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4.0ghz VS 4.5ghz

elmarko

elmarko

elmarko

Soldato
Joined
22 Sep 2011
Posts
10,575
Location
Portsmouth (Southsea)
So,

I'm currently using the gigabyte Z68-UD3 (or 4 need to check at work) & a i5 2500k processor with 16gb DDR3 1600 1.5v RAM.

I've currently got a stable over-clock of 4ghz at 1.3vcore (anything lower causes massive instability problems) - do I have a substandard chip?, as whenever I try to over-clock it further I have massive problems (reset loop) when I push the vcore/multi higher.

What kind of performance gain would I expect if I went from 4 to 4.5? in real gaming terms on say, skyrim, or battlefield 3.?
 
elmarko1234 said:
What kind of performance gain would I expect if I went from 4 to 4.5? in real gaming terms on say, skyrim, or battlefield 3.?
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For BF3 there would be no difference, but for Skyrim you would possibly see higher frame rate with higher overclock, but this is mainly due to Skyrim uses an old engine which don't use more than 2 cores...but of course, it is also depended on what graphic card you using. I would say the different between 4.0GHz and 4.5GHz would be next to none in games that uses 3-4 or more cores, when only using a single GPU graphic card.
 
You might get some better min FPS but generally you won't see any difference. It will only be in benchmarks and encoding where you will see a difference.
 
By way of comparison:
I'm running my 2500K at 4.0Ghz with the following readings:-

Vcore - 1.18v (0.89v idle)
VID - 1.34v (0.99v idle)

Rock stable on board in sig.
All on auto using the pre-set overclock but for the following settings:-

Turbo turned off
running with a -0.07 voltage offset.

Idle temps are mid to low 20's with around 40C at 100% load.

So, in answer to your question, your Vcore does seem high at 4.0Ghz.

Might be worth running Coretemp to find your VID under load
 
Thanks for the replies guys.

My temps are low (25 idle, 38 under load) - but that's due to having good cooling - but it seems really temperamental at over-clocking.

The main problem is it took me ages to get it working right at it's current setting without any BSOD's, so I'm not reluctant to mess with it further.

I'm using a 6970 & planning to upgrade to crossfire or a 7970 (when the prices come down) - I was just unsure how much performance I was losing with the lower overclock - if it's not that much I'm happy to keep it as it is.

Cheers!
 
I notice a small increase from 4 to 4.6ghz. I use 1.335V to get 4.6 with a max load temp of around 77.c under burn test.
 
I think that you have a problem there, mate.

1.3V is too much for an 2500k @ 4Ghz.

You sure that this is not a problem with the CPU or the MOBO?
 
elmarko1234 said:
Thanks for the replies guys.

My temps are low (25 idle, 38 under load) - but that's due to having good cooling - but it seems really temperamental at over-clocking.

The main problem is it took me ages to get it working right at it's current setting without any BSOD's, so I'm not reluctant to mess with it further.
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My 2500k doesn't oc that well either and like you its taken me ages to get it nice and stable at 4.3ghz. Vcore wont go any lower then 1.320v(cpuz) and running burntest maxed out, gets the temps in the low 70s with 1 of the cores (in the summer I guess it will be in the high 70s low 80s).
 
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My max is 4.4 at 1.34v without causing instability

Seems we've been unlucky.

But the difference is probably marginal at best
 
joem1983 said:
My max is 4.4 at 1.34v without causing instability

Seems we've been unlucky.

But the difference is probably marginal at best
Click to expand...

Yeah I was quite disappointed with the overclocking on my 2500k, seeing all these other ppl overclocking theirs to 4.5 - 4.8 with stupidly low vcore.

But Ive kind of come to terms with it now, and its not too bad, at the end of the day Im still getting 1ghz more out of it, and so what if its running a tad hotter then the norm, I bet with a stock heatsink/fan and stock speeds, it will be about that hot anyway?
 
Precisely. if you're within the temperature limits of the chip then it doesnt really matter.

I was annoyed I'd never see 5ghz but i'm only .2ghz off what I would have probably used everyday. So it's not so bad.
 
Plus as we know burntest rips the cpu apart, stressing it beond 100%, so the temps should never get into the 70's when gamming/vid encoding,decoding. In the summer games might just hit the 70 mark tho
 
blacblu said:
I think that you have a problem there, mate.

1.3V is too much for an 2500k @ 4Ghz.

You sure that this is not a problem with the CPU or the MOBO?
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Each cpu if different,, and maybe intel are making these cpus slightly differently now, cos they dont like you having these insane clockspeeds?
 
1.3v is certainly not too much. mine does 4.6ghz on autovolts. vid reports 1.39v. most of the time the cpu idles at 1.6ghz and there its only 1.0v. 4ghz is very low for an i5, and your board is better than mine. as for stability, if its stable doing what you do, its stable. i could probably push this to 5ghz but i dont feel the need and wont really notice the diff. temperature wise, at 4.6 in p95 only one of the cores hits 70, the other are high 60's. and thats on average air.
 
maybe the OP isnt clocking the gigabyte right? they are easy to oc, just up the multi to 45 and put fsb at 103 and see what happens. dont fiddle with vcore.
 
hedgey said:
maybe the OP isnt clocking the gigabyte right? they are easy to oc, just up the multi to 45 and put fsb at 103 and see what happens. dont fiddle with vcore.
Click to expand...

Just because your cpu was easy to oc, doesn't mean all 2500k cpus are easy, you were one of the lucky ones:)
 
gurusan said:
Enabling PLL overvoltage is really necessary for higher clockspeeds.
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I can get the cpu upto 4.4 without enabling the PLL, but as soon as I get to 4.5, it hangs during the post. Its odd as 4.6 and upwards doesn't cause it to hang without PLL, only 4.5. 4.5 must be a dodgey number for the board to handle or something:confused:
 
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