First attempt at Overclocking I7 2600k

Matt190191 · 2 Mar 2013 at 00:04

Hey everybody. I thought as i've had my Gaming PC for ages now and have an unlocked I7 2600K processor I thought it would be kinda stupid not to at least try overclocking it. Now this is the first time I've overclocked something other than a GPU & My phone. So this was my first attempt at overclocking my I7. So here are my results...Running on a vantage A.L.C liquid cooler

Overclocked to----> 4.4Ghz
Voltage using Prime 95 (Full load)----->1.248 Volts average

What i'm Using:
Asrock Fatal1ty Z68
Intel I7 2600K
Vantage A.L.C liquid cooler

Basically what i'm asking is whether i've done it right or not does it look normal?

I have done quite a bit of research about overclocking over the past couple of days so I Have a little more understanding now.

(I Was running Prime95 while taking screenshots!)
Temps:
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/9792/tempsl.png
Volts:
http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/9168/volts.png
Bios:
http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/3092/201303020008161.jpg
http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/3092/201303020008161.jpg
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/2761/201303020008481.jpg

Are the volts ok?
Are the temps ok?
Anything you can recommend?

And if i'm running at more-a less
at stock voltages have I voided or shortened the Life expectancy of my CPU?
Can I overclock to 4.3- 4.4ghz at stock/auto voltages? Instead of putting manual voltages?

Many thanks for what ever advice you can give!

wazza300 · 2 Mar 2013 at 00:27

looks ok to me but why have you disabled power saving/intel speedstep? it shouldnt affect stability and it saves you running full speed/voltage all the time

it will switch to full speed automatically if need be,like a huge turbo boost

all overclocking shortens component life but it will still last you years and years,it will be far outdated before it pegs eight

manual voltages are more accurate than auto,auto tends to use more than whats needed,main voltages to set manually are cpu or cpu offset/dram and vccio

Matt190191 · 2 Mar 2013 at 00:35

I read somewhere that I should disable them but I will Re-Enable them now.
Yeah I read that auto voltage adds more voltage than needed so I went with Offset at -0.010V Is that alright? Or should I choose fixed?

Many thanks

wazza300 · 2 Mar 2013 at 00:40

fixed wont let you use low power when pc is idle,or web browsing

offset is the best method imo but its personal choice,whether you want pc to run full speed/voltage all the time or scale up and down if needed ect its up to you

i think a nice round 4.5ghz would be better though

ohh and one thing to remember is llc and offset are like a balancing scale,if you use less llc you need one/two clicks more offset and vice versa

Matt190191 · 2 Mar 2013 at 00:49

wazza300 said:
fixed wont let you use low power when pc is idle,or web browsing

offset is the best method imo but its personal choice,whether you want pc to run full speed/voltage all the time or scale up and down if needed ect its up to you

i think a nice round 4.5ghz would be better though

ohh and one thing to remember is llc and offset are like a balancing scale,if you use less llc you need one/two clicks more offset and vice versa

I don't really understand the offset and llc which is why i was going to go with fixed (because it's easier) but I feel offset would be better for the CPU especially when it's just idling. I'll have to do more research into it I think. Will putting it up to 4.5ghz offer much of a performance increase do you think? I reverted back to stock/defaults @ 3.4ghz and my voltages were about 0.996 Volts considering my overclock only put it up to 1.248 volts @4.4ghz I may as well keep it overclocked instead of at stock if voltage is going to stay relatively the same.

wazza300 · 2 Mar 2013 at 00:56

4.5ghz wont offer much more than 4.4ghz but its a nice round number,im clocked at that with my 2600k

dont be worried about voltage,aslong as its below 1.4v and core temps are below 80c your fine

offset adds that amount to your stock/default cpu voltage so +0.010 will add 0.0100v to it

minus offset will take off voltage from stock cpu voltage so -0.010v = 0.0100v off

each level of loadline calibration will add a bit to your load cpu voltage(thats ontop of what offset adds/takes off) to counteract vdroop under 100% load the cpu voltage will droop slightly from the amount you set so say you set 1.25v in the bios and it shows 1.24v under load in cpu-z the missing 0.0100v is down to vdroop

ive ran mine at 4.5ghz for 2 years now n its been fine,

Matt190191 · 2 Mar 2013 at 01:00

Alright that makes a lot more sense to me now. I'll give it a try tomorrow.
Thanks for all the help and advice!

wazza300 · 2 Mar 2013 at 01:03

your doing well,the 4.4ghz oc is fine,just upto you if you want to go higher,you have the room voltage and temp wise

Matt190191 · 2 Mar 2013 at 01:09

I'll stick with the 4.4 or 4.5 for now. I couldn't see myself overclocking anymore than that until I know a lot more about what I'm doing to be honest. I thought my watercooler would do a much better job at keeping my CPU cool I was kind of disappointed with it after I overclocked my CPU to find that temps were relatively high or are these normal temps after an overclock? They seem pretty high to me. What temps do you get with yours at 5ghz?

wazza300 · 2 Mar 2013 at 01:11

im at 4.5ghz with mine,71c max i get (noctua d14 air cooler)and 1.344v cpu voltage

70c is fine for your cooler

Matt190191 · 2 Mar 2013 at 01:17

4.5Ghz was what I meant sorry. I was debating on selling my Liquid cooler for the Noctua D-14 just because it looks like such a beast