What are some good manual overclock settings for an i7 2600K?

bearclaw99

Distinguished
Dec 20, 2010
529
0
19,060
Which parameters do I need to change in BIOS to get an optimum overclock to 4.5-4.6 ghz?

When I bump my multiplier to 45-46, the clock speed will never remain stable through 100% load (it will dive down to 4.0-4.2 ghz or so). But using auto Turbo overclock to 4.4 or 4.6 ghz works fine, although my voltage is a bit high on auto (1.386v)

Do I leave Vcore on auto, or do I change it to 'fixed' or 'offset'? Are there any other values that need to be tweaked too? I'm using an AsRock P67 4extreme board

Thanks
 

jonpaul37

Distinguished
May 29, 2008
2,481
0
19,960



That's not off topic, it's actually a good call as having the latest BIOS is essential to overclocking with the P67 motherboards that have been released as many of the new BIOS's enable PLL overvoltage.

Anywho, @ OP, it all depends on what type of settings you will want to run, I have my 2600K @ 4.5GHz 24/7 with 1.35 using a Hyper 212+ and it is very stable when running prime 95 with temps maxxed to 59c. As for gaming and other activities... @ 4.5 GHz, so far i haven't broken 35c unless stress testing...

So... Do you want speedstep enabled, do you want just 4.x/5.x turbo overclock or 24x7 4.x/5.x overclock?

 

bearclaw99

Distinguished
Dec 20, 2010
529
0
19,060
Yes I have the latest BIOS now. My problem has to do with the frequency not holding solidly when I try a manual overclock (AUTO seems to be fine) but I'd like to do it manually to get some better settings

A few settings it might have to do with but I'm not sure

1. Load Line Calibration. Has settings Level 1-5. What is the best? Or Auto
2. Short and long term duration wattage limits. Should these be upped to a certain number?
3. Core Current Limit - Set to 150 at default
 

tetracycloide

Distinguished
Aug 20, 2010
36
0
18,530

I take it you didn't look at the result of that search (which I obviously ran before posting the question) or you'd know it's just a long list of links for forum and news posts just like this one that talk about how new BIOS revisions include a PPL overvoltage fix but don't actually answer the question I asked. Several of the results are even password gated! For the record I googled PPL before asking as well and think that it means 'Phase-Locked Loop' but have no way of knowing if that's what's being refereed to without confirmation nor why it would be essential for overclocking.

Now if you're done amusing your self with mistakenly smug links that don't actually make the point you think they do then perhaps we can move on and get a real answer?
 

killer pc g15

Distinguished
Apr 29, 2010
229
0
18,760



you know the new i7 ooverclocks with the multiplier only becose the cpu,s are more complex and use the base clock for many things
internal pll volt lets you use higer multiplier
 

tetracycloide

Distinguished
Aug 20, 2010
36
0
18,530
I figured it out for myself, I think.

I think PLL does stand for Phase-locked loop. A PLL chip will take a reference clock from some outside source and then multiply it before sending the final clocks somewhere else. From what I've seen on this and other forums PLL overvoltage is necessary to break the multiplier 'wall' somewhere in the 48x range for most chips. I think what's happening is when the multiplier goes up not only is the CPU being overclocked but the PLL chip sort of is as well. Since the PLL which was speced to multiply by a factor of 33-34 and is instead multiplying by a factor of 48+ it needs the extra juice to handle the additional load.

Then again, I might be completely wrong.
 

tetracycloide

Distinguished
Aug 20, 2010
36
0
18,530



1. Load Line Calibration is a setting that adjust the way the motherboard supplies the processor with power. In high stress situations when the CPU begins to draw more power it can cause the voltage to drop a little so Load Line Calibration compensates by increasing the applied voltage slightly. My best guess on Level 1-5 is that they are varying levels of how extreme this voltage increase is. I know that in my Bios there are Levels 1 and 2 with 1 being 'slightly' and 2 being 'moderately.'

I would think Level 1 (or whatever the lowest setting is without turning it off) would be advisable as a minimum no matter what if you're overclocking but I have no idea what the 'best' setting would be other than probably not 'disabled.'
 

hogan773

Distinguished
Oct 9, 2010
227
0
18,690



I also have the ASR Ext4 and plan to try an OC this weekend.

I'd like to continue to allow the CPU to throttle back to 1.6ghz and appx 0.9V when idle, but allow the ceiling on the multiplier to get up to 4.4 or 4.5 and not more than 1.3V......

I'd prefer not to just have the thing constantly getting 1.3V 24/7 because, well, why should it? Its idling much of the time.

so how do I actually do that? Change the Turbo multiplier? and what voltage setting do I use....offset or manual? If manual, does that just set 1.3V 24/7 regardless of idle or load? (which is what I want to avoid)

Thanks for the advice