Brand new to overclocking

[dc82]

Hello,
Just got a new i2600k and put it on a z68 asus MB. I've never overclocked before, but I thought I'd give it a whirl.

I started with the automatic options, but found out they weren't ideal and could lead to instability. So after many hours of reading these forums - I landed on setting the CPU ratios to 40 and left everything else at automatic.

I read that having the voltage at auto offset could lead to some voltage spikes, but being that I have the ratios bumped up only to 40, I don't think I'll have too high of voltage peaks.

I'm running my first stress test now (p95) and will check it when I get home from work. But my question is, when I took a look at the screen last - one of the cores was only under 50% load. It was actually jumping around a little 50 to 75 to 100% load and then back down. Is this normal?

I'm mainly just playing some games here and there and I'm not too concerned with extreme overclocking. Oh, also the temps were hovering in the mid to high 60s. Case is cooler master elite 335 and the cpu fan is a hyper 212.

 

[blade061188]

Temps in the mid- high 60s is good. Perfectly safe.

When you run p95, do you run 4 threads or 8? (do you have hyper threading on or off?)

 

[dc82]

hyper threading is on.

I believe it is doing 8 threads. I didn't touch any setting other than selecting the default "blend" test. Just thought it was a little weird that the cores were all at 100% and then a few hours later one core had dropped to 50% (well, bouncing around anyway). Wasn't sure if that was a sign of instability or if that was a common sight to see.

 

[blade061188]

Is the bouncing core the first core? Prime95 tries to run in the background. It allows other tasks to run, so it has to allow some headroom for other tasks.

That could be what's happening. If all the other cores are at 100% I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

[dc82]

yep, it was the first one! Thanks, that makes sense since I was browsing the internet (these forums lol) and doing some other various small tasks.

 

[petedes]

The best thing I can say to you about OCing 32nm CPU is try not to go over the 1.4v mark with voltage overclocking I tried going above the 1.45 range on my i5 and well it hated me after that ;P but then again all CPU core are different none are identical in how well they will overclock. Just make sure you do stability tests after you reach your max OC otherwise you might end up with silent damage to your os and other software

 

[k1114]

What is the auto setting your vcore to?

 

[blade061188]

No Problem.

If you are done here, please close the thread (by selecting a best answer).

Happy overclocking!

 

[dc82]

What is the auto setting your vcore to?

CPU-z said it was around 1.28-1.29 at full load. I'm not sure if it spiked any higher. But I haven't touched the manual settings. It came with the auto setting on default and I just left it there. I realize it may be going a little bit higher than normal for only OC'ing to 4ghz - but I like how it automatically ramps up and down depending on how much cpu I need.

 

[blade061188]

It is a good feature if your OC is low enough to be stable with the ups and downs.

1.29 is very mild as far as vCore goes

 

[dc82]

Best answer selected by DC82.

 

[k1114]

You can use offset mode so vcore goes up and down just like stock vcore. That vcore is enough for 4.5ish. Stock vcore of 1.2 is usually enough to hit 4ghz.

 

[dc82]

Does stock core just mean manually setting the voltage to 1.2?

Doesn't that mean that the voltage will always be at 1.2 rather than only ramping when I use/need it?

 

[k1114]

Let me explain more, I apologize, my internet was acting weird so was a short post. Stock vcore is .95v idling at 1.6ghz because of speedstep. It will go to up 1.2-1.25v during turbo. There are 2 modes when setting vcore, fixed and offset. Fixed will make it stay the same, offset will allow it to change like how it behaves at stock.

You can change llc and the offset value to get the vcore you want (stock idle but higher max vcore for a higher overclock). LLC at regular with an offset of zero should give you the same as stock. (I think there's not a 0 option so select -.005, I don't actually have a asus z68 but this is what I've read [I have asrock z68]). You could OC higher. LLC at medium with an offset of 0 should give you 1.3v (still .95v at idle as llc affects the max) and as I said earlier is 4.5ghz-ish. Of course you need to check what it actually is setting your vcore to and if you are stable at whatever vcore and multiplier you have set.

Alternatively you can try an undervolt with a negative offset value. I'm currently at a -0.02v stable and less volts mean less power and heat.

*LLC has vdroop implications and also voltage spikes and offset has a different base value for different companies. But this is just the simplest way I have found to explain to inexperienced OCers to get to 4.5ghz-ish as there isn't much performance increase higher that's worth the effort.

 

[dc82]

Ah i see. I read that I'd want my llc set to extreme, but maybe that's not the case? Right now, it's set to extreme - I'll have to double check what my offset values are.

The highest spike I've seen is 1.3v and the temps all remained below 67 after 10 hours of p95 (this is with a cpu ratio of 40).

 

[k1114]

Every guide I've seen says to put it to extreme and most even say to turn off speedstep and c states among changing a lot of other settings but none of this really isn't necessary unless you're pushing the limits of your cpu. Really all you need to change is vcore and multiplier. I mention llc instead of additional turbo voltage (which does the same thing) because higher overclocks you will want it closer to extreme.

*Additional turbo voltage isn't the same as llc, I meant just changing the max volts without affecting idle.