Help a newb learn to OC :)

[Stigz]

Heya guys, I ordered my PC and should get it this week, the specs are as following:

I7 2600K
Asus P8Z68 Deluxe/GEN3
G.skill DDR3 RipJawsX F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM x 2 for 16 GB ram
Sapphire HD 7970 3GB GDDR5 PCI-e (will go xfire in a few months)
CPU cooler: NOCTUA NH-D14
AX Corsair 850W PSU
Corsair 650 case
Running a 1920x1200 resolution

Would really love to learn how to properly OC and test the system.
If I OC my cpu to 4.5 Ghz would it decrease the CPU's life?
How to OC the GPU? Should I OC the RAM?
I am really a newb in this whole agenda, please help

 

[Stanfiem]

You Know where you need to start...?? Hit the books my friend... I know it seems like a lot of reading but There is no substitute to studying the "behavior" of a chip in relation to the voltages and speeds and what these different settings do to the stability of the CPU. If you do not know what VCCIO,VCCSA, Vcore, VDIMM, Cas latency, Turbo multi, Multi, LLC, BLCK stand for and how they effect the stability Then you need to stop where you are and Start Reading NOW. 3 Months ago I had no clue what these settings meant but with these guides and a slew of many more I learned, and now have a firm grasp on, what it means to OC a CPU and GPU. GPU's are easy though.

Step 1: Stress test the system for stability at EVERYTHING STOCK! Make sure you system is 100% stable at stock speeds my first 2500k BSOD'd at stock speeds So i RMA'd it (even though it is rare you could have a problem with a bunch of other things that cause your OC to be unstable.

Step 2: familiarize yourself with the BIOS. Read the manual (at least the part that explains all of the settings) and If you come across a setting that you do not understand then Google is your friend Or ask here I have found that for the most part Google is quicker than simply saying "Guide X says to change LLC But my mobo does not have that settings what is the equivalent??"

Step 3: Read every guide at least twice. This depends on how you process information for the most part.

Step 4: This is a very important step before you adjust ANYTHING in the bios. Look up the max voltages for any voltage you decide to change and stay below that by a good margin (this is up to your comfort level) I am not sure how 2700k differ from 2500k in this respect but for an example...Vcore should not be set above 1.52v because it GREATLY reduces the life of the chip. I did not go over 1.45 because i wanted to leave plenty of room for Vdrop Vdroop

Step 5: Start by setting the vcore at 1.255 or so and a 40-41 multiplier and try to get the system to post and have fun. Be patient because It does get frustrating spending an hour going in and out of the bios every 3 minutes/ because the OS Bsods because prime95 fails instantly (just an example)

Tips:
1.Play/explore the bios settings after reading a couple of guides all the way through once. I did step 2 and was still left with questions (this is ok) becasue the manual is pretty vague in describing some of the settings; this is where the guides come in. When I read the guides I would go through each of the guides once and then start to relate the settings in my bios to what the guides were talking about. For instance the Guides stated that VCCIO is QPI/VTT in my bios. Eventually it all starts to piece together.
2. Be patient and move in small increments when adjusting settings in the bios (when I say small I mean one or 2 "levels" at a time. E.G. Vcore set at 1.255 but it will not post? bump it up to the next level or two of Vcore 1.260 or +/-.005 or 1.265 +/- .010.
3. You begin to grasp the basics like Vcore Multi LLc and Turbo I suggest start overclocking! When I read the guides I would go through each of the guides twice and then start to "apply" my settings in my bios to what the guides were talking about. For instance the Guides stated that VCCIO was a voltage QPI/VTT and eventually it all started to piece together

CPU OC Guides:

Short Begginer Guides:
http://www.techreaction.net/2011/01/04/3-step-overclocking-guide-–-sandy-bridge-v0-1beta/2/

Long but very valuable MUST READS!
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/265056-29-2600k-2500k-overclocking-guide (k Series Guide)
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/266189-29-sandy-bridge-series-ocing-cores-guide

Advanced:
http://www.overclockers.com/3-step-guide-overclock-core-i3-i5-i7/ (the BCLK Method in this guide is not necessary on Sandy Bridge Chips (SB). I would suggest staying away from this guide until you are very comfortable with overclocking and want to Fine tune your Over clock.

while this is not a guide per-se, It is my right up of my journey to get to a stable 4.5: you can use this as a reference if you like. You will most likley be able to get stable with much less voltage than me though because I got a fairly voltage hungry chip, unfortunately http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1667181

GPU Overlcock guides (I have a 6950 so the guides are for 6950 but the concepts are the same on every GPU, except for the flashing bios sections of the OC guides just disregard them)
http://www.overclock.net/t/1070678/unlock-and-oc-that-6950-tf3-twin-frozr-iii-the-definitive-guide

Like you, I am a beginner, and Everything I have just typed (other than the link to the guide you should use and abuse the hell out of the guides) should be taken with a grain of salt. My point is to merely encourage you to read the guides FIRST AND FOREMOST! I repeat READ THE GUIDES! Also if you kill your chip dont bitch at me You are taking a risk when overclocking

 

[Stigz]

Thanks, gonna hit the books, I am a quick learner
Can you believe, I am moving from Pentium 4 2.8 HT with 1 GB ram and Radeon 9800 XT haha

Do you think my system got good OC capability?

 

[Forceman]

If you want to just jump right in, it is pretty easy to get 4.5 out of a SB chip. With that board, you can just change the Turbo Ratio to 45 (use the By All Cores setting), leave everything else on Auto, and give it a shot. The board should support that overclock on Auto without any problems. Then you can do all the boring reading and work on tweaking the voltages, etc, if you want to.

Check one of the 7970 overclocking threads in the AMD section for guidance there - but that should be pretty easy as well.

No point overclocking the RAM, just run it at the stated DDR3-1600 speed.

 

[Stanfiem]

If you want to just jump right in, it is pretty easy to get 4.5 out of a SB chip. With that board, you can just change the Turbo Ratio to 45 (use the By All Cores setting), leave everything else on Auto, and give it a shot. The board should support that overclock on Auto without any problems. Then you can do all the boring reading and work on tweaking the voltages, etc, if you want to.

Check one of the 7970 overclocking threads in the AMD section for guidance there - but that should be pretty easy as well.

No point overclocking the RAM, just run it at the stated DDR3-1600 speed.

listen to forceman I was going to suggest this but I am a beginner and did not want to risk giving you wrong advice, I just gave you the approach I took; while it is more "thorough" in some aspects I did not really start learning, or understanding a good chunk of Overclocking until I jumped right in . He helped me out a lot in my OC.

Do you think my system got good OC capability?

Do bears shit in the woods???

One other thing to add...Prime95 IntelBurnTest, LinX, OCCT are all good stress testers for CPU. Furmark, OCCT, Kombuster are all good GPU stress testers. Some monitoring programs you need RealTemp For temperature CPU-Z GUP-Z HWMonitor for speeds. You need to make sure you find an accurate Vcore reading software because Some programs do not display the correct Voltages.

 

[Stigz]

Another question, I didn't check, should I have a problem using NOCTUA NH-D14 cooler with this board and 4 ram sticks?
Thanks

 

[Theultimateeye]

To the OP my system is very similar to yours and i am an absolute noob when it came to overclocking. It took 1 day of research and a few hours of my time to get my 2500k to 4.5ghz. It's ridiculously easy and i'm hooked now.

 

[Forceman]

Another question, I didn't check, should I have a problem using NOCTUA NH-D14 cooler with this board and 4 ram sticks?
Thanks

Depending on the RAM you have, you might have clearance issues with the fan - but you should be able to slide the fan up a little to make room. If you have low-profile RAM (or just normal RAM without tall heatspreaders), you should be fine.

 

[Stigz]

Depending on the RAM you have, you might have clearance issues with the fan - but you should be able to slide the fan up a little to make room. If you have low-profile RAM (or just normal RAM without tall heatspreaders), you should be fine.

Well I have G.skill DDR3 RipJawsX F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM

P.S
I read some reviews about this RAM on Newegg and some guys posted he uses this RAM with NOCTUA NH-D14 with no problem but he got a Gygabyte board

 

[masscrazy]

Well I have G.skill DDR3 RipJawsX F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM

P.S
I read some reviews about this RAM on Newegg and some guys posted he uses this RAM with NOCTUA NH-D14 with no problem but he got a Gygabyte board

Can confirm they will fit. Doesnt matter which motherboard it is.

Setup my new machine yesterday with 16GB (4x4gb) with Ripjawsx 1600mhz, with the Noctua D14!

Though dont make a tiny mistake like i did, install the RAM first.

 

[Stigz]

Can confirm they will fit. Doesnt matter which motherboard it is.

Setup my new machine yesterday with 16GB (4x4gb) with Ripjawsx 1600mhz, with the Noctua D14!

Though dont make a tiny mistake like i did, install the RAM first.

Yea I will
Thanks for the reply mate