New to Overclocking (NEED HELP)

proofycs

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Dec 27, 2017
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510
Hello everyone,

I am brand new to overclocking. I have had my PC for about 2 years now, and just started thinking about overclocking and I want to try it. I would like to OC my CPU (and possibly my RAM, and Video card). I am hoping to get some safe settings to use as I don't have much time to do this. Also please explain which settings to change in a GIGABYTE BIOS. I have looked up a few videos but none of them pertain to my specific specs, and I cannot find any good videos for a GIGABYTE BIOS. Specs below. If you need any other info, or have any questions please just leave a response below. I use it for gaming for about 4 hours at a time (sometimes more).

TIA

Specs:
CPU: i5-4690k @ 3.5 GHZ
CPU Cooler: Hyper 212 EVO
Motherboard: GIGABYTE Z97MX-Gaming 5
RAM: 16GB Dual-Channel DDR3
Video Card: 2GB MSI GTX 770
Storage: SAMSUNG 840 EVO 256GB
WD Caviar Blue 1TB (I believe)
Reg CD/DVD drive
EVGA 600B
Corsair 300R Windowed (only the case fans that come with it)

 
Solution
If you don't have much time to do it, you might want to reconsider. Each chip is different and will have different optimal settings. Long story short with CPU overclocking you will mainly be concerned with CPU ratio and vcore voltage. If you don't have much time you can skip the part about increasing in small increments until you find the limits, and just guess what you think it will achieve. I suppose this is what you are asking of us.

Your BIOS should look something like this. I can't remember how to get to this screen as I no longer have this system.
https://imgur.com/OIrNXmS

CPU Volts = CPU Vcore
CPU Clock Ratio sets frequency,
Default baseclock/host clock is 100MHz
So 45 = 45 x 100MHz = 4.5GHz
Change ratio to change CPU...
If you don't have much time to do it, you might want to reconsider. Each chip is different and will have different optimal settings. Long story short with CPU overclocking you will mainly be concerned with CPU ratio and vcore voltage. If you don't have much time you can skip the part about increasing in small increments until you find the limits, and just guess what you think it will achieve. I suppose this is what you are asking of us.

Your BIOS should look something like this. I can't remember how to get to this screen as I no longer have this system.
https://imgur.com/OIrNXmS

CPU Volts = CPU Vcore
CPU Clock Ratio sets frequency,
Default baseclock/host clock is 100MHz
So 45 = 45 x 100MHz = 4.5GHz
Change ratio to change CPU frequency, changing baseclock/host clock is a more difficult way to overclock.

Here's a reference of voltages required. (*Not all chips perform the same, some may require more voltage)
https://www.anandtech.com/show/8227/devils-canyon-review-intel-core-i7-4790k-and-i5-4690k/2
vOliwaX.png


BSOD = Blue Screen of Death (usually fixed by simply restarting the system and booting to BIOS to revert back to safe settings or by resetting the BIOS by using the jumpers or removing the CMOS battery.)

Any liability falls directly on you. That said, as long as you don't put ridiculous values in the settings you should be fine. Expect some blue screens or systems hangs if you don't have enough voltage or increase ratio too much.

Good luck.
 
Solution

proofycs

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Dec 27, 2017
17
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510


What is considered to be a good for overclocking but still "safe" temperature?
I could not find "UEFI BIOS" when I went in, my BIOS screen looked like this: https://imgur.com/a/hcY29

TIA
 

proofycs

Prominent
Dec 27, 2017
17
0
510


Perfect, thank you for this.

Finally, what is considered to be a good for overclocking but "optimal" temperature?

TIA
 
95 is a bit too hot, so you don't want to leave it there. I was referring to typical load temps such as with gaming or other regular tasks. So below 80C during typical load scenarios such as gaming.

Everyone has a different amount of time they run stress tests. I say a for a typical gaming system 20-30 minutes of stress testing is good enough. Prime95 v26.6 is what I use. Only use v26.6 because other versions will use AVX and give higher temps.