Novice Overclocking Help / Advice

Zzenith

Zzenith

Zzenith

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29 Nov 2008
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47
My computer is starting to get on a bit and rather than do an upgrade Ive decided to try my hand at overclocking as my cpu is still at stock speeds.

However I have no idea where to start and so I am hoping for some noob friendly help to ensure I don't fry my system oe better still a list of full proof settings that I can enter into the bios.

My current setup is as follows

CPU - I7 2600k
Mobo - GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD4 (Socket 1155)
Memory - 8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3
Case - Corsair Graphite 600T
CPU Cooler - Corsair H80
GFX Card - MSI GTX 980 Ti
PSU - Corsair 850HX Pro Series 850W

How do I go about overclocking the CPU in the bios. I would really appreciate any Gigabyte experts out there who know what settings on this motherboard need to be tweaked in order to achieve a moderate overclock.

Many thanks
 
I'm not stalking you, honest. :D

I don't know much about this sort of thing, but what you can do (which I did to my 3570K) is to enter the BIOS & alter the multiplier. So, in my case, it read 34 (3.4ghz at stock), & changing it to 40, for example, increased the clock speed to 4.0ghz. Eventually, you'll get to the point where more volts are required to make the overclock stable. In my case, 4.2 was about the highest stable overclock I could attain without tinkering with any other values (maybe 4.3 on a good day).

What cpu cooler do you have?

Keep an eye on temps with something like coretemp or hwmonitor.

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/


I found this guide helpful - but please check out other opinions first before going beyond changing the multiplier (what I initially suggested trying).

 
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No worries about the stalking.. lol

With regards to the cooler its a corsair H80 I think

What sort of temps should I be watching out for and how far realistically should I push the overclock.

thanks
 
So, that's a water cooled cpu, right? Well, I wouldn't worry at all to begin with as you have about as good cooling as it gets with something like that. I'd use hwmonitor to make a note of the temps before overclocking, then increase the multiplier to say, 40 (4.0ghz), followed by another check of your idle/load temperatures. These things are designed to shut down/reset themselves should too a high value is entered. Don't worry. :)

CPU-Z is also a useful program that you'll probably be asked to refer to at some stage in your overclocking journey:

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html
 
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FlipFlop said:
Is 3.4 to 4 quite a big jump?
Click to expand...

I would expect most chips to be able to achieve beyond that tbh, but I wouldn't then suggest going from 4.0ghz to something like 4.8ghz. I would make the increments much, much smaller. Having said that, if you're just tinkering with the multiplier, the worst that can happen is that it will reset itself back to stock, which it almost certainly would if you were attempting a very high clock speed. That's when other values need to be adjusted. :)
 
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What would be classed as a dangerous temperature whilst under load, in other words what sort of constant temperature should I be aiming for
 
arc@css said:
I would expect most chips to be able to achieve beyond that tbh, but I wouldn't then suggest going from 4.0ghz to something like 4.8ghz. I would make the increments much, much smaller. Having said that, if you're just tinkering with the multiplier, the worst that can happen is that it will reset itself back to stock, which it almost certainly would if you were attempting a very high clock speed. That's when other values need to be adjusted. :)
Click to expand...

Gotcha, thanks for the tips. Won't be so hesitant to try mine now.
 
Zzenith said:
What would be classed as a dangerous temperature whilst under load, in other words what sort of constant temperature should I be aiming for
Click to expand...

I'm not absolutely certain, though if a cpu gets dangerously hot (probably north of 100), it'll shut down; the alarm will most likely sound before it does anyway. Though, as you have a water cooled cpu, I really don't think you've got anything to be concerned about - and even if you had a stock cooler I still wouldn't be worried. It's only the multiplier value we're talking about here (no tinkering with volts just yet). :) In fact, mine was running at 4.2ghz with a stock cooler just fine for several months before I bought the DH-15.

My 3570K at stock is about the same speed as your 2600K, & was kept cool by a noctua DH-15 which is probably the best air cooler available right now. And even at the peak of summer while rendering videos (which is very cpu intensive), I didn't see load temps higher than the upper 60s. In the winter, it usually didn't go past 50 when performing the same tasks. In game, I couldn't tell you.....can't remember.

As for idle temps, 20s and 30s are what I mostly recall. HWMonitor is good because it will show you the min, current and max temp for your cpu and gpu.
 
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Well I had a go at the overclocking, not sure about messing with the voltages so I left that at stock value of 1.265 and only increased the multiplier to 40.

I did a 30 min stability test using OCCT and the temps were hovering around the lower 70's. Bearing in mind that I am using a old H80 water cooler I expected the temps to be lower.

Do I need to do a stability test for longer ?

Are those temps going to be ok for gaming ?

Would messing with the voltage settings help ?
 
As far as I know, OCCT will tax the cpu more than a game ever will.

Like you say, I also would have expected to see lower temps when using a water cooler - however, I would run a game and use MSI Afterburner to display the cpu temps while playing.

I don't think you need to run that stability test any further, though I'm not absolutely sure on that one.

Low 70s for gaming would be within tolerance, but you may well see less as OCCT doesn't represent a typical scenario.

Tinkering with voltages might help, but there you need a more experienced member to help you with that (or google a 2600 overclocking guide).
 
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