Another noobie Clocker or Clockie

Jay794

Jay794

Jay794

Soldato
Joined
27 Aug 2011
Posts
5,308
Location
Sheffield, UK
See sig for specs,

Currently running at 3.7Ghz (stock was 3.4Ghz) because I didn't want to push it past 4 for fear of flames and destroying a £300 processor and board lol.

I've read the beginners guide to OC'ing

But other than using the Windows OC programs that came with the motherboard I left everything at Auto in the Bios

Temps currently around 30-45 idle.

Using a stock cooler until the H100 arrives, how much can I push it safely without fire and smoke lol
 
On stock cooler, maybe 4.2-4.5 depending on what vcore the chip needs. If the h100 is in the post, i'd probably wait on that tbh and get to serious clocking when it comes.
 
Think I can take it to 4.2Ghz without the H100? Considering I haven't broke 50*c yet with all the stock fans
 
Throw linpack at it as that'll show you close to the maximum temperature within a minute or two of solid run. If that looks low, then you might be able to push an overclock, but with a cooler like that on the way, may as well play safe :)
 
I tried Intel Burn and it scared the hell out of me, first it pushed CPU usage to 100% on all cores, then the temps jumped to 80c lol and that was only at 3.7Ghz

I'm running at 4Ghz without running Intel Burn (for fear of smoke and fire) I just played AVP on full spec for about an hour, back into Windows and the temps are around 60c, up from 32c idling.

I've been looking at the BIOS settings and I think until I get the H100 I can leave it at 4Ghz, is it ok to leave everything else on auto and just change the multiplier or should I change other stuff too?

I've been reading the guides an it says you should change the voltage and RAM speed, but I have no idea what to change it to, is there a way of calculating what is safe to run at?

Obviously, over-volting will fry something so I'm tempted to leave it alone for now.

Like I said I'm running at 4Ghz now, but I'm still finding stuff like iTunes crash regularly, I thought getting a faster motherboard and processor would solve this
 
Once you get your H100 what speed are you aiming to get to?

As if like most just 4.4-4.6 you will probably get away with just leaving everything at auto and just bumping up the multiplier.

If you do go down the path of manual voltage, try keep things under 1.4v
 
Jay794 said:
I tried Intel Burn and it scared the hell out of me, first it pushed CPU usage to 100% on all cores, then the temps jumped to 80c lol and that was only at 3.7Ghz
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And that's exactly why people use it. In terms of power consumption and heat generation, it's more intensive than Prime95's torture test, especially on Intel processors.
The obvious downside being that whilst it tests the CPU pretty heavily it doesn't test all the other parts of the system in the same manner, so you still need to couple it with other tests like Prime blend, but its still very helpful at quickly exposing issues.

The stock cooler is awful, and that's why people recommend waiting until you get a better one :)
 
I get that its an intensity test, but surely going from 30c to 80c so quickly and back again is just asking for the chip to be damaged?
 
Jay794 said:
I get that its an intensity test, but surely going from 30c to 80c so quickly and back again is just asking for the chip to be damaged?
Click to expand...

I understand exactly where you're coming from here. Obviously putting this much stress on your CPU over a long period of time will probably reduce the life expectancy of your chip than if it were sat idling for most of its life. But in real life day to day usage even a heavy game or heavy encoding isn't likely to utilise the CPU to the same extent as the stability test. After all, it just a test.

I think you would probably be surprised at how much of a difference in temperatures an aftermarket cooler can make, particularly when your CPU is under load. When your H100 arrives I'm sure you will see massive differences in temperature. Good luck!
 
Yep, the tranquillo dropped my stock load temps by over 20 degrees. I'm not running with aggressive case cooling to keep noise down.

Either way the heat and power usage of prime, ibt are exactly why they are used, they test your systems stability as iffy overclocks can cause all sorts of issues.
 
If heat or voltage is excessive then potentially but typically a cpu will throttle or a computer will crash before then.
For the relative short span of time though there should be no ill effective. Linpack for example which powers Intelburntest is actually made by Intel for testing.
 
If you're hitting over 80, I wouldn't bother, as you now know the cooler isn't good enough to push any further really, if anything I'd back off the overclock. During hard stress testing it's expected your temps will be higher than any other usual point, but as you're already in the 80s you're pretty much at the limit, it means even lighter things that stress the CPU will have you running potentially into the 70s, which is warmer than I would at least personally like for long term use. I mean with the stock cooler and similar temps, even a burst of Duke Nukem forever had me about 66, and that's hardly as CPU intensive as the likes of BF3 or video encoding :)

Perhaps I'm being over cautious based on the max recommended temps of other chips I've used, but lower temps are always better haha
Even with low airflow as all my fans are on low (except the CPU fan which is PWM controlled), and a 4.4Ghz overclock, with the Tranquillo I'm hitting max of about 76-78 and averages of lower when running IBT and Prime; if your chip runs similarly, your H100 should be even better, especially if you're not as partial to noise as I am, as Im sure I could shave some degrees off by turning the fans up :)
 
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H100 is on its way :) but have I really made the right choice?

I've been reading reviews about the NH-D14 vs Corsair H100 vs Antec Kúhler vs Thermalright Silver Arrow and for some reason, the Silver Arrow comes out on top, what are peoples thoughts? taking in to consideration size, noise and ability to cool?
 
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