OC guide for newbies?

[jbltecnicspro]

Hey guys,

So I've never overclocked any hardware before (except video cards), and I was looking to get into it. Where's a solid beginner's guide to CPU overclocking? Thanks!

 

[Araxie]

All depend really on what will you be overclocking, for example its not the same overclock a first gen nehalem i7 than a 2nd gen i7 sandy or 4th gen i7 haswell.. If i take your signature as guide, then you cant overclock that chip. If you tell what mobo and processor want to overclock then i can offer some guides and advices to you..

 

[jbltecnicspro]

All depend really on what will you be overclocking, for example its not the same overclock a first gen nehalem i7 than a 2nd gen i7 sandy or 4th gen i7 haswell.. If i take your signature as guide, then you cant overclock that chip. If you tell what mobo and processor want to overclock then i can offer some guides and advices to you..

My apologies - I should have specified. I have an Intel Z68 Skulltrail (I think? - I can look it up when I get home if you want) motherboard as a spare, and would like to get either an i5-3570k or i7-3770k. I'll be gaming mostly, so I'll probably be set with the i5.

 

[cortexodus]

My apologies - I should have specified. I have an Intel Z68 Skulltrail (I think? - I can look it up when I get home if you want) motherboard as a spare, and would like to get either an i5-3570k or i7-3770k. I'll be gaming mostly, so I'll probably be set with the i5.

Skulltrail was a Xeon dual socket 771 Intel board.

 

[jbltecnicspro]

Skulltrail was a Xeon dual socket 771 Intel board.

You're right. I looked it up (was still on lunch) DZ68BC is the board.

 

[lilfiend]

If you're getting a K processor or an AMD Black Edition processor you have a unlocked multiplier, which makes it a whole lot easier to overclock.

All multiplier/voltage settings should be changed in bios, I also use a spare ssd for overclocking with since I've hosed more than one install overclocking, you should be fine with your main OS so long as you don't try overclocking ram.

Basically all you have to do is raise your multiplier up a notch, restart, run prime95 small fft or intel burn test. Keep hwmonitor and cpuz running to watch temps and your clock speed. For 24/7 overclock i'd keep max temp to <90C, anything over that is just too hot.

If your PC crashes after raising your multiplier you're going to need to bump up your voltage, the closer to stable your pc was the less you need to bump it. Max safe voltage on Intel stuff is 1.35v IIRC. You can play with LLC for a more stable overclock, but for a first time overclocker I wouldn't.

When looking at CPU-Z you may notice that things aren't equal to exactly what you set them to, its OK, there are usually some variances. I try to watch my voltage on CPU-Z so I can see how big my vdroop is. Usually is less than .05v, though it could be higher depending on your motherboard and CPU combo. LLC is load line calibration, it allows the cpu to correct for vdroop. I am personally not a big fan of it as it seems unfinished to me but it is helpful when trying to get a high stable OC. Basically it is supposed to up the voltage while your CPU is under load to make it more stable, but when you remove that load the voltage can stay raised momentarily to a dangerous level for your CPU. To minimize your risk LLC comes in levels, with higher levels corresponding to more voltage. I've only ever used LLC level 1 and it raised my idle voltage a tad also. I feel I may not totally understand LLC or LLC isn't far enough along to do exactly what I expect it to do.

Overclocking is a dangerous habit, but it can be loads of fun. I've overclocked everything from my CPU to my laptop to my cell phone and everything in between.

 

[BranNutz]

Good Info

 

[sazuzaki]

and make sure you got proper cooling for your CPU, 3570k usually go upto 4.5-4.7Ghz easy.

I would say see what clocks you wanna go for, set the clocks for it and then raise the voltage little by little until you get it stable, once you run prime95 for 1hr and no errors test it with IBT at maximum load.


or you could work your way the other way around, see what voltage you are willing to use. for example if you are just willing to use 1.3v on the CPU vcore w/ LLC and other stuff on Ultimate/Extreme then set your clocks way high, lets say 5Ghz then work your way down to see which clocks you can get stable for that voltage.

 

[lilfiend]

Sazuzaki's way is good if you are going for max performance, plus its a lot quicker to do.

The only issue is you don't see your 'wall' as easily with it. I've had chips that will do 1.3v@3.8ghz or 1.45v for 4ghz, you just gotta decide what you want. If you have adequate cooling and you're looking for performance, that .15v might not mean a lot to you. (AMD chip, was good to 1.55v).

 

[sazuzaki]

Sazuzaki's way is good if you are going for max performance, plus its a lot quicker to do.

The only issue is you don't see your 'wall' as easily with it. I've had chips that will do 1.3v@3.8ghz or 1.45v for 4ghz, you just gotta decide what you want. If you have adequate cooling and you're looking for performance, that .15v might not mean a lot to you. (AMD chip, was good to 1.55v).

yes, finding the "wall" would require a different method.


What I did is increase my OC by increments of 100Mhz, and to see how much voltage each increments requires. once the required voltage jumped twice as much as the previous one just to get it to boot up then I get an idea on how far my CPU can get w/o putting to much voltage.


In my 3570k case, at 4.6 to 4.7Ghz I required to jump voltage from 1.35 to 1.375v while going from 4.7Ghz to 4.8Ghz took a huge jump of voltage required to be stable from 1.375 to 1.435v which is more than double the voltage added on the 4.6 to 4.7Ghz increase. That gave me the idea that my CPU can only go for 4.7Ghz w/o jumping too much on voltage, I can get upto 4.9Ghz at 1.515v but that's as far as I would go in terms of voltage increase, only ran that clocks at that voltage for benchmarking and kept my CPU at 4.7Ghz as daily clocks.