Newbie Looking for Help Overclocking

[Platyrunner]

Hello again, Tom's folks!

Had a lot of help with my recent overheating problem here and am thinking y'all can help with a less emergent situation:

I have a i5 2500k cpu just aching to be overclocked, a GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 capable of doing so, and a Zalman CNPS9500 cpu heatsink waiting to take the punishment. However, the problem is that the monkey handling the computer is not really familiar with the concept and the manual isn't quite helping.

Anyone have any guidelines to help me bump up the speed? I definitely do not want to use the Easy Tune 6 situation GIGABYTE is touting.

 

[abekl]

All that is required to overclock that chip is to go into the BIOS and set the CPU multiplier from 33 or 34 (which it is now at) to 40 or 41. That will get you 4 or 4.1 GHz right off the bat.

 

[Platyrunner]

Alright, I found the multipliers, but that opened up a few questions: What am I supposed to do with the TurboBoost multipliers? If I shift the whole CPU multiplier (33 to 40, i.e.), will these shift as well? Also, will a shift in CPU multipliers still allow for the CPU to throttle down during idle and mundane loads?

 

[abekl]

On my Gigabyte board, I leave all other multipliers at their defaults. Not sure what happens to them, but I know the boards operates correctly. And, yes, raising the overall multiplier still allows the cpu to throttle correctly.

 

[Platyrunner]

Alright, any safety measures I should take prior to multiplier manipulation?

 

[abekl]

Nope.

 

[Platyrunner]

I assume 40/41 is on the safe side of OC, or is there a limit to how much I can tweak that value?

 

[abekl]

In my experience on Gigabyte boards, once you get over 4.1 GHz, things start to get unstable unless you also adjust the CPU voltage, which I don't recommend because it shortens the lifespan of the cpu. Most people find 4.1 GHz is stable without voltage, and usually reach a maximum of 4.6 to 4.7 GHz with adjusting voltage.

 

[Formata]

Maybe have a look at this Sticky

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/265056-29-2600k-2500k-overclocking-guide

There's heaps of technical stuff in there that you might glaze over at, but essentially moving the multiplier up incrementally and testing stability and temps at each step is the 'old school' safer (... if there really is a safe way to OC) method.

But yeah, upto 4.1 you should be pretty safe. I'd still recommend testing once you've OCed to make sure you're stable and that your temps are all good. Lots of good links at the bottom of that sticky.

I like:

Prime 95
http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=103

Core Temp
http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

CPUz
http://www.cpuid.com/

 

[Platyrunner]

Ok, this week has been hell in the lab, so I just got around to tweaking the multiplier today.

As of right now, I amped the multiplier to 40x, and booted. The OS booted fine, although I haven't stressed it yet. Prime 95 will tell. However, temps only seem to have jumped about 6 C, so I'm feeling confident.

 

[Platyrunner]

Best answer selected by Platyrunner.