What is the best way to maximize my 4770k overclock?

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voozers

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Jul 7, 2013
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Hi all, I recently built a new rig last week. Specs are as follows:

Mobo: MSI G45-Z87 Gaming
CPU:i7 4770k
GPU: EVGA GTX 780 ACX SC
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
CPU Cooler: Noctua NHD-14
Storage:Samsung 840 500GB SSD

It's all about luck if you get a good 4770k chip. If you're really lucky it can go behind 4.6GHz. With mine at 4.6, it would cause a memory dump and a restart when running 3DMark Basic with Firestrike.

At 4.5GHz, it runs stable and finishes the 3DMark Basic benchmark. At 4.5 GHz I got my highest 3DMark score out of all my tests. However when stress testing with Prime95 using the blend test, after a minute my computer would go into a memory dump error and restart.

So I had to dial it back down to 4.3 GHz. Initial testing temps after an hour were about 65-70C. After opening my browser on top of the test, it went up to 90C. I have had no crashes but looking at other forums it doesn't seem safe to keep it at 4.3 GHz with temps that high though most real world applications won't really stress it that high.

So it looks like I may have to either redo my thermal paste or just lower the clocks some more. Any more input would help if anyone can tell me what to do so I can get higher clocks or lower temps!

Here are my idle temps at different CPU clocks:
3.5 GHz: 35-38C
4.0 GHz: 35-38C
4.3 GHz: 38-42C
4.5 GHz: 39-42C (crashes in Prime95 Blend Test after 1 minute)
4.6 GHz: 39-42C (crashes in 3DMark after a few minutes)

P.S. My idle seems a bit high, people report under 30 when using the Noctua Cooler, looks like I might need a repaste.
 
Solution
Tradesman1
That is prob the Ripjaws X (9-9-9-24), for them enable XMP and make sure timings are correct, as well as DRAM voltage, could try raising the DRAM voltage to 1.55, the VCCSA up to 1.0 and dropping the CR form 2T to 1T for a performance boost, also go to Start >type MSCONFIG in the search box > hit ENTER > click on the BOOT tab > click on ADVANCED and change the cores in upper left to the max (4)
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King Hackintosh

King Hackintosh

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Jun 1, 2013
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I'd say you are fine with those prime95 temps because in real life, you will never have that kind of stress on the CPU... Like you said even benchmarks don't put as much stress on the CPU as prime95.

You could try reapplying the thermal paste if you think you have done a bad job, because the Noctua should give lower temps than that...
 
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V

voozers

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Jul 7, 2013
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G. SKILL Ripjaws X (8x2) 16GB currently running at 1600 with XMP enabed. The voltage is set at 1.5 everything else is on auto.
 
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Tradesman1

Tradesman1

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Jun 5, 2013
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There's a few different 2x8GB Ripjaws X models, also you mention 'currently' running, are they native 1600 or are they 1333 OCed, 1866 downclocked, etc, that's why I was looking for a model #, can get it through CPU-Z on the SPD pane if you don't want to open the rig up
 
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voozers

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Jul 7, 2013
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I'm not at home right now but they're not oc. They're meant for 1600 and only run 1333 without xmp. They're FC1600-C9D. The blue ones, two sticks 8 GB per stick. Ill get you more info when I'm home.
 
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Tradesman1

Tradesman1

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Jun 5, 2013
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That is prob the Ripjaws X (9-9-9-24), for them enable XMP and make sure timings are correct, as well as DRAM voltage, could try raising the DRAM voltage to 1.55, the VCCSA up to 1.0 and dropping the CR form 2T to 1T for a performance boost, also go to Start >type MSCONFIG in the search box > hit ENTER > click on the BOOT tab > click on ADVANCED and change the cores in upper left to the max (4)
 
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Solution
V

voozers

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Jul 7, 2013
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Thanks man the RAM seems to be running at what you said.

However I did some digging and realized by CPU temps were the bottleneck on my OC'ing. Apparently Haswell chips run really hot so it's harder to OC them even if they're unlocked. I reapplied thermal paste and got temps to drop by 4-5C at idle.
 
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V

voozers

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Jul 7, 2013
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I have my CPU voltage currently set to 1.23V while clocked at 4.3 GHz. Everything else is on auto.

As for RAM I have it set at the rated 1.5V, again all other voltage settings are on auto.

I've repasted 3 times and finally started getting some temps under 35C with 0% load on the cores. Average idling is from 38-43C with spikes based on 1-5% occasional core usage. I ran Prime95 for 3 hours, highest temperature at the most stressful part hit a scary 96C but most of the time during the test it hovered from 65-73C. I know I'm "supposed" to run it longer than 3 hours (people say 24 hours) but I'd never use my CPU at 100% on all cores for 24 hours, let alone 3 hours so I'm satisfied it managed to do 3 hours with no errors or crashes.
 
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Tradesman1

Tradesman1

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Jun 5, 2013
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Looks better, it's generally a good idea to give the thermal compound a couple days to cure, before stress testing, but will prob see temps drop another few degrees in a couple days, can prob drop your PLL voltage just a tad for now and let me know what it is at, prob at stock now so can go ahead and drop - 0.06
 
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Intel God

Intel God

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Jun 25, 2013
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Manually set your CPU input voltage to 1.8v and see if you get any random crashes or freezes. Its 99% of the time the culprit when it comes to instability
 
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V

voozers

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Jul 7, 2013
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Thanks guys, you guys are really helpful to a newbie. ^^

I really appreciate the input and yea I'll adjust voltages. I'll let you guys know probably in a day or 2 to as I let these new settings kick in.
 
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V

voozers

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Jul 7, 2013
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Everything seems stable although I would have hoped for lower temperatures considering I have the big Noctua cooler.

Idle:
Core 0: 35C
Core 1: 34C
Core 2: 40C
Core 3: 39C

Under load via Prime95 it averages from 65-72C with the highest at 96C for a bit at the worst part of the test.

Currently overclocked to 4.3GHz with 1.23V.
 
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V

voozers

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Jul 7, 2013
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Here's one more update, I ran Aida64 twice, the 1st time for 3 and a half hours and the 2nd time for almost 4 hours. Again people say you should run it for 12 hours blah blah blah but I find that a waste of time since again no real life application will run for 3-4 hours at 100% CPU (at least I won't, I only game).

With that said during my 3 hour test, my highest recorded core temperature was 80 with an average of 66-68C overall. So it looks stable at my current settings.
 
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