To OC or not

Associate
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8 Jan 2007
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Hi,

Currently running an i5 6600k, 16GB DDR 4 3000 Ram & a 1060 GTX.

I've oc'd it slightly:

i5 @ 4GHZ (100mhz oc) vcore set manually to 1.185
ram @ 2500mhz 15,15,15,35 timings - voltage at 1.22

My question is, in terms of gaming am I better off:

a) Going more aggressive on the OC's
b) upgrading to a 1070

I'm pretty sure my system is stable now, prime95 runs with no issues (max temp 66c).

The RAM I am curious about, however, specs say it will run at 3000mhz at 1.35v (it's Corsair vengeance LPX) but when i enable XMP the temps on my CPU also go up a lot. Do you really get any benefit in performance by OC'ing the ram that much?

I am half tempted just to put the ram back to stock speeds & voltage back to 1.2... I had a crash in a game the other day (game unresponsive, sound played, OS responsive) and can't pin point what it was... maybe a software issue but still - i'd rather my system be 100% stable.
 
Man of Honour
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On the flip side, what is the point of buying a more expensive unlocked cpu and Z series motherboard if you don't overclock it? As for the ram, have you tried manually setting the timings and voltage? I don't think I have ever used XMP to set them.
 
Associate
OP
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Agree with you there. Yeah I've played with the ram manually.

I'm stable at my current settings.

Might try and up the CPU a little bit more - maybe 4.2Ghz... but given all I use my PC for is web browsing, streaming & gaming... I'd rather have something more power efficient, cool & silent.

In hindsight - wouldn't have spent as much on a Mobo.
 
Soldato
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Because what real world performance benefits does it bring? 2 fps? maybe?

Ok, so underclock if the difference is so minor! :)


I'd rather have something more power efficient, cool & silent.

You can clock quite high while leaving variable core speeds on. You would only turn that stuff off if you are going for a very high OC.
 
Man of Honour
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I'd rather have something more power efficient, cool & silent.


My entire pc at this very moment is only pulling 72w at the wall and while gaming the most I have seen is 252w at the wall. I have the cpu and ram overvolted and overclocked plus the gpu is boosting way past it's advertised factory overclocked speeds. Yours will draw even less. People over estimate just how little power their pc actually uses.
 
Associate
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Apparently I shouldn't have updated my BIOS.

I have a Gaming 7 Gigabyte board & updated to F20 - which is apparently only for Kabylake... basically when i put vcore to auto - it's making it a higher default & temps are higher.

This is probably why I can't get as good an OC AND have lower voltages.

Can't roll back the BIOS either :/

What settings should I change to manual to reduce my temps?
 
Man of Honour
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It provides support for Kabylake but is for all cpu's. There are probably some stability fixes and other little tweaks since your last bios too. I always keep my bios up to date. I know a lot of people say not to bother if everything is working but it's something that I do and have not had any problems.

You don't want auto vcore at all. That's how you get too many volts going to the cpu. Set vcore manually as a fixed amount while finding your ideal overclock. Don't worry about offsets while overclocking. When you have found your best overclock for a given voltage you can work out the offset so that the voltage drops at idle. To be honest I just use a fixed voltage now because whether it's fixed at the same voltage all of the time or useing a offset to drop at idle the power draw from the wall is exactly the same, 72w at idle or browsing the internet.
 
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It's not a good update for skylake - it made my temps increase.

I know my ideal voltage - 1.175

Now how do i set it to that max but also to drop during idle? Currently if i manually set the vcore it won't drop during idle.
 
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Ok so I set my vcore to "normal" then applied an offset of -0.110v

Intel burn test on very high passed - max temp 66c.

Idle temps around 28c

I'm clocked at 4ghz by the way.

Only thing is during idle the vcore is dropping as low as 0.156v - could that impact stability at all?
 
Soldato
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It sounds like you are tinkering away and will solve your stuff yourself. :)

I normally start by changing nothing other than the multiplier until crash or temps above 80c, then roll back one multiplier and save this profile to BIOS.

Then I begin lowering the voltage manually until crash. Roll back the voltage to the last known good and this to me is the cpu's soft maximum easy sweet spot; with everything on on auto pretty much, apart from said volts.

Then it is time to see how fast the ram can go before/if it affects the cpu OC. If there is no Crash with XMP, great lets tightening timings, if not its work up from slow speeds to high speeds, as soon as there is a crash roll back the ram speed and job done.
 
Associate
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Seems like you could have saved a load of cash and bother by not spending the extra on a Z170 board, K CPU, additional CPU cooler and 3000mhz RAM?

IMO, you have the hardware to run a modest overclock like 4.5ghz and at least put your RAM on the XMP profile to get 3000mhz. The difference is power consumption is minor as pastymuncher pointed out, and you shouldn't need massive volts to get to 4.5ghz so won't be hot and loud, so long as you have a half decent cooler.

The FPS difference will depend entirely on the game, but some games will definitely have a worthwhile boost, and like I already said, you've already spent the cash so why not get the extra 'free' performance?

The way forward for me would be to forget auto and offset volts, dial in 1.35v, 45x multi and enable XMP, then see what your temps are like while running RealBench stress test. Aim for <80c and of course stable after a 1 hour test. Then reduce volts until unstable then go back up a step or 2.
 
Associate
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I enabled XMP - and the temps all shot up - was getting circa 80c in benchmarks.

Currently I have my ram at 2400mhz 15-15-15-35
CPU at 4Ghz - 1.150Vcore (with the offset factored in)

Maybe I'll go for:

2500Mhz Ram @ 1.22V
4.4Ghz - 1.2vcore

and see what the temps/stability is like.
 
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