Did I lose the lottery 6 years ago? 2600k

Sacrifice · 8 Mar 2017 at 16:38

Hi all. I've had this 2600k for a while now, and I thought I should ask how good my OC is and/or about offset voltage and OC'ing.

For years I've been running 4.3 max turbo at 1.320 volts manually. I'm pretty sure it might have gone a little lower, but I didn't test really. I want to get my maximum OC at 1.35.

I've been looking through some ASUS Rog forum threads going through the options on my Maximus IV Gene, and found reference to offset voltage. So I decided to play around with it and see what the 'base' for the offset was.

When left to auto, at 3.8 boost (stock?) the BIOS gives it 1.352V in Prime95. At 4.3 auto, it was using 1.424 (stopped it quickly obviously). I then tried to offset down by -0.075 (to get to 1.35 - the voltage I was aiming for), but ended in BSOD before launching windows (too low idle voltage?).

So I reverted back to manual, set at 4.3, with 1.350. In Prime95 it was using 1.360. I then set 1.340 in BIOS so it used 1.350. Testing at 4.4 at 1.340(1.350 load) resulted in BSOD too.

So my cpu does 4.3 at 1.320 maybe lower, but won't do 4.4 at 1.340 (1.350)?

Does it sound like I just got unlucky with this chip, or am I doing something wrong?

gavinh87 · 8 Mar 2017 at 16:42

Sounds like you have found its max, although it is old now so degradation might have come into play also.

Awahwah · 8 Mar 2017 at 16:49

Looks like you have a poor clocker. The Mrs runs my old i5 2500K @ 4.5 on 1.29v. It will not do any more though or at least, I won't spend any more time on it. I'm thinking of changing my setup to Ryzen, which means she will have the machine I use now and her 2500k will make its way to MM.

Jumper118 · 8 Mar 2017 at 17:18

i have never seen a sandybridge cpu that bad. my worst chip out of 10 does 4.7ghz at 1.4v. have you ever updated the bios? also have you tried lowering the pll voltage?

Lokken86 · 8 Mar 2017 at 20:49

Maybe a temperature issue.

Jokester · 8 Mar 2017 at 20:52

If I remember correctly the worst 10% or so maxxed out at about 4.3GHz, so you could just have a turkey.

koooowweeee · 8 Mar 2017 at 21:06

That chip will run all day @1.45v if temps are ok

eddiew · 8 Mar 2017 at 21:58

My 2500k is about the same (now). It used to run 4.5 at 1.35v, but after all these years it does feel like CPU degradation is a real thing. I seriously thought it was guff put about to stop people overclocking

Ran stable at 4.8 when new, but temps were higher than I liked, so it spent most of it's life at 4.5, backing down to 4.3 in the last year. And either it's hotter than it used to be, or I need to redo the heat paste. I may also be asking too much of the memory controller with 4x8gb of 1866...

That said, 1.45v is supposedly safe, if you're trying for a last year out of yours. At this point, I wouldn't worry much as long as you can cool it below 80 degrees

zipp0r · 8 Mar 2017 at 23:27

if you want to use the offset you will need to use some LLC as well.
for me, medium LLC and +0.020v offset gives around the 1.35v mark and 4.6ghz

Colzy · 8 Mar 2017 at 23:35

I'm in a similar boat with my 3570k. it needs a ton of volts to clock- currently running at 4.3 with 1.31 vcore in the bios- but max load line calibration to keep it stable so a bit higher on tests. no one if this low volt oc I read about.

so many people can push way higher than that - luck of the draw plus age I guess.

Sacrifice · 9 Mar 2017 at 00:48

Ha thanks for all the replies. Can't complain after so long really! Fun fact: I got this chip because I was looking for a 2500k on the 'internet's marketplace' and saw a cheap listing. Called the guy up, he said he also had 2600k's when I asked. He then (and to this day I can't figure out why) let me have the thing for the same price. So I got it at a cheapo 2500k price back in the day! Perhaps he'd binned them, it seemed to be a physical shop if I remember correctly.

Threepwood · 9 Mar 2017 at 01:44

What cooling are you using, what temps are you seeing?

Why don't you want to go past 1.35v?

I would deffo be seeing how far 1.4v takes the clock maybe a little more depending on temps, really.

Nutty_Death · 9 Mar 2017 at 05:37

Colzy said:
I'm in a similar boat with my 3570k. it needs a ton of volts to clock- currently running at 4.3 with 1.31 vcore in the bios- but max load line calibration to keep it stable so a bit higher on tests. no one if this low volt oc I read about.

so many people can push way higher than that - luck of the draw plus age I guess.

Fairly similar situation here.
I was playing around seeing if I could go up to 4.5 which I managed to boot around 1.35 (I think) but it was unstable. Interesting it still didn't seem to get hot...

Sacrifice · 9 Mar 2017 at 09:33

Threepwood said:
What cooling are you using, what temps are you seeing?

Why don't you want to go past 1.35v?

I would deffo be seeing how far 1.4v takes the clock maybe a little more depending on temps, really.

Temps are probably 65 MAX. I need to be able to rely on this computer to not die, and 1.35 seemed to be the consensus on safe 24/7.

eddiew · 9 Mar 2017 at 10:35

Sacrifice said:
Temps are probably 65 MAX. I need to be able to rely on this computer to not die, and 1.35 seemed to be the consensus on safe 24/7.

Pfeh, that's nothing, mine peaks around 79-80 under full load, and has done for years (a fine example of why AiO watercoolers ain't all that).

I've stopped worrying about it now, if it was going to die suddenly it would have done it. Seems more likely to slowly drop mhz as time goes by

Colzy · 9 Mar 2017 at 11:59

Deaths_Calling said:
Fairly similar situation here.
I was playing around seeing if I could go up to 4.5 which I managed to boot around 1.35 (I think) but it was unstable. Interesting it still didn't seem to get hot...

I had a similar thing at 4.5 when I tried a while ago. Temps at 4.3 are manageable with 1.31 bios (prob 1.35ish in tests) but I don't want to up the voltage much more as cooling is becoming an issue (on air). I'll give 4.4 a go but I can't see it getting stable with a good temp any higher unfortunately

Zeed · 9 Mar 2017 at 14:40

eeee i was running ine for over 2 years at 1.45@5ghz problems free

Threepwood · 9 Mar 2017 at 14:54

Sacrifice said:
Temps are probably 65 MAX. I need to be able to rely on this computer to not die, and 1.35 seemed to be the consensus on safe 24/7.

Okay, so save that profile and go find out what the CPU's real maximum is too? You might hit 4.6 with 1.4v with max stress temps below 80c

Colzy said:
I had a similar thing at 4.5 when I tried a while ago. Temps at 4.3 are manageable with 1.31 bios (prob 1.35ish in tests) but I don't want to up the voltage much more as cooling is becoming an issue (on air). I'll give 4.4 a go but I can't see it getting stable with a good temp any higher unfortunately

Ivybridge = Delid needed really.

EdButler · 9 Mar 2017 at 15:46

Give it some more welly. Mine has run at 4.7Ghz @ 1.45v since a week after Sandy release. Its only needed some new TIM once. Hard as nails these chips!

Sacrifice · 11 Mar 2017 at 11:03

I'm writing my dissertation now, and have archive pictures that represent weeks of trips. I'd rather not risk having to build a new pc for few more months.