feature in Windows.

Liam.
 
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Ok, will leave that one alone, cheers :)

Will probably build over the weekend. Fingers crossed everything works ok. Bit worried about windows 10 having a paddy.

Nice one :)

For when Windows 10 has been a breeze so far in terms of overclocking, never locked up during a blip or corrupted. The only thing it will obviously do if an overclock fails is that it will BSOD & reboot.

Liam.
 
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More worried about getting it reinstalled and activated as of course there is no key as it was a free upgrade from 8.

I think you can assign the licence to your microsoft account?

Indeed you can - but you may need to call Microsoft to go around this route which is easily do-able.

Liam.
 
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Would you recommend a clean install? Or does windows 10 deal with a motherboard swap?

Windows 10 will deal with a motherboard swap but it will prompt you to use a different licence key due to them being tied to the motherboard.

Personally something as major as this I would just do a new clean install. More refined and less conflicts.

Liam.
 
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Lol good stuff. If you're struggling to get stable with 4.6Ghz @ 1.350V then perhaps bump it up to 1.360V and see how you get on, I wouldn't up the voltage anymore than that though as it will generate a lot more heat.

Liam.

Yep 4.6 can be a struggle for some chips, 4.5 is much more realistic for most most while keeping volts low. I wouldn't be too worried about going up to 1.4v though, so long as you're keeping temps around 80 max under full synthetic load, its all down to your cooling situation.
 
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