- Aug 28, 2013
- 218
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Hello everyone!
I had a couple of decent computers and I was recently given a whole pile of bits and pieces (almost 3 PCs) so I've been playing with it all and upgrading my computers as I go. I've never really understood much about overclocking but most of my hardware is suited to it in some way, so I've been having fun with that too.
For the purposes of this discussion, I'm overclocking a 2600k & a 2500k in an Asus P8P67 WS and an RoG Z68 gene-z. The Rog has a more detailed bios and more stable Blck, but they are fairly similar. So far I've been quite happy with the speeds and voltages I've been getting but I'm the first to admit that I don't really know what I'm doing. I've trawled and trawled the internet over the months but it seems as if every new Bios that comes out seems to have their own glossary of terms (or the chipsets change that much) and that seems to carry on from brand to brand, as well as chipsets.
I've followed a few of the online guides and looked up what I could as I went, but I'm at the point now where I feel like I am missing out on some higher overclocks because I'm unable to actually make things stable... Also I'm having a few odd things pop up that I can't find answers to...
At the moment:
1x Z68 Gene-Z, i5 2500k, 2x4GB corsair vengeance, ssd, gtx 660ti, hx750 psu
1x p8p67 ws, i7 2600k, 2x 4gb corsair vengeance, ssd, gtx 660ti ax850 psu
Using cpu-z, hwmonitor, intel burn test and prime 95 - basically Ill tweak bios, load windows, load the cpuid software, run burntest on high for a couple of passes, if no bsods and hwmoitor looks good then I stop and switch to maximum and burn. If it does 10 passes with decent results, then I run prime95 overnight and then save the OC profile. So far I've been leaving most settings at "auto" and playing mostly with vcore (offset) and LLC. In some of the higher multipliers though, the system seems stable and then i'll get a x0101 or x0124.
I keep knocking up the Vcore (or a combination of Vcore & LLC) but my problem isn't cooling. I'm doing something wrong... A few things, most likely
...
1) With the 2500K, there seems to be something throttling me. It doesn't seem to be CPU temps (maxing around 82C) so I'm guessing the VRM? At about 1.4V she will either - run nicely with warm temps, package peaking at about 121W but remaining fairly constant under load, putting out about 122 gflops on burn test @ max. Other times though, it will ramp up, then settle back to about 65C, 100W on the package and anything from 64-98Gflops. If I lower the LLC and increase Vcore, I get a system that is mostly stable but bsods in burn test after a couple of runs, all temps and votages read the same in windows. Add 0.005V to that and all of a sudden I'm back to 80gflops. My initial instinct is to switch VRM duty phase from "t.probe" to extreme but if the VRM is choking then that's probably not a wise choice is it? I'm looking for a stable OC here, not to fry my motherboard. I understand that a lot of people use this function for benching but what about as an everyday setting? Secondly I thought about cooling, but there is a giant noctua in the way, so I can only really add more case fans or upgrade to WC (not gonna happen)
2)VRM switching frequency - I can only find two settings for this on the entire internet, "auto" or "350". Can anyone explain this too me a little more? for example, if I have it set at auto, how can I find out what the current/usable value is? I'd like to be able to understand how to adjust/chase these things, even if only for my own curiosity.. It seems od to me that 350 is such a golden figure for all OCing..
3)VRM spread spectrum - on the Asus boards, I'm not sure if this is a thermal or a current control but it suggests it will "enhance system stability".
Are people using it and under what circumstances are you enabling it?
4) Phase control - I'm having to use "optimised" to enable me to use offset vcore but it's possible that this is hindering my higher OCs
5) VCCSA/VCCIO Voltage - so far i've left these on "auto" but I've seen suggestions to bump them up to 1.2V and start creeping them down. The Gene-Z board also has a "phase control" setting for both of these.
6) CPU Spread spectrum - I've been disabling it because I keep reading to, but I've also read that I needn't bother...
Turbo Mode parameters: these ones, I really want to get a handle on.
Speedstep = enabled
Turbo mode = enabled
(Gene-Z only, max power = disabled. This option seems to give a lot less power than "auto" with CPU overload @ 140%, go figure)
long duration power limit = 95-255W (My guess is somewhere between 200-255? 137W is the highest I've seen the package in HWMonitor..
Long duration maintained = 1 to 32 seconds. I'm guessing that the higher your LDPL, the lower this figure should be?
Short duration power limit = Should be noticably higher than LDPL? Suggested is 1.25/2x LDPL.
Primary Plane Current Limit = Max instantaneous current allowed at any time for the CPU cores
...
Anyone understand that stuff and could perhaps try to enlighten me?
My current understanding so far is: Keep the LLC down until the vcore is too high, then bring vcore back down and LLC, start again. If you multiply too high and windows won't boot, enable internal Pll. Pretty much anything else is just a case of adding more vcore. I have trouble believing that. There has to be some science involved here.
Anyway I've spent most of the morning doing up an excel sheet, so if I can just motivate myself to input all of my adjustments than I should be able to build a clearer understanding of what does what, as I go. Nothing beats asking some who's done it before though.
As a post script, I should mention that this exercise is entirely focused on building/upgrading a rig for gaming and gaming only. No firefox, no vlc, none of that stuff, literally just a toy. I've opted to go for offset voltage because it's more energy efficient, not as hot and to be honest, because it seemed like a bit more of a challenge. At the end of the day though, it has to play games in the best way that it can. If that means that a constant voltage OC will give me a higher OC and noticeably improved gameplay than a lower OC using offset voltage, then I'd love to hear your opinions on that.
For example, I did some 3dmark2001 benches last night on these two rigs and while the results where much the same, I found the 2600k to just feel nicer. I also put in a stock 3570 for comparison (it seems to bench higher than the 2500 in reviews) and was shocked at the shoddy performance at 4GHz. I had been led to believe that it was be a logical, although not at all cost effective, upgrade. That is not gonna happen hahaha
Anyway if the 2600K shows up as much better in the gaming benches than I might keep it in the gamer...
I had a couple of decent computers and I was recently given a whole pile of bits and pieces (almost 3 PCs) so I've been playing with it all and upgrading my computers as I go. I've never really understood much about overclocking but most of my hardware is suited to it in some way, so I've been having fun with that too.
For the purposes of this discussion, I'm overclocking a 2600k & a 2500k in an Asus P8P67 WS and an RoG Z68 gene-z. The Rog has a more detailed bios and more stable Blck, but they are fairly similar. So far I've been quite happy with the speeds and voltages I've been getting but I'm the first to admit that I don't really know what I'm doing. I've trawled and trawled the internet over the months but it seems as if every new Bios that comes out seems to have their own glossary of terms (or the chipsets change that much) and that seems to carry on from brand to brand, as well as chipsets.
I've followed a few of the online guides and looked up what I could as I went, but I'm at the point now where I feel like I am missing out on some higher overclocks because I'm unable to actually make things stable... Also I'm having a few odd things pop up that I can't find answers to...
At the moment:
1x Z68 Gene-Z, i5 2500k, 2x4GB corsair vengeance, ssd, gtx 660ti, hx750 psu
1x p8p67 ws, i7 2600k, 2x 4gb corsair vengeance, ssd, gtx 660ti ax850 psu
Using cpu-z, hwmonitor, intel burn test and prime 95 - basically Ill tweak bios, load windows, load the cpuid software, run burntest on high for a couple of passes, if no bsods and hwmoitor looks good then I stop and switch to maximum and burn. If it does 10 passes with decent results, then I run prime95 overnight and then save the OC profile. So far I've been leaving most settings at "auto" and playing mostly with vcore (offset) and LLC. In some of the higher multipliers though, the system seems stable and then i'll get a x0101 or x0124.
I keep knocking up the Vcore (or a combination of Vcore & LLC) but my problem isn't cooling. I'm doing something wrong... A few things, most likely
...
1) With the 2500K, there seems to be something throttling me. It doesn't seem to be CPU temps (maxing around 82C) so I'm guessing the VRM? At about 1.4V she will either - run nicely with warm temps, package peaking at about 121W but remaining fairly constant under load, putting out about 122 gflops on burn test @ max. Other times though, it will ramp up, then settle back to about 65C, 100W on the package and anything from 64-98Gflops. If I lower the LLC and increase Vcore, I get a system that is mostly stable but bsods in burn test after a couple of runs, all temps and votages read the same in windows. Add 0.005V to that and all of a sudden I'm back to 80gflops. My initial instinct is to switch VRM duty phase from "t.probe" to extreme but if the VRM is choking then that's probably not a wise choice is it? I'm looking for a stable OC here, not to fry my motherboard. I understand that a lot of people use this function for benching but what about as an everyday setting? Secondly I thought about cooling, but there is a giant noctua in the way, so I can only really add more case fans or upgrade to WC (not gonna happen)
2)VRM switching frequency - I can only find two settings for this on the entire internet, "auto" or "350". Can anyone explain this too me a little more? for example, if I have it set at auto, how can I find out what the current/usable value is? I'd like to be able to understand how to adjust/chase these things, even if only for my own curiosity.. It seems od to me that 350 is such a golden figure for all OCing..
3)VRM spread spectrum - on the Asus boards, I'm not sure if this is a thermal or a current control but it suggests it will "enhance system stability".
Are people using it and under what circumstances are you enabling it?
4) Phase control - I'm having to use "optimised" to enable me to use offset vcore but it's possible that this is hindering my higher OCs
5) VCCSA/VCCIO Voltage - so far i've left these on "auto" but I've seen suggestions to bump them up to 1.2V and start creeping them down. The Gene-Z board also has a "phase control" setting for both of these.
6) CPU Spread spectrum - I've been disabling it because I keep reading to, but I've also read that I needn't bother...
Turbo Mode parameters: these ones, I really want to get a handle on.
Speedstep = enabled
Turbo mode = enabled
(Gene-Z only, max power = disabled. This option seems to give a lot less power than "auto" with CPU overload @ 140%, go figure)
long duration power limit = 95-255W (My guess is somewhere between 200-255? 137W is the highest I've seen the package in HWMonitor..
Long duration maintained = 1 to 32 seconds. I'm guessing that the higher your LDPL, the lower this figure should be?
Short duration power limit = Should be noticably higher than LDPL? Suggested is 1.25/2x LDPL.
Primary Plane Current Limit = Max instantaneous current allowed at any time for the CPU cores
...
Anyone understand that stuff and could perhaps try to enlighten me?
My current understanding so far is: Keep the LLC down until the vcore is too high, then bring vcore back down and LLC, start again. If you multiply too high and windows won't boot, enable internal Pll. Pretty much anything else is just a case of adding more vcore. I have trouble believing that. There has to be some science involved here.
Anyway I've spent most of the morning doing up an excel sheet, so if I can just motivate myself to input all of my adjustments than I should be able to build a clearer understanding of what does what, as I go. Nothing beats asking some who's done it before though.
As a post script, I should mention that this exercise is entirely focused on building/upgrading a rig for gaming and gaming only. No firefox, no vlc, none of that stuff, literally just a toy. I've opted to go for offset voltage because it's more energy efficient, not as hot and to be honest, because it seemed like a bit more of a challenge. At the end of the day though, it has to play games in the best way that it can. If that means that a constant voltage OC will give me a higher OC and noticeably improved gameplay than a lower OC using offset voltage, then I'd love to hear your opinions on that.
For example, I did some 3dmark2001 benches last night on these two rigs and while the results where much the same, I found the 2600k to just feel nicer. I also put in a stock 3570 for comparison (it seems to bench higher than the 2500 in reviews) and was shocked at the shoddy performance at 4GHz. I had been led to believe that it was be a logical, although not at all cost effective, upgrade. That is not gonna happen hahaha
Anyway if the 2600K shows up as much better in the gaming benches than I might keep it in the gamer...
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