New to Overclocking. Is this a good overclock? Should I try and increase it?

[Chris Nahhas]

Hi. This is my first post.

I'm new to overclocking, and overclocked my CPU (an i7 4790k) for the first time today using Asus' AI Suite.

I'm wondering if this is a good overclock and whether I should try and increase it manually.

It kind of knocked my socks off when I saw it go to 5GHz but that's over two cores?

Three cores and above and it's 4.5GHz.

I'm not really sure if this is a good overclock or not as I set it to overclock per core rather than keeping them synchronised.

I'm wondering if I should try and push it a little further?

I'm using a budget motherboard. It's an Asus Z97-C

 

[Panos]

Hi. This is my first post.

I'm new to overclocking, and overclocked my CPU (an i7 4790k) for the first time today using Asus' AI Suite.

I'm wondering if this is a good overclock and whether I should try and increase it manually.

It kind of knocked my socks off when I saw it go to 5GHz but that's over two cores?

Three cores and above and it's 4.5GHz.

I'm not really sure if this is a good overclock or not as I set it to overclock per core rather than keeping them synchronised.

I'm wondering if I should try and push it a little further?

I'm using a budget motherboard. It's an Asus Z97-C

What cooler you have?

 

[Chris Nahhas]

What cooler you have?

Akasa Medusa

With three 140mm Akasa Vipers front, middle and rear.

Edit: I should probably say it's not officially compatible with LGA 1150 but with some experimentation and persistence I managed to get it seated.

 

[Panos]

5ghz on that power hungry CPU is going to be too much.
If it works fine, but i foresee a lot of crashes, due to either power limitation on the motherboard, or thermal on the CPU if not delided.

 

[Chris Nahhas]

5ghz on that power hungry CPU is going to be too much.
If it works fine, but i foresee a lot of crashes, due to either power limitation on the motherboard, or thermal on the CPU if not delided.

Temps are okay, I'm an air cooling otaku from back in the day and even rocked Sanyo Denki's in my time; I have a host of burned out fan controllers to show for it.

As for power, I guess it remains to be seen. You don't think my current mobo can support it?

I was thinking of upgrading to a Z97-Pro Gamer, if the CPU was worth it. Kind of why I'm seeking advice on whether it's a good overclock.

What do you think?

It's a separate/individual core overclock rather than synchronised. Are those readings good for a separate/individual core overclock?

 

[Panos]

Temps are okay, I'm an air cooling otaku from back in the day and even rocked Sanyo Denki's in my time; I have a host of burned out fan controllers to show for it.

As for power, I guess it remains to be seen. You don't think my current mobo can support it?

I was thinking of upgrading to a Z97-Pro Gamer, if the CPU was worth it. Kind of why I'm seeking advice on whether it's a good overclock.

What do you think?

It's a separate/individual core overclock rather than synchronised. Are those readings good for a separate/individual core overclock?

Sure. Try to push the synchronized to 4.6-4.7. I believe it should take it, if you just run games and not Prime

 

[Chris Nahhas]

Sure. Try to push the synchronized to 4.6-4.7. I believe it should take it, if you just run games and not Prime

Thanks. I was planning on avoiding stress testing. I almost ran the automatic overclock without the test RAM box checked because I didn't want stress testing hamstringing the overclock.

Do you know what the advantage is in overclocking the cores separately? I'm thinking it might be better if I re-run the OC with it set to synchronised the cores but I've nothing to base the decision on. I don't really have any idea what the difference is. :/

EDIT: Oops, sorry, typo. Meant "Do you know what the advantage is in overclocking the cores separately?"

 

[Panos]

Thanks. I was planning on avoiding stress testing. I almost ran the automatic overclock without the test RAM box checked because I didn't want stress testing hamstringing the overclock.

Do you know what the advantage is in overclocking the cores separately? I'm thinking it might be better if I re-run the OC with it set to synchronised the cores but I've nothing to base the decision on. I don't really have any idea what the difference is. :/

EDIT: Oops, sorry, typo. Meant "Do you know what the advantage is in overclocking the cores separately?"

Not much, and more likely prone to crashing.

 

[Drollic]

Do it manually using llc and offsets. Start at 4.3 all core running stress tests and work your way up to 4.5 depending on voltages and temps.

 

[Chris Nahhas]

Not much, and more likely prone to crashing.

Maybe, I don't really know. It was recommended by the Asus representative I watched demonstrating it. It's good to have a 5 GHz boost also, although a higher consistent overclock across all four cores is probably more effective on aggregate? I'd have to do the math I guess.

But good to have for single core operations. I was watching it in CPU-Z and it boosts to 5GHz for an instant every few seconds. Feels pretty cool but I guess it's not worth loosing performance over.

Do it manually using llc and offsets. Start at 4.3 all core running stress tests and work you're way up to 4.5 depending on voltages and temps.

Thanks. that's getting to the limit of my understanding. I'm not even sure my motherboard has llc and I'm not sure what offsets are?

I was thinking I'd start with the settings the Auto overclock left me with and work from there. I've read auto overclocking utilities up the voltage to ensure stability so was thinking I could increase a few things from where they are without it necessarily immediately crashing?

 

[Drollic]

Maybe, I don't really know. It was recommended by the Asus representative I watched demonstrating it. It's good to have a 5 GHz boost also, although a higher consistent overclock across all four cores is probably more effective on aggregate? I'd have to do the math I guess.

But good to have for single core operations. I was watching it in CPU-Z and it boosts to 5GHz for an instant every few seconds. Feels pretty cool but I guess it's not worth loosing performance over.

Thanks. that's getting to the limit of my understanding. I'm not even sure my motherboard has llc and I'm not sure what offsets are?

I was thinking I'd start with the settings the Auto overclock left me with and work from there. I've read auto overclocking utilities up the voltage to ensure stability so was thinking I could increase a few things from where they are without it necessarily immediately crashing?

You don't ideally want auto, you want the lowest manual voltage for stability plus a very minor amount extra to ensure it's 100%. Llc and offsets are worth looking into via online searches as its the way to do it on that chip like my own.

 

[Chris Nahhas]

You don't ideally want auto, you want the lowest manual voltage for stability plus a very minor amount extra to ensure it's 100%. Llc and offsets are worth looking into via online searches as its the way to do it on that chip like my own.

Thanks, I will take a look at it, thanks for responding, but right now I've got to get to bed; I'm falling asleep here.

But yeah, I wasn't really thinking of reducing anything but rather keeping the voltage where it is and just increasing the overclock a little.

Anyway, I need to pick this up again tomorrow. Right now I've got to get some sleep.

Thanks again

 

[Drollic]

Thanks, I will take a look at it, thanks for responding, but right now I've got to get to bed; I'm falling asleep here.

But yeah, I wasn't really thinking of reducing anything but rather keeping the voltage where it is and just increasing the overclock a little.

Anyway, I need to pick this up again tomorrow. Right now I've got to get some sleep.

Thanks again

I've just seen your screen shot but am not familiar with ai suite. 1.37v is far too high though with your cooling setup, that's if it's actually using that voltage. Start at 4.3 all core as its virtually guaranteed with 1.23v. Use offsets to achieve this with a low level of llc in the bios if it's possible.

As an example, my board almost undervolts so at 4.3 with low level llc I have to add voltage via offset. This results in a load voltage that never goes beyond 1.186 iirc. Keeps temps nice and low on a fairly basic cooler.

 

[Chris Nahhas]

I've just seen your screen shot but am not familiar with ai suite. 1.37v is far too high though with your cooling setup, that's if it's actually using that voltage. Start at 4.3 all core as its virtually guaranteed with 1.23v. Use offsets to achieve this with a low level of llc in the bios if it's possible.

As an example, my board almost undervolts so at 4.3 with low level llc I have to add voltage via offset. This results in a load voltage that never goes beyond 1.186 iirc. Keeps temps nice and low on a fairly basic cooler.

Thanks, I think I need to find a tutorial or a glossary for the terminology. I'm new to CPU overclocking. I think to start with I'll try and decode the overclocking options in my BIOS.

 

[Drollic]

Thanks, I think I need to find a tutorial or a glossary for the terminology. I'm new to CPU overclocking. I think to start with I'll try and decode the overclocking options in my BIOS.

You don't ideally want to go beyond 1.3v with your cooling setup for longevity/risk, especially with a cheaper mobo as well. I'd probably stop 1.25-1.275 max.

 

[Chris Nahhas]

You don't ideally want to go beyond 1.3v with your cooling setup for longevity/risk, especially with a cheaper mobo as well. I'd probably stop 1.25-1.275 max.

I took a look at my BIOS and to be honest it's confusing the hell out of me; I mean I just don't have any real understanding of what any of the overclocking options actually mean?

I have offsets all set to + but I don't have an LLC option.

I think I'm going to have to do a lot more research before I'm actually going to be able to configure this thing manually.

As for the voltage, it's just set to auto and there is an "Extreme Over-voltage" option that's set to disabled.

The temps look fine for the moment and should be okay through the winter; my cooler is very efficient and it's being managed by the motherboard, but it does look like a closed loop wouldn't be a bad investment.

To be honest I'm not sure where to begin with all of this, I'm actually tempted just to slap a closed loop onto it and call it done. :/

 

[Drollic]

I took a look at my BIOS and to be honest it's confusing the hell out of me; I mean I just don't have any real understanding of what any of the overclocking options actually mean?

I have offsets all set to + but I don't have an LLC option.

I think I'm going to have to do a lot more research before I'm actually going to be able to configure this thing manually.

As for the voltage, it's just set to auto and there is an "Extreme Over-voltage" option that's set to disabled.

The temps look fine for the moment and should be okay through the winter; my cooler is very efficient and it's being managed by the motherboard, but it does look like a closed loop wouldn't be a bad investment.

To be honest I'm not sure where to begin with all of this, I'm actually tempted just to slap a closed loop onto it and call it done. :/

Can you change all core in bios to 43, leave everything default CPU wise then advise on the voltage and temps under heavy load stress test? Run for a minimum of 10 minutes to get an idea on temps. Llc might not even be needed. I wouldn't use any kind of programme for an oc. Also, pointless going w/c on an older setup imo, even more so with a cheaper mobo.

Just to answer your original question, 4.5 all core with 1.37 is terrible, and probably long term would kill the CPU on your setup

 

[LuckyBenski]

Your air cooler is pretty beefy. I wouldn't presume that a basic CLC would outperform it. Maybe for extreme overvolting scenarios but generally CLCs are only as good as high end air coolers, not better. Custom loop could do better but your Medusa will probably be plenty good enough.

 

[Chris Nahhas]

Can you change all core in bios to 43, leave everything default CPU wise then advise on the voltage and temps under heavy load stress test? Run for a minimum of 10 minutes to get an idea on temps. Llc might not even be needed. I wouldn't use any kind of programme for an oc. Also, pointless going w/c on an older setup imo, even more so with a cheaper mobo.

Just to answer your original question, 4.5 all core with 1.37 is terrible, and probably long term would kill the CPU on your setup

Thanks Re. my original question, I was trying to get a sense of weather my CPU was a good overclocker and whether it was worth trying to tweak the the OC.

I'm aware of electromigration, I was actually thinking of just sacrificing some of the lifespan of my CPU for the extra performance boost. The plan is to have this CPU in a dedicated gaming rig so that it's not running 24/7

I'm using Asus's AI Suite 3 and it basically alters the BIOS settings form within Windows so that I don't have to re-boot as often. This is what I've got to play with...

I could do a deep dive on the other options it's giving me in BIOS but for the moment I'm guessing this is probably a good place to start?

I think it might also be giving me more options re offsets than the BIOS actually does, I'll have to take another look.

I set it all to default and set the cores to 43MHz as suggested.

I'd run Prime95 for close to fifteen minutes when I took this screen shot and this is what CPU-Z and Speed Fan were reading:

What's the next step?

Your air cooler is pretty beefy. I wouldn't presume that a basic CLC would outperform it. Maybe for extreme overvolting scenarios but generally CLCs are only as good as high end air coolers, not better. Custom loop could do better but your Medusa will probably be plenty good enough.

Yeah, it's okay, having looked at it I don't think I could get this CPU to maximum temperatures using a stress test without deliberately downgrading the cooling or enabling extreme overvolting in bios and cranking it up past its recommended thresholds. It should be okay even if we get weather as hot as the hottest day in U.K.'s recorded history (35.9C in Cheltenham on July 3 1976 http://home.bt.com/news/uk-news/hottest-on-record-when-was-the-uks-hottest-summer-11364074140808).

 

[Drollic]

You need to take the screen shot when it's under load 100% at 43. Use hwinfo for readings so you can see the load and temps. In your screenshot above, the CPU isn't under load hence 3997mhz and 1.064v. CPU will fluctuate regularly between base clock and max clock when not under load, this isn't the same thing. You want to get an idea of what voltage your mobo is giving the CPU at an easy overclock to better understand offset required as you push the overclock providing temps are under control. Take the screenshot whilst running Prime after 10-15 minutes.