4.8Ghz Core i3 6100 OC possible on air? (BCLK OC)

chenuki · May 11, 2016

Anybody think the Core i3 6100 can reach 4.8Ghz or higher on air cooling?

I currently have OC at 4.7GHz with a Hyper 212 Evo cooler. It's stable with a 127MHz BCLK but at a rather high voltage (1.42-1.44v)

Do you think a better cooler will allow to keep/lower voltage and go closer 4.8Ghz? Which cooler would you recommend?

Idk anything about water coolers so I'd rather stick with air. My mATX case has 165mm clearance

UPDATE (5-16-2016): Thank you all for your recommendations. I have stepped down the Vcore to 1.4v until I pick a better cooler. Currently ROGBench and prime95 stable at 4.625Ghz

UPDATE (5-26-2016): Still running great at 1.4 vcore and no problems with heat. Haven't got a new cooler yet, but will update when I do! For now, I'm updating this thread to include my system specs for those who stumble upon this thread looking to get into Non K overclocking: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/XgQqqk

UPDATE (6-28-2016): Including links to guides which I found helpful:
http://www.tweaktown.com/guides/7481/tweaktowns-ultimate-intel-skylake-overclocking-guide/index.html
http://overclocking.guide/category/intel-oc-guides/skylake-non-k-oc/

UPDATE (7-14-2016): Link to UserBenchmark result: http://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/1177978

■ CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor
■ CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
■ Motherboard: MSI Z170M Mortar Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
■ Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory
■ Storage: Crucial M500 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
■ Storage: Toshiba 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
■ Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 4GB Twin Frozr Video Card
■ Case: Silverstone TJ08B-E MicroATX Mini Tower Case
■ Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA P2 650W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply

Kevern_11 · May 11, 2016

Id say you need a beefier cool to go higher, I usually hear that voltage over 1.4 isn't good for the cpu. I don't really know much about air coolers but a NZXT Kraken (the 240mm one) would work great for this.

OD_Hindu · May 11, 2016

If your temps are 80 and under, go for it and see where it stands under stress, and your i3 is stable @ 4.7 GHz? Have u done a stress test for at least 4 hours. If now I would use AIDA64 to do some testing and see where your CPU stands.

chenuki · May 11, 2016

prime95 is stable at that voltage. I'll do AIDA64 next for 4 hours as you recommended

Temp peaks at 70C until fan ramps to full rpm then it's around 62C max load. Voltage is my concern as I feel like I won the lottery with a i3 that can OC well and don't want to wreck it. I read somewhere that temperature is limiting factor but I feel temp is ok but voltage is high. Would volt affect longevity of chip even if temp is OK? or is heat main factor in chip survival?

BadActor · May 11, 2016

Voltage will affect the longevity of the CPU as well as the heat. I would back the vcore down to 1.4 or below and be satisfied with whatever clock speed you end up stable at. The difference in performance between 4.6/4.7 and 4.8 isn't going to amount to much. Out of curiousity, what motherboard and RAM are you using?

jasonhickman17 · May 11, 2016

chenuki :

If you dont mind me asking what is the reason for a clock speed that high in your current situation? I am only asking because when i was heavily overclocking my i5-6400 to 4.7GHZ stable but a high voltage on an H110I GTX, i was doing it because i was having issue running COD black ops 3 but ever since i changed my computer over to windows 10 all of the games that i have been running have run way way way (yes three ways) better, the usages have decreased from 100% all the time to about 30% on the cpu and 35-40% on the gpu in both call of duty black ops 3 and in battlefield 4 with both games set to ultra. So, that brings ,me back to my point, unless you are overclocking for the fun of it which i do not blame you for doing, i would stick with a more moderate overclock and lower voltages and try upgrading windows first or get a better gpu if the reason for you overclocking is strictly performance in video games based.

That is just what i have found

As for the cooler i was able to keep my cpu at 60 C with 1.375 V at 4.5GHZ with the hyper 212 evo and that was using the package temperature because of the limitations of the base clock overclocks ability to monitor temperatures.

As far as upgrades for coolers i went from the 212 to the h110i gtx which i am extremely happy with except for the really noisy fans, but i was about to pull the trigger on the noctua nhd15. The only reason that i didnt go air with the noctua was because there was a sale on the h110i gtx and a rebate for it so the price was cheaper than the noctua and i really liked the looks of the hoses running through the case.

I hope you get your situation all figured out, best of luck!

Jason H

chenuki · May 11, 2016

BadActor :

I'm using a MSI Z170M with 2x8GB G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 3000

chenuki · May 11, 2016

jasonhickman17 :

chenuki :

If you dont mind me asking what is the reason for a clock speed that high in your current situation? I am only asking because when i was heavily overclocking my i5-6400 to 4.7GHZ stable but a high voltage on an H110I GTX, i was doing it because i was having issue running COD black ops 3 but ever since i changed my computer over to windows 10 all of the games that i have been running have run way way way (yes three ways) better, the usages have decreased from 100% all the time to about 30% on the cpu and 35-40% on the gpu in both call of duty black ops 3 and in battlefield 4 with both games set to ultra. So, that brings ,me back to my point, unless you are overclocking for the fun of it which i do not blame you for doing, i would stick with a more moderate overclock and lower voltages and try upgrading windows first or get a better gpu if the reason for you overclocking is strictly performance in video games based.

That is just what i have found

As for the cooler i was able to keep my cpu at 60 C with 1.375 V at 4.5GHZ with the hyper 212 evo and that was using the package temperature because of the limitations of the base clock overclocks ability to monitor temperatures.

As far as upgrades for coolers i went from the 212 to the h110i gtx which i am extremely happy with except for the really noisy fans, but i was about to pull the trigger on the noctua nhd15. The only reason that i didnt go air with the noctua was because there was a sale on the h110i gtx and a rebate for it so the price was cheaper than the noctua and i really liked the looks of the hoses running through the case.

I hope you get your situation all figured out, best of luck!

Jason H

Fun's definitely the main factor. I bought this chip for a mATX build with planned upgrade to i7. Seeing how well this i3 performs now a i7 is probably unnecessary. This i3 will enjoy some light HTC Vive action after I squeeze all I can out of it

Your H110i GTX looks like a beast of a cooler! Definitely won't have space to mount that in my mATX case. I have little interest in water cooling because I'm paranoid about leaks. Maybe the premium ones don't leak and I worry unnecessarily but it's just more care-free to go air.

I will look into the Noctua 15. Thanks for the mention

jasonhickman17 · May 11, 2016

chenuki :

No problem, and i was the exact same way with the leaks before i got the cooler as well as before i heard that the company will cover any leaks within the warranty period as well!

As for the whole i3 i5 i7 debate i have found that the i5 is more than enough for what i need as i am not seeing any issues with bottle-necking or with any other areas of my computer that i would like to speed up so i would say that even for VR gaming a fast quad core without hyper threading would probably be enough, but i am most definitely not an expert in any of that

What GPU are you using?

chenuki · May 11, 2016

Wow the Noctua D15 weighs in at an impressive 3 lbs lol. Dual fan version I think too wide but single may fit. If anyone else has recommendations for good air coolers please reply! Thanks

chenuki · May 11, 2016

jasonhickman17 :

chenuki :

No problem, and i was the exact same way with the leaks before i got the cooler as well as before i heard that the company will cover any leaks within the warranty period as well!

As for the whole i3 i5 i7 debate i have found that the i5 is more than enough for what i need as i am not seeing any issues with bottle-necking or with any other areas of my computer that i would like to speed up so i would say that even for VR gaming a fast quad core without hyper threading would probably be enough, but i am most definitely not an expert in any of that

What GPU are you using?

Nvidia Geforce Experience reported i3 as insufficient for VR Ready. But the i3 actually passed the SteamVR test to my surprise. I have the MSI GTX 980 Gaming 4G for GPU

jasonhickman17 · May 11, 2016

chenuki :

I have heard a lot of good things about the cryorig h7, phatnteks ph-tc14pe, and the dark rock pro 3 from be quiet.

jasonhickman17 · May 11, 2016

chenuki :

jasonhickman17 :

Nvidia Geforce Experience reported i3 as insufficient for VR Ready. But the i3 actually passed the SteamVR test to my surprise. I have the MSI GTX 980 Gaming 4G for GPU

If Nvidia said it wouldnt work i am surprised that steam deemed it fine, nice gpu btw, i was considering either upgrading the the 970 in sli compared to the single 970 sc that i have now or the 980 ti later on but with the ground breaking new 1000 series from nvidia i am going to wait for a while and get the 1080, that will probably be a while down the road though.

chenuki · May 12, 2016

jasonhickman17 :

Both ph-tc14pe and dark rock pro 3 look like awesome performers. ph-tc14pe is 6mm too tall with fans. I'll look into RAM clearance etc. Thank you for the recommendations

chenuki · May 12, 2016

jasonhickman17 :

The new 1080 does look impressive. Like the previous gen, I expect the best third party cards will arrive ~8 months to a year after the reference models. 980 Ti models will become really good value soon

jasonhickman17 · May 12, 2016

chenuki :

Yea that will be pretty interesting what the card situation will become when these cards come out, especially when it comes to the AMD side of things. I do not see AMD letting Nvidia release a card with the type of power, effeicency, and low cost that these cards are claiming right now without a card from there side to either come close to but beat in the value metric or to try to compete with. I dont see why Nvidia would release a line of cards that when it comes down to performance these cards are actually not this new line up but should be the second newest line of cards to be released. So, either there is something big coming to the world of games that will need these cards to be the performance that they are or, Nvidia thought that it was time for them to completely own the middle and high end of this market. But i digress. As for what is going to happen to the cards in the line up i feel that it is a toss up right now until the performance is benchmarked by a third party and we see what the cards are actually capable of and make sure that there was no testing trickery involved. I think that if the cards do perform as they are claimed to by Nvidia, i will be in on the 1080 but if not i may just SLI my current setup, it is a tough call this early on.

Good luck with chosing a cooler i think when it comes down to the higher end line up of air coolers it comes down to RAM clearance, features, and aesthetics. Even when it comes down to similarly priced AIO's the reason that they sell so well is for people such as myself who wanted something that was watercooled and had hoses inside the case

chenuki · May 13, 2016

jasonhickman17 :

Yea that will be pretty interesting what the card situation will become when these cards come out, especially when it comes to the AMD side of things. I do not see AMD letting Nvidia release a card with the type of power, effeicency, and low cost that these cards are claiming right now without a card from there side to either come close to but beat in the value metric or to try to compete with. I dont see why Nvidia would release a line of cards that when it comes down to performance these cards are actually not this new line up but should be the second newest line of cards to be released. So, either there is something big coming to the world of games that will need these cards to be the performance that they are or, Nvidia thought that it was time for them to completely own the middle and high end of this market. But i digress. As for what is going to happen to the cards in the line up i feel that it is a toss up right now until the performance is benchmarked by a third party and we see what the cards are actually capable of and make sure that there was no testing trickery involved. I think that if the cards do perform as they are claimed to by Nvidia, i will be in on the 1080 but if not i may just SLI my current setup, it is a tough call this early on.

Good luck with chosing a cooler i think when it comes down to the higher end line up of air coolers it comes down to RAM clearance, features, and aesthetics. Even when it comes down to similarly priced AIO's the reason that they sell so well is for people such as myself who wanted something that was watercooled and had hoses inside the case

Thanks. I'll be checking the dimension specs more closely to figure out RAM clearance. The single fan setups may fit OK

TJ Hooker · Jun 28, 2016

What are you using to monitor temps? Given that normal core temperature measurements don't work when non k bclk OCing.

jasonhickman17 · Jun 28, 2016

TJ Hooker :

I was able to get cpu package temperature readings when using HWinfo64

TJ Hooker · Jun 28, 2016

Yeah, that's what I was doing when I was playing around with non k OC. The only concern I had was that I wasn't sure how closely it tracked actual core temp.

chenuki · Jun 28, 2016

TJ Hooker :

jasonhickman17 is correct. HWinfo64 works great for monitoring CPU temp while you test.

jasonhickman17 · Jun 28, 2016

TJ Hooker :

That is the same concern that i had but now i have upgraded the 6700k so i can overclock without the worries that non k overclocking have, but the point that i am trying to make is that with the 6700k it seems like the package temp is the temperature of the hottest core, do not quote me on that though but that is what i have found.

chenuki · Jun 28, 2016

A bit of news I came across: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/asrock-hyper-oc-motherboards-available,32165.html

In addition to Z170, Non K OC is coming to H170, B150 and H110 chipsets. Old school BCLK OC is alive and well

4.8Ghz Core i3 6100 OC possible on air? (BCLK OC)

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