First Overclocking Results

MrSteven

MrSteven

MrSteven

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Joined
4 May 2011
Posts
114
Location
Burnley, Lancashire
Hello

I just finished building my first computer yesterday and Im very pleased with how it went, today I thought id have a look at the overclocking options that came with my Asrock Extreme 4 Gen 3 board. I just did a 1 hour test with prime95 and these are the results I got.

System spec:

i7 2600k @ 4.6Ghz
Asrock Extreme4 Gen3
8Gb corsair XMS3 9-9-9-25 1600Mhz
Crucial 128GB m4
ax1200 psu
evga 480's
ft02
venomous x black cou cooler with 2x akasa apache fans


Vcore Minimum - 1.040
Vcore Maximum - 1.360

Temperatures
Core 0 Min 25 / Max 62
Core 1 Min 30 / Max 70
Core 2 Min 28 / Max 69
Core 3 Min 28 / Max 69

Just wondering if these voltages and temps are within the safe range, and if theres anything else I could change to improve on these results (Not looking to go any higher on the overclock just maybe get temps down). I just used the 'automatic' overclock feature thatthe asrock board came with and have not touched any other settings yet.

Also on a side note during the tests core 0 was usually 8/10 degrees cooler than core 1 and core's 2 and 3 somewhere in between, any reason for such a big difference?

Thanks
 
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Voltages are fine, but the i5 2500k hitting 70C is a bit much!

Each core will have its own temperature but its the overall temperature you want to worry about. Hitting 70C under load with a massive cooler like yours maybe a bit of a problem. The cpu should not really go that high!

1. Have you got the fans in a push/pull configuration? i.e. first fan pointing towards the front of your case pushing air onto the cpu cooler and then the second fan nearest to the rear of the case set to be pulling air away from the cpu cooler?

2. Please DO NOT SAY you have both fans on the cooler pushing air onto the cpu cooler itself, because this just creates a vacuum where heat will build up causing temps like 70C plus.

3. What program(s) are you using to monitor the temps of your cpu etc... I recommend CoreTemp and OpenHardwareMonitor

|Thanks
 
I do have the fans in push pull configuration yes, pulling cold air in from bottom on the ft02 case and exhasting out the top.

I used core temp, hardware monitor and real temp and the temps I gave you where an average of all 3.

I was wondering as it was my first time building I may have not seated the heatsink correctly or the paste may not have spread properly as I did the pea size method with the heatsink pressing down on it to spread it out.
 
Try a reseat if your unsure, when you remove the cooler you will see how effective the spread was by the residue left on the chip.

As for the chip temp differences I wouldn't fret too much about them, for me core#01 under stress is usually about 6-10c hotter than the other 3 cores. Voltages are all within range, you could take them off auto and set an offset or manual vcore to lower it a little if you feel upto it, might see your temps drop a shade.

Just so you know what your aiming for my sig setup hits about 64c under prime load, though using a slightly better cooler.
 
I might try doing it manually tomorrow when i have abit more time. What method of applying thermal paste would you recommend if I am to reseat it?
 
I agree with pga947. Try reseating the cooler, but remember to clear off the old paste then apply new paste.

Still use the pea sized amount of thermal paste as that is the amount you should use.

What type of paste are you using. Best one to use I would say is Arctic Silver 5: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=AC-000-AC&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=27

Just reseat it, and you should be ok. I thought 70C is a bit high, I just OC'd my Athlon Quad today to 3.4ghz from 3ghz and when stressing it using IntelBurnCpu I got a max of 59.5C using my cheap assed thermal paste from PC World (lolz) and Arctic Freezer Pro 7 Rev 2.
 
Should I spread the thermal paste over the cpu or just let the pressure of the heatsink spread it out? I used the IC diamond thermal paste but i do have a tube of artic silver 5 aswell.
 
let the pressure of the heatsink do it for you, then there will be no air bubbles between the heatsink and the cpu it's self, equalling in the best heat transfer from the cpu to the heatsink itself.
 
Don't amd chips throttle back at 62 or so degrees? So perhaps just cooler running chips in comparison to intel (SB tjmax is 98c).

As for paste, I haven't used any yet but its getting great reviews is the ICdiamond 24c stuff. As for cleaning the CPU and cooler I can highly recommend arcticlean.
 
I heard that the ICdiamond stuff is pretty good but high in price at around £12. Arctic Silver 5 is awesome stuff and only £9.

As for my AMD, I had it @ 3.8 for a while, but ran very hot, so I put it can down to 3.4ghz. They do tend to screw up at higher temps i.e. 62C or more, but I haven't had a problem.

Under load from IntelBurn I hit 59.5C, but underload from even the most intensive game I have which is Metro2033 and others like dirt3 and black ops, it rarely hits 55C.
 
Ok so I reseated the heatsink yesterday and managed to get some testing done today. Instead of using the automatic overclock, I decided to read up on how to do a manual overclock as the automatic ones tend to use to much voltage.

Im now running at 4.4Ghz and these are my results after a few hours of tests.

Vcore minimum - 0.960
Vcore Maximum - 1.270

Temperatures
Core 0 - Min 24 / Max 50
Core 1 - Min 30 / Max 59
Core 2 - Min 27 / Max 57
Core 3 - Min 27 / Max 57

Would you say these results are more reasonable to what I was getting before?

Also on a side not I tried to put the multiplier up to 4.5 but I would get a BSOD in the first few minuted of Prime and if not that one of the works would stop itself. Should I try push for more clock speed and if so what would you recommend doing or should I just leave it at 4.4Ghz as everything seems stable?

Thanks
 
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These temps are around normal for the i7 2600k. Overclocking it is easy. For 4Ghz, just up the multipler and that's it. Nothing else to do for 4ghz.

4.4ghz is more than enough power.
 
Yeh I just read that post back and It was ment to say 'I am now running at 4.4Ghz'

I think I will it at 4.4Ghz as all is well!

Thanks for the help Cinder and Pgi :)
 
mate you just wiped of one of the best pastes there is in ic diamond to put on AS5 which is OK but not anywhere as good as ic diamond or mx-4 is another very good one...i know its annoying but when you get spare time use the ic diamond, you just had it not seated right the first time

ps I took of AS5 from my heat sink about a year ago and replaced with mx-4 and lost 6-7c on full load...ic diamond is supposed to be even better :)
 
CinderzFTW said:
These temps are around normal for the i7 2600k. Overclocking it is easy. For 4Ghz, just up the multipler and that's it. Nothing else to do for 4ghz.

4.4ghz is more than enough power.
Click to expand...

Could you please tell me what I should up the multiplier to get 4Ghz
with a 2600k on an extreme4 gen3 MB, I'm using a corsair A70 cooler
with fans in push pull config in a fractal R3 case with two front fans.
This 4Ghz overclock will be permenant so has to be 100% stable.

many thanks
 
adriancal said:
Could you please tell me what I should up the multiplier to get 4Ghz
with a 2600k on an extreme4 gen3 MB, I'm using a corsair A70 cooler
with fans in push pull config in a fractal R3 case with two front fans.
This 4Ghz overclock will be permenant so has to be 100% stable.

many thanks
Click to expand...

I ain't 100% sure (as I am an AMD user myself) but I think it is *39 or *40 for 4ghz without having to touch the NB or SB volts or the cpu volts.

As I said, I am not 100% and have never got the chance of using an Intel 2nd Gen CPU yet.

Ask someone who has one then you will get your answer. And nice cooler xD
 
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