i5 4690k (Could someone give their opinion on my multiplier/vcore numbers?) Thanks!!

These were my "1st day" settings at 44 on 4770k... your DC should be lower on Vcore then my HW

44/44/44/XMP - Shorthand for 44 Multiplier / 44 Max. Cache / 44 Min, Cache / XMP DRAM setting

If you don't use image editing and similar apps, you can forget about cache ratios and leave as default

44/44/44/XMP (2400) *
VCore 1.260
VCC Ring 1.260
VCCIN (Ev) 1.880
DRAM 1.700
Avg Max Core Temp = 59.0C (24.5C Ambient)

46/43/43/XMP (2400)
VCore 1.385
VCC Ring 1.385
VCCIN (Ev) 2.020
DRAM 1.700
Avg Max Core Temp = 69.0C (23.0C Ambient)

Start with these as stress test and monitoring

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?43233-Realbench-v2-Discussion-Thread-Download-Links

http://www.hwinfo.com/download.php

This is bases upon Asus BIOS ... terms will differ between vendors. After setting BIOS to defaults, Input the following settings and then right click on them to add them to your favorites page. This will allow you to access all the settings you need to without bouncing all over the BIOS:

AI Overclock Tuner = Auto
1-Core Ratio Limit = 42 (all others should automatically change with Sync all cores selected above)
Max. CPU Cache Ratio = Auto
Min. CPU Cache Ratio = Auto
Fully Manual Mode = Disabled
Core Voltage = Adaptive
Additional Turbo Mode CPU Core Voltage = 1.200
Core Cache Voltage = Adaptive
Additional Turbo Mode CPU Cache Voltage = Auto
Eventual CPU Input Voltage = 1.90
DRAM Voltage = Auto

Open Real Bench, select Benchmark Tab Check only the last box. Open HWiNFO64, run "sensors only" as described above. Start Real Bench and don't touch mouse till finished. Observe voltages and temps. If you can get thru these 2 minutes, your close.

Then try checking all 4 boxes and run again NOTE: During the 3rd test Open CL will send AVX instructions to CPU; pay close attention to Vcores as they will spike as described above. If passes.....

Switch to the Stress Test Tab and select the amount of RAM you have in your system and 2 hours..... (Note: If you plan on raising cache and / or RAM after a run, I will usually save the two hours and skip this step until I have Multiplier / Cache and RAM speed at my targets.

If at any point you fail, up Core Voltage to 1.225 (+0.025)...Always watch temps and stop tests if you reach temperatures of concern (> 85C in my book).

Keep voltages within appropriate limits for cooling ... for Haswell

Up to 1.200v = Very Good Air Cooler (Hyper 212)
Up to 1.250v = Best Air Coolers (Phanteks PH-TC14-PE, Silver Arrow or Noctua DH14) ....... Dual 140mm CLC / AIO Cooler w/ 1500 rpm fans (Corsair H110)
Up to 1.275v = Extreme Speed Dual Fan CLC / AIO w/ 2700 rpm fans (too noisy for most folks)
Up to 1.287v = Best air coolers (Cryorig R1 / Noctua DH-15)
Up to 1.300v = Swifteh H240-X
Up to 1.325v = Custom Loop w/ 15C Delta T (3 x 120mm / 140mm) *
Up to 1.400 = Custom Loop w/ 10C Delta T (5 x 140mm or 6 x 120mm) *

* At this level having the GPU(s) also under water is assumed

For Devils Canyon ya can go one more notch.... i.e. Best Air Coolers can do 1.3v

keep reading the rest of the sentence

your DC should be lower on Vcore then my HW

Click to expand...

So if at 44 multiplier my HW (Haswell) was at 1.26, your Devil's Canyon CPU should be lower than 1.26. Not that it must be, just that generally that DC runs a bit cooler and needs a bit less voltage than HW

I thought I read that keeping it under 1.3 was good?

Click to expand...

Lower is always better.... more voltage means more heat and each voltage requires an appropriate cooling system. See above

On Haswell, using the best air coolers (Cryorig R1 / Noctua DH-15) you can "generally" safeky go up to 1.287v

On Devils Canyon, using the best air coolers (Cryorig R1 / Noctua DH-15) you can "generally" safely go up to 1.300v ... Get a H240-X and you can go to 1.325.

When stress testing with Vcore at 1.38 volts, when AVX instructions are present, I can break 1.5 volts for microseconds at a time as AVX adds up to about 0.13 volts

To protect your CPU, you want to stay below both voltage and temperature limits...

My everyday 24/7 OC is 45 CPU Multi / 42 cache max multi / Auto Min Cache Multi / XMP (2400)

BIOS settings are:

VCore 1.320
VCC Ring 1.275
VCCIN (Ev) 1.880
DRAM 1.700

CPU Core Temps are 63, 67, 61, 57 (62 average)

I have different BIOS profiles saved for 4.6 and 4.7 but don't use them often. Make my living using this box and it's on 24/7 so run conservatively most of the time. When gaming I tend to crank it up a bit but to be frank, doesn't have a huge impact. More of a challenge thing than anything else.

Again, max load running what ? Can you get thru 2 hours of RoG Real Bench w/o crashing at 1.15v ? It's certainly possible w/ DC, but not every CPU will. Some HWs did 4.8 Ghz at 1.2v but very few of them

Where is cache multiplier ?

What is RAM speed ?

Each of those that gets bumped up, requires more voltage

At 44 / 41 / A / XMP, I was at the following settings

VCore 1.260
VCC Ring 1.260
VCCIN (Ev) 1.880
DRAM 1.700

But under stress test loads , max actual measured voltages were

Image Ed. 1.264
Encoding 1.264/1.312
Open CL 1.360
Multitask 1.264/1.296

Temps were 58, 62, 60, 56 (Average = 59)

AIDA will do a good job raising temps, but I have been AIDA / P95 stable for 4 hours and crashed under RB in minutes.

How come you only have a single temp ? Are you reading package temp or 4 individual cores ?

Your RAM speed determines DRAM voltage. Run DDR3-1600 and you will be fine at default voltages. Not with DRR3-2400 tho ... at least not a high OCs.

I assume your cache multiplier is till at Auto (39). Application performance (certain apps anyway) suffer performance degradation if cache is more than 3 below cpu multiplier. So when I have CPU at 46, I have CPU cache at 43 multiplier. If you can do 46 w/ 43, then you likely can do 47 w/ 39

VCCin IIRC is at 1.8 default..... as you go higher with CPU, CPU cache, more VCCin is required because you are sending extra power to CPU, more power to cache and more power to DRAM. A simple way to think about it is the more power you send "out" to CPU, Cache and DRAM, the more power you need to "let in".

1) A good overclocking guide will tell you what Intel features need to be disabled for maximum core overclocking, but since you are new to overclocking you may not be confirmed on exactly how you want to go about your overclocking, but you are starting out right!

2) 61c is well within any load temperature trouble as your CPUs Tcase is around 72c, so I suggest going further if you desire to do so.

Your CPU cooling is very important and you don't mention what that is, but looking at your load temperatures vs where you are at with the 900mhz overclock, you are in very good shape!

You may possibly reach 45x at 1.25v and still be in OK load temperature range, BUT, the most important thing is are you 100% stable where you are, that is the most solid reason for going further?

Write down your discoveries IE; Bios Settings of each level of overclock you are stable at so you can revert back when you go too far with your experimentation.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2345618/reaching-cpu-overclocking-stability.html

Glad Ryan popped in; he's a good person to ask about reaching maximum overclocks .... as he said, you won't reach max overclocks w/ the Intel power saving features in place. When they are, the system has to struggle with voltages jumping up and down and stability can fail when it can't keep up. Even GFX card OC utilities now have a setting which always maintains constant voltage.

I would suggest, if your MoBo is so equipped, that you save a BIOS profile w/ them in place and save another with max overclock. This way when ya PC is just being used for browsing or whatever, it will run a bit cooler and perhaps even quieter.