Serious about OC...but a noobie.

[pigeonfood11]

Hi, I hope you guys can help me get over this milestone of being able to overclock my cpu. I've been wanting to do it for a long time just never had the time to do but now i do. I've read quite a bit about it but always get mixed information whats safe and stable, But I know every cpu can be different, so then i get i skeptical on my ability to do it by myself.
I hope with you guys knowledge i can achieve a safe stable and fast computer.

My specs:
CPU: Intel i-5 4690K 3.4ghz
Mobo: Asus Maximus VI Hero
Ram: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) & Avexir Core series 8GB (2 x 4GB)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i
Case: Corsair 750D
Case Fans: 10....

Programs im using to stress test...CPUZ, Prime94, Aida64 & CoreTemps
What i have done so far was to update my bios to most up-to-date version, I set all the bios settings to "Load Optimized Defaults".
I then started the computer and ran a "Stability System Test" for 2hrs....and the highest temp was between 55-65.

That is as far as i have gone with overclocking...I guess my next question now is what do I do now with the info I have gotten from using Aida64.

[gravy1958]

From personal experience all I can say is don't... I have no idea what you think you will gain but in reality it is very little and usually of no importance. In gaming it is a few fps (you don't state your gpu) and ALL overclocks should be considered as unstable even if they seem stable. I had a i5 3570k that I used ASUS suite to oc to 4.0Ghz even though it said it was stable/ safe at 4.4Ghz it added an average of 3 FPS to games and it quickly started to have problems that would crash games... going to gaming sites or the geforce forum, the first advice is "turn off ALL oc" (not just the gpu oc) which usually solves 90% of problems.

Some people will have oc regularly and not really have had any problems (or none they feel worth mentioning 😉 ) but my current system (7 weeks old) came pre-overclocked and fails to boot often and crashes in games with a clock error (cpu) but I cannot get any help or find how to turn it off in the bios.

Your cpu is already better than most peoples so it doesn't need anything else. if you want to become an enthusiast... remember their are people who spend tens of thousands on extreme oc and cooling and their performance figures will crush you so look at it as a personal goal... plus as other components might bottleneck the system you may need to o/c them plus... when you actually weigh up the cost of a bigger ventilated case, additional cooling, time and effort... performance increases that beat oc can be done by buying a new cpu... which is always the safest and simplest way.

First decide why you want it, then decide if it will do what you expect, then decide if the risk of problems outweigh the tiny difference... People will say I get 18% or 11% but what that means is a program will load in 8 seconds instead of 9 seconds.

it can also lead to the dark side 8^) where you constantly watch an fps counter in games, instead of just enjoying the game... then you spend half a week on a forum complaining about fps.... it's a sad waste of time.

[pigeonfood11]

gravy1958 wrote:
From personal experience all I can say is don't... I have no idea what you think you will gain but in reality it is very little and usually of no importance. In gaming it is a few fps (you don't state your gpu) and ALL overclocks should be considered as unstable even if they seem stable. I had a i5 3570k that I used ASUS suite to oc to 4.0Ghz even though it said it was stable/ safe at 4.4Ghz it added an average of 3 FPS to games and it quickly started to have problems that would crash games... going to gaming sites or the geforce forum, the first advice is "turn off ALL oc" (not just the gpu oc) which usually solves 90% of problems.

Some people will have oc regularly and not really have had any problems (or none they feel worth mentioning 😉 ) but my current system (7 weeks old) came pre-overclocked and fails to boot often and crashes in games with a clock error (cpu) but I cannot get any help or find how to turn it off in the bios.

Your cpu is already better than most peoples so it doesn't need anything else. if you want to become an enthusiast... remember their are people who spend tens of thousands on extreme oc and cooling and their performance figures will crush you so look at it as a personal goal... plus as other components might bottleneck the system you may need to o/c them plus... when you actually weigh up the cost of a bigger ventilated case, additional cooling, time and effort... performance increases that beat oc can be done by buying a new cpu... which is always the safest and simplest way.

First decide why you want it, then decide if it will do what you expect, then decide if the risk of problems outweigh the tiny difference... People will say I get 18% or 11% but what that means is a program will load in 8 seconds instead of 9 seconds.

it can also lead to the dark side 8^) where you constantly watch an fps counter in games, instead of just enjoying the game... then you spend half a week on a forum complaining about fps.... it's a sad waste of time.

Way to kill a fellas dreams & aspirations LOL
I appreciate your views, and ive read of good and bad stories relating to oc and know the pros & cons of overclocking my system. I built the system knowing what i wanted and overclocking was and is still my main goal.
Your probably right and I wont notice the gains, but at least i will be familiar with another aspect of computing if it works out or not. With people like you and others on this forum, with your "motivation" LOL and knowledge, im sure it can be a pleasant journey.

[gravy1958]

pigeonfood11 wrote:
Way to kill a fellas dreams & aspirations LOL
I appreciate your views, and ive read of good and bad stories relating to oc and know the pros & cons of overclocking my system. I built the system knowing what i wanted and overclocking was and is still my main goal.
Your probably right and I wont notice the gains, but at least i will be familiar with another aspect of computing if it works out or not. With people like you and others on this forum, with your "motivation" LOL and knowledge, im sure it can be a pleasant journey.

I didn't mean to hold you back... just making you aware that it has the risk of HUGE expensive negatives (no matter how slim the risk) as well as positives that are never going to be of any significance unless you spend an awful lot of money.

If you're wanting to just tinker about in the bios you need lots of guidance and if you just want to oc there is software that you can click a button to get a similar result.

If you're looking to it as a hobby, my brother has a 5 year old pc and started to oc... as power, and heat has increased he has bought new PSU's, cooling, cases and now has it free standing with custom water cooling in the search for every tiny bit of more oc.... he still has a 5 year old pc but he's spent more money on it than my current 6700k 980 ti system costs... he has had frustration and times without a pc when he has to wait for new components... and it's painful when he sees how superior a newer system is to an old oc one.

your system is great and way above average so it already is fast plus intel auto turbo boost (like oc I guess :D) ...

hope all goes well.

[pigeonfood11]

With using programs to oc with it being "a one click solution". I read it creates a higher core voltage when upping your multiplier.
With me doing it manually I just want to up the multiplier very very slowly, stress testing it after increase.
I just need someone very familiar with rog mobo bios

[Arne_Saknussemm]

LOL gravy1958...you'll scare poor pigeonfood11 away before he even starts...

Hi pigeonfood11 🙂

First thing I would suggest is getting rid of Prime95 and downloading RealBench....much better stress test....stresses whole system holistically...

Then can you tell us what you have done so far....RAM running at XMP timings?

[pigeonfood11]

Arne Saknussemm wrote:
LOL gravy1958...you'll scare poor pigeonfood11 away before he even starts...

Hi pigeonfood11 🙂

First thing I would suggest is getting rid of Prime95 and downloading RealBench....much better stress test....stresses whole system holistically...

Then can you tell us what you have done so far....RAM running at XMP timings?

Im pretty sure Ram is running at XMP timings....im curious but what does ram in xmp timings do for oc?
So will RealBench show accurate temps when running stress test.
Get rid of Aida64 too?

Thanks for your help!

[Arne_Saknussemm]

Nah you are welcome...more will be along to help just give it time.

I would not say get rid of AIDA...shows you temps etc. Decent enough.

RealBench I woul drate better....stresses CPU and RAM and GPU alll at the same time..whereas quite often Prime stresses just CPU and does so with a lot of heat!

I would get realtemp or coretemp to check core temps while running RealBench

I don't have that platform here so would prefer guys who know the BIOS inside out help but in principle OCing can be quite straight forward and we'll have you sorted in no time...

Nate...where are you LOL

[Arne_Saknussemm]

Basically you want to set something like a medium value for LLC, disable CPU spread spectrum and any VID support and then set a manual voltage of 1.3volts and then simply up the multiplier one at a time from stock value and see if you can boot into windows. When you fail to boot into windows drop the multiplier a couple of points...boot into windows and see if you can run a stress test like AIDA or better RealBench. Keep an eye on your temps while you do this...anything over 80 I would stop the test.

Run RealBench stress test, selecting your full RAM quantity...for 15 minutes. If you pass try upping multiplier one..if you fail try dropping multiplier one.

One click solutions are not going to give you optimal voltage or a great OC experience frankly.

Great guide to BIOS on that series of motherboards here https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?33488-Maximus-VI-Series-UEFI-Guide-for-Overclocking

More stuff here https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?35027-UEFI-BIOS-Tweak-Guides-for-Maximus-VI-Multiple-Incom...

[gravy1958]

if your goal is to set a small increase then it achieves that result completely safely using software... people with my oc problem have posted solutions by increasing core voltage so the software option in this case is better than the manual oc... however you wouldn't get the experience of trial and error and the sense of achievement when it doesn't go pop 😉 jk

have fun be safe.