Help Overclocking my I5-6600K

Have same motherboard as you, just did an overclock on my 6600k to 4.6 ghz with voltage set to adaptive 1.215 (yes i know, insane) where the LLC is set to auto (default); real time voltages range from a max of either 1.22 to 1.24. When I had the voltage on manual mode it was jumping all over the place way past what I was setting it to be. If you're also seeing this, I suggest change it to adaptive and set the max voltage what you want it to be, obviously LLC will allow more core voltage into the CPU where it was limited to 0.025 above the set voltage in adaptive mode. But in manual mode it did not seem to have a limit. Also found that CPU-Z didn't give me as accurate of a voltage reading as HWMonitor. I believe 1.35 is max recommended voltage for air cooler, and 1.4-1.45 is max for water cooler, even for everyday use; given your temperatures are safe <75-80C.

Happy overclocking!

You want to leave bclk alone and only increase ratio. If the CPU becomes unstable bump the voltage a bit. Test the overclocking with prime95 version 26.6 only. Also you need speedfan to watch temp. Keep it under 80 degrees.

http://www.mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?t=15504
http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php

That means the lowest amount increase the motherboard allows. Learning the ends and outs of your motherboard and CPU is part of getting the best settings.

i think you should first decide on a target clock and then play around with voltages, for example if you want your final overclock to be 4600 then estimate a voltage maybe start with 1.275 or something and run tests. This is because you have to run stress tests to check your stability, and it could take forever if you slowly increase clock speed without increasing stock voltage. I wouldnt recommend prime 95, it stresses way beyond and could damage your cpu, I'd recommend a half hour of aida 64 and RealBench first to get a general sense of stability before you go in for your overnight stress tests for your "optimal" overclock values. I find that RealBench was actually the one that was less lenient so maybe start out with that.

Sync all cores to 44. Save and stress test. You should be able to easily obtain 4.4GHz with the stock voltage. I was able to obtain 4.5GHz on my 6600k with an offset voltage of +0.03v.

Believe only thing you need to change is core clock speed and voltage, nothing else. Maybe optimize your Qfan settings in Bios.

You'd serve yourself well by following one of the linked OC guides which detail each step, the alternatives, the accepted ranges and any other question ya might have.

In short, there is little to worry about other than selecting an adaptive or offset method of adjusting voltage, and selecting a voltage appropriate for the chosen CPU multiplier. That CLC cooler isn't doing anything for you that a good air cooler won't do so just follow the instructions for air coolers.

1. Download / Install RoG Real Bench to test stability and HWiNFO64 to record temps and voltages

2. Run at default BIOS settings and record core temps and voltages. Do not engage XMP, kleave RAM at default JEDEC settings which will be lower than the speed on the package. If BIOS or Utilities CD has any OC utilities, try them at each setting, starting at the lowest and working your way up to higher multipliers. Record individual core temps and voltages.

3. After setting up as adaptive, try CPU multiplier of 40 .... and copy the voltage from step 2 for stock settings. Run the RoG Real Bench Benchmark which takes about 8 minutes. If you pass lower voltage a notch ... if you don't then up it a notch. How big a notch you try is up to you ... if you at 1.20 in step 2 , then try adding or subtracting 0.025 Goal her is to get the lowest possible voltage at each multiplier w/ CPU remaining stable. If 1.200 fails at a certain multiplier and 1.225 passes, then just pick a number in the middle.... say 1.21 ... depending on whether you pass / fail, "split the difference" in the appropriate direction to you zero in on the right voltage. How small you make the "notch" depends on how much time you want to invest.

4. Once you are stable at the "right" voltage, time to move on to a more intensive test. Set Real Bench to your RAM amount and then run the test for 2 hours. I have had 24 hour stable Prime 95 OCs fail on a 2 hour Prime test. If you fail... boost the voltage a bit. Record all voltage settings and temps.... don't forget ambient air temp.

5. If you pass, now it's time to set XMP and try again ... if you fail boost DRAM voltage... if needed till you get to max rated RAM voltage, and if ya willing, you can go little further (say + 0.05). If this doesn't get you stability drop back down to stock voltage, boost Vcore a notch and then proceed as above.

6. Once ya completed 40 multiplier, move onto 41 and "rinse and repeat"

7. Now many folks won't want to bother with edging their way up from 40 to 45 since most POCs will get there. If that's you...start at a CPU multiplier 1 less than your target as your 1st try and go from there.

8 Finally once you have a stable OC at a particular multiplier and DRAM setting, save a BIOS profile in the Asus Tools section... use something descriptive like:

Stock w/ XMP
4200 XMP
4500 XMP
4800

where 4200 means 4.2 GHz or 4200 MHz.

1. Prime95 is what we used in "the ole days" and is poorly suited to modern CPUs. Modern instruction sets allow the BIOS to grab more voltage despite whatever voltage settings are input in the BIOS. When used in normal applications, these instantaneous boost add 0.13 volts or more which can put voltage in dangerous territory depending what your settings are. If you let these instruction sets hammer the CPU continuously, rather than intermittently, you can hit voltages and temps which can kill a CPU.

a) As indicated, you can be 24 hour P95 stable and then fail in minutes using a multitasking application based benchmark.

b) Most folks still using it, use the old versions of P95 which does not include AVX and other modern instruction sets

1) If you don't include modern instruction sets, "passing" simply means that you are stable ... but only as long as those instruction sets are not present. Kinda like testing if ya tires are balanced OK with a machine that goes up to 30 mph. OK if you are that proverbial grandma who only drives the local streets to church on Sunday ... but rather useless if you are ever gonna use 3rd gear and drive on a highway.

2) If you use the versions equipped with those instruction sets, P95 is capable of frying your CPU.

In short, P95 is a useful tool... but only if you bought your computer just to run P95 and post OC benchparks on forum leader boards


2. Do not turn off Turbo mode. That's what allows the CPU to go over 3.5
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/turbo-boost/turbo-boost-technology.html

1. You MoBo has been programmed to apply a certain voltage (and other settings) for each CPU mutiplier so that it works on "most MoBos". Now if you want to minimize the number of peeps posting in ya forums saying that "The overclocking on [Insert MoBo manufacturer and model here] steenks", then you will be very conservative in thos settings, applying a number that will work on say 95% of MoBos. That means that your MoBo has a pretty good chance of being stable at a lower ... even a much lower number. It is therefore in yiur best interests to try to get a lower number as lower volts and temps mean higher OCs and less wear and tear on the CPU.

At stock settings (39 Turbo), the MoBo set my voltage to 1.248 ...it dropped to 1.216 at 40 multiplier and 1.152 at 42. Once i started setting manually, it dropped even further.

2. The longest I have run RoG Bench before a failure was 1 hour and 48 minutes..... so I do 2 hours. BTW, if you wanna do a quick test , just run the 4th benchmark (multitasking) ... most of the time that's where it fails ... so if ya voltage too low, you can skip ahead past th e1st 3 tests and this is the one that will **usually** find it. You might need 3 or 4 bumps before ya get stable and at that point ,move on to all 4 tests (8 minutes)and finally the 2 hour test.

3. Don't forget to bring RAM up to XMP speeds after getting CPU stable.