9900k OC, trying to make sense of it all

[R0x0r]

Hello fellow ROG overclockers,

I’m a new overclocking, I am experiencing some difficulty and I like to tap into your breadth of knowledge and advice. I would appreciate your patience and understanding if I am breaking any unspoken rules.

First the important build deets:
MOBO: ASUS ROG STRIX Z390-E Gaming
CPU: Intel i9-9900K @3.6 ghz (Cooling Noctua-NH-D15)
RAM: 32 DDR4 GB G.Skill 3200 mhz
GPU: Asus 2080TI
PSU: 750W
Storage: 1) 1TB EVO SSD 2) 250 EVO SSD 3) 3TB HDD 4) 3TB HDD (no, no RAID unfortunately))
OS: Windows 10 edu

After reading up on the guide found here: https://rog.asus.com/articles/overclocking/how-to-overclock-your-system-using-ai-overclocking/ I decided to embark on my OC journey…I’ve also done a fair amount of reading for similarity (see: https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?108153-ROG-Strix-Z390-H-i9-9900k-instability-when-overcloc...)

At stock clock settings, I ran the RealBench tool to stress the system to calculate the cooler score, which after several stress tests, went from 97 -> 167 and finally had landed on 197.

Based on that cooler score, the AI Optimized settings predicted that the OC could ramp all the way to 5.2 ghz, which as a surprise to no one, when the AI was enabled, failed to load into the OS. After several BSOD errors, I figured I needed to try something different. Therefore, after some manual tweaking, I found that the manually modifying the AI Optimism setting to 90 (equivalent to 4.8 ghz) would successfully load the OS and again, and, after several stress tests, the OC has proven stable never surpassing 79*C under stress.

With this information in front of you, I have 2 questions:
1. What are the steps I need to take to OC my XMP enabled ram from its current speed at 2666 mhz to its rated speed of 3200 mhz?
a. From what I understand I cannot leverage the AI AND XMP
2. Is there a better way intervene on the AI prediction rather than modifying the Optimism score? What would you recommend?

A final statement, as an enthusiast I want to squeeze out as much performance as possible, but a realist, I only play games (PUBG, FO76, CoD, BF, and so on) on the PC (granted would love to play at 4K and VR in the future, along with Anthem and Division 2). Would any other realists like to talk me out of pushing the chip any further?

Thanks for your advice ahead of time!

[x-rated]

i would suggest you not to use AI oc at all, you have to adjust just a few things manually
you can start with this, everything else leave as it is
dont forget to reset bios to its defaults first

EXTREME TWEAKER:
AI Overclock Tuner.................................XMP I
SVID Behavior......................................Best-Case Scenario
1-Core Ratio Limit.................................50
Max CPU Cache Ratio................................50
CPU Core/Cache Voltage.............................Adaptive Mode
Additional Turbo Mode CPU Core Voltage.............1.350


EXTREME TWEAKER -> EXTERNAL DIGI+ POWER CONTROL:
CPU Load-line Calibration..........................Level 6
CPU Current Capability.............................170% (or as much as possible)

EXTREME TWEAKER -> INTERNAL CPU POWER MANAGEMENT:
Long Duration Package Power Limit..................4095
Package Power Time Windows.........................127
Short Duration Package Power Limit.................4095
IA AC Load Line....................................0.01
IA DC Load Line....................................0.01

[R0x0r]

x-rated wrote:
i would suggest you not to use AI oc at all, you have to adjust just a few things manually
you can start with this, everything else leave as it is
dont forget to reset bios to its defaults first

EXTREME TWEAKER:
AI Overclock Tuner.................................XMP I
SVID Behavior......................................Best-Case Scenario
1-Core Ratio Limit.................................50
Max CPU Cache Ratio................................50
CPU Core/Cache Voltage.............................Adaptive Mode
Additional Turbo Mode CPU Core Voltage.............1.350


EXTREME TWEAKER -> EXTERNAL DIGI+ POWER CONTROL:
CPU Load-line Calibration..........................Level 6
CPU Current Capability.............................170% (or as much as possible)

EXTREME TWEAKER -> INTERNAL CPU POWER MANAGEMENT:
Long Duration Package Power Limit..................4095
Package Power Time Windows.........................127
Short Duration Package Power Limit.................4095
IA AC Load Line....................................0.01
IA DC Load Line....................................0.01

Indeed, I'll ensure to reset BIOS--Thanks so much for the advice! I'll update this evening on progress.

[djmarks]

R0x0r wrote:
Indeed, I'll ensure to reset BIOS--Thanks so much for the advice! I'll update this evening on progress.

Hi R0x0r - just wondering how you got on as I have the same cpu!

[R0x0r]

DJMarks and X-Rated:

Here's an update: After following X-Rated's suggestion I was able to successfully boot into Windows. Shortly after, I ran additional stress tests and benchmarks using RealBench.

The image below shows the bench score from 1/19 (when I was running ~4.8 ghz) next to the bench stats pulled after X-rated's suggestions


Interestingly, the CPU doesn't seem to be OC'd at all, so after I post this, I'm going to go into BIOS to confirm all the settings have saved. You can also note that the Max temp after both Benching and Stress capped at 48*C so I have a feeling that I need to tweak further.

I'll update shortly.

[R0x0r]

I’ll admit, when trying to find the 1-core ratio limit as X-rated suggested, I had a difficult time. *Images below are the settings I updated.*


*

See my options from the choices in the next image

Is the highlighted option the one I want to modify to sync all cores?

[bmickey]

Hello all! I tried these exact settings and my PC wouldn't boot. "The system has POSTed in safe mode... Press F1 to run Setup.". Once I loaded Optimized Defaults it booted just fine. I then did the same setup as below but went and manually changed memory from 4000 to 3600 frequency with the below settings and it booted fine. Any ideas why I can't get to 4000 with my ram?

My Specs are:
Asus Rog Strix Z390-e mobo, Samsung 970 EVO m.2 HD, 2x 8gb G.Skill Tridentz DDR4-4000 PC4-32000 (F4-4000C18D-16GTZKW) , Intel i9-9900k cpu, Corsair 750FX power supply. NZXT Kraken x72 (360mm) AiO.


QUOTE=x-rated;756842]i would suggest you not to use AI oc at all, you have to adjust just a few things manually
you can start with this, everything else leave as it is
dont forget to reset bios to its defaults first

EXTREME TWEAKER:
AI Overclock Tuner.................................XMP I
SVID Behavior......................................Best-Case Scenario
1-Core Ratio Limit.................................50
Max CPU Cache Ratio................................50
CPU Core/Cache Voltage.............................Adaptive Mode
Additional Turbo Mode CPU Core Voltage.............1.350


EXTREME TWEAKER -> EXTERNAL DIGI+ POWER CONTROL:
CPU Load-line Calibration..........................Level 6
CPU Current Capability.............................170% (or as much as possible)

EXTREME TWEAKER -> INTERNAL CPU POWER MANAGEMENT:
Long Duration Package Power Limit..................4095
Package Power Time Windows.........................127
Short Duration Package Power Limit.................4095
IA AC Load Line....................................0.01
IA DC Load Line....................................0.01

[rjbarker]

bmickey wrote:
Hello all! I tried these exact settings and my PC wouldn't boot. "The system has POSTed in safe mode... Press F1 to run Setup.". Once I loaded Optimized Defaults it booted just fine. I then did the same setup as below but went and manually changed memory from 4000 to 3600 frequency with the below settings and it booted fine. Any ideas why I can't get to 4000 with my ram?

My Specs are:
Asus Rog Strix Z390-e mobo, Samsung 970 EVO m.2 HD, 2x 8gb G.Skill Tridentz DDR4-4000 PC4-32000 (F4-4000C18D-16GTZKW) , Intel i9-9900k cpu, Corsair 750FX power supply. NZXT Kraken x72 (360mm) AiO.


QUOTE=x-rated;756842]i would suggest you not to use AI oc at all, you have to adjust just a few things manually
you can start with this, everything else leave as it is
dont forget to reset bios to its defaults first

EXTREME TWEAKER:
AI Overclock Tuner.................................XMP I
SVID Behavior......................................Best-Case Scenario
1-Core Ratio Limit.................................50
Max CPU Cache Ratio................................50
CPU Core/Cache Voltage.............................Adaptive Mode
Additional Turbo Mode CPU Core Voltage.............1.350


EXTREME TWEAKER -> EXTERNAL DIGI+ POWER CONTROL:
CPU Load-line Calibration..........................Level 6
CPU Current Capability.............................170% (or as much as possible)

EXTREME TWEAKER -> INTERNAL CPU POWER MANAGEMENT:
Long Duration Package Power Limit..................4095
Package Power Time Windows.........................127
Short Duration Package Power Limit.................4095
IA AC Load Line....................................0.01
IA DC Load Line....................................0.01

OC'ing 101 ......all chips are slightly different...(Memory maybe different)........one persons settings wont necessarily work on someone else's system....use the above as a "Guide" not gospel...and go from there....trying to OC and run Memory at high frequencies will likely require you to manually set / adjust barious Memory Parameters...such as vDimm ....VCCIO and System Agent....may even require you to relax Timings....in all honesty better to stick to 3200 - 3800 Mhz Memory with lower CAS

[bmickey]

Appreciate the input and I'm def new at this. I figured it would be close and understand there prob are differences.

In saying all that, if it seems stable with all these settings as original poster suggested is there any issue with just changing my frequency to 3600 from 4000? I didn't mess with any of those other settings you mentioned because it booted and after a couple stress tests seems to be fine.

Thanks for the help!

rjbarker wrote:

OC'ing 101 ......all chips are slightly different...(Memory maybe different)........one persons settings wont necessarily work on someone else's system....use the above as a "Guide" not gospel...and go from there....trying to OC and run Memory at high frequencies will likely require you to manually set / adjust barious Memory Parameters...such as vDimm ....VCCIO and System Agent....may even require you to relax Timings....in all honesty better to stick to 3200 - 3800 Mhz Memory with lower CAS

[djmarks]

bmickey wrote:
Hello all! I tried these exact settings and my PC wouldn't boot. "The system has POSTed in safe mode... Press F1 to run Setup.". Once I loaded Optimized Defaults it booted just fine. I then did the same setup as below but went and manually changed memory from 4000 to 3600 frequency with the below settings and it booted fine. Any ideas why I can't get to 4000 with my ram?

My Specs are:
Asus Rog Strix Z390-e mobo, Samsung 970 EVO m.2 HD, 2x 8gb G.Skill Tridentz DDR4-4000 PC4-32000 (F4-4000C18D-16GTZKW) , Intel i9-9900k cpu, Corsair 750FX power supply. NZXT Kraken x72 (360mm) AiO.


QUOTE=x-rated;756842]i would suggest you not to use AI oc at all, you have to adjust just a few things manually
you can start with this, everything else leave as it is
dont forget to reset bios to its defaults first

EXTREME TWEAKER:
AI Overclock Tuner.................................XMP I
SVID Behavior......................................Best-Case Scenario
1-Core Ratio Limit.................................50
Max CPU Cache Ratio................................50
CPU Core/Cache Voltage.............................Adaptive Mode
Additional Turbo Mode CPU Core Voltage.............1.350


EXTREME TWEAKER -> EXTERNAL DIGI+ POWER CONTROL:
CPU Load-line Calibration..........................Level 6
CPU Current Capability.............................170% (or as much as possible)

EXTREME TWEAKER -> INTERNAL CPU POWER MANAGEMENT:
Long Duration Package Power Limit..................4095
Package Power Time Windows.........................127
Short Duration Package Power Limit.................4095
IA AC Load Line....................................0.01
IA DC Load Line....................................0.01

Hi you could try to increase dram voltage to stabalise you memory woes. I know if I put XMP II profile on and set dram frequency to auto, I can get 4000+mhz on my 3200mhz sticks, but it takes a dram voltage of 1.45v which is too high for me.
So try setting you dram at 4000mhz then starting off with dram voltage @ 1.35v and slowly add 0.05 volts until your stable/get past the post.
Currently I've my 3200mhz sticks running at 3500mhz on 1.35v , vccio 1.1v and SA 1.1v and my cpu 5ghz @ 1.30v.

Or - try setting XMP II and dram frequency to auto. When it reboots, check in cpu-z memory tab and the dram frequency listed there needs to be double to get your "true(??)" dram frenquency (mine says 1750.0mhz so x2 = 3500mhz). Then reboot and go back into bios and see what your dram voltage is set at. Hopefully it won't be in red. Quite possibly XMP II will give you a dram frequency higher than your memory is rated at. With that info, you can reset your dram frequency to stock and just gradually reduce dram voltage till it won't post then revert back to last dram voltage . That way you'll have your dram @ 4000mhz and hopefully the lowest working voltage .


Hope some of this helps. I've been in a similar position as yourself regarding wondering what goes where and why lol but with the great advice from the guys here, I've managed to get a nice oc.
Good luck

ps - be a good idea to add your pc specs to your profile so people on here can help you better knowing your setup