Overclocking help: How much can I achieve?

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arnas747

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Feb 15, 2015
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Hello I'm a beginner in the overclocking category and wanted to ask how much this system can achieve
(CPU, RAM and GPU overclock)

CPU: Intel core I5-4690k 3.5 ghz (3.9 turbo)
GPU: NVIDIA MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4GB
MOBO:Gigabyte GA-Z97X-gaming 3.
RAM:Kingston HyperX FURY 8GB 2x4 CL 10 (will probably upgrade to 16GB in time 4x4)
PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 750g2 80+ Gold
HDD:Western digital 3 TB SATA
CASE: Cooler master haf 932
Aftermarket cooler for CPU: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO.

So how much can I push on this setup? And how do you think will this system perform in multitasking/Gaming?
I also wanted to ask if my PSU/aftermarket cooler is a good one, I read some reviews and it said that these are one of the best out there in their category. Is it true?
 
Solution
SkylerJacobs
With the 4690k i have seen overclocks anywhere in the park of 4.4 GHz up to 4.8 GHz. Each chip has its own limitations, and you wont know just how far you can overclock it (while keeping temperatures down below the Recommended limit of 80 Degrees Celsius and while keeping the system stable. **No crashes, BSOD, instability) until you actually try.

As for your GTX 970, i have seen boost clocks of 1300-1400+ MHz on the core. and up to 8000 MHz clock on the memory. Basically you want to slowly bump up your offset for these, and keep testing after each change. With memory once you start to see artifacts, you will want to back to clock off by around 20 MHz. With core clock, once instability or driver crashes start to happen, that is where...
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Onus

Onus

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Jan 27, 2006
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Your PSU is very good. Your cooler is not bad, but unless you got an unusually good deal on it, is a bang/buck Loser compared to its competitors. It should be good for up to moderate overclocking.
I'd expect you to reach 4.1-4.2 GHz without too much trouble, but that's right around where you'll hit unpredictable factors like the "silicon lottery;" some CPUs are simply better (or worse) than average when it comes to overclocking.
 
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SkylerJacobs

SkylerJacobs

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Jan 26, 2015
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With the 4690k i have seen overclocks anywhere in the park of 4.4 GHz up to 4.8 GHz. Each chip has its own limitations, and you wont know just how far you can overclock it (while keeping temperatures down below the Recommended limit of 80 Degrees Celsius and while keeping the system stable. **No crashes, BSOD, instability) until you actually try.

As for your GTX 970, i have seen boost clocks of 1300-1400+ MHz on the core. and up to 8000 MHz clock on the memory. Basically you want to slowly bump up your offset for these, and keep testing after each change. With memory once you start to see artifacts, you will want to back to clock off by around 20 MHz. With core clock, once instability or driver crashes start to happen, that is where your cards limit will be, and will need to back to clock off by around 20 MHz.

Some benchmarking and stress test software i recommend:
CPU:
-AIDA64 Extreme
-ASUS Realbench (one of my personal favorites, Has both benchmark and stress testing)
-Prime95 (Version 26.6 for Haswell CPU) (I dont use Prime95, but many others do)
-Intel Extreme Tuning Utility (Intel XTU for stort)

CPU Temperature Monitoring Software:
-RealTemp


And for GPU.
Overclocking/Monitoring Software:
-MSI Afterburner (Might as well use this one since you have an MSI GPU)
-EVGA PrecisionX 16 (use either PrecisionX or Afterburner. I don't recommend using both.)
-GPU-Z

GPU Benchmark and Overclock Testing:
-3DMark Firestrike
-Unigine Heaven Benchmark
-Unigine Valley Benchmark --Usually with Heaven and Valley, your max overclock will not be stable for games.
-Games, Games, and more Games. Some games may be stable wilth an overclock, while others will not be. This is because each game puts a different load on the GPU.

If i think of anything i missed i will edit my post or post again.

Edit: I always do my overclocking through the motherboard BIOS. Never with software. Others have used software and have had good results, but i prefer to just use the BIOS.
 
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Solution
SkylerJacobs

SkylerJacobs

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Jan 26, 2015
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Should be good as long as you are not trying to do any extreme overclocking. I would say 4.4 GHz with your current motherboard and CPU cooler would be a good overclock to shoot for, but each chip is different, you may be able to get a higher overclock without it affecting temperatures or stability.
 
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